Welcome to Basic Japanese Lessons. Come discover the ease of learning a language through extensive listening and the shadowing method. Explore the sample lessons (no sign-up required) to see if the it works for you.
Designed for maximum convenience, you will find all the information you need to understand the text and the nuances of the language at your fingertips with popup definitions, explanations and more.
Do you often find your mind wandering when you are studying a foreign language? Even though you have been in front of a book for an hour or so, how much time have you really been concentrating fully? If your are like me, probably not much. That was until I discovered the shadowing method. With the shadowing method, I was able to make the most of my study time and I soon found myself improving in many aspects: from pronunciation to comprehension.
For those who are looking for more advanced material try my other site: News in Slow Japanese. There’s lots of content, free and subscription based. Please check it out.
UNITS
LESSON 1: Introduction (FREE SAMPLE)
Konnichiha, watashi no namae ha, Izaberu desu. Watashi ha amerika shusshin desu. Watashi ha hatachi…
LESSON 2: My Home & Family
Watashi wa bosuton shusshin desu. Bosuton ni sunde imasu. Watashi no kazoku wa ikkenya ni…
LESSON 3: My Hobbies
Watashi wa iroiro na shumi ga arimasu. Ongaku o kiku koto ga suki desu. Saikin, J poppu o kiku no…
LESSON 4: My Room
Watashitachi no ie wa, nikaidate desu. Watashi no heya wa nikai ni arimasu. Watashi no heya wa chīsai kedo ki ni itte…
LESSON 5: My Teacher
Watashi no sensei wa Fujimoto sensei desu. Nihon no kōbe shusshin desu. Totemo subarashii sensei…
UNIT 1 REVIEW
Izaberu wa, bosuton no daigaku no sankaisei desu. Kanojo wa nihongo o benkyō shite imasu. Rainen no natsu, nihon…
GB 1: Sore, Kore and Are
Learn how the differences between sore, kore, and are and how to use them.
GB 2: arimasu & imasu
Get used to switching between arimasu and imasu. Also, learn to use them with koko, soko and asoko.
GB 3: Prepositions
Learn the basic prepositions of Japanese visually. In this lesson we learn: on, in, under, next to, in front of, behind and between.
GRAMMAR BOX 4
Coming soon!
GRAMMAR BOX 5
Coming soon!
C1: Asking for Someone's Name
Practicing greetings for meeting someone for the first time, plus how to ask for their name.
C2: Ask Someone's Nationality
Practice asking someone what country they come from.
C3: At the Supermarket
Asking where something is
C4: At a Kiosk
Asking where something is
C5: Asking If Something is Available
Asking if something is available
C6:
Coming soon!
Hiragana
Learn to properly write all of the hiragana with these work sheets.
Katakana
Learn to properly write all of the katakana with these work sheets.
PDF practice sheets for JLPT 5 Level Kanji. Each stroke is labeled and color coded to make it easy to practice the proper stroke order.
JLPT 5 Kanji Practice
JLPT 5 Kanji and Vocabulary Practice
一石二鳥 Two birds with one stone! Practice important JLPT vocabulary and kanji at the same time. Study these lists of JLPT 5 kanji combinations to solidify your grasp of the essential kanji and vocabulary for Level 5 of the JLPT.
I would like to learn japanese language, even though my grandmother was from japan, I don’t know this beautiful language.
Give it a try! 🙂
Hi. I’m looking for a good beginner level site for learning Japanese. I tried your demo for the beginner site and liked it a lot. I’ve been teaching myself the basics for about 3 months but it is a very slow process (I started with the Michel Thomas courses and am now using a Teach Yourself book). I need a site such as yours just to get practice using it, not only reading and listening, but writing and even speaking too! From what I see of the sample, your site would also be good for helping to learn basic vocabulary such as ‘tokei’ or ‘kokuban’, etc. Thanks, James
For some reason my attempt to reply disappeard. I will try again. I have looked for such a site too but have not found one. That is one reason i started BJL. I hope to develop it over the next year. Thanks to a lot of great feedback i am making lots of changes to it to make it easier to use–especially on smartphones.
Let me know if you find a good site too.
Good luck!
Many thanks for this! As a beginner this is totally useful. I can already read kana, so I appreciate exercises and vocabulary are in kana. I would advice you to keep the romaji at a minimum level, only if necessary, just the way you have been doing so far.
I didn’t know any prepositions and this was absurdly helpful! I can’t believe I already know 7 prepositions just by doing lesson 1.3 (taking barely 15 minutes). A time saver! I like that you focus on teaching how to say it instead of resorting to overwhelming grammar explanations like many sites do.
I strongly encourage you to keep on working on this. Seriously, these three lessons are so simple but they unlock a broader range of possibilities for any Japanese basic learner in no time. Had I known of this site before!
Thanks again, Sakura sensei!
Your comment really cheered me up. Your reaction was exactly what I was hoping for. I thoroughly agree with you about long grammar explanations. I think it’s best to just jump in and start practicing.
Good luck with your studies!
Hello!
Thanks for signing up. Right now, I have left some lessons open for people to explore for free, but eventually the site will be for pay. Unit 2 will be available for a small fee in a short while.
Thanks for checking the site out.
Regards,
Sakura
Hi! Love this site. Just to let you know, I couldn’t find the Grammer test. When I click on the ‘right’ arrow it took me back to the beginning. No problem, the materials were very easy to learn and there was lots of practice. Daijoubu deus.
These are great! Can i download to listen when I am not in wifi e.g. On the train? Thx!!! Sue
Great! Glad to hear you are enjoying them.
Well, I was going to release a Grammar Box next. But since you are making a request I will go ahead and release ‘University Cafeteria’ next. I will go through the final checks this week and release it on next Sunday.
I am just about to release a conversation tonight (Japan time).
Good luck with your Japanese studies!