Whether you’re a complete and uninitiated Japanese-speaking newbie or a seasoned veteran who speaks like a native, learning Japanese never goes out of style or use. For said newbies, never fear, stress, or feel out of the loop; we’ve got some useful words and links for your express use.

School-related Japanese

Types of schools
Kanji	Kana	Reading	Meaning
学校	がっこう	gakkou	school
小学校	しょうがっこう	shougakkou	elementary school
中学校	ちゅうがっこう	chuugakkou	junior high school
高校	こうこう	koukou	senior high school
工業	こうぎょう	kougyou	technical school
商業	しょうぎぃおう	shougyou	commercial school
農業	のうぎょう	nougyou	agricultural school

School subjects
Kanji	Kana	Reading	Meaning
英語	えいご	eigo	English
数学	すうがく	suugaku	Mathematics
社会	しゃかい	shakai	Social Studies
国語	こくご	kokugo	Japanese
理科	りか	rika	Science
美術	びじゅつ	bijutsu	Art
技術	ぎじゅつ	gijutsu	Industrial Art
家庭	かてい	katei	Home Economics
体育	たいいく	taiiku	Phys. Ed. (PE)
音楽	おんがく	ongaku	Music

School events
Kanji	Kana	Reading	Meaning
始業式	しぎょうしき	shigyoushiki	Beginning-of-term ceremony
体育大会	たいいくたいかい	taiikutaikai	Sports Day
運動会	うんどうかい	undoukai	Sports Day (same event, different name).
文化祭	ぶんかさい	bunkasai	School Culture Festival
終業式	しゅうぎょうしき	shuugyoushiki	End-of-term ceremony
中間試験	ちゅうかんしけん	chuukanshiken	Midterms
期末試験	きまつしけん	kimatsushiken	Finals
参観日	さんかんび	sankanbi	Parents Visiting Day

Some popular Japanese foods

Kanji	Reading	Description
牛丼	Gyuudon	Beef and onions with a sweet soy sauce, based on rice.
天丼	Tendon	Tempura on rice.
チキン南蛮	Chicken nanban	Miyazaki specialty; sweet-and-sour fried chicken usually served with tartar sauce.
定食	Teishoku	Set menu; usually it means a meal comes with rice, soup and salad, and sometimes even with a dessert and drink included.
うどん	Udon	Thick white rice noodles in broth.
そば	Soba	Fairly thin, brown – sometimes gray – buckwheat noodles served in broth; hot or cold.
ラーメン	Ramen	Noodles in various broths; not to be confused with the cup noodle variety.
カレーライス	Kareraisu	Curry and rice. The Japanese varieties are different from Thai, Indian or other types.
餃子（ぎょうざ）	Gyouza	Pork dumplings
肉	Niku	Meat, e.g. pork (豚肉), beef (牛肉), chicken (鶏肉) etc.
豚	Buta/ton	Pork
牛	Gyuu	Beef
鳥	Tori	Chicken
魚	Sakana	Fish
野菜	Yasai	Vegetables
果物 (くだもの)	Kudamono	Fruit

 

Other useful links

1. Tofugu: excellent all-round Japanese advice, online textbook and interesting Japanese news and culture articles.
2. Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese: another great resource with free lessons, grammar explanations, practice exercises, and downloadable guides.
3. JLPT: the official website for the Japanese Language Proficiency Tests.
4. Tanos: an extensive and FREE resource site for all JLPT levels. Also has resources for HSK, the Mandarin equivalent of the JLPT.
5. NHK Japanese online lessons: Great for beginners.
6. Denshi Jisho: Known to be one of the more accurate English – Japanese dictionaries.
7. Saiga Online Kanji dictionary: A pretty complex but very useful tool for daily kanji.
8. Nihongojouzu: A comprehensive blog about learning Japanese.
9. Verb Conjugator: A really useful Japanese verb conjugator.
10. Kanji flash cards: Great site with lots of other useful links to learn Japanese.
11. Gengo: The ultimate online Japanese dictionary.
12. Miyazaki Dialect Database: Comes in Japanese only, though.