So making worksheets, flashcards, and other study materials most definitely puts me in my happy place.
These worksheets are specifically for the vocabulary words/phrases in the first 7 levels of Japanese 1 on Memrise. There is a total of 15 vocabulary words/phrases. For each word, you’ll need to write down the meaning of the word and write down the word in hiragana.
For example:
konnichiwa: ko / n / ni / chi / wa Meaning:
Write in hiragana
The answer:
konnichiwa: ko / n / ni / chi / wa Meaning: Hello, Good Afternoon
Write in hiragana: こんにちは
Writing practice* is easy to overlook when using apps, so hopefully this helps prevent that problem. These worksheets are inspired by the way I did my handwriting practice while learning Memrise Japanese 1. Hopefully someone else will find this practice as helpful as I did. 🙂
*You can also check out THIS free printable worksheet from Japanese-lesson.com for hiragana writing practice .
Just click on the link below for the downloadable .pdf file of the worksheets, print them out, and get studying. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
If you’re not new to learning Japanese, there is an option to test your skills to determine your learning level. Every level has an option for testing out, actually.
I was able to test out of all of the hiragana levels and a few others, which made me feel pretty good about my learning progress so far. 🙂
My Thoughts So Far
The Duolingo app is another free option for learning Japanese that’s worth giving a try. It has around 40 levels total, covering a wide variety of topics. So far, it’s okay. I’m a bit of a Memrise junkie, though, so that will most likely be my go-to learning application.
If you’ve never used Duolingo for learning, it does take a little getting used to. For example, sometimes words/phrases are introduced without an introduction. To figure out what they are, just tap the colored/underlined section and an explanation should pop up.
I’d never seen the phrase: といいます until I saw it today. As you can see, it roughly means I am called/it is called/my name is/etc. So when introducing yourself you can say:
It’s been less than 6 months since I began my daily Japanese studies. Time flies when you’re having fun! 🙂
Up to this point, I’ve learned hiragana, katakana, around 1,500 vocabulary words (according to my Memrise app), some basic “survival” phrases, and most of the first grade level Kanji. This past week I began studying grammar.
My biggest fear about beginning grammar was it would be complicated and frustrating that I’d want to give up learning Japanese. At the same time, I understood that jumping over the grammar hurdle would make me one step closer to being able to think and communicate in Japanese one day.
Pretty much sums up my approach towards Japanese grammar.
But guess what? It’s really not that bad. Not yet, anyways.
The first step in learning Japanese grammar (at least for me) is understanding basic sentence structure.
Knowing the kana and a bunch of vocab words felt like having a 1,000 piece puzzle without the picture on the puzzle box to know how to put it all together, a.k.a. grammar. The following resources (all free, by the way) helped me put the “border” of my lanauge puzzle together. I obviously have a loooooong way to go, but the task ahead seems less daunting now that the foundational parts are in place.
Hopefully, these things will help you, too. 🙂
10 Major Aspects of the Japanese Language by IMABI.net
An intro to basic Japanese phrases, a few vocab words, and a run down of 10 things to keep in mind when trying to understand some key elements of the Japanese language, which I’ve found helpful as I learn grammar and language “construction.”
How to Build a Sentence in Japanese: The Ultimate Guide to Kickstart Your Understanding of Japanese Basics by Japanese Ammo.com
At first glace, I was overwhelmed by all the information on this page. I took my time and went through each of the areas and took notes, which took me about an hour. My favorite part about this page is the way sentence structure examples are presented with a little formula. For example:
TOPIC/SUBJECT + OBJECT + VERB
or
+ SUBJECT + OBJECT + PARTICLE + VERB
I wrote these down in my study notebook to refer to ask I work on making sentences for practice.
Creating Simple Japanese Sentences with Japanese From Zero
Sensei George is hilarious. At least I think so. 🙂 His lighthearted and playful approach to learning Japanese helps me not want to curl up into the fetal position and cry when Japanese learning gets difficult. Most of the videos are around 10 minutes or less, and although created as a supplement to the book, are helpful for folks without the books as well.
*What about Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese?*
I am using Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese, but mostly as a reference as I get more comfortable with grammar and kanji. I do think it’s a great resource, but it most definitely is overwhelming if you’re super new to Japanese because of the use of kanji right away.
My Study Plan as of Today:
Better understanding the various parts of speech (adjectives, verbs, etc.), while continuing to plug away at vocabulary words and kanji.
I also need to do more speaking and listening practice, which I’ve been awful at doing up to this point.
Memrise App daily, especially Beginners Japanese Grammar 1 (almost done with Japanese 2 and JLPT N5 Vocab)
