Language Learning Resources

Specific Genki Textbook Resources 

  1. Self-Study Room in Genki Online (Textbook Website)

    • This website contains online exercises based on the textbook series. It’s the official companion site with videos, drill materials, kana charts, flash cards, listening quizzes, and more — designed to support both Genki 1 & 2.

  2. Genki Alphabet Drills (Additional Support)

    • Various free Kana charts and practice apps (online hiragana/katakana charts with audio) are useful if you’re just starting out. These often feature in official Genki sites too.

  3. Tokini Andy (Online Tutorials and Genki Lessons)

    • Free video lessons that explain grammar structures and textbook examples, often lesson-by-lesson for Genki 1 & 2. A very popular supplementary explanation source among learners.

  4. Animated Kanji Videos for Genki I and II( by Japanese Studies, UBC Okanagan)

    • This website lists video manga incorporating mnemonics to help students learn the required kanji for that chapter in Genki series.

  5. Genki I and II Anki Deck (Online Flashcard Resource)

    • An online Anki Deck with all the Genki Vocabulary inside.

Speech Pattern Resources 

  1. Japanese Pronunciation Tutorial by UBC

    • This website is designed for self-directed learners who are interested in Japanese pronunciation. The sites tutorials consists of three modules: i) Japanese Basics, ii) Challenging Sounds, and iii) Japanese Intonation. Each module consists of a series of lessons, which are composed of instructional material, videos, and quizzes. Learners can proceed through the material at their own pace, watching each video and taking each quiz as many times as they wish.

  2. mykikitori (Genki Speech Practice)

    • This website contains listening practice similar to those for the listening comprehension exercises in the Genki workbook. The quizzes are not currently available, but there are some sentences available at the bottom of the page.

  3. Seize Japanese (Pitch Accent Teacher)

    • An online pitch accent teacher on Youtube, helps with pronunciation and rhythm of Japanese speech.

  4. Dogen’s Pronunciation Course (Online Pitch Accent Course)

    • Dogen Japanese Pitch Accent Course for intonation and accent understanding, very popular among Japanese independent learners.

Kanji Resources

  1. Kanji Koohii (Remembering The Kanji Resource and Kanji Mnemonic Creator)

    • Kanji Koohii is a community-powered kanji learning website built around one of the most effective memory techniques: mnemonics. Kanji Koohii is especially popular among learners using James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji, since the site follows the same order and provides a shared library of mnemonics for every character.

  2. Wani-Kani (SRS Kanji App)

    • Wani-Kani is a web-based Japanese learning platform designed to help you learn kanji and vocabulary efficiently using spaced repetition.

  3. Kanji alive by the University of Chicago

    • It is a web-based free kanji learning site.  “Genki” is one of the textbooks that it gives the search option.

  4. KANJI-Link: Learn Japanese more efficiently!

    • This site from Canada, offers various Japanese learning material for Japanese grammar, vocabulary, and Kanji, including videos and Japanese learning guide.  You can follow the site via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as well.  The same content is also available in French!

Other Online Language Learning

  1. Learn Japanese section by Tofugu

    • Tofugu is a Japanese language and culture blog site run by a group of Japanese native and non-native speakers.  It has a lot of materials useful for studying Japanese.  Do not miss Tofugu’s 100 Best Resources For Learning Japanese, a good collection of learning resources, and also try Guides section for various language learning and cultural guides.  It has YouTube videos as well.

  2. Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese: Learn Japanese

    • This is one of the most popular online Japanese learning sites, with a really good section of learning the Japanese grammar.  It also has a Facebook Group and YouTube channel.

  3. Uki Uki NihonGo!

    • This site allows you to learn Japanese language and culture with in a series of fun and simple lessons in videos.  It is run by  Japan Society in New York.

  4. eMinato by the Japan Foundation

    • This site provides you with online Japanese courses that are free of charge as well as supported by tutor with fee.

  5. MARUGOTO Plus by the Japan Foundation

    • This is a learning support website for the textbook series called “Marugoto: Japanese Language and Culture” by the Japan Foundation.  There are many learning materials that can be useful for the students who are using different textbooks.  There is also a companion site “MARUGOTO-NO-KOTOBA MARUGOTO Words” for learning vocabulary.

  6. Visualizing Japanese Grammar

    • This page provides links to 66 Flash animations of various grammatical structures in Japanese and 12 downloadable appendices on the Japanese Grammar.  Some terms used in the videos might not be familiar to you, but that should not affect to the usefulness of the videos.

  7. やさしい日本語 (Easy Japanese) by NHK World

    • Free Japanese lessons from Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).  You can download audio and text materials free.  They offer the same content in various languages other than English.

  8. http://www.japanesepod101.com/downloads/#free

    • This is a commercial site, but some contents are free.  You can download podcast lessons.

  9. NIHONGO eな  by the Japan Foundation

    • A website dedicated to introducing all kinds of websites and online tools useful for studying Japanese)

  10. アニメ・マンガの日本語  by the Japan Foundation

    • If you like Japanese “manga”, this may be a good site to check out.

  11. にほんごにゅうもん [NIHONGO STARTER, English version]  by the Japan Foundation and Japan Open Online Education Promotion Council

    • The website that was offered as Japan’s first “Massive Open Online Course” [MOOC] and any one can take the course from anywhere in the world for free.  They offer only the beginner level, but you may find them still useful.  Go to their facebook page for how to take their courses).

  12. Jisho.org (Japanese Dictionary)

    • Another online Japanese dictionary which is popular on the App Store. This site is also available online.

  13. Japanese Dictionary (Japanese Dictionary)

    • This online Japanese dictionary maintained by a group of enthusiasts in the Japanese culture and the Japanese language.  There is other information such as origin of some words.

  14. Kikusasaizu (Japanese Video Conversation)

    • Videos of simple Japanese conversations which are used to emulate classroom interactions! This site has characters which reflect Canadian and Japanese Culture

Language Exchange Sites

  1. The Mixxer by Dickinson College

    • It is a free educational website for language exchanges via Skype and absolutely free.  Although its focus is mainly on oral practice, you can also practice writing by posting your writing and receive corrections and feedback

  2. MyLanguageExchange.com

    • It helps you to find a language exchange partner.

  3. Italki

    • Online language exchange partner application. Finds teachers who speak foreign languages online.