Free Workbooks & Worksheets for 34 Languages

If you’re looking to practice a bit and remember your target language better… here are tons of free worksheets/workbooks for 34 languages (Japanese, Spanish, Korean, French, German, Italian, etc, etc.)

It’s the same type of “fill in the blank” workbook across all of their languages but the magic in actually rewriting things over and over is that the words end up sticking. Plus, there are English sections where you’ll have to force yourself to remember and write the word/phrase in the target language - which is even better for your memory (called active recall - forcing yourself to remember).  I’m personally a big fan of this approach and I’d do similar to pass vocab quizzes in my HS & uni language classes.

If you’re interested, give these a go.

It’s here! Just a couple days ago, I finally got the last Japanese Grammar dictionary: A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar. I cannot stress enough how helpful it is to have these dictionaries around. Each dictionary has around 200 grammar points for a total of 600. There are detailed explanations, example sentences, and related grammar. You are also able to look up grammar based on its English equivalent, which is nice if you’re stuck on how you want to say a particular thing.

My only issue with these was that different nuances between similar grammar are often not explained. The Kanzen Master grammar book (I’m using N2) does a good job explaining the subtle nuances between similar grammar points, but the dictionary is also good for explaining when to use specific variations of a grammar point, which otherwise is not often covered in the Kanzen Master grammar book. 

Although a little pricey ($40-$50 US), these dictionaries are definitely worth it for anyone wanting to study Japanese and make sense of grammar. They’re also good references for not only when you’re studying but watching or reading media in Japanese.

These are from Amazon, but you can also find these at White Rabbit, eBay, or Amazon Japan (if you live in Japan). I bought most of mine from eBay, since it was a few dollars cheaper.

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar

Introducing Language Printables

My boyfriend and I are trying to save up so we can rent a new place and get married, so we have been working hard on a new project: Japanese Learning Printables, which we’re selling on Etsy. He’s a professional graphic designer and I have been teaching languages since 2003, so we decided to put our professional skills together and design some products that we hope Japanese learners will find useful. Here’s a brief overview of what we’ve made so far: Language Study Printables Pack 1

This bundle contains eight different printables in PDF format, both in A4 and letter size. Colour and black and white versions are included.

There are New Kanji blank sheets for you to practice kanji, with spaces for mnemonics, stroke order, on’yomi and kun’yomi, example sentences and more. Language Exchange sheets allow you to document new vocabulary and phrases, as well as cultural points as you participate in language exchange, meaning you get more out of your experience and can review afterwards. There’s also space for feedback for your partner and goal tracking. 

To increase productivity you can track your reading and study hours with these Reading Log and Study Log pages.

To keep track of new words or compounds you can use our New Vocabulary sheet, with space for readings, example sentences, so you can lean in context, and review tracking included. Learning in real-life context is particularly difficult for self-studiers, so with this in mind we designed  this Grocery List printable, which you prepare at home, as you would a normal list, then take shopping so that you can use Japanese in context, even if you’re in a non-Japanese environment.  Also included in the Language Study Printables Pack 1 are Anime Log and Drama Log trackers, where you can note down examples of words in context you encounter when watching Japanese TV, track where and when you heard them and monitor your reviews.

Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced Journal Prompt Printables There are three different levels available individually, or you can buy the bundle and get all three at a discount.  Again the printables come in PDF format, including both A4 and letter size versions. Designed with self-studiers in mind, these packs cover basic to advanced Japanese, including topics on your interests, memories, goals, as well as your opinions on a variety of current events, cultural points and social issues. Each pack contains 31 unique language prompts, one for every day of the month.

We really hope that you will take a look at LanguagePrintables on Etsy and favourite our store. We put a lot of thought into making these as useful as possible, and so we would very much appreciate your support through buying or simply reblogging this post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you have a request for a language learning printable you’d like to see on our store in the future, then please let us know!

I started the listening today.  Sadly there is no memrise course to this that I could find to reinforce new vocab I come across.  I may create one, but I am pretty busy with JET departure getting closer. Posting on here may just have to be enough.   The style to this book is pretty different than the Kanji and with other JLPT prep books I’ve had before, but I think I like it.  Today’s lesson was too easy.  It reviewed listening on where there is a 小さい　つ　カタカナのー and　ひらがなののばす音. After that, there was practice on しまった and ちゃった.  Here is a review of it: ～ちゃ～　＝　～ては ～なくちゃ　＝　～なくてはいけない ～なきゃ　＝　～なければならない　 ～ちゃう/じゃう 　＝　～てしまう/でしまう ～ちゃった/じゃった　＝　 ～てしまった/でしまった 動詞の例 食べちゃいけない 食べなくちゃ 食べなきゃ 食べちゃう 食べちゃった

Nihongonomori are amazing, their JLPT N3 lessons really helped me so much. I’m not sure if I was missing this before, but they seem to have channels for each JLPT lesson, which should make it easier than ever to find exactly the level of stuff you’re looking for.

JLPT N3 grammar list part 1

Source

I made a JLPT test day checklist printable and wrote some advice for those of you taking the test for the first time. Click here to access the PDF version.

Good luck everyone!

JLPT week advice

I think reviewing what you sort-of know but aren’t consistently getting right is quite useful in the last week to see if you can raise your chances of getting those points right. This applies to grammar, vocab and kanji.

If you definitely don’t know something and it stresses you out, it may be worth choosing to focus your energy elsewhere. That’s what I did with the three things that I’m still super shaky on before my test (causative and passive, transitive and intransitive and keigo). Putting those things aside allowed me to work in refining my accuracy in grammar points I was *almost* getting right and get solidly correct answers on them as a result.

Doing a full practise test under exam conditions some time this week also helps, even if you’ve already done one.

Visualising yourself finishing and being confident will help.

Working out the order you want to do the questions is a good idea- I do the sections I find hardest first normally. Of course going over vocab and kanji cards daily is also a good idea. Use any spare time you have.

Sleep and eat well the day before the test.

Have a decent breakfast on test day. Pack your pencils and eraser etc before the test and don’t forget your if and test voucher. Double check their checklist before leaving.

Make sure you’re allowed your stationery (plain eraser, not in any kind of wrapping, plain pencils, etc- all this is in the test voucher). Lots of people in N3 this summer were flustered because they’d brought the wrong stationery and were told they couldn’t use it at the last minute.

Plan your journey and allow plenty of extra time.

Take food- the breaks were very short for my test this summer, I ended up wishing I’d had lunch beforehand (at about 11.30), because whilst there were some 40 or 45m breaks between the tests, we were actually only allowed outside for about ten to fifteen mins, as the invigilators were counting and checking things, and of course you have to go back a while before the start of the next paper so you don’t miss it.

Plan your transport carefully and double check the times.

Make sure you have an allowable wristwatch (not all are allowed to prevent apple watches etc that can obviously be used for cheating). There are no time warnings in the tests I’ve sat and in the n4 test the clocks in the room had been deliberately covered over with paper circles. Plan your time carefully and know your strategy before you go in.

Have some music or something to calm you ready to use before the tests and between papers if you get very anxious.

Turn of your phone got the entire test duration. If it goes off because you forgot to turn it off again after a break you’ll get a yellow card, or get totally disqualified from the exam if it happens in the listening portion.

Don’t answer texts or check emails in the test break, if you get stressful news it will distract you. Concentrate on yourself. You’ve waited a long time to do the test, so everyone else can wait for a couple of hours till you’re done.

I wrote down my feelings the evening after the test about how it went and that I walked out of the n3 test wanting to take n2. That’s been useful to me for reflection since the exam.

Remember that you can take the test again if you don’t pass, that the overall pass mark is low and that you’ve come a long way, no matter what your test performance is. The JLPT is not the be-all and end-all, so try to keep perspective.

Do your best. You deserve to prepare yourself, look after yourself in the days before and on test day and reward yourself with something you enjoy after the exam. Put concerns for others aside for a while and concentrate on this investment in yourself.

Take care and good luck!!!!

Started again for JLPT3

Grammar Sentences for all JLPT levels.

Story of my life.