Useful programs/links/books/etc
I'll name some resources that I consider particularly valuable.
I'll be happy if other people post their suggestions, too.
Most people probably know of these resources already, but in case some slipped from your attention, here they are.
Programs:
(PC):
1. Firefox + rikaichan -- absolutely invaluable. inline dictionary, kanji dictionary, etc -- it's that good. Now with an optional J-R dictionary.
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/
2. Yarxi -- a very good Russian kanji dictionary
http://www.susi.ru/yarxi/
3. JWPce -- a text editor+a nice dictionary interface+a converter between different file formats. You need this, even if not for word processing (Windows native IME is far better).
http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html
(Palm OS):
4. Twinkle -- a great, free flashcard program.
http://twinkle.sourceforge.net/
5. PADict -- a portable dictionary that includes pretty good handwritten kanji recognition. It is being actively developed now.
http://padict.sourceforge.net/
Websites:
1. Jim Breen's WWWJDIC:
- Words lookup (thanks, ST):
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi- ... dic.cgi?1C
- Example search:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi- ... dic.cgi?10
2. http://www.alc.co.jp/
3. Reading tutor: http://language.tiu.ac.jp/tools_e.html
4. If you are following Heisig, you *absolutely* have to check out http://kanji.koohii.com/ .
5. of course, http://www.guidetojapanese.org/
6. And finally probably the best collection of all things, like grammar explanations, kanji info, etc:
http://www.yookoso.com/
you'll find a lot more links there. I also like their mailing lists.
A few other sites that you may or may not find useful:
7. A useful little site with audio, transcripts and vocabulary: http://www.njuku.com/
8. A full text translator that seems to work better than others (thx. ST): http://translation.infoseek.co.jp/
9. this is something that I just recently came across, but it seems to have a few nice features:
http://www.wordchamp.com/lingua2/Home.do
it has a website reading feature similar to that of rikaichan and a flashcard system that works surprisingly well. It has a few shortcomings too, though.
10. I haven't used this one in a while, but it is also an interesting resource for learning kanji:
http://www.kanjicafe.com/
Books:
1. Textbook -- probably Nakama by Makino. Also Situational Functional Japanese, but it is more suited for a classroom rather than an individual learner.
Frankly, I have not gone much into either one but I've browsed through quite a few so far, and these looked best.
2. Reading the Kanji by Heisig, another must have. It works. You can browse a part of it online for free. Industrious Russians will find it all, although it's definitely worth its' price.
3. As I've already mentioned a few times, Japanese the Manga Way by Lammers -- it's a better reference than most references, and a better textbook than most textbooks. I wouldn't recommend it as the only resource of course, but...
4. Kanji in Context
http://www.iucjapan.org/html/text_e.html
Extremely helpful, the best possible thing out there to increase your vocabulary and improve your kanji knowledge. It's probably best to start with other materials, and a bit later to add this one, as it assumes some kanji knowledge, and it works better if you already know the kanji from something like Heisig.
6. "Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar": Kaiser, Ishikawa, Kobayashi and Yamamoto. A nice book, with quite a few examples. A lot of people also mention the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and the Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese grammar, but I so far have not found them too important, plus they are kinda expensive, and you really need to have both since they share the same index. Again, some people might come across some of these on the internet.
6. And I'd also mention Miura's Japanese Words and Their Uses, and also The Complete Japanese Verb Guide:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804834245
7. I also have NTC's New Character Dictionary -- it can be bought quite cheap used (in US, but even shipped to Russia it shouldn't be too much -- I got it for $12 from Amazon, not bad for a 2000-page book). It's nice, especially when you need to know things like what's the difference between 聞く and 聴く, etc.
