Languages » Japanese

Japanese

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Introduction

"Welcome to Japanese at Emory", a video message by Noriko Takeda

Japanese is a language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people. Some scholars see a kinship with Korean because the grammars of the two are very similar. In the 3d - 4th century A.D., the Japanese borrowed the Chinese writing system of ideographic characters. Since Chinese writing is ideographic rather than phonetic, the Chinese characters do not completely fill the needs of the inflected Japanese language in the sphere of writing. In the 8th century A.D., two phonetic scripts, or kana, were therefore devised. Modern Japanese uses a mixture of all 3 scripts. Katakana is used to represent non-Japanese words and for emphasis.

Departments & Related Programs

Russian and East-Asian Languages and Cultures (REALC)

Emory Japanese Language Program Scholarblog

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/japaneselanguage/

Online Audio and Video

Online audio and video materials are available for Japanese at this website. You must have an Emory ID and password to access the materials.

Class Resources

Japanese 101-102
Japanese 201-202

Online Resources

1. “Portal for Learning Japanese” (the Japan Foundation): the most comprehensive guide to help you find language learning materials for specific purposes including the three sets of characters, speaking, writing, listening and reading.

a. For beginners: http://nihongo-e-na.com/jpn/site/keyword/初級/ (149 sites)

b. For intermediate level: http://nihongo-e-na.com/jpn/site/keyword/中級/ (128 sites)

c. For advanced level: http://nihongo-e-na.com/jpn/site/keyword/上級/ (127 sites)

2. Self-Study Programs for beginners: these sites introduce the basic Japanese language with multimedia. A lot of cultural information is integrated. 

  1. http://marugotoweb.jp/ (the Japan Foundation)
  2. https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/  (the Japan Foundation)
  3. http://www.coscom.co.jp/index.html (CosCom)
  4. http://www.genkienglish.net/genkijapan/menu.htm (Genki Japan.net)
  5. http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html (NHK World)

3. Manga and Anime: you can learn stylistic varieties through Manga and Anime as well as actual usage of the daily language in Japan.

  1. http://anime-manga.jp/index.html (the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai)
  2. http://www.crunchyroll.com/ (Crunchyroll)

4. GENKI (Emory’s textbook for JPN101-202) supplementary materials: these sites are for GENKI in JPN101-202.

  1. http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/self (GENKI Self Study Room)
  2. http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/ (Usagi-Chan’s Genki Resource Page)

5. Reading Short Stories and Novels

  1. http://www.aozora.gr.jp/ (Aozora Bunko: popular Japanese novels)
  2. http://jclab.wordpress.com/ (Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime: classical literature)
  3. http://www.bauddha.net/  (Multimedia Taiyakuban: world literature in Japanese)

6. Japanese Songs

a.   http://www3.u-toyama.ac.jp/niho/song.html (Toyama University Site)

II. Newspaper and Stream News

a. www.asahi.com (Asahi Newspaper)

b. http://nihongo-e-na.com/eng/site/id625.html (Mainichi Newspaper for Japanese Elementary School Students)

  1. https://www.youtube.com/user/tbsnewsi (TBS news on Youtube)

d. https://www.youtube.com/user/NHKonline (NHK news on Youtube)

e. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/ (NHK NEWS WEB EASY)

III. On-line Dictionaries

  1. http://chuta.jp (Reading Tutor)
  2. http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal.aspx (Pop Jisho)
  3. http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C (Jim Breen’s WWWJDUC Japanese Dictionary Server)

IV. Japanese Culture

  1. http://www.mofa.go.jp/ (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)
  2. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/index.html (Japan National Tourism Organization)
  3. http://www.photopassjapan.com/ (Travel Guide with Photos)
  4. http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/ (Keiko Schneider’s Bookmarks)
  5. http://web-japan.org/index.html (Web Japan)

V. Career and Scholarships

  1. http://www.japan-careertalk.jp/ (Solver Network Co., Ltd.)
  2. http://www.jetprogramme.org/ (The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program)
  3.  http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/faq/faq10e.html (Japanese government scholarship for foreign students)
  4. http://www.aatj.org/studyabroad/scholarships (Bridging Scholarships under AATJ)
  5. http://www.ohayosensei.com/index.html (Ohayo Sensei)

VI. Proficiency Tests

  1. http://www.jflalc.org/jlpt.html (JLPT by the Japan Foundation: Japanese-Language Proficiency Test )
  2. http://www.kanken.or.jp/bjt/english/index.html (BJT by Kanken: Business Japanese Proficiency Test)
  3. http://www.j-cat.org/ (J-CAT: Japanese Computerized Adaptive Test)

Emory Favorites

Japanese Language and Culture Network
Java Kanji Flash Cards
Tokyo Broadcasting System
Japan Exchange and Teaching Program
Japan Guide
Tokyo Classifieds Online
Japan Information Network (JIN)
Japan Travel Updates
BlueSky Collection Electronic Library
Kinokuniya Bookstore (recently publised books in Japan)
Asahi Newspaper
Travel information in Japan