With over 130 million native speakers and a rapidly growing number of non-native speakers Japanese is the 10th most spoken and clearly one of the world’s major languages. NihongoUp has all of the tools you need to master the language, and use Japanese to communicate with millions of people around the world.

According to Michael Thomas who has taught celebrities such as Emma Thompson and Woody Allen, those who learn a foreign language are richer, happier and sexier than those who can only speak English! But why learn Japanese and not some other language?

Business

If you are ready to broaden your commercial horizons and try your luck in Asia, the opportunities will be endless.

“When a Japanese manufacturer was asked by his North American counterpart, “What is the best language in which to do business?” the man responded: “My customer’s language.”
— LEONARD I. SWEER

Japan is in the top three largest economies in the world, some of the best known and most influential companies are based in Japan, and the Japanese spend billions of dollars every year on imports. Learn Japanese and get a better understanding of the Asian market.

Culture

Japan has undoubtedly one of the longest and most interesting histories. The knowledge of the Japanese language will give you access to endless historical, philosophical and theological resources as well as an incredible library of literary and cinematic works, only a fraction of which have been translated into English.

Spending even one week in Japan will make you fall in love with Japanese food, and the pop-culture such as J-Pop, manga and Animé is for many a compelling reason to get to grips with the language.

Education

There are more universities in Tōkyō than in the whole of France and Japan has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. The high level of colleges in Japan is known all over the world and in several rankings the country’s educational institutions are ranked among the top.

If you are still deciding about where to continue your studies you should definitely consider what Japan has to offer. If nothing else, having a second language (particularly an Asian one) is regarded very highly by university entrance tutors and employers, even for work or academia that is not directly related to the language.

Information

Japanese-speakers are the third largest language group on the internet after English and Chinese. Japanese researchers are behind some of the major discoveries in the recent times and nearly half a million patent applications filed every year. Japanese language can give you access to infinite sources of world knowledge as well as many valuable contacts.

Friendship

It is often reported that Japanese people are amongst the most friendly, welcoming and caring people in the world, and make great friends to have. Conversing with Japanese people in their mother tongue when you visit the country is such a rewarding thing to do, and internet communications mean that even if you don’t live in Japan you can still keep in contact.

While one can learn Japanese just for the sake of it, it rarely leads to good results. You need to set a specific goal which would benefit from the knowledge of the language. It can be anything—a dream of studying in Japan, understanding anime & manga, or even meeting a Japanese girlfriend—, what’s important is that you believe and stick to it on the way to master the language.

There is a common misconception, supported by both western and Japanese media, that the Japanese language is impossible for a foreigner to learn. It is not an easy language to master, but the difficulty of learning to use the language on an intermediate level are comparable, if not easier, to others.

Japanese grammar has close to no exceptions, the pronunciation—while new to the anglophone ear—is actually very simple compared to English, and the unusual Japanese writing system is much more logical and useful than it is commonly believed.

Enjoy the trip!

When you’re learning a language, more than anything, it is crucial not to over-concentrate on the target, and instead, try to enjoy every moment on your way there. Although we’ve made sure that we have a clear reason why we are learning the language, we must teach ourselves to enjoy the process.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”
— LAO TZU

You must always be ready to adapt yourself to your current needs and abilities, as well as accord enough time to each and every person and piece of information you’ll meet on your path.

When learning Japanese, try and think of every possible way you can integrate it into your life.

If your mobile phone or MP3 player has the option to change the language to Japanese, you should do so when you feel comfortable.

Think about how some of the NihongoUp mobile apps can help you study when you are on-the-go, and consider ordering a Japanese bundle to ensure that your study area is surrounded by inspirational and motivational things.

NihongoUp is the product of many years of research and many late nights’ work. We have done everything we can to give you the information, reviewing tools and search tools you need to master Japanese. However, we can only do so much of the work for you (trust us, we love Japanese so much if we could do your vocab practice for you, we would!)

What you are reading is Chapter One of a never-ending textbook. We say never-ending as we are constantly adding new bits to the website, developing new tools and generally making things better. There are people dotted all across the world working on NihongoUp, from professional native authors and proof-readers to our voice artists and illustrators. However, there are two main people who we think you should get to know first:

Philip Seyfi

English, Russian, Czech, French, German, Japanese, Spanish
Hi, I’m Philip, and it was me who started NihongoUp back in 2009 when I developed the award-winning Japanese learning game. I work night and day ensuring the site is speedy, easy-to-use and beautiful. Drop me an email if anything’s the matter — [email protected]

Ollie Capehorn

English, French, Japanese, Italian
Hi, I’m Ollie, and I’ve been working with Philip since 2010, fresh after representing the UK in a Japanese speech competition in Tōkyō. You’ll see me about the forums and occasionally writing blog posts. If you’re ever stuck on a lesson, I’d be more than happy to help — [email protected]

We’d strongly encourage you to some folders and a pad of paper dedicated to your Japanese learning. In the folder you can keep our worksheets, cheat sheets and lesson notes. It’ll be so motivating to see your progress grow!

If you ever see a sentence that you think is useful to you, or a grammar explanation that you particularly like—make a point of writing it down. They only way that you can ever really get used to the language is to practice, review and use it.

The best way to do this is by writing down all you can (especially whilst listening to our audio packs), using our worksheets to practice and master your vocabulary, and using our online reviewing tools to cement all that you have learned.

If ever you are unsure of a word, unsure how to write a kanji or need a refresher on a grammar point, head to Lookup and get the answers that you need! If there’s anything that you just don’t get, go and ask the community at the Japanese forum—there are plenty of people who’d be happy to help!

The last thing that we’d really encourage you to do is create a learning journal. The NihongoUp users who have done this have reported on how after you start learning Japanese.

It is very important that you share your progress with your friends & family, explain others the basics of the language, and justify your decision to learn it. Not only will it motivate you and give you one more reason not to stop learning, but you’ll also have the opportunity to repeat what you’ve learned, and as we all know, repetition is the mother of knowledge. You could also start a blog and share your achievements on social networks.

NihongoUp is so much more than a regular textbook. We’ve done our best to use the online nature of our product to its full potential and integrated as much interactivity as possible. Here are some of the unique features you’ll come across on the website:

Progress dashboard

The starting point of your daily learning sessions is the Dashboard. It is a special page that reminds you of your latest achievements, presents your current progress, and lets you know about the latest blog and forum posts. From here, you can navigate to almost every section of the site, including the last lesson you’ve been going through, with a single click.

Built in dictionary

Every time we use a Japanese word, or an uncommon English word, you can simply roll your mouse over it to reveal its definition. Try it with the word lexical, which appears in this sentence. Better still, it even works for words written in 日本語.

Pronunciation audio

All example sentences and vocabulary items at NihongoUp have native pronunciation audio. Recorded by the Japanese reggae singer Masako ‘machaco’ Okazaki, they will help you sound like a real Japanese in no time. Head to our Review section, and you can download special dual-language audio packs for use when on-the-go.

Useful info boxes

When there’s something particularly important, or just interesting, we’ll put it in a special box.

The boxes are colour coded according to their function (housekeeping tips, cultural trivia, etc.) Rather than bore you with the details, just note that when you see a box it may be worth taking note of what it says!

Tests and quizzes

We’re all for using traditional paper and sticky notes, but let’s face it—online flashcards and quizzes are the way of the future.

At the end of each chapter you will be presented with a short time-limited test. Don’t be afraid if you’ll find them to be too tricky in the beginning! These are not meant for review of what you’ve learned, but rather to assess how we’ll you’ve remembered it.

You should therefore only take the test once you’re sure that you’re happy with all of the information presented in that chapter. Once, you pass the end-of-chapter test, you can be sure that the all the new information did not just go through one ear and out the other.

When you’ll want to review new kanji and vocabulary, you don’t have to go to any other website. Simply head over to our Review section and try some of the powerful online SRS quizzes which will track your progress and progressively present you with new items to learn. Once you are done, we’ll tell you exactly how many pieces of vocabulary you know!

Learning on-the-go

Any modern web-browser will run NihongoUp, but some features may require additional plugins such as Flash for videos and games. Your NihongoUp account allows you to access all of the content at work, on your phone or at a friend’s house, and your progress and statistics will be carried with you wherever you go. Additionally, we have a great series of Japanese learning apps for every major desktop or mobile operating system.

We know how frustrating it is to go through countless boring dialogues which sound nothing like the real deal and don’t even try to follow a single story-line. Every Chapter features a handful of great dialogues that are written to reflect what would actually be said in Japan, not just what is easiest to teach. Therefore, don’t worry too much if you don’t understand the whole dialogue at first, as you’re just not meant to.

The chapters are based around different topics and day-to-day situations. As you go through the textbook, you will meet many different characters, some of which are introduced below:

Tom

English, 20

Tom who is originally from the English countryside county of Gloucestershire is studying a 4 years course in robotics at the HAL college in Tōkyō. During his stay he lives in a Japanese host family which he found through his Russian friend Alsou, who is currently married to Hikari’s brother and living in Sapporo.

Hikari

Japanese, 19

ひかり attends Waseda University where she is specializing in English so she can pursue her dream job of becoming an air hostess. She has a younger sister Kiriko and an older brother Ryou. She lives together with her parents and her younger sister.

Lynda

English, 43

Lynda is Tom’s mother and a lawyer. She lives in Bristol, sometime visits Tom whilst he is living Japan and tries desperately hard to pick up the odd piece of vocabulary.

Peter

English, 44

Peter is Tom’s father. He is divorced from Lynda and lives in San Francisco where he manages a small internet startup. He approves of Tom’s endeavor but can’t find the time to visit him.

Kiriko

Japanese, 14

きりこ is Hikari’s younger sister and a Middle School student in 芦屋

Ryō

Japanese, 28

りょう is Hikari’s older brother, a salaryman. He works for a company exporting Japanese food worldwide.

Alsou

Russian/Tatar, 26

Alsou is Tom’s friend married to Ryō with whom she lives in Ōsaka. She is relatively small, has red hair and blue eyes. They have a baby called Kenta.

Kenta

Japanese/English, 1

けんた is Alsou and Ryō’s baby. He is 1 year old.

Natsuki

Japanese, 46

夏木 is Hikari’s mother, a housewife who’s interests include flower arranging and sewing.

Hiroshi

Japanese, 48

ひろし is Hikari’s father. He is a senior police officer.

Tomoko

Ainu/Japanese, 69

ともこ is Hikari’s grandmother. She lives with Yoshio in Shirakawa, Gifu.

Yoshio

Japanese, 73

よしお is Hikari’s grandfather. He’s originally from Kōbe and speaks a strong kansai-ben.

Ren

Japanese, 55

漣 is Ryō’s boss. He’s very strict and a true workaholic but has a kind heart and loves to have some fun in the little free time he manages to set aside.

Masahito

Japanese, 37

雅仁 is Hikari and Tom’s ballroom dance teacher. He’s very suave and likes to play go in his spare time.

At the end of each chapter you’ll arrive at a section called Cake. This is your time to take a break, sip on some お茶 and review all that you have learned in the chapter. NihongoUp chapters, especially when you progress to Level 2 and above, are quite involved, with many complex ideas introduced in each section. It’s important to consolidate and review what you have learned before moving on, as generally we assume that you more or less know what was introduced in previous sections.

You’ll find tips on what you should do before you move on and also a film recommendation that’s relevant to the chapter that you have just read that you may wish to watch. The related content section will point you to other places both at NihongoUp and more that will allow you to build upon the skills that you have just learned and practice and review what’s currently in your short-term memory.

Lastly, in recognition of the fact that YouTube is full of fun, odd and humorous output from Japan, we include a video for you to watch. You deserve a bit of a relax after having learned so much Japanese. Here’s a dog catching a ball.

When you’ve had enough rest, it might be a good idea to head to the next page and take the test to mark the chapter as complete.