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JA 221 Japanese Skill Maintenance

Interim Interdisciplinary Programs Liaison Librarian

Library Resource Guide

Professor Paul Maruyama, Block 5 (Spring 2011)

Your Assignment

One of your assignments is to make an iMovie. If you don’t have a Mac, Tutt Library has a Mac lab in the North Basement and Mac laptops available for check out at the Circulation Desk. Plus, the CAT Lab also has Macs and student assistants available to help you with your project. All of the computers come equipped with iMovie and Garage Band (audio) software.

iMovie Resources

Here are some sites that offer tutorials on how to make an iMovie:

These resources offer copyright-free images and audio that you can use in your iMovie:

Getting Started

Tutt Library has print and online resources that can enhance your study of Japanese. For instance, encyclopedias can give you succinct, reliable overviews about Japanese history, politics, culture, and art. Here are some places to start, and you can find more books using the Tutt Library TIGER catalog:

A Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Oriental Arts (Reference N7262 .P5)

Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Literature (Reference PL723 .H58)

The Cambridge History of Japan (Reference DS835.C36 1988)

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture (Reference DS822.5 .E516 2002)

Handbook of Japanese Mythology (Reference BL2203 .A86 2003)

Japan Encyclopedia (Reference DS821 .F73 2002)

Finding Books

TIGER Catalog

The fastest way to find books is to search the TIGER catalog by keyword or subject:

Search TIGER for

When searching, think in broad strokes. You may not find entire books on the specific subject you’re interested in, but if you combine terms with the name of a country, you will have better luck. For more search tips, visit Advanced Keyword Search and Ten TIGER Catalog Tips.

Browsing

Books about Japanese language and literature are assigned call numbers that begin with PL:

Books about Japanese religion, history, art, and cinema have the following call numbers:

Finding Journal Articles

Tutt Library has a variety of journals about Japan (some in paper, some online). For a full list, search Find Journals using japan* as a term and limit the search to title contains. Here’s a sample of some of the journals:

Japan Forum
Japan Quarterly
Japan Spotlight: Economy, Culture & History
Japan Times
Japanese Studies
Japanese World

You can also search for journal articles in our Japanese Language and Literature databases.

Language Resources

In addition to our trial subscription to Mango Languages, Tutt Library has dictionaries as well as language self-study books, movies, and music. There’s also a wealth of useful resources online.

Making Your Computer Japanese Capable

Christopher Bolton’s Japanese for Your Mac Aimed at students, teachers, and general users who want to read and write, etc., in Japanese. Includes information on activating Japanese support globally in Mac OS, as well as specific tasks and applications, such as e-mail, web browsing, dictionary software, etc.

Japanese Input on Windows XP Covers how to setup Japanese in Windows XP Pro, including handwritten kanji recognition and making Japanese the default language.

Installing and Typing Japanese on Vista / Windows 7 Visual guide describes how to set region and language options, add a Japanese keyboard, and type in Japanese.

Dictionaries

Online

Denshi Jisho Displays Japanese character equivalents with stroke order, sample sentences, Kanji details, and external links.

Kanji Networks Easy-to-navigate etymology dictionary includes a stroke index, list of word families, and daily quiz.

English Japanese Online Dictionary Free dictionary has 10,000 words (fee-based 21,000) plus audio podcasts, crossword puzzles, Japanese pronunciation, and more.

Print

501 Japanese Verbs (Reference PL585 .L3 1998)

Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns (Reference PL619 .C49 2000)

Kanji & Kana: A Handbook and Dictionary of the Japanese Writing System (Reference PL679 .H28)

The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary (Reference PL679 .H33 1997)

A Reference Grammar of Japanese (Reference PL533 .M28 2004)

Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana

Kanji

Japanese Word of the Day Word of the day appears in Kanji, Kana, Romaji, and English.

Kanji Alive (University of Chicago) Tool for helping beginner- and intermediate-level Japanese language learners to read and write kanji.

Kanji in Mangaland (North Basement PL528 .B47 2007)

Kanji Practice (Dartmouth University) Designed to help learners master reading and writing. Each kanji character has a brushstroke image, video clip showing stroke order, and sample sentences with audio clips. Includes print variations and English translations.

Kanji Site Choose from kanji, hiragara, or katakana. Each lesson or “batch” has 30 characters. Click on a character, and you’ll see its meaning, level/grade, and sample uses. Site also has random testing for evaluating your progress.

Mainichi Kanji Japanese character of the day.

Speedanki.com Flashcards for practicing Kanji.

Hirigana and Katakana

Adventures in Japanese (Third Floor Curriculum PL540 .P479 1998)

Hirigana Katakana Game If you beat the clock by picking the pair of hiragana and katakana that share pronunciation, you’ll advance to the next round.

Japanese: The Written Language (North Basement PL528 .J59 2006)

Learn Hirigana-Katakana.com Games for learning and practicing alphabets, numbers, and vocabulary.

Real Kana Practice by selecting characters and typing in the English-language equivalent.

Self-Study Tools

Japanese (About.com) Tour guide Namiko Abe offers resources for learning Japanese that range from lessons and audio files to quizzes and a language blog.

Japanese Language Learning Resources Links to websites for learning Japanese. Categories include Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana, speaking, listening, reading, grammar, and vocabulary.

Japanese Online These simple, easy-to-use lessons show character sentences with their English transliteration for practicing pronunciation. Site also has audio files, vocabulary and grammar lessons, and practice drills.

The Japanese Page This user-friendly site offers lessons, audio ebooks with printed transcripts, quizzes, fun stuff, and community forums.

Learn Japanese A well-structured site that covers the bases for studying Japanese. Among the resources are down-loadable character charts, lessons and reviews (vocabulary, grammar, writing), and songs.

Mango Languages Mango is a language learning program that teaches practical conversation and cultural awareness for several dozen languages. Courses are all online and self-paced. Tutt Library’s trial subscription runs through February 28, 2011.

NHK World These Japanese lessons from the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, which have audio files and pdf textbooks, can be downloaded onto MP3 players.

Nihongo E Na: Portal for Learning Japanese Collection of websites and online tools for learning Japanese. You can search for sites by area of interest, such as grammar, writing, reading, etc.

Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese This straight-forward guide focuses on Japanese grammar.

Movies and Videos

Tutt Library has Japanese DVDs and videos ranging from classics like Rashomon to the recent hit Shall We Dance. The easiest way to find movies is by searching TIGER using the Find Videos search option, which will also let you limit your results by language.

You can also find Japanese-language videos at these sites:

Crunchy Roll Anime and drama site.

Nico Nico Douga Popular site for sharing videos.

Japanese YouTube Japan’s platform of the video-sharing website.

Music, Podcasts, and Audio Books

Seay Library has music from around the world. Try searching the catalog using japan* as a keyword search. You can also search for international music using the Music Online database, which offers live streaming:

Music Online
Coverage: N/A
Music Online is the broadest and most comprehensive online music resource that cross-searches all of your library's Alexander Street Press music databases. CC subscribes to 6 streamed-audio databases; you can search these (American Song, Classical Music Library, Contemporary World Music, Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online, Jazz Music Library, Smithsonian Global Sound for Libaries) all at once using this tool.

You’ll find more music, podcasts, and audio books at these websites:

iTunes at the Japanese Apple Website Access to music and audio from Japan.

Japanese Real (Audio) Guide Site provides Japanese music and more.

Nihongo.fm Nihongo.fm Radio plays Japanese words, phrases, and expressions for improving listening comprehension, speaking, and vocabulary building.

News and Media

Asahi Shimbun (English | Japanese)

Hokkoku Shimbun

The Japan Times

Japanese Language News and Magazines (MIT)

Kidon Media Link

Kyoto Shimbun

Mainichi Daily News (English | Japanese)

Nikkei Net (English | Japanese)

The Okinawa Times

Tokyo Broadcasting System

Aggregate Websites

Japan Information Network Covers travel, fashion, entertainment, and anime, with links to news and travel sites.

Japanorama Collection of links to sites for business, government, culture, and more.

Jim Breen’s Japanese Page (Monash University) Huge site of links to everything Japanese. Includes computing in Japan, software, literature, dictionaries, and educational resources, to name a few.

Research Help

Contact the Reference Desk, 9 a.m. – 10 p.m., x6662, IM=tuttlibrarian

Contact Daryl Alder, Interim Interdisciplinary Programs Librarian, x6669, Tutt Library 201
dlindsay-alder@coloradocollege.edu, IM=tuttalder

Hours

Today: 10:00am-5:00pm

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