Japanese Resources Link Page
About
This is a wiki of useful resources for those translating from Japanese to English or for Japanese in general. Feel free to add a link that you think might be useful.
Introductory Pages
These pages are intended for someone starting out in Japanese
![[WWW]](/~zalas/AIR/wiki/AIRmodern/img/moin-www.png)
Teach Yourself Japanese - Teaches basic grammar and orthography effectively with detailed explanations and Java games. - http://www.timwerx.net/language/index.htm - Has some introductory grammar, vocabulary, etc.
Japanese Grammar
These pages are good for people interested in more detailed explanations of Japanese grammar
- A Logical Japanese Grammar - A very detailed explanation of Japanese grammar. You may want to familiarize yourself with the various terms used for parts of speech and verbal conjugation.
Online Dictionaries
General-Purpose Dictionaries
- Online Japanese to English and English to Japanese dictionary
kanji, hiragana, katakana, romaji lookup and keyboards
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Translates as you type, auto J<->E, with reverse lookup on mouse-over definitions
Add pop-up hints to Japanese web pages
Read Japanese RSS feeds
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Input:
- J->E requires Japanese input. J->J searches can be conducted with hiragana or Japanese.
Services:
- J->E, E->J, J->J
Commentary by the site's users:
- The J->J function is very useful, especially for terms not found in EDICT (zalas)
- This site is a slight spin-off of the Infoseek Daijirin site, which offers a broader range of services. However, do note that goo's J->J dictionary database is broader than Infoseek Daijirin's because it also includes the 「デイリー 新語辞典」dictionary. (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Japanese
Services:
- J->E, E->J
Commentary by the site's users:
- You can search for phrases here. Typing in, say 貴方, will give you a list of Japanese phrases that contain 貴方 and also their English translations. The translations can be a bit loose at times. (zalas)
- A very powerful site for expressions, but not for the faint of heart since the multiplicity of possible contexts/interpretations may bog down people who just want a simple list. For those of you who would like to pick out the definition that "clicks" from a sea of possibilities, this site can be a godsend at whee hours in the morning. Use this site with goo/Infoseek Daijirin's romaji input to help find the appropriate "Japanese" input. (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Japanese and romaji with ?/* wildcards
Services:
- J->E, E->J, Kanji, Particles, Names, Onomatopoeia
Commentary by the site's users:
- An English site that has Japanese dictionaries, including a good onomatopoeia (giongo/擬音語) dictionary. (zalas)
- Kenkyusha Online Dictionary (Note: Paid Site)
Input:
- Japanese, hiragana, and romaji
Services:
- J->E, E->J
Commentary by the site's users:
- Commercial service, costing about 500 yen/month. Searches about a dozen bilingual Kenkyusha dictionaries, including the famous 新和英大辞典 as well as specialist technical dictionaries; provides the best J->E results, if you can justify paying. The huge numbers of example sentences are a particularly useful feature, though they're not quite as esoteric as the 英辞郎 corpus at ALC. (Haeleth)
- Cross Language (formerly known as Nova)
Input:
- Japanese
Services:
- J->E, E->J
Commentary by the site's users:
- Similar to Monash, but with a less annoying interface imo. Less powerful than ALC for phrases and idioms, but more so than ALC for noun translations in various fields. Again, use in conjunction with Daijirin/goo to figure out the appropriate "Japanese" input for maximal utility. It's been showing signs of turning into a paid site, but for now, it's free (see Online Scientific Terms for a possible alternative). (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Japanese, English
Services:
- J->E, E->J
Commentary by the site's users:
- Similar again to goo and Infoseek. Yahoo!'s gimmick is that two full 国語辞典 are provided -- 大辞林 and 大辞泉 -- and the user can easily switch back and forth between them to compare definitions. They tend to be practically indistinguishable, but it's a nice thought. (Haeleth)
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Input:
- Japanese, English
Services:
- Kanji lookup
- http://www.gengokk.co.jp/thesaurus/tsearch_a.htm
Input:
- Japanese
Services:
- Thesaurus
Commentary by the site's users:
- Not really a dictionary, but I find a thesaurus to be useful at times. (zalas)
Specialized Dictionaries
- http://www.geocities.jp/tomomi965/index2.html
Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- Has 慣用句辞典, which is a good set of typical phrases people use.
- Name Index (Note: The database has been taken down for the foreseeable future due to copyright issues.)
Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- Has a good list of Japanese first and last names and their pronunciations, sorted from most common to least common.
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Input:
- Sorted by hiragana; search engine
Services:
- A fairly small but slowly growing collection of authoritative explanations of various tricky terms.
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Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- A list of terms from Japanese religions and their definitions in Japanese.
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Input:
- Sorted alphabetically
Services:
- An extensive list of musical terms
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Input:
- Japanese/English
Services:
- J->E/E->J for scientific terms.
Commentary by the site's users:
- A more specialized version of Cross Language that may cover more terms. (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- A Japanese dictionary of idiomatic phrases/expressions.
Commentary by the sites's users:
- The site is very extensive, but you must be able to read Japanese and know many kanji characters in order to make use of this site). (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- A Japanese dictionary of four-letter idioms.
Commentary by the site's users:
- Visitors must be able to read Japanese. A handy site to have on hand when you hear what might be a four-letter idiom in an episode, and want to start your quest for the meaning/kanji of a four-letter idiom before (tearfully) moving on to google. (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Sorted by hiragana/alphabetical order
Services:
- JAL's glossary of aviation terms.
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Input:
- Sorted by alphabetical order
Services:
- English glossary of terms related to Noh/Kyogen. The Japanese version is also accessible from the homepage.
- Yamaha Student Music Dictionary
Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- Dictionary of musical terms, along with English terms.
- Animation Creators Encyclopedia
Input:
- Sorted by hiragana
Services:
- Glossary of people in the Japanese Animation industry and how their names are read.
Commentary by the site's users:
- Useful for looking up names in production credits, provided you can at least guess their first letter and do a ctrl-F with the kanji on the appropriate page. Somewhat outdated, but has a nice list of the main players in the industry. (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Japanese
Services:
- Searchable database of things pertaining to the movie industry. Names frequently have furigana, though not always.
Commentary by the site's users:
- Useful for looking up names in production credits and finding the exact match (especially useful when there are many variants for the same kanji set), provided you can input the kanji characters. (runpsicat)
- 若者用語 (young people's language) dictionary
Input:
- Japanese
Services:
- Glossary of youth slang. Entries have dates attached, so you have some idea how recent each item is. Definitions are in Japanese.
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Input:
- sorted by 五十音
Services:
- Lists etymology of some words
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Input:
- sorted by 五十音
Services:
- Lists etymology of some words
- 日本語表現文型辞典 (Dictionary of Japanese Expressions)
Input:
- Sorted by 五十音
Services:
- Lists common expressions in Japanese
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Input:
- Japanese search (separate search page for each dialect); lists sorted by 五十音, but using a weird collation order.
Services:
- J-J only. Glossary for a large number of Japanese dialects.
Commentary by the site's users:
- My first stop when I'm faced with a dialect problem. You do have to know (or guess) which region the speaker is from, though. (Haeleth)
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Input:
- Thematic sections, otherwise largely unsorted
Services:
- Description of Kyoto dialect, comparison with Osaka dialect, and a good list of Kansai equivalents to standard words and grammar.
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Input:
- Japanese; sorted by 五十音
Services:
- A glossary of slang terms in Japanese.
Commentary by the site's users:
- Up-to-date listing of the slangs that tend to thwart us in "trendy" anime series. Some terms are listed with trivia; the site also crosslists synonyms/antonyms. (runpsicat)
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Input:
- Japanese; sorted by 五十音
Services:
- A list of terms you are likely to stumble upon in AV merchandise. Also has more general terms, like busukabu, heard in an anime. (kaens)
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Input:
- Japanese/English search
Services:
- A glossary of IT related terms and game characters
Commentary by the site's users:
- Seems to have lots of various dictionaries for things relating to IT, but also have stuff for looking up popular game characters. I found it by googling for Ryuuya. orz(zalas)
Software
- JWPce - An open source Japanese text editor. Has good dictionary look-up features.
- A JWPce patch - Contains a patch (and a modified executable) that lets you 'Paste As...' a certain encoding.
- NJStar - They have a Japanese word processor that is shareware.
- NihongoUp - A Japanese educational game and reviewing tool that can help one learn hiragana & katakana, improve your typing speed, review JLPT kanji, vocabulary & grammar in context.
Forums
- MO's Board - Ask questions there if you are having problems translating a tough phrase or sentence in Japanese.
- Translation board at Romhacking.net - similar to MO's board, but with a wider focus and a different style.
- Japanese board@animelyrics - Another suitable place for Japanese questions; has more native speakers than the previous two, but less specialist knowledge.
- sci.lang.japan - The Usenet option. More tolerant of popular culture than it used to be, but still a scary place.
Link Sites
- http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/japanese/japanese.htm - A HUGE Japanese language links page.
- Jim Breen's Japanese Page - Provides a lot of links for useful Japanese resources.
- The Honyaku ML - The mailing list itself is mostly used by specialist professionals, but the list's homepage has a lot of useful information and links.