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STUDYING JAPANESE

LANGUAGE LIVING IN JAPAN Studying in Japan Gaijin House

Japanese is considered a very difficult language to learn. Its grammar differs from the grammar of most other languages, and its writing system is one of the hardest to learn unless you are already familiar with Chinese characters. But besides the complicated writing system, the Japanese language is actually not such a difficult language. Compared to many European languages, its grammar is much simpler and the declinations and conjugations of verbs, nouns, and adjectives almost completely free of exceptions. The pronunciation is no big problem either, and Hiragana and Katakana, the two syllable based writing systems (about 100 signs), can be memorized easily and within a short period of time. One other major complicating factor, however, is the fact that persons of different age, position, and gender do not necessarily use the same expressions and words. Therefore, one cannot freely adopt the language by listening to conversations in everyday life. The single largest difficulty of the Japanese language are the kanji (Chinese characters): The number of kanji that one has to memorize in order to be able to read a Japanese text is huge. To understand the newspapers one should know about 2,000-3,000 kanji. The Japanese learn kanji during their whole school career. Many Japanese have problems by themselves to memorize them all. But even learning Kanji is not as impossible as it is generally considered. Soon after starting your Kanji studies you will get more familiar with certain concepts, recognize a system beyond all those strokes, and will progress quickly. There are many Japanese language schools in Japan. Most students come from other Asian countries and America. The fees are very high. Note that there is one more page in this guide for information about studying in Japan in general.

ONLINE COURSES Advice on learning Japanese (Konrad's Home Page) Useful advice for students of the Japanese language. Traveler's Japanese (NTT Home Page) Japanese course for travelers with sound examples. Beginner Level Japanese Course (Japan Central) A beginners course with sound examples. Easy Web Japanese (Home Page of Takaaki Sonobe) For learning basic Japanese conversation. Japanese online Japanese course: Speaking and writing. Japanese Language (JTA) Basic Japanese. Learn Japanese (Katsumi Yamada's H.P.) For beginners. STUDYING IN JAPAN Information of Japanese School A list of schools in Japan and further information. Japanese Language School Guide (Genji Scroll) A list of schools in Japan and further information on entering into and living in Japan. Japanese schools (WorldWide Classroom) A list of schools in Japan. Some with homepage. Guide to study in Japan Information for international students provided by the Association of international education, Japan (AIEJ). JAPANESE LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test ( University of London: SOAS) General information about the test. sci.lang.japan FAQ's Japanese proficiency test (Ben Bullock's home page) General information about the test. Japanese Proficiency Exam, Level 3 Grammar (Matt Hurst's Home Page) Description of the grammar requirements for the level 3 exam Japanese Language School Guide (Genji Scroll) A list of schools in Japan and further information on entering into and living in Japan.