iKnow! tracks your progress on every item (such as a word or phrase) and calculates the optimum moment for you to study. The system adapts to your goals and performance to create a learning schedule personalized just for you.

Online self-study programs produced by a native Japanese language teacher.If you are a first-timer, read Learning Tips page before you start. Enjoy!

Jouyou kanji (常用漢字) is the set of 1945 kanji that the Japanese Ministry of Education has decided that school children must learn. We have compiled a list of the about thousand kanji that Japanese children learn from first to sixth grade. These first 1006 kanji are also called the Kyouiku kanji.

The following practise sheets are made to have the left part folded to cover the actual kanji, so you will have to remember the kanji, and not just copy it mechanically. If you are unsure of the stroke order, please use the kanji dictionary found on the right hand side of this site. Most kanji have stroke order diagrams attached.

I've noticed over the years that different numbers have their own "personalities". If you're a mathematician doing a calculation and you get the answer 248, it means something completely different than if you get 247 — because the number 248 shows up in all sorts of amazing places, while 247 is just dull. So when I was invited to give the Rankin Lectures in Glasgow, I thought it would be fun to explain this idea with some examples. I decided to give separate talks on three of my favorite numbers: 5, 8, and 24.

The first one should be quite easy for everyone. After that they get harder, but they're still meant to be expository and fun, Here you can see streaming videos of my talks — and also my slides, which have links to references that fill in the details.

Whining PhD students are nothing new, but there seem to be genuine problems with the system that produces research doctorates (the practical “professional doctorates” in fields such as law, business and medicine have a more obvious value). There is an oversupply of PhDs. Although a doctorate is designed as training for a job in academia, the number of PhD positions is unrelated to the number of job openings. Meanwhile, business leaders complain about shortages of high-level skills, suggesting PhDs are not teaching the right things. The fiercest critics compare research doctorates to Ponzi or pyramid schemes.

Freshman Lyndon Baty’s immune system is so fragile he can’t risk being surrounded by people his own age, yet he attends classes at his high school in Knox City, Texas every day. All thanks to a robot. The Vgo telepresence platform is a four foot tall bot on wheels with a small screen, camera, speakers and microphone at the top. Baty logs into the robot remotely from his home, using his PC and a webcam to teleconference into his classes. Baty can drive Vgo around his school, switching between classes just like regular students. For a boy that has spent much of his life sick and isolated from his peers, Vgo not only represents a chance at a better education, it’s also an opportunity for freedom and comradery.

Pimsleur Language Programs are for anyone interested in learning a language. And because every learner's needs are different, we offer our programs with multiple options, so you can get a taste of the language, prepare for a trip, or go for in-depth learning and spoken proficiency.

Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings.

The result plays out in children like Jonathan, who coast through the early grades under the dangerous notion that no-effort academic achievement defines them as smart or gifted. Such children hold an implicit belief that intelligence is innate and fixed, making striving to learn seem far less important than being (or looking) smart. This belief also makes them see challenges, mistakes and even the need to exert effort as threats to their ego rather than as opportunities to improve. And it causes them to lose confidence and motivation when the work is no longer easy for them.

The JLPT Study Page is a resource of study materials for JLPT Levels N5 to N2.

I set out to take my first JLPT exam in 2004 and although some information about JLPT exams was available on the internet, the information was never organised in a way that was useful to me.

Importantly, I was never quite sure what was in the official list or whether an official list even existed.

So, despite being void of artistic talent, I decided to create the sort of web site I was originally hoping to find. I wanted all the lists: Kanji, Vocab and especially Grammar I also wanted the lists to be up to date - since a lot of JLPT requirements were updated in 2002.

Most Japanese textbooks only go over a small subset of what you need to learn Japanese, typically covering a certain amount of grammar and vocabulary with a smattering of dialogues and readings. However, mastering a language requires much more than just learning grammar and vocabulary. What most Japanese textbooks fail to recognize is that they can't possibly hope to cover all the necessary vocabulary and kanji (Chinese characters) to obtain full fluency. This guide fully recognizes that it cannot teach you everything word by word and character by character. Instead, it will give you a solid understanding of the fundamentals with a wide collection of dialogues and examples. In addition, it will go over various techniques and tools to enable you to teach yourself. Essentially, this book is a guide on how you can learn Japanese to complete fluency by actually using Japanese in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.