Episode 7: Free Japanese phonetic resources
Added 2016-11-24 13:40:45 +0000 UTCBibliography
Japanese Phonetics Index Page
Hello patrons!
In this episode I share three excellent free resources to help you with your pitch accent studies. Using these tools will help train your ear to recognize pitch patterns and improve your overall pronunciation. I recommend incorporating them into your regular study routine for the best results.
Featured Resources
MacOS Built-in Japanese Dictionary
This dictionary not only provides definitions but also includes pitch accent information.OJAD (Online Japanese Accent Dictionary)
The OJAD is a comprehensive resource developed by the University of Tokyo. This tool can be helpful for understanding how pitch accent works in complete sentences rather than just isolated words.Forvo
Forvo is an excellent resource for hearing authentic native pronunciations.
Additional Resources
After the original video was posted on YouTube, the community shared some excellent additional resources that weren't featured in the video:
Visual Pitch-Accent Dictionary (German) - Thanks to Buddy!
https://www.wadoku.de/entry/view/9648681For Android Users - From P Chan:
"For android users who don't mind 縦書き display, I came across a 大辞林 dictionary that includes the pitch accent chart, although it's admittedly not as easy to switch between dictionary entries and the chart. May be worth a look on Google Play. (Please note this isn't a free app.)"
大辞林｜ビッグローブ辞書：縦書き表示＆辞書をめくる感覚の検索For Windows/Linux Users - From YouTube user Xavier:
'The スーパー大辞林 dictionary shown in the video is available in EPWING format and viewable through a program called Qolibri, with pitch accent indicators. While not as convenient as the Mac version, it's a good alternative for non-Mac users.'
- Qolibri
- Dictionary files (including Super Daijirin)
Thank you all for your continued support!
Dōgen
Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Forvo
Comments
Hi, Jin. JP here. As far as I recall we don't have any iPhone specific recommendations. I think most of the things mentioned in the lesson and in the comments here as well as in the comments on this video on YouTube should work for you. The Japanese dictionary that comes with iOS has a pitch accent code (the number in the square) with entries that can help you know the pitch accent of words you look up. There are bound to be other iPhone-specific apps or resources out there, but you may need to try a few before you find something that works for you. One thing I would caution, though: With the growth of AI, there are more and more apps and tools using computer-generated voices. It's always best to use native speech and not computer-generated or non-native speech. I hope this helps!
Dogen
2024-07-25 01:23:29 +0000 UTCHi! What apps would you recommend for an Iphone since I don’t have a computer right now!
Jin
2024-07-18 03:19:47 +0000 UTCHi, Masuya. JP here, Dōgen's business partner. I'm helping manage the messages here on Patreon. This question comes up pretty frequently. Dōgen addressed it around the 3:35 mark in lesson 31 (https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186). Borrowing from lesson 31, it means that there are multiple correct ways to say the word. Hope this helps!
Dogen
2024-05-21 08:01:14 +0000 UTCWhat to do when dictionary gives out multiple pitch accents for a word like 山びこ have two pitch accents 平板 and 中高
「 Masuya 」
2024-05-20 16:54:06 +0000 UTCThis is a good tool to find words in real-world examples. Thank you for bringing this up!
Dogen
2023-03-14 06:54:38 +0000 UTCHi, M. JP here, Dōgen's business partner. I'm helping manage the messages here on Patreon. I forget where, but I'm sure I've seen someone else share Takoboto, too. Thanks for sharing!
Dogen
2023-03-14 06:54:00 +0000 UTCMy friend told me about this tool https://youglish.com/pronounce/%E5%AD%A6%E7%94%9F/japanese? From what I have noticed it fetches the Youtube videos and starts the video from the moment it says the word you're looking for. You hit the next arrow to go to the next video. There are 6328 youtube videos that have the word gakusei XD Good as an advanced exercise. pretty cool.
Randa AbuAli
2023-03-01 19:01:40 +0000 UTCMy favorite dictionary (android/web): https://takoboto.jp/ or Takoboto. On web, you have to click into the entry to see the pitch accent, but on your phone, you only have to go into settings to enable pitch accents once; then even search results have the markings.
M
2023-01-11 08:05:01 +0000 UTCWhile I only just joined the Patreon, I do think this is a good video to make public.
Avery Rosen
2022-11-22 12:23:56 +0000 UTCHi, Douglas. You get a similar answer to Mary: The index page is your friend, and can be a good thing to bookmark. All the best (updated/newest) episodes are there! — JP https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-index-16489306
Dogen
2022-01-17 04:16:58 +0000 UTCHi, Mary. JP here, Dōgen's business partner. It's best to use the index page to find the episodes. We update these links when an episode has been updated, and take down the old versions. I hope this helps! Japanese Phonetics Index Page: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-index-16489306
Dogen
2022-01-17 04:14:41 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, I'm starting the series and I'm really enjoying it, already knew forvo and the OJAD website but is cool to see it anyway. Btw are you updating Episode 6 ? or is it in another place on the page ?
Douglas Franco
2022-01-16 17:29:11 +0000 UTCHas lesson six been removed or am I just missing it somewhere? PS so excited to get started on this course! Thanks!!
Mary Mehegan
2022-01-05 02:12:27 +0000 UTCHi Jan! I've never actually used it, but another user recommend this: https://www.weblio.jp/cat/dictionary/ssdjj Do you mind giving it a shot and seeing if it works? Thank you!
Dogen
2021-06-21 05:22:15 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, I'm wondering what'd you recommend for Windows users? The Apple dictionary looks great, but I'm looking for a good alternative I could use on Windows, even if it's paid. Thanks!
Jan Kratochvíl
2021-06-20 13:27:38 +0000 UTCHi Itay! Thank you very much for the share—I'll be sure to check this out!
Dogen
2021-06-01 11:07:01 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, I'm not sure if this is the best place to share this, but I've just found this paper with a handy table showing how many different particles and auxilliary verbs are accented (table starts at page 8): http://corismus.com/intonation/works/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E5%8A%A9%E8%A9%9E%E3%83%BB%E5%8A%A9%E5%8B%95%E8%A9%9E%E9%A1%9E%E3%81%AE%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%882020MS.pdf
Itay Perl
2021-05-31 13:14:55 +0000 UTCHi Zachary. Yes, this is what it means, but I would recommend just going with the 頭高 pronunciation with this (平板 feels off to me, except for perhaps 「ちょっとした」which is 平板 according to NHK), or the also acceptable 尾高 pronunciation in cases that are explained in point four of the dictionary listing: ④ （下に打ち消しの語を伴って）簡単には（…できない）。「彼が犯人とは―考えられない」「私には―わかりかねます」〔「ちょっとは」などの場合，アクセントは3〕 If you're not sure what this means just yet, then it's probably just best to go with 頭高 as this point is quite advanced. Cheers!
Dogen
2021-05-06 03:34:06 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, quick question. I've been using the Apple dictionary to refer to pitch accent patterns for specific vocabulary. I noticed that ちょっと has a [1] and a [0] next to it. Does this mean it can be pitched with either 頭高 or 平板？？
Zachary Wardle
2021-05-03 19:13:48 +0000 UTCThanks for the share, Kristen!
Dogen
2021-04-25 05:57:06 +0000 UTCMy Yomiwa App shows pitch on my iPhone. The voice recordings aren’t very good though, but when I checked がくせい and せんせい they matched the patterns Dogen shows in the video.
Kristen Steele
2021-04-23 12:15:30 +0000 UTCAppreciate the share, Bill!
Dogen
2021-04-11 04:40:33 +0000 UTCI can recommend JAccent for Android. It's like a dictionary, but with pitch accent and audio playback with both male and female voices.
Bill Kurtson
2021-04-10 20:06:53 +0000 UTCThanks for the share Itay! I can’t personally recommend that people jailbreak their phones, but some learners may be interested in this, so I appreciate the information. Cheers!
Dogen
2020-10-30 01:36:33 +0000 UTCSo I found out that the iPhone includes the same スーパー大辞林 dictionary as OS X, but on the iPhone the pitch-accent markings are hidden! With a bit of tinkering I was able to make them visible, so I thought I'd share a quick how-to. This requires jailbreaking the iPhone first and some basic shell usage skills, so use this at your own risk... I hope this ends up being useful to someone here! 1. Connect to iPhone via SSH 2. Find the dictionary: find / | grep 'Daijirin' 3. cd "/[dictionary location]/Sanseido Super Daijirin.dictionary/Contents/Resources" 4. Run `nano DefaultStyle.css`, then jump to the end of the file (Alt-/) 5. On the 4th line from the bottom, change "display: none" to "display: inline-block", save and quit 6. Run `killall SpringBoard` to force a reload Et voila! If you look up a word now, then go to the full Daijirin entry, you should be able to see the pitch-accent marking. No clue why they won't make this on by default!
Itay Perl
2020-10-29 19:32:22 +0000 UTCHi Murphy! I answer this question is lesson 31, which can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186 Cheers!
Dogen
2020-09-16 04:59:57 +0000 UTCHi Dogen! Since I don't have MacOS, I've been using a combo of Suzuki-kun and 三省堂 大辞林 (on weblio.jp) to look up correct pitch-accent patterns. I noticed that on one word I looked up, 不安心検証, has two different numbers listed, [0] and [6]. (Link below) In the case that there are multiple correct patterns, I wondered if you had any advice on picking which pattern to use on a personal level? Should I just do the one that's easiest for me? Or should I assume the first pattern listed is the most common variant, and stick with that? Thank you, as always, for taking the time to answer all of our questions so kindly and patiently while juggling family life and work. https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E4%B8%8D%E5%AE%89%E7%A5%9E%E7%B5%8C%E7%97%87
Violet (a sleepy bear)
2020-09-15 19:32:30 +0000 UTCFor Android users there's an app Jisho which is a dictionary with a lot of words having pitch accent. It's totally free though not very popular (I don't know why).
Strange Guy
2020-08-20 19:50:32 +0000 UTCYes, it's down!
Dogen
2020-07-26 04:36:16 +0000 UTCHi Dogen! I notice when I try to go the Suzuki-kun Prosody Tutor website, the site seems to be down. Are you having similar issues, or is it just me? Thanks!
kusterdu
2020-07-26 00:37:18 +0000 UTCHi ディミタ. This usually happens with proper nouns like names, art works, etc., as well as when the word in question has been derived from another word. If I'm not mistaken すみません is derived from 済む, rather than being a stand alone word, and this is why it's not listed. Like wise, つまらない isn't listed because it is derived from 詰まる. Hope that this helps!
Dogen
2020-06-02 05:19:02 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, Just a quick question. I am not sure if you've addressed this elsewhere. In the Japanese-to-Japanese Mac dictionary, there are often words without pitch accent numbers, such as すみません. Is this just an omission or is there a default accent is such cases? Thanks!
ディ
2020-06-01 19:51:01 +0000 UTCAppreciate the share Joe! I'm sure a lot of people will find these useful. Incidentally, here is a link to Matt and Yoga's Patreon—I'd highly recommend this resource for people looking to improve there overall fluency! https://www.patreon.com/massimmersionapproach
Dogen
2020-05-27 04:26:26 +0000 UTCFor people interested in flashcards, there is an Anki deck now with a wide range of vocabulary, native audio, and a visual marker displayed for each kana of a word. https://ankiweb.net/shared/byauthor/775299953 This link is to the "abridged" version, which is split into two parts each with about 1000 words. If you follow the link provided by the author, they also have a version with 8000 words as well as the source material in case you want to make your own cards from scratch. The decks were compiled by Yoga, who used using programming scripts to download publicly available NHK and OJAD data. I've found them hugely helpful. Unlike the Neeson decks, I don't get to look at Dogan's beautiful face, but, there is native audio.
Joe Fox
2020-05-27 01:43:52 +0000 UTCHi Chase! This just means that either is acceptable. That is to say, おいしい can be said as either a 平板 [0] or 中高 word with an accent on it’s third mora [3]. Cheers!
Dogen
2020-05-13 07:09:28 +0000 UTCHey Dogen! Loving your videos and thanks for the resources! Question about the mac dictionary. I understand that the number in the box indicates the position of the downstep for pronunciation. But some words like おいし・い contain 2 boxes! One with [0] and one with [3]. What does this mean?
Chase Davis
2020-05-12 20:19:03 +0000 UTCHi ソラ, this simply means that either pronunciation is acceptable. Cheers!
Dogen
2020-05-10 04:48:04 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, I was searching for 秋田犬 and its pitch accent pattern in the apple dictionary. It has two numbers. Does this mean depending on the particle after it, the pitch accent changes? Thanks.
ソラ
2020-05-10 04:27:10 +0000 UTCHi KP, I do cover this in a later lesson, but in addition to what I cover, some カタカナ loan words that have been used in Japanese for a very long time are often pronounced as 平板, even though they may have started with the standard -3 pattern (what I talk about in the later lessons). I pronounce ギター with the downstep on the first mora. Cheers!
Dogen
2020-03-20 11:39:34 +0000 UTC(I'm still only up to Episode 14, so just let me know "it'll be covered in a later lesson" if that is the case) How do I say " ギターが "? Forvo provides 2 sets of accents, so I'm confused. Perhaps it doesn't matter for loan words? https://forvo.com/word/%E3%82%AE%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC/#ja
KP
2020-03-19 13:47:27 +0000 UTCThat is indeed the symbol for 尾高！The NHK accent dictionary is a great choice!
Dogen
2020-02-04 04:53:51 +0000 UTCOMG I just noticed for the first time ever that my electronic dictionary's accent dictionary (NHK日本語発音アクセント事典) has a little hook to indicate 尾高 vs 平板!! The little hook pointing down meaning there's a downstep/it's 尾高. I never noticed that sometimes words didn't have that!
M
2020-02-04 04:49:38 +0000 UTCAwesome, thanks for the share AM!
Dogen
2020-01-28 06:02:17 +0000 UTCHere are the resources I've been using instead of the ones in the video - as far as I can tell they seem to be pretty good quality. 1) Pitch accent dictionary at https://www.weblio.jp/cat/dictionary/ssdjj - it includes a few other dictionaries and languages all mixed up together but if you look under the 三省堂 大辞林 第三版 section and find the word with the correct reading it'll have the accent in square brackets. 2) Native pronunciations for lots of words are available at WWWJDIC - just search for the word then click the play button next to it.
AM
2020-01-27 08:23:22 +0000 UTCHi Ian, thank you very much for signing up and for these recommendations. Pitch is important to Japanese is you want to sound as native as possible. Good luck with your future studies!
Dogen
2020-01-10 04:17:54 +0000 UTCHi Dogen, this is an incredible series! I just wanted to say, I've been doing some research and it seems to me that the free web version of Weblio at www.weblio.jp shows the pitch number and I think it's based on the same 大辞林. There is also a free Android app available at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.weblio.smpapp.www&hl=en Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge! I didn't realise at all how important pitch was to Japanese and this series is already turning out to be so fascinating. Hope we bump into each other in Tokyo one day!
Ian Davies
2020-01-09 18:19:44 +0000 UTCI have two questions, if I may: 1) I have an electronic dictionary with the NHK 日本語発音アクセント辞典 on it. Is it reliable to check single words pitch accent? 2) as I use Anki to review my vocab, does it make sense to add a note on the pitch accent of each word, or will I be able to guess the pitch as I will go through your lessons?
Matteo
2019-12-09 12:47:25 +0000 UTCHi Dogen! I’ve started practising following your lessons, it takes time but I’m so enthusiast about it. I’m at at N2 level so I hope I’ll be able to correct my bad pronunciation habits, but I’ll do my best along this journey!
Matteo
2019-12-09 12:38:04 +0000 UTCHi Nero, that's correct! The number corresponds to where the downstep is, so in a word like おとうと, the number is 4, as the downstep is on the last mora. Cheers!
Dogen
2019-09-14 05:01:51 +0000 UTCOk I'm confused. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding, but how will I know whether a word is odaka or nakadaka in the Mac dictionary? Just looking up words doesn't distinguish it, so I guess I just have to guess? Or is it more about deducing which one it is based on how many mora the word has and whether the associated number matches it? That must be it. So if I look up おとうと and さいじき, it will give me 4 for the former and 3 for the latter, and therefore I know that the former is odaka and that the latter is nakadaka. I guess I answered my own question, lol, but I figured I should post this here anyway for other people who may have confusion.
Nero
2019-09-12 15:45:48 +0000 UTCNo worries Rain!
Dogen
2019-08-25 04:31:13 +0000 UTCOh wow, Forvo looks like an all-around amazing language resource, thanks so much for recommending it.
Rainstorm Travel
2019-08-25 03:10:56 +0000 UTCHi Luke! It looks like the speaker is from Osaka, which has a completely different pitch-accent system than standard Japanese, which I teach on this series. I would try to avoid this speaker's recording and use those from speakers that are only from Tokyo! Hope this helps!
Dogen
2019-07-24 07:09:40 +0000 UTCHey Dogen, not an urgent question at all, but I've been looking up various words on forvo and came across a girl who seemed to be saying 食べる strangely https://forvo.com/user/mutsusoken/ and I was just wondering, is she always going up on the last mora of her words? I can't tell if she's just emphasizing it, but not actually raising the pitch so I figured I'd ask and see. Thanks!
Luke Parham
2019-07-24 05:58:36 +0000 UTCThank you!! I was looking for this
Jokin Pedreño Alcolea
2019-04-07 14:30:06 +0000 UTCHi Julien! Thanks for sharing this resource. I actually used to use Japanesepod101, and really love most of their services. I'll try and check it out in a little bit! Cheers!
Dogen
2019-02-06 04:53:12 +0000 UTCHello, I just would like to share the website I'm using for my lessons. It's called japanesepod101, and for each line of each dialogue, you can hear it separately and there is a function to record yourself and even to play your recording with the original line at the same time. I find it quite useful. It's not free but personnally I think it worth it. Hope it helps ^^
julien
2019-02-05 00:04:00 +0000 UTCSo sorry Walt—just saw this post! For some reason I never got a notification! I've used the first site before and think it's actually quite good. I've never heard of or used the two books, but I would avoid using a resource that uses four pitch levels rather than two, as this will make things significantly more complicated for you, as essentially all other pitch resources, including mine, use two. I hope that this helps!
Dogen
2019-01-15 06:02:53 +0000 UTCHi Ran! When the line falls after the last letter, like in flower, it means that the attaching particle has a low tone (the particle attaches low), while in a word like nose the particle attaches with the same high pitch as the sound immediately before it. Hope this helps! Cheers! ^^
Dogen
2018-12-05 14:36:26 +0000 UTCThis is very useful resource, especially combined with the play audio. A question, is there a legend how to read these symbols. Most of them are quite obvious but what does it mean that there is a line above the last letter that falls to the right of the letter, like in the case of hana (flower), vs just a line above the letter, like in hana (nose)? thanks
Ran Fuchs
2018-12-05 10:47:12 +0000 UTCThanks for following up Adam! These are awesome resources!
Dogen
2018-10-16 00:59:26 +0000 UTCJus wanted to send another update to everyone, it might help: So Chrome has now an official OJAD-Jisho extension, so if I search for a word in jisho.org then the pitch pattern will be shown. The extension can be found here: <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jisho-ojad/dpaojegkimhndjkkgiaookhckojbmakd/related?hl=en" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jisho-ojad/dpaojegkimhndjkkgiaookhckojbmakd/related?hl=en</a> Enjoy :)
Adam Papai
2018-10-15 05:10:13 +0000 UTCThanks for sharing Adam! Appreciate it! ^^
Dogen
2018-09-04 23:47:15 +0000 UTCHey everyone! I did a little research and... I was really curious what 辞書 is used by the OS X Dictionary app, so I finally figured it out! This is the sanseido "スーパー大辞林" dictionary, which also has a free version online, but I found it really hard to use and it not always displays the numbers [0-3] with the word.
Adam Papai
2018-09-04 12:05:53 +0000 UTCI asked one version of this question after Lesson 8, and now see that many people had already asked similar questions after this lesson. Please forgive me if you have already spent too much time on these issues. That being said, if you have any experience with the following resources, do you consider them reliable? -- <a href="http://accent.u-biq.org/english.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://accent.u-biq.org/english.html</a> -- "Japanese Step by Step", by Gene Nishi -- "Beginning Japanese", by Eleanor Harz Jorden Of course none of these is particularly user-friendly for a beginner, and the third one works hard to present four pitch levels rather than two (which still confuse me much of the time). But since I have these references in hand (rather than a Mac), my question is whether they are accurate. While waiting for your answer, I will look at the references suggested by your other students.
Walt Poor
2018-09-03 22:53:43 +0000 UTCHi Max! No worries :) Both are 平板 words. Hope this helps! ^^
Dogen
2018-05-24 05:33:26 +0000 UTCHi, not sure if you check the old video comments or not? I can't seem to find a resource that can show me pitch-accent for the words あの（as in "that_over there) and あの（well then/let me think). Sorry if this has been answered somewhere else before, I'm new to navigating this site. Thanks!
Max Annand
2018-05-23 09:17:09 +0000 UTCHi Jimmy. That would be great! Feel free to message me directly here on Patreon. Apologies for getting back to you so late. I never saw a message from you on twitter—did you send one? Praat sounds like an incredibly useful resource; I'm looking forward to learning more!
Dogen
2018-05-09 00:43:21 +0000 UTCBy the way, I'm not sure what you'll be covering in the following 40 or so videos, so you might as well touch upon the software, but like I said on youtube: "Praat" is extremely useful for analyzing pitch. If it sounds like something you'd like to cover in a video or something, let me know and I'll write a quick guide.
Jimmy
2018-05-08 13:00:57 +0000 UTCFor Windows users: the 三省堂大辞林 has the same [0],[1]. etc. indicator as the Apple dict. <a href="https://www.weblio.jp/cat/dictionary/ssdjj" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.weblio.jp/cat/dictionary/ssdjj</a>
Jimmy
2018-05-08 12:48:06 +0000 UTCThanks for the share, Sami! Counters can be particularly difficult so this is really useful! Will be sure to check this out!
Dogen
2018-03-19 04:30:03 +0000 UTCHi guys, I did some digging and found these apps for pitch accent: MOJi辞書-日语实用词典 by Liang Yan and JAccent - Japanese accent dict by Duc Tam Trinh. They are both pretty useful, especially JAccent which has a counters page that details stuff like 二台 which doesn’t have a pitch accent on OJAD. However, like all the online resources they won’t work for long or uncommon words such as 高速道路. These are Apple App Store apps btw.
TheHighDinosaur
2018-03-18 17:57:48 +0000 UTCHi Joshua. Thanks for signing up—hope that you're getting a lot from the series. That is definitely a great way of going about it! Depending on your level it might also be beneficial to try recording yourself saying various phrases. If possible try to have a Japanese native analyze your spoken Japanese as well—I talk about this a bit in lesson 31! Thanks again for the support and let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns.
Dogen
2017-12-12 12:42:13 +0000 UTCHi, I just started watching through these lessons and I've been trying to incorporate it with vocab study. Atm I'm listening to the pronunciation trying to listen for which pattern it is then double checking by looking it up on <a href="http://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/phrasing/index" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/phrasing/index</a> and occasionally listening to my pronunciation with audacity. Wondering if it's best to do this with every word I learn until I know the pattern, and if there's a better way to go about it.
Joshua D
2017-12-12 11:50:17 +0000 UTCThanks for the share Jeffery! Very useful indeed!
Dogen
2017-10-06 07:29:01 +0000 UTCanother good resource <a href="https://easypronunciation.com/en/japanese-kanji-to-romaji-converter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://easypronunciation.com/en/japanese-kanji-to-romaji-converter</a>
Jeffrey Tang
2017-10-05 19:30:22 +0000 UTCI've heard it's a very good resource, though I've never used it myself!
Dogen
2017-09-06 11:00:32 +0000 UTCWould you suggest Japanese: The Spoken Language as a book for a beginner who wants to learn pronunciation well? I realize you've said that I should solely focus on pronunciation, but I definitely need native material to do so. I'm sorry if this question is answered in a later video.
Finn A. Aurbakken
2017-09-05 18:35:41 +0000 UTCThanks for watching! ^^
Dogen
2017-08-30 11:00:57 +0000 UTCThank you for another great video.
TheThumbPuppy
2017-08-29 19:29:36 +0000 UTCDefinitely agree. If you'd like a challenge try the film 12人の優しい日本人. It's non-stop dialogue from start to finish. A great movie too!
Dogen
2017-07-19 15:02:29 +0000 UTCI think podcasts are a good resource for pitch-accent training. I watched a couple episodes of Orange Days -- which I liked the story and especially the actor Eita -- but there's not as much compressed language going on especially with the sign language. Thanks for the feedback. Ben
Ben
2017-07-19 14:52:15 +0000 UTCHi Ben. Thanks for the message and apologies for the late reply. I've never listened to any Japanese podcasts, but my general rule of thumb is if it's native then you're good. I'd like to take the opportunity, however, to stress the importance of repetition. You're much likely to internalize pitch-accent patterns when listening to the same podcast three times as opposed to three different podcasts. Finally, if it's something you enjoy listening to then all the better ^^ Thanks again, and let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers!
Dogen
2017-07-19 14:19:39 +0000 UTCHi Dogen - I really appreciate your videos. As far as ear training, I was looking for free podcasts of fiction in Japanese, something like a Japanese version of The Writer's Voice. The best I resource could find is きくドラ <a href="http://kikudorabungak.main.jp/." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://kikudorabungak.main.jp/.</a> Any thoughts on this podcast or other similar resources you would recommend? Thanks
Ben
2017-07-16 01:08:03 +0000 UTCHi tomb0y! Thanks for subscribing :) In terms of recording tools, I like to use quicktime for apple and audacity for windows. I'm don't know about recording tools that show high and low tones, only volume unfortunately. Sorry about that!
Dogen
2017-06-06 11:08:36 +0000 UTCHey Dogen, just found your videos, I really enjoy them. Can you recommend some recording tools that would be useful for practice? Do you know of any that has some kind of visualisation built in to show the lows/highs one is saying?
zosiu
2017-06-05 10:13:07 +0000 UTCNp ^^
Dogen
2017-05-31 10:43:42 +0000 UTCThanks for taking the time out to answer. I know you must be busy. I appreciate your work and thanks for the answer
Josh
2017-05-31 09:28:20 +0000 UTCHello ^^ I'm actually not sure about the phone feature, as I don't have an iPhone, but most native Japanese-Japanese dictionaries will have pitch-accent listings!
Dogen
2017-05-30 11:10:03 +0000 UTCHi Dogen. Fantastic work. I was looking for this question but didn't see it answered before. Is there an app with a similar type of dictionary reference to pitch accent so I can study pronunciation on my phone? I didn't see the Mac dictionary app in the Apple store.
Josh
2017-05-27 23:50:19 +0000 UTCHi Viktor! Great question—please see the following, which were provided to me other windows users :) For android users who don't mind 縦書き表示, I came across a 大辞林 dictionary that includes the pitch accent chart, although its admittedly not as easy to switch between dictionary entries and the chart. May be worth a look on Google Play. (Please note this isn't a free app) 大辞林｜ビッグローブ辞書：縦書き表示＆辞書をめくる感覚の検索 Windows support: For Windows (and linux?) users: You may have noticed the J-J dictionary used in this video is スーパー大辞林. Lucky for you, that dictionary is also available in EPWING format and is viewable through a program called qolibri, with the pitch accent numbers available just as in this video. Here is a picture of it in action with the same 先生 example as in the video, with the pitch accent indicator: <a href="https://i.imgur.com/ywrs72r.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/ywrs72r.png</a> Unfortunately it is not nearly as convenient as the mac version - it's not built into the OS, it doesn't have the handy dandy waveform chart, and the most common definition+reading (せんせい) is not the first result. But unless you want to do Hackintosh or buy a Macbook it's a decent alternative. Qolibri can be found at <a href="https://osdn.net/projects/qolibri/rel..." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://osdn.net/projects/qolibri/rel...</a> If you need dictionary files for it, you can get a huge pack of them here, including the aforementioned Super Daijirin: <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/887cfqo..." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.mediafire.com/file/887cfqo...</a> Hope that these are useful to you! ^^
Dogen
2017-05-26 14:12:16 +0000 UTCHi Dogen! I just wanted to know if you can recommend a dictionary other than the apple one, for us that doesn't own an apple computer. Thanks for introducing me to Japanese phonetics!
Viktor Åsbrink
2017-05-24 11:21:47 +0000 UTCIndeed :) I typically choose the one I like or hear most often. ^^ a good example of this is 類（たぐい）, which I say as TAgui 👍
Dogen
2017-02-15 10:41:44 +0000 UTCHeya, have you ever come across entries in the Apple dictionary which list two pitch accent patterns? I just looked up 心行く for example and it says [0] [4] Does this mean there's two widely accepted ways of pronouncing a word?
Thomas Threlfo
2017-02-14 22:59:55 +0000 UTCVery glad to hear that. Thank you for the feedback Phillip! :)
Dogen
2017-01-08 01:17:45 +0000 UTCtbh, I pledged after I saw this video so I'd say it was a pretty solid plan.
Phillip Allen
2017-01-07 13:47:11 +0000 UTCHello! Sorry, I don't use android so I can't speak on this topic, but I imagine that most Japanese to Japanese dictionaries would be good. Try to see if the numbers for the phonetic patterns are listed in the screenshots!
Dogen
2016-12-07 11:41:52 +0000 UTCAny good recommendation for a Japanese dictionary for android? The mac one is awesome btw, thanks! :-D
Andreas Adolfsson
2016-12-06 07:30:55 +0000 UTCthis means that there are multiple correct ways to say the word--you can go with either one and usually sound native!
Dogen
2016-12-05 11:04:48 +0000 UTCHey, what happens if a word has more than one pitch accent listed? One example would be this one, but I've found many others <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CydKI_mXcAY-e21.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CydKI_mXcAY-e21.jpg</a>
Abel Toy
2016-12-04 19:08:03 +0000 UTCDone! Thank you Sebastien! :D
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:53:41 +0000 UTCCheers Buddy! Video is live! Appreciate the input.
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:53:03 +0000 UTCThanks Jeff! Video has been shared!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:52:48 +0000 UTCDone! Thanks for the support rivers! Appreciate the input!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:52:36 +0000 UTCDone! Thank you for the input and apologies for the late reply!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:48:33 +0000 UTCDone! Thank you for letting me know your thoughts!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:47:55 +0000 UTCThanks for the input Mark :D and apologies for the late reply! Finally got back from Tokyo!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:47:39 +0000 UTCHas been shared--thanks for the input!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:46:46 +0000 UTCThank you very much Adam, and deepest apologies for the late reply. Video has been shared--thanks again for the input! You helped guide me in making this decision!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:46:32 +0000 UTCHi Daniel, Thank you very much for the question. With regards to pitch accent changing over the context of a whole sentence, yes, it does change, and I will be covering this in the future :) With regards to the scale, it's typically best to think of it as a two tones for simplicity, with additional changes in pitch / stress among these tones when intonation is factored into the equation. In other words, 学生は will usually be the same as 大学は or 銀行は in most statements that don't have a lot of emotion.
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:42:43 +0000 UTCTwo numbers means that there are two correct ways to say it--you can usually go with either one and still sound 100% native :) I don't have a way to integrate the resources, as there are patterns which we will cover soon that make it easier to understand which type of word goes with which group, etc. Thanks for the continued support!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:42:22 +0000 UTCDone! Thanks for sharing your opinion and sorry for being so late to reply! Just got back from Tokyo!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:41:11 +0000 UTCShared! Thank you very much for the input and apologies for the late reply!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:40:49 +0000 UTCShared! Thank you for your feedback and very sorry for the late reply!
Dogen
2016-12-04 14:39:53 +0000 UTCMany Japanese to Japanese dictionaries will list the pitch accent numbers :)
Dogen
2016-12-02 14:36:04 +0000 UTCany good physical book that does something similar to this sources?
Ilan Gonzalez Carigi
2016-12-01 03:40:46 +0000 UTCShare it!
Andreas Adolfsson
2016-11-28 16:37:14 +0000 UTCShare it! And thanks to everyone giving useful links in the comments here too :)
Timothy Chambers
2016-11-28 15:34:04 +0000 UTCGreat work! You should share this publicly on youtube.
Renchan
2016-11-26 23:14:59 +0000 UTCFantastic work! It's nice to see that you're sharing the video with the public too. I had a question to ask though: What should I do when an entry for a word gives me two numbers? For example, on <a href="http://www.excite.co.jp/world/j_dictionary/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.excite.co.jp/world/j_dictionary/</a> there are two numbers for the word 頭. Which one is correct? Do both work? Also, do you personally have a way to integrate the resources presented with a program such as Anki? I think doing so could make things a lot easier since there's so many words to learn. Thank you so much for all your help thus far!
Axel Hooper
2016-11-26 17:20:58 +0000 UTCHey Dogen, thanks for the video! Two questions came to mind as I was watching it. 1. I was curious how Japanese pitch accent might change or if it changes within the greater context of a whole sentence or conversation. For example 学生が vs. 学生が学校にいる。 Are there any patterns or anything we should be aware of when looking at Japanese accent rules in this way? 2. I was wondering if the highness or lowness of the pitch can vary word to word even within the same accent pattern. For example, within the 平板 pattern (and using the Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do scale :p ) I was wondering if one word + particle like 学生は might be Do Re Re Re Re, whereas another like 桜は might be Do Mi Mi Mi. Thanks a ton! :D
Daniel D
2016-11-26 14:25:00 +0000 UTCI think you should share it. I'm supporting you continuing to create awesome content, not simply paying for a class.
Adam Childers
2016-11-26 05:44:48 +0000 UTCShare share share!
Kenny Wang
2016-11-25 16:47:15 +0000 UTCMe too :)
Jean-Marc Sujata
2016-11-25 01:50:57 +0000 UTCI agree with everyone above. Share away!
Daniel Wahl
2016-11-25 01:50:38 +0000 UTCThis looks like the Windows equivalent to the OS X Japanese to Japanese dictionary. I believe the source dictionary is exactly the same: <a href="http://ebstudio.info/manual/EBWin4/EBWin4.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://ebstudio.info/manual/EBWin4/EBWin4.html</a>
Abel Toy
2016-11-24 23:00:47 +0000 UTCShare it!
Sébastien Gignoux
2016-11-24 20:17:11 +0000 UTCGo ahead!
Buddy Jonte
2016-11-24 18:04:45 +0000 UTCYeah share away! :D
Jeff Bernstein
2016-11-24 16:02:37 +0000 UTCShare it publicly. Better quality in the long run is a benefit to everyone involved :D
Rivers
2016-11-24 15:12:10 +0000 UTCPlease share it publicly.
Johannes
2016-11-24 14:54:10 +0000 UTC
