Japanese And Spanish Again 2016 (PINNED)

Sick for a long time, now attempting to do this all over again.  New version Rosetta Stone for Spanish brushing up. Wanikani, Rosetta stone, and Human Japanese (app for IOS) for Japanese.  Starting again as I have forgotten so much.

Still trying to do Level-Unit-lesson order for Rosetta stone (before the computer this disc works on dies, which will mean the end, as this is such an old disc that it no longer works on modern computers due to conflicts with operating systems, or something).

Spanish: 
Rosetta stone, version 4, I think it is. Will just note down information that is new and useful.

Websites that are useful for Spanish:
Spanish Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/latino
shows: Zou (children's show)
Tierra de Reyes (telenovela)
About.com spanish resources: http://distancelearn.about.com/od/isitforyou/tp/FreeOnlineSpanishClasses.htm
Sources for Spanish Language videos: http://howlearnspanish.com/2012/09/spanish-videos-subtitles-free/
Spanish news - http://www.bbc.com/mundo
Good spanish dictionary - http://www.spanishdict.com




Japanese:
Rosetta stone - old, will jot down useful information to remember.

Websites that are useful for kana:
Very detailed chart of kana: https://tinyurl.com/yc7fmvxx
Personal Kana sheet (to print and make your own chart): http://www.textfugu.com/free/personal-kana-sheet.pdf
Hirgana chart: http://www.textfugu.com/resources/hiragana-chart/
Methods to learn hiragana: http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-6/
Katakana chart: http://www.textfugu.com/cheat-sheets/katakana-chart/
Methods to learn katakana: http://www.textfugu.com/season-3/learn-katakana/2-2/
Real Kana has a website, but it's somewhat broken now. However, the app for IOS works very well and there is a link to where you can find the app on the website: http://realkana.com
Tofugu hiragana - a method using visual images to help remember kana shapes, might be more effective for some. https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/
Tofugu stroke order chart: http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/hiragana-stroke-order-chart.pdf (note, や is incorrect on this chart, with strokes 1 and 3 reversed)

Practicing Hirgana and Katakana:
Drag and drop hiragana - http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html
Drag and drop katakana - http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/katakana-timer.html
Writing hiragana and katakana - http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/writing
Great practice for fast recognition of kana - http://lab.fleon.org/type-kana/
Nice, easy space invader type game for kana - http://www.valiantls.com/games-for-learning-japanese.html
Warrior game that builds up kana knowledge - http://www.kongregate.com/games/tukkun/kana-warrior
Printables for writing practice, hiragana - http://www.guidetojapanese.org/pdf/hiragana_trace_sheet.pdf
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_writing.html (contains blanks, too)
Printables for writing practice, katakana -
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/pdf/katakana_trace_sheet.pdf
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/katakana/katakana_writing.html (contains blanks, too)
hiragana and katakana with combinations for modern borrow words included https://www.coscom.co.jp/hiragana-katakana/kanapdf/renshuu_hiragana.pdf


Websites useful for Kanji or general learning:
Textfugu - japanese learning program, first lessons free to try out: http://www.textfugu.com/lessons/
Wanikani - made by textfugu folks, for learning kanji: https://www.wanikani.com
Tae Kim's Guid to Japanese - many believe is one of the best guides out there. Don't know if I agree, but it's been dead useful so far, and it's free to boot. http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/
Good information on Radicals and what they are: http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa070101a.htm
Good list of Radicals for Kanji: http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/radical-names.html
Lessons for learning to write kanji: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/kanji_main.html
Nihongonomori - youtube lessons: https://www.youtube.com/user/freejapaneselessons3
Erin's Challenge - lots of lessons, many formats, video: https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/
Tofugu - Japanese culture blog: https://www.tofugu.com
general learning, including cultural - https://www.coscom.co.jp/index.html
On on'yomi vs. kun'yomi, and general info -https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/how-to-determine-onyomi-and-kunyomi-of-each-kanji-character.html
also on'yomi vs. kun'yomi - with some differences of opinion -https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/onyomi-and-kunyomi/
Kanji readings - what do the '.' and '-' mean? -
1. https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/38681/what-is-the-meaning-of-dots-and-dashes-in-kunyomi-readings
2. http://forum.jisho.org/discussion/1197/-and-in-the-kanji-yomi/p1
The official jōyō kanji list published by the Agency of Cultural Affairs - This is very long, and ALL in Japanese, so it can help with kanji, but only if you can read enough Japanese. - http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kijun/naikaku/pdf/joyokanjihyo_20101130.pdf


Apps useful for Kanji or general learning:
Good list of Apps for learning Kanji that are popular with native speakers- http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/best-kanji-apps/
'Pibo -Japanese Picture books' by Ever Sense, Inc, for iOS - huge collection of japanese children's books, all stories have read along audio.
Human Japanese - app for IOS, beginning Japanese lessons. Very straightforward.  Made the more sense to my autistic child than any other language program. Great use of the media.
'Learning Japanese' by Ronald Timoshenko, FREE app - this is the app version of Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese, which many people think is one of the best guides out there.
lingodeer - highly recommended, with a kind of wanikani style, for beginning, early intermediate japanese, chinese, or korean learning.

Websites useful for learning to read Japanese:
Children's book recs: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/learn-japanese-picture-books/
Satori reads - in beta, reading material for japanese learners, by the folks who created 'Human Japanese: https://satorireader.com
Jisho.org- good for translating, including looking up radicals, how to write kanji: http://jisho.org
Many sources recommended by Tofugu (listed below)
Kodomo times - a newspaper aimed at children with more difficult kanji translated for you. (may no longer be up, I think) http://www.chunichi.co.jp/kodomo/
Kodomo Asahi - a newspaper aimed at children. Orange link goes to elementary school level paper, blue link goes to middle school level paper. http://www.asagaku.com
Asahi Shinbun - adult newspaper - https://www.asahi.com
News Web easy by NHK - news with simple kanji and vocab, but also audio included so you can listen along.   http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/20120824_k10014498931000.html
Traditional Japanese Children's Stories - these were created by a japanese language teacher, so there are translations. http://life.ou.edu/stories/
Fuku Musume's Fairy tale collection - http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/
Fantajikan youtube - the audio (and written) stories from fantajikan site (latter which is no longer up)   https://www.youtube.com/user/fantajikan/videos


Websites useful for learning Japanese Grammar:
particle ga vs. wa: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-particle-ga-wa/
particle ne: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-grammar-particle-ne/
particles ka, ne, and yo: http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/the-sentence-ending-particles-ne-and-yo/
particles to end sentences: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-sentence-particles/
Grammar for conversational fluency: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/improve-conversational-japanese/
Japanese grammar guide: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

Websites useful for learning Japanese conjugation:
WaniConjugation - for WaniKani users, to practice conjugation of verbs/adj: http://waniconjugation.co.nf
verbix: http://www.verbix.com/languages/japanese.shtml
The ultra handy japanese verb conjugator: http://www.japaneseverbconjugator.com

Websites useful for Japanese Vocabulary:
Japanese counting words: http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/japanesecounters.pdf

Websites for daughter learning sessions:
Super beginning lessons - https://thetruejapan.com/how-to-learn-japanese-a-guide-for-absolute-beginners/
beginner lessons - https://thetruejapan.com/learning-japanese-for-beginners-a-complete-guide/
super beginner kanji - http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/kanji/index.html
(check beginner lessons for more kanji)
THIS level is where http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar is recommended.

Good lessons to check out after learned a little bit - https://www.japanesepod101.com
recommended as useful - https://iknow.jp


Websites useful for advanced Japanese learning:

- NINJAL-LWP FOR TWC - lots of data on words - common particles, commonality between words, etc... - http://nlt.tsukuba.lagoinst.info/compare/
- Reading materials on subjects you love
- THE "A DICTIONARY OF JAPANESE GRAMMAR" BOOK SERIES (there are three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, each with its own book) - I have found these at amazon.com
- conversations on 'Facetime, Facebook Messenger, LINE, Skype, Google Voice' with other people. Or call up and talk to japanese businesses, hotels, that sort of thing. Will need to make some friends and keep up with them, for this!
- teaching it - when learn, teach it. Jot down notes whenever something wasn't entirely clear to you when teaching, and go through it again. Basically, the feynman technique. 

Japanese Rosetta Stone - Unknowns (PINNED)

Questions I have from Rosetta Stone, Japanese, that I don't have answers for yet. This will be continually updated, and items erased once I figure them out.

Rosetta Stone Lesson Summaries Japanese (PINNED)

Old version of Japanese Rosetta Stone

Want Kani Notes of interest

WaniKani is a website with a monthly fee (less than $10) that teaches about 2,000 kanji plus maybe 6,000 vocabulary to go along with that kanji.  I have been trying this out recently and so far I really like it.  It has been a big help.

And there are little tidbits throughout that I am trying to keep track of for myself, that I thought I'd put down here.

Japanese particle: de

で
Used in Unit 2 in the middle and latter half of the Unit
One use seems to be as a particle that means 'by way of' or 'using'

Like, 手で is used when something is done by hand, or left or right hand if it's done with one hand or the other (左手で).  1-2-5, I think.

Used when describing what something is doing with their head, and the hands are used to do it.
1-2-9

Phrases de wa nai

Rosetta - 1 -2 - 2

Describing something by what it is not:
男の人でわない人
The person who is not a man

the 'de wa nai' construction seems to hold true for people and animal descriptions, at least.

Counters in Japanese

Counting words used in Japanese*
Things that are counted in Japanese often have these counting words, and sometimes more than one word can be used for one item. As an example, a noodle might have one counting word for cylindrical items, but also can be counted with the food counting word, or with the counting word for 'bundled items' if it was in a bundle.  So, it's flexible.

japanese Particles ne and yo, and sou desu

http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/the-sentence-ending-particles-ne-and-yo/

There was so much good information for me to remember, I've got a lot more quotes this time around, to help.

Notes:
- both work kind of like 'ka,' it changes the meaning of the sentence.
- "The particle ね “ne”, variously translated as “right?”, “huh?”, or “isn’t it?”, can be put at the end of a sentence to create sort of question."
- "Essentially, ne asks for agreement or confirmation. This sentence ender is used frequently when making observations, as in “Ii o-tenki desu ne?” which you learned earlier. In such situations, the speaker is trying to promote a smooth conversation by giving the other person an easy way to agree with them.

It’s also used when the speaker fully expects the listener’s agreement..."

- The sentence ending particle, よ “yo” asserts a fact that the listener may not know. So, rather than asking for agreement, it's more like telling

"Oishii desu ne. This is delicious, isn’t it? (Listener has also tasted it)

Oishii desu yo. It’s good, you know. (Listener hasn’t tried it yet)

The particle is also translated as “I tell you”, but is often left out of the English translation.

In general, yo shows the speaker’s conviction towards whatever they are asserting. When used with commands, it makes the command more forceful. The particle is also sometimes used to answer questions using who/what/etc. as a means of emphasis. (Read more about question words)

In summary, ne asks for agreement, and yo tells how it is."

- "Somewhat paradoxically, Japanese people will often use both yo and ne at the end of a statement.

...Tanoshii desu yo ne. This is fun! (And I hope you agree)

Basically, the yo shows the speaker’s strong conviction for their opinion, but also expects the other person to agree with them. This highlights the softening effect of the particle ne. In an effort to avoid seeming overly assertive, Japanese people will often ask for the other person’s agreement, as well as a variety of other strategies to soften the message of the sentence."

- Some great information on sou desu that I've been trying to figure out forever!

"はい、そうです。 Hai, sou desu. exp. “Yes, that right.” (Response to a question)

そうですか。 Sou desu ka? exp. “It that so?” (Receiving new information)

そうですね。 Sou desu ne. exp. “So it is, isn’t it?” (Agreement with a statement)

そうですよ。 Sou desu yo. exp. “Yes, I agree.” (Strong agreement with a statement)

そうですよね。 Sou desu yo ne. exp. “Yes, I agree.” (Strong agreement with softening)

“Sou desu” means something “that’s how it is” or “so it is”. Each of its variants has a different nuance.

The first version is a way to affirm a yes-no question without repeating the complete sentence.

“Sou desu ka?” is a general response to any new information, and doesn’t necessarily imply any doubt about what was just said.

The variants including yo and ne all express agreement with what the other person just said.

Note that the simple confirmation “sou desu” (or the informal “sou da” or “sou”) can be somewhat abrupt, and adding yo or ne (or both) is often more appropriate."

Japanese Adjectives and Copula (to be)

This site has been very useful for some basics to go over again.

On adjectives: http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/japanese-adjectives/
On the copula, desu: http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/the-copula-desu/

Notes on interesting points:


Copula -
- verbs are pretty much past and non-past, as there is really little distinction made between now and the future in Japanese. If the time period (now, in a week) isn't specified, it must be inferred.
- "As a side note, desu is believed to be a contraction of "de gozaimasu", which is now mainly used in keigo (honorific speech). At some point, the negative forms of gozaimasu were also replaced by the negative forms of arimasu."
- the topic of a sentence is often implied rather than stated.

And some more links on copula information:
http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/reference/grammar/conjugations-of-the-japanese-copula/

Japanese color notation

This information is collected from various sources, on color vocabulary.

This is a great source for information on colors, on why sometimes there is an 'i' at the end, and sometimes not. Why sometimes you use a 'no' between the color and the word it modifies, and sometimes you don't.

http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/colors-in-japanese/

Lots of very good information, and many color words. Worth exploring more.

Trivia on parental address in Japanese

Just a little forum posting:
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question62677.html

Noting some forms of address, and what you might use to refer to parents, but not address parents with.

Ordering food in Japan

Nice little blog post with a lot of information on phrases you will likely hear, or may be able to use, when ordering food in Japan. Looks useful!

http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/how-to-order-food-in-japanese/

Japanese Question words and this,that

Japanese
1-1-10

Who - 誰　= だれ

Ex. 'dare ga oyoide imasu ka' is asking who is swimming.
Answer: otokonohito ga oyoide imasu.

What - 何　なに  or なん

Nani can be used in numerous situations.

What is the thing doing something (verb specific) 'Nani ga hashitte imasu ka? - what is running?
Answer: Uma ga hashitte imasu. - the horse is running.
NOTE: if it's a person, which rather than what is used.

What is the someone doing (verb specific that clarifies something about the verb)? - Otokonohito wa nani wo kite imasu? What is the man wearing?

What is someone doing (not verb specific)? otokonohito wa Nani wo shite imasu  What is the man doing?

What is this X item? Kono tabemono wa nan desu ka? What is this food? Answer would, say, Pan desu (it's bread).

What color is something? Kono kuruma wa nani iro desu ka? What color is this car.
Answer can replace the 'nani iro' with the color. Kono kuruma wa akai desu. This car is red

How many of something (with counting words)? Can combine ’何’ (なん) with counting word plus 'か’ (maybe, not certain if this last is always necessary) to ask how many of a certain thing there is. Ex. Nan dai ka no kuruma (how many cars - think the ka is there). Nan tooka no uma (how many horses).

Where - どこ　

Where is someone? - Otokonohito wa doko ni imasu ka? Where is the man?
Answer would be the exact same, but replace doko with the place, like 'Otokonohito wa teeburu no shita ni imasu.  The man is under the table.
Or use words like here, there, etc... ex. Kuruma wa doko ni arimasu ka?  where is the car?
Answer: Koko ni arimasu. The car is here.
NOTE: it is imasu for people, but would be arimasu for non-people, like another kind of animal, a car, food

Which - どの or どちらの (latter seems more polite, I think? Or possibly with people?)

Used to ask about which one is of something. Possibly non-human usually?
Ex. Dono uma ga tobikoete imasu ka? Which horse is jumping over something?
Answer: Kono uma ga tobikoete imasu. This horse is jumping over something.
Ex. Dochira no kodomo ga gyuunyuu o nonde imasu ka? Otokonoko ga gyuunyuu o nonde imasu.
Which child is drinking milk? The boy is drinking milk.

Useful vocab words

Demonstrative Pronouns that refer to things. (This is big. That is small. That over there is medium sized.
Question word associated with this: どれ
This  -これ - Kore wa pink desu. This is pink.
That　それ Sore wa akai desu. That is red.
That (over there)　あれ Are wa kuroi desu. That over there is black.
NOTE: Referenced from speaker, so this is near speaker, that is near listener but away from speaker, and that over there is far from both of them. UNLESS the speaker and listener are close together, and then can sometimes be treated like one entity with speaker, and the 'that' is far from both of them too, and that over there is further away.

Demonstrative pronouns that refer to places. (Near speaker (here). Near listener (there). Far from both (over there). If speaker shares territory, then the here is near both, the there is away from both, and over there is far away from both.
Question word associated with this: どこ
here (sorta) - ここ
there (sorta) - そこ
there (farther away, sorta) - あそこ

More polite demonstrative pronouns that refer to places. (Near speaker (here). Near listener (there). Far from both (over there). If speaker shares territory, then the here is near both, the there is away from both, and over there is far away from both.
Question word associated with this (the more polite way to ask, kind of means 'which direction'): どちら
here (sorta) (or this direction) - こちら
there (sorta) - そちら
there (farther away, sorta) - あちら

NOTE: the phrase どちら has other meanings too.
どちら - can mean which one of something.
 'どちらの +noun' means 'both of the noun' so dochira no otokonohito would be both men.
So sometimes the answer for a dochira question IS dochira, too.
Also, can mean "who" (dochira-sama desu ka = who is it?


Demonstrative adjectives (This (noun) is big. That (noun) is small. That (noun) over there is small.)
Question word associated with this: どの
This - この - Kono kuruma wa akai desu. This car is red.
That - その Sono kuruma wa pinku desu. That car is pink.
That (over there) - あの Are kuruma wa api desu. That car over there is blue.

(good link describing these words and usage: http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/demonstrative-pronouns.html )

Rosetta Stone Japanese

Level 1- Unit 1 - lesson1 (1-1-1)

Notes to help me remember what I THINK I've learned.
Reminder: as this is Rosetta Stone, some of this may turn out to be wrong. It's more to help go over what's on the lesson than to preserve completely for future reference. Making words larger to help read the kanji characters

New words:
airplane - 飛行機
ball - ボール
boat - ボート
boy - 男の子
car - 車
elephant - 象
girl - 女の子
inside - 中
man -　男の人
on top of/above -　上

ride - 乗って

table -　テーブル
under/underneath - 下
woman -　女の人

Grammar notes:
--Above, inside, and underneath have  に    afterward. Denotes what they are, I think.

-- の  is after noun before the placement is given. Ex. 男の子の上にあるボール
I believe the translation would be something like 'the ball that's on top of a boy.' Only it's The boy (subject of this section) on top of (with regards to what is going on with the boy) that's (used for objects, I think) ball.

--I noticed that when it's a person and not an object, it's いる, not ある.

Japanese help

My goal:
Memorize at least 1000 kanji by the end of 2014
Finish Rosetta Stone Japanese, 2 levels, by end of 2014
Memorize another 1000 kanji by end of 2015


Help with starting out learning to read and speak japanese.

Reading help.
wanikani.com - a system for learning japanese radicals and then 2000 japanese kanji - $8 a month currently, with a system for repetition and mastery.  Very useful, so far, although the first couple of levels are slow. The website doesn't unlock new kanji or radicals until previous ones are mastered, and won't allow reviews for up to a certain time period, so it will take a couple of days to get to the kanji itself.  You sign up for the beta reader, then get a confirmation email, and then, sometimes a few hours later, you get the email with information on making the account.

If worked on daily, it supposedly takes 1 1/2 - 2 years to memorize the kanji in the program.

Textfugu.com - same group that does wanikani.com, but this one is on hiragana and more reading oriented, rather than just the kanji.

Hiragana chart -
http://www.textfugu.com/resources/hiragana-chart/

Drop and drag hiragana practice -
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html

practice with different hiragana and katakana fonts - I love this one for just straight on practicing -
http://www.realkana.com/hiragana/

Same thing, but practicing with kanji- just kanji, no sentences
http://www.realkanji.com

Pronunciation help using hiragana (helps to know it first):
http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/japanese-pronunciation/
(without the extra information and straight to the practice vidoes:
http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/japanese-pronunciation/3-5/#top )

Rosetta stone - useful, in my opinion, to use with these to help with pronunciation and getting a more instinctive feel for the grammar.