This lesson offers a few tools to help you learn Japanese. Some of these great tools to aid in your Japanese studies include the following:
Rikaichan
- a popup dictionary extension for the Firefox Internet browser that translates Japanese into English, German, French, or Russian. With this extension installed, you can easily look up the meaning of Japanese words that show up on webpages by simply hovering the cursor over the word. A box will instantly pop up with the reading and definition of the word.
https://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
Rikaichan Kanji Dictionary
- Hover the cursor over any kanji, whether it is part of a compound or by itself, and press the Shift or Enter key to toggle between the word, kanji, and name dictionaries.
- The kanji dictionary gives detailed information that include the kanji’s meaning, all possible readings, radicals that make up the kanji, number of strokes, and more.
https://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
Eijiro Dictionary
- an English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionary with an extensive database of translations and sample sentences.
- You can buy Eijiro online at the ALC Online Shop website in the form of a CD-R or a downloadable dictionary file, and a free online version of Eijiro is available through the SpaceALC Japanese website portal.
https://shop.alc.co.jp/top/ (free version https://www.alc.co.jp/)
Anki
- a flash card program that lets you review vocabulary, kanji, or both!
- This kanji and vacabulary practice is based on a theory called spaced repetition, which means it presents the learner with flash cards at certain calculated intervals.
https://ichi2.net/anki/index.html
Lang-8
- a Social Networking Service (SNS) created for the purpose of language exchange and international communication
- Once you register, which is free, you can write a journal entry in the language you are studying, and other users who are native speakers of that language can correct your entry.
https://www.lang-8.com/
