Japanese Vocabulary QuickStudy Guide Review
こんにちは。My name is Fumito Emi, a Japanese teacher and the writer behind Reading-Japanese.com. When students ask me for a small, practical vocabulary reference they can keep beside their notebook, I often suggest looking at laminated guides—not as a…
All-in-One Japanese for Beginners Review: Is This 5-in-1 Book Really Worth Your Money?
Hello everyone, Fumito here again from reading-japanese.com 🙋♂️ Many of my student ask me same question this month: “Fumito-sensei, I saw this book on Amazon call All-in-One Japanese for Beginners, is it really 3 workbooks and 2 textbooks in one?…
A Complete Review of Genki Volume 1 (3rd Edition): Is It Still the Best Japanese Textbook?
Whether you are starting your Japanese learning journey from scratch or guiding new students through the basics, choosing the right foundational textbook is critical. Today, we’re taking a close look at the Genki Textbook Volume 1, 3rd edition —currently…
JLPT N5 Preparation Checklist: The Study Order That Actually Works (From Someone Who Made Every Mistake First)
Okay, I want to talk about a question that almost every beginner ask me, in comment section, in email, even one time a student ask me this in middle of unrelated lesson: “Emi-sensei, I know my hiragana already, so… what do I study…
The 214 traditional kanji radicals and their meanings
If you’ve ever stared at a kanji and thought I have no idea what this means and I never will — this article is going to change everything. The secret that most beginners miss isn’t vocabulary lists or grammar charts. It’s radicals. 214…
How to reconcile horse girls with kanji
So you fell down the Uma Musume rabbit hole. Maybe it started with the anime. Maybe it was the mobile game. Maybe someone sent you a clip of a cartoon racehorse girl crying after crossing the finish line and you thought, what is happening, and why…
JAPANESE CHARACTER DICTIONARY WITH PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH TRANSLATIONS
Welcome to your definitive guide to mastering basic Japanese characters and vocabulary. If you are a native speaker of Portuguese or Spanish, you possess a hidden advantage when learning Japanese: your phonetic system. The five pure vowels of Spanish and…
Learning Japanese with ADHD or Dyslexia (15 Tips)
If you have ADHD or dyslexia, and you are wondering whether you can really learn Japanese, I want to say this clearly, right at start: yes, you can. I know studying new language can feel intimidating when your brain works little differently than…
📝 100 Most Common Katakana Words
Hello, hello! Emi-sensei here. My English is little weak, so maybe I make mistake, but it is okay ne? You learn Katakana with me, and we enjoy together. Katakana is special writing system in Japanese. It use for foreign word, name, and sometimes sound…
100 Essential Hiragana Words Every Beginner Should Know (With Meanings)
When I first started teaching Japanese, one thing became clear very quickly: students don’t fall in love with hiragana because they memorized the chart. They fall in love with it the moment they realize they can actually read something — a word, a…