Whether you’re planning a trip to Japan, exploring Japanese culture, or simply staying informed about the latest news, tune in to NHK WORLD-JAPAN live on YoNinja.com and discover Japan from wherever you are.

Note: Click the video to start the live feed. You can also full screen the video with the onscreen display buttons. If the video does not start, please reload this page.

The post NHK World Japan – Live News appeared first on YoNinja – Your Global Travel Guide.

Again, we are probably butchering the spelling, but we thought it would be best to spell the words in a way that non speakers of Korean could hopefully pronounce them as best as possible.

Yogio – This means “here” and used in restaurant settings when you want to call to the waitor or waitress to have them come to your table. Similar to the word Sumimasen in Japanese. Unlike western countries, in Asia, you call the waiter or waitress over to your table. If it’s a loud and noisy restaurant, yelling it to your waitor/waitress is perfectly fine! Isn’t Asia fun! Can you believe you get such great on-demand service and there is no expectation of a tip.

Juseyo – Please. Used when making requests like when ordering food. Beer Juseyo for example. Similar to the Japanese word Onegaishimasu

Mul – Water. You can say Mul Juseyo to ask for a glass of water in a restaurant

Fahjunshil – Toilet

Odiiminika – Where is…? So mix and match what you have learned thus far…Fahjunshil odiiminika? Where is the toilet. Isn’t language fun. You’re gonna have a blast in Korea!

Mashisoyo – Delicious! Staff and chefs love to hear compliments. If you are eating some amazing food in Korea, which you will be, tell them, Mashisoyo!!

Andeyo –  Can’t do it.

Ul Maeo – How much is it?

Pisao – Expensive

Gakka Juseyo – Discount please – great for bartering. Remember, people wont expect you to be fluent, actually they will be surprised you know this much. Don’t worry if you can’t hold a conversation. Just the fact that you are utterly a few words here and there, means you are trying. And people respect and enjoy that!

Umishi – Food

Keisanso  – Check / The Bill – in a restaurant

Iige Moyeyo – How do you say…X? The first phrase we ALWAYS learn when we visit a country. It’s the rosetta stone to any language. With a bit of charades and point and this phrase you can pretty much learn anything and then expand on your sentence. Let’s say you want to know the word for water. You can point to your glass of water and say Iige Moyeyo? Or if they know a word in English you can say, Iige Moyeyo…dog?

Ee – Yes (affirmative)

Mwoh – What?

Wue (wae)  – Why?

Chiruhada – Boring

Visiting a new country and learning about the local people is an amazing experience. Multiply that experience by 100x if you throw in a little local lingo. You will be amazed by how much more fun you will have. Enjoy!

The post Korean Quick Reference Language Guide appeared first on YoNinja – Your Global Travel Guide.

Sumimasen – This means excuse me and is used in restaurant settings when you want to call to the waitor or waitress to have them come to your table. . Unlike western countries, in Asia, you call the waiter or waitress over to your table. If it’s a loud and noisy restaurant, yelling it to your waitor/waitress is perfectly fine! Isn’t Asia fun! Can you believe you get such great on-demand service and there is no expectation of a tip.

Kudasai- Please. Used when making requests like when ordering food. Beer Juseyo for example. Similar to the Japanese word Onegaishimasu

Mizu- Water. You can say Mizu Kudasai to ask for a glass of water in a restaurant

Otearai- Toilet

Doko desu ke- Where is…? So mix and match what you have learned thus far…otearai doko desu ka? Where is the toilet. Isn’t language fun. You’re gonna have a blast in Japan!

Oishii- Delicious! Staff and chefs love to hear compliments. If you are eating some amazing food in Japan, which you will be, tell them, Oishii!!!

Dekinai-  Can’t do it.

Ikura desu ka? – How much is it?

Takai- Expensive

Makete Kudasai – Discount please – great for bartering. Remember, people wont expect you to be fluent, actually they will be surprised you know this much. Don’t worry if you can’t hold a conversation. Just the fact that you are utterly a few words here and there, means you are trying. And people respect and enjoy that!

Tabemono – Food

Kaikei (or Okanjo)  – Check / The Bill – in a restaurant

Nanto iu (e-ou) – How do you say…X? The first phrase we ALWAYS learn when we visit a country. It’s the rosetta stone to any language. With a bit of charades and point and this phrase you can pretty much learn anything and then expand on your sentence. Let’s say you want to know the word for water. You can point to your glass of water and say Nanto iu? Or if they know a word in English you can say, hamburger nanto iu?

Hai – Yes (affirmative)

Nani- What?

Nande  – Why?

Tsumaranai – Boring

Visiting a new country and learning about the local people is an amazing experience. Multiply that experience by 100x if you throw in a little local lingo. You will be amazed by how much more fun you will have. Enjoy!

The post Japanese Quick Reference Language Guide appeared first on YoNinja – Your Global Travel Guide.

Entschuldigung – This means excuse me, for example when you bump into someone or want to get through a crowded area.

Bitte – Please. Used when making requests like when ordering food. Bier Bitte for example. Similar to the Japanese word Onegaishimasu which is commonly used in restaurants and when asking politely for something.

Wasser – Water. You can say Wasser Bitte to ask for a glass of water in a restaurant.

Toilette- Toilet

Wo Ist Das?- Where is…? So mix and match what you have learned thus far…Toilette, wo ist das? Where is the toilet. Isn’t language fun. You’re gonna have a blast in Germany!

Lecker – Delicious! Staff and chefs love to hear compliments. If you are eating some amazing food in Germany, which you will be, tell them, Lecker!!!

Kann (can) ich (I) Nicht (not)-  Can’t do it.

Wieviel (vi-feel) (how much) Kostet (Cost) Es (it) – How much is it?

Teuer (to-ya)- Expensive

Rabatt Biter- Discount please – great for bartering. Remember, people wont expect you to be fluent, actually they will be surprised you know this much. Don’t worry if you can’t hold a conversation. Just the fact that you are utterly a few words here and there, means you are trying. And people respect and enjoy that!

Essen – Food

Rechnung  (reck-nung) Bitte (Biter)- Check / The Bill Please – in a restaurant

Bitte – Please

Damen – polite Women (plural) singular Dame

Herren – polite Men (plural) singular Herr

Wie (Vi) Nennt (nent) Man Das – How do you say…X? The first phrase we ALWAYS learn when we visit a country. It’s the rosetta stone to any language. With a bit of charades and pointing, and this phrase, you can pretty much learn anything and then expand on your sentences. Let’s say you want to know the word for water. You can point to your glass of water and say wie nennt man das? Or if they know a word in English you can say, hamburger wie nennt man das?

Ja (ya) – Yes (affirmative)

Was- What?

Warum  – Why?

Langweilig (lang-vai-lick) – Boring

Visiting a new country and learning about the local people is an amazing experience. Multiply that experience by 100x if you throw in a little local lingo. You will be amazed by how much more fun you will have. Enjoy!

Strasse – Street

Platz  – Place/Area

Entschuldigung (en-cho-ri-gon)

The post German Quick Reference Language Guide appeared first on YoNinja – Your Global Travel Guide.

1.) Evernote

This app/tool is amazing and I should have given it more time when I briefly played around with it a few years ago. Anyway, it has definitely improved and they have a iOS, android, MAC, and PC version of the software which will sync between all your devices and keep your files all in sync. You can easily grab a screen shot from a website, record an audio clip, attach a document, create to do lists, create notes, and more. It’s amazing, download it and use it to start tracking your progress and keep all your notes organized and in one place.

2.) Japanese TV Dramas

This is a new one for me, but I think it’s about time I jump into this. I’m using this guy’s method of studying (http://www.tofugu.com/2011/06/10/studying-with-japanese-drama-how-to/). Basically you find a Japanese TV show that you find interesting. I found HERO, which is a detective comedy show. Then you will need to get your hands on a copy of the Japanese and English subtitle files. The article provides you with a link to some. But I found a better site here: http://www.d-addicts.com/. This site includes subtitle files for popular Japanese and asian movies/tv dramas. They also have the subtitles available in a variety of languages, for example English as well as Japanese. So I downloaded the subtitles for the HERO tv show (http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_158248.htm) and threw them into Evernote.

Now basically, what you want to do is take the Japanese subtitles and go through and translate sections of the subtitle into English using Evernote and then have them up while you watch through an episode. This will help you to learn new words, how to use those words, etc. Once you have translated a section of the script, then proceed to watch the TV show and see how much of it you can understand. Watch the episode over and over again until you can easily listen and understand what you are watching. The English subtitles are only there to help you with translations if you get really stuck, but only reference them as a last resort. Looking up the words online through a dictionary like Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C) will help you commit these words to memory. Check the full write up on tofugu.com for more details on this study approach.

Here are some sites and mobile apps to help you find Japanese dramas.

• Dramafever – http://www.dramafever.com – they also have a mobile iOS app for watching on the go. Probably one of our favorite apps for Japanese TV shows.
• Viki – Another great mobile app for watching Japanese TV shows
• J Addicts – http://j-addicts.blogspot.co.uk/ – A variety of Japanese TV shows to watch online

Another good article for advice on learning through subtitles – http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/learn-japanese-subtitles/. If you run into region issues with these tv services, check out PrivateInternetAccess for stable and affordable VPN services – https://privateinternetaccess.com/pages/network/

3.) Japanese Language Websites

Here is a list of some of the best websites I found:

• http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/the-japanese-alphabets/2-4/#top – Textfugu is like an online textbook. It has great stuff and explained very well. Check them out!
• http://www.tofugu.com/ – A great resource site with all kinds of info around Japan, Japanese culture, and Japanese language. There are also great articles on study tips, etc.
• http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/learn-japanese-subtitles/ – This site is free and it’s concept is that you learn languages by watching high quality youtube videos with built in subtitles. You can hover over the subtitle text and lookup the words and see how they are used. Japanese is currently in beta and they have other languages as well. Definitely check this one out!

Read Japanese newspaper articles written for children – Let’s say your vocab and grammar isn’t up to the level where you could even get through a Japanese newspaper. Well, why not try reading a newspaper article written for children?

• http://mainichi.jp/feature/maisho/
• http://yomoyomo.jp/
• http://digital.asagaku.com/shogaku/
• Jim Breen’s WWWJDICT – An online Japanese dictionary – http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C
• iknow.jp – formerly known as smart.fm. This is great for self studying Japanese. It is a paid site however.
• http://www.tangorin.com – This is a online Japanese to English dictionary (with an accompanying Android app) which supports input in Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, and Romanji. The cool thing about this website is that it provide you with sample sentences with the word being used as well as furigana display support and the translation of that sentence. You can also create word list with a free account to go back and review the words you are trying to learn.
• http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete – Probably one of our favorite resources for simply learning new grammar rules or reviewing old ones. Tae Kim’s guide is free and exceptional. Grammar rules are extremely well explained and there are fantastic example sentences to help with understanding.
• http://quizlet.com/ – A simple and free digital note card quiz website
• http://www.skritter.com – Another way to learn Kanji characters and vocabulary. They also have mobile apps that accompany the site. This is a monthly paid service, but the app is really good at helping you learn Kanji characters and the proper stroke order.
• http://www.japanesepod101.com/ – Another monthly paid service for the self studying Japanese student. Skritter and Japanesepod101 seem to be the main two sites out there right now assisting self learners of Japanese. Give each a try and see which suits your needs.

4.) Mobile Apps

• Apps to watch TV Dramas – Viki, DramaFever, 電視連賣續劇’２ – Download a copy of these apps from the Apple store to watch free TV dramas with subtitles
• Skritter – Probably one of our favorite apps to study Kanji on the go
• Conjugation – A simple app that tests your conjugation skills. This app is perfect for those trying to improve your ability of conjugating Japanese verbs into the various forms. Download it here: (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/japanese-grammar-conjugation/id914304316?mt=8)
• Japanese Lessons (NHK) – An app for the NHK japanese language lessons. They basically run you through various dialogs of a worker that just moved to Japan. A great free resource to help with listening comprehension, etc. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/japanese-lessons/id570265834?mt=8
• Learning Japanese – This is a great reading resource for on the go students. It’s basically a digital book full of grammar rules and explanations. It’s Tae Kim’s web version in a mobile app format.
• Japanese Dictionaries – imiwa (for iOS) and Tangorin (for android) are probably the two best apps I have found. They are create for looking up words, seeing the words used in sample sentences with translation, as well as support for furigana display.

Well, there you have it. I will update this post from time to time with our new findings, but I think that’s enough to keep anyone busy! Enjoy!

The post Japanese Web and Mobile Study Resources appeared first on YoNinja – Your Global Travel Guide.