Lessons
Welcome to our extensive Lesson Library, where you can access a wide range of free Japanese language lessons and resources.
A curated collection of authentic Japanese language lessons, designed to teach you the language as it's truly spoken and written in Japan.
Main Course
The Unique Sounds of Japanese: Retraining English Ears
A basic lesson on identifying and practicing key phonetic differences between Japanese and English sounds, with insights into their historical evolution..
Hiragana Basics: Starting Japanese Writing Natively
A beginner's guide to learning hiragana as Japanese children do, with historical context, stroke order, and practice for reading native words..
Katakana Essentials: Adapting Global Words to Japanese
A beginner's guide to katakana, its origins, and how it adapts foreign words into Japanese..
Introduction to Kanji: Pictorial Foundations of Japanese Script
A beginner's guide to understanding the pictorial origins of kanji and how they integrate with kana in Japanese writing..
Japanese Pitch Accent: The Melodic Key to Meaning
An introduction to Japanese pitch accent, exploring its patterns, historical roots, and why mastering it unlocks natural pronunciation and word distinction..
Phonetic Differences: Navigating Japanese Sounds Beyond L and R
A basic exploration of Japanese sounds that differ from English, focusing on unique phonetics like the flap r, vowel lengths, and historical mergers to improve pronunciation..
Fundamental Sentence Structure: Topic-Comment Dynamics
A beginner's guide to understanding Japanese sentence structure through topic-comment dynamics, comparing it to English and emphasizing context..
The Role of Particles: Binding Elements in Japanese
A beginner's guide to understanding how Japanese particles bind sentence elements and define relationships, distinguishing them from English prepositions..
Wa vs. Ga: Emphasizing Importance in Sentences
A basic lesson on differentiating between the wa and ga particles in Japanese, focusing on their roles in topics, subjects, and emphasis..
Ni, De, and E: Mapping Directions and Locations
A basic lesson on using ni, de, and e particles for directions and locations in Japanese, with contrasts to English..
O and Wo: Marking Objects Without Prepositions
A basic lesson on using the Japanese particle を (o/wo) to mark direct objects, highlighting its independence from prepositions unlike in English..
Verb Basics: Harnessing the Dictionary Form
A beginner's guide to understanding the dictionary form of Japanese verbs, grouping them by types, and appreciating their flexible endings..
Masu Form: Mastering Polite Everyday Speech
A beginner's guide to using the masu form for polite speech in Japanese, including conjugation, usage, and cultural context..
Te Form: Linking Actions Seamlessly
A beginner's guide to mastering the te form in Japanese for connecting actions, building compound sentences, and expressing requests and permissions..
Nai Form: Negating Without Auxiliary Words
A basic lesson on transforming Japanese verbs into their nai form for negation, applying it in statements and questions, and comparing to English negation for better understanding..
Adjectives in Japanese: I and Na Types Explored
A basic exploration of i-adjectives and na-adjectives in Japanese, including how to distinguish them, modify nouns, and conjugate for tenses..
Basic Vocabulary Building: Embracing Words Without Latin Ties
A basic lesson on building vocabulary by embracing native Japanese words without relying on Latin or Western ties, focusing on direct associations and polysemy..
Greetings and Self-Introductions: Authentic Entry Phrases
A beginner's guide to mastering authentic Japanese greetings and self-introductions, incorporating cultural nuances like bowing without relying on direct English equivalents..
Numbers and Counters: Contextual Counting Systems
A basic lesson on numbers and counters in Japanese, exploring contextual counting systems and contrasting with English..
Time and Dates: Tense-Free Expressions
A basic lesson on expressing time and dates in Japanese, using particles and handling relative time without verb tenses, while exploring cultural views like seasons..
Tai Form: Authentic Desire Expressions
An intermediate guide to expressing desires in Japanese using the tai form, highlighting authentic usage and cultural nuances..
Causative Form: Influencing Actions
An intermediate exploration of Japanese causative forms, focusing on influencing actions, social directives, and the cultural nuances of hierarchy..
Potential Form: Abilities and Possibilities
An intermediate dive into expressing abilities and possibilities in Japanese through the potential form, contrasting it with English modals..
Passive Form: Experiencing Actions
An intermediate dive into Japanese passive forms, building 'be done' structures, conveying adversity or neutrality, and comparing perspectives with English passives..
Honorifics: Keigo for Respectful Dialogue
An intermediate lesson on applying basic keigo in conversations, choosing levels based on relationships, and understanding the cultural respect embedded in Japanese grammar..
Conditional Forms: Tara, Ba, To Hypotheticals
An intermediate guide to mastering Japanese conditional forms with tara, ba, and to, exploring hypothetical scenarios and nuanced probabilities without relying on English parallels..
Volitional Form: Collaborative Intentions
An intermediate lesson exploring the volitional form in Japanese, emphasizing its role in expressing collaborative intentions, group suggestions, and cultural nuances of collective decision-making..
Advanced Particles: Kara, Made, Yori Depth
An intermediate dive into the particles kara, made, and yori, exploring their uses for ranges, reasons, comparisons, and layered meanings in complex sentences..
Compound Verbs: Nuanced Action Layers
An intermediate guide to using compound verbs in Japanese for adding layers of nuance to actions, including aspects like completion or attempts, with contrasts to English phrasal verbs..
Reading Simple Texts: Decoding Real Sentences
An intermediate lesson on breaking down Japanese texts into components, inferring meanings from context, and building reading fluency authentically..
Writing Practice: Crafting Initial Paragraphs
An intermediate lesson on composing coherent initial paragraphs in Japanese, incorporating grammar naturally and focusing on flow over direct translation..
Vocabulary Through Kanji Compounds: Lego-Like Word Building
An intermediate lesson on building vocabulary through kanji compounds, understanding their Lego-like nature, multiple readings, and organic expansion..
Cultural Nuances in Language: The Power of Context
An intermediate exploration of how cultural context shapes implied meanings and communication styles in Japanese..
Onomatopoeia: Vivid Sound-Based Descriptions
An intermediate exploration of Japanese onomatopoeia, teaching how to use sound-based words for vivid descriptions and narratives, contrasting with English..
The Origins of Japanese: Ancient Roots to Modern Evolution
An advanced exploration of the Japanese language's journey from its ancient proto roots to modern forms, highlighting influences, isolations, and linguistic independence..
Chinese Influence on Japanese: Kanji and Borrowed Vocabulary
An advanced exploration of how Chinese language and culture shaped Japanese through kanji adoption, vocabulary borrowing, and cultural exchanges..
Evolution of Hiragana and Katakana: From Women to Foreign Adaptations
An advanced exploration of hiragana's origins in women's writing during the Heian period and katakana's evolution for adapting foreign terms..
Historical Grammar Shifts: Old vs Contemporary Japanese
An advanced exploration of how Japanese grammar has evolved from the Nara period to modern times, highlighting key shifts in particles and verbs through text analysis..
Comparative Linguistics: Japanese vs Indo-European Differences
An advanced exploration of structural differences between Japanese and Indo-European languages, focusing on agglutinative vs.
Subtle Semantic Differences: Untranslatable Japanese Concepts
An advanced exploration of Japanese concepts that defy direct English translation, delving into their cultural and semantic depths..
Word Formation: On'yomi, Kun'yomi, and Layers
An advanced exploration of kanji readings, word formation, and the historical layers that give Japanese vocabulary its semantic depth..
Context in Meaning: Implicature in Discourse
An advanced exploration of implicature in Japanese discourse, emphasizing how context shapes meaning and contrasts with explicit English communication..
Phonological Changes: Historical Sound Shifts
An advanced exploration of how Japanese sounds have evolved over centuries, including mergers, splits, and dialect variations..
Syntactic Flexibility: Variations in Word Order
An advanced exploration of how Japanese word order can be rearranged for emphasis and nuance, contrasting with English's more rigid structure..
Etymology of Common Words: Nature and Culture Traces
An advanced exploration of the origins of everyday Japanese words, tracing their links to nature and cultural elements, and appreciating their independent etymologies..
Language Contact and Loanwords: Beyond Simple Adaptations
An advanced exploration of how loanwords integrate into Japanese, examining sources, adaptation processes, and post-isolation era influences..
Politeness Levels Through History: Keigo Development
An advanced exploration of how keigo has evolved through Japanese history, its social drivers, and applying historical forms in analysis..
Unique Grammatical Features: Topic vs Case Systems
An advanced exploration of Japanese as a topic-prominent language, comparing topic marking to case inflections, and highlighting its discourse benefits and uniqueness..
Fascinating Language Myths: Debunking Japanese Misconceptions
An advanced exploration debunking common myths about the Japanese language, providing evidence-based clarifications to foster accurate perspectives..
Idiomatic Expressions: Culture-Rooted Sayings
An intermediate lesson exploring Japanese idiomatic expressions rooted in culture, their origins, and usage for natural speech..
Legacy Lessons
Reading and Writing in Japanese I: The Japanese Writing Systems
An introduction to the three writing systems of Japanese: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, and their roles in the language..
How 2nd Graders Learn Japanese (The Three Types of Japanese Sentences)
An insightful look into how Japanese second graders learn the language by understanding the three types of Japanese sentences..
Introduction to Jyoshi I: Particles, but Not Those Particles (は)
A lesson on the Japanese 助詞 (jyoshi) particles, focusing on the は (wa) particle and its differences from English particles..
Reading and Writing in Japanese II: Hiragana and Katakana
A lesson on Hiragana and Katakana, covering their functions, sounds, and basic character variations..
Conjugation in Japanese: It Doesn't Exist
An exploration of why 'conjugation' is a misnomer in Japanese grammar and a breakdown of actual verb changes..
Introduction to Jyoshi II: Different Functions of Jyoshi (が)
A lesson on the が (ga) 助詞 (jyoshi), exploring its function as a subject marker and its differences from は (wa)..
Introduction to Jyoshi III: Relating to the Verb (を)
A lesson on the を (wo) 助詞 (jyoshi), covering direct objects and differences between sentence structure in English and Japanese..
The Three Types of Japanese Sentences
Master the essentials of Japanese grammar with our interactive lesson, which breaks down the three fundamental sentence types using authentic materials from a Japanese 2nd-grade classroom.
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