When you reach a certain level of Japanese it becomes more difficult to learn new things from textbooks. Many people read novels and newspapers but sometimes it’s not that easy to get hold of these items off-line unless you buy imports or go to Japan. Here are my top 10 resources for advanced Japanese that anyone can access online.
These are all Japanese resources written by Japanese people for Japanese people. Reading these types of materials are beneficial because:
- You’re exposed to natural sentence patterns.
- Read more complex and specialized subjects.
- Can help with business Japanese.
—
News
I’ve talked about (1) using NHK to study Japanese before, but it’s an online news channel that most advanced learners already know about.
But there are lots of other news websites that have more complicated or specialized Japanese compared to NHK News, which can be comparatively simple or short at times.
(2) Reuters – Focused on business and world news.
(3) Nifty ニュース – Has a balance of news but favors sorter articles that are easy to share on social media.
(4) IT Media – News on anything to do with IT.
—
Business for Japanese People
(5) Email Chottu is a fantastic website made for Japanese people which helps with the how to write business emails. Including set phrases and message structures, as well as example emails.
(6) All About has an entire ビジネス・スキルアップ section which covers manners, management, how to conduct presentations, business on Facebook, and more.
—
YouTube
I previous wrote about some of the (7) best Japanese YouTube channels which covers a range of videos including comedy, Mukbang and let’s play.
What I didn’t mention is you can find a lot of complex topics by searching for them in Japanese. There are even (8) TED Talks in Japanese on various subjects such as space and agriculture.
The great thing about videos made for Japanese people is that you get exposed to natural Japanese speaking, but also writing and conversation as you can partake in comments and conversation about the videos with Japanese people in the comments.
—
Blogs
(9) Overseas Blogmura is a great website with thousands of blogs written by Japanese people. The thing I like about this series of blogs if you can read blogs about foreign places (such as Seattle, or London), maybe even where you live! Getting an impression of somewhere familiar to you from a different perspective.
There’s also (10) Ameba if you prefer blogs by and about entertainers and famous people.
—
These are just a few suggestions you can use to boost your advanced Japanese. I strongly suggest focusing on subjects you find interesting and want to learn more about. Even googling subjects your interested in and reading articles, news and blogs can be a huge boost! Especially if you want to specialize translation!
Let us know on the Facebook Page if you have your own suggestions for advanced materials!