Are you interested in learning Japanese? Well, the Library can help! Here's an overview of Japanese, followed by a list of links and books in the NYPL catalog that can help you learn the language. 

An overview of Japanese

There are three writing systems in Japanese: There is kanji, which are characters borrowed from the Chinese language. There are over a thousand kanji characters and this system takes the most time to learn. Next is hiragana, which is used just for Japanese words, and then katakana, used to write foreign words. Both hiragana and katakana have about 46 characters, based on the syllables in the Japanese language—compared to the thousands of kanji, many people start by learning those alphabets first.

Once you know both hiragana and katakana, you can start reading some board or picture books. To make life a bit easier, a lot of these books and guides use or start with roomaji—a romanized version of the letters, intended to help teach you Japanese phonetically. However, if you want to become fluent, literacy is key in the long run.

Grammar-wise, unlike the English structure of subject-verb-object ("I eat apples"), Japanese uses subject-object-verb ("I apples eat"). Another potential obstacle is the verb conjugation, which can also vary based on politeness factors. There are also counter words, or different ways of counting certain things as well (counting people is different than counting a number of books).  

On the positive side, there is no gender in Japanese as compared to the romance languages such as Spanish and Italian. Instead, you have language particles that indicate which word is the subject, which is the object, and so on. 

No matter what your reason is for learning Japanese—anime, the food, the culture—despite the challenges involved, these resources should be able to help you in your quest.

Learning Japanese: books

Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese by Eri Banno

This was the textbook I used when taking Japanese in college. After you have completed both volumes of this series, you should have a definite fundamental understanding of basic Japanese. You will have to learn hiragana and katakana for the majority of chapters though, but the investment is worth it.

Japanese Katakana for Beginners by Timothy Stout 

This book is useful for those wanting to learn their hiragana and katakana. There are some names that are translated into Japanese, and mnemonics for each character to help you learn. You should be able to write your own name in Japanese when finished.

 

 

 

Japanese for Busy People. 1 by Kodansha International 

This is useful if you want to jump in and get started learning grammar, but are still struggling to learn the different kanas. Japanese for Busy People goes over some basic grammar and the different verb conjugations, which are essential. It also includes answers in the back, so you can quiz yourself.

 

 

 

Essential Japanese Kanji by Tuttle Publishing

This book is wonderful for learning kanjii, showing how each character particularly evolved from its pictograph version, and more. It also shows how each is written, and vocabulary that uses that kanji.

 

 

 

Easy Japanese Step-by-Step by Gene Nishi 

This book is unique because it offers translations with both the romanized version and the written Japanese version of sentences. It also includes a lot of grammar, with various sentence examples to learn from.

 

 

Intermediate Japanese: Your Pathway to Dynamic Language Acquisition  by  Michael Kluemper 

Once you have mastered all the other books and are ready for the next step, Intermediate Japanese is key. The book comes with cultural notes, and teaches some kanji and mnemonics to help you remember.

While most textbooks have a dialogue to read at the beginning of each chapter, this one has a twist, putting the dialogue in comic book (or manga) format, so it feels like you are reading an actual Japanese manga.
 

Learning Japanese: websites

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese has been the go-to for Japanese language learners for years. This is a comprehensive guide that should enable you to know a lot of core concepts of Japanese grammar.

Imabi is remarkable site that not only covers the basics, but also goes above and beyond with a guide to classical Japanese, even covering Okinawan!

Maggie-Sensei is fun, with lessons given in both Japanese characters and roomaji. Plus, there’s cute pictures of animals!

Erin’s Challenge has many videos that can help one get into the Japanese culture. These are ideal because they have options to read in Japanese with kanji, the kana only, roomaji, and English. This is recommended for anyone who wants to work on their reading and listening skills.

Jisho is a a resourceful dictionary. If you have a kanji you are not sure about, you can even draw to figure it out.

Mango Languages, offered by the Library, can help you start learning Japanese, and other languages if you are interested.

Duolingo offers a nice beginner’s course in Japanese. If you’ve used Duolingo before, this is definitely ideal. You can even join a club and compete with others in your learning journey.

Memrise offers something for everybody. You can start with the courses created by Memrise, which are decent as they have a version with the writing system and a version with roomaji. If you are too advanced for that, you can take other user-created courses instead.

Children's books

Once you have mastered hiragana and katakana, and know some grammar, these books will make you feel proficient at Japanese. These are also useful if you are trying to teach your child Japanese as well.

ももも is the peach book. If you are trying to at least read one book, this is as basic as it gets.  

バナーナ!  is a favorite with Mosholu staff! Bana-a-na, doko doko? Koko da yo! If you are planning on doing a read-aloud or storytime, this book is very fun!

いただきますあそび is a cute book about various characters eating some delicious food. It is a lift-the-flap, and also makes for a good read-aloud book too.  

あかいのあつまれ is another short and simple board book that teaches you the names for some fruits and veggies.

ミッフィーのたべものなあに is another board book that teaches some vocabulary for fruits and veggies.

これなあに can only be described as cute, with lots of food one would typically see in a Japanese bento box.

10分で読める名作. 一年生 is part of a level-graded series the Library has for different grades, including 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades (and more). This particular book is meant for first graders, which can be a good place to start—then, work your way up to higher grades. Each book includes different short stories for you to practice and learn some new vocabulary.

斎藤孝のイッキによめる!音読名作選 : 小学2年生 is another graded reader series with all sorts of short stories for you to grow in your Japanese language studies.