I’m currently planning an overhaul of the site. I’ve learned a lot more about Japanese from a linguistic perspective in the several years since I wrote the bulk of the existing content. Now, I’m in a position to greatly improve what was effectively the prototype.
I’ve also changed my mind regarding the best way to organize both the existing and planned material. I think that the current “verbs late” organization of the Beginning Lessons makes sense for a classroom curriculum, but it makes it difficult to write about certain topics while maintaining a flexible ordering, which is ultimately what I’m striving for. For these reasons, I’ve decide to revise the existing Beginning Lessons before I add much of anything new.
In addition, I have a better sense now of what I can realistically do with the time I have for JapaneseProfessor.com. In particular, I plan to reduce the scope of the Kanji section, putting it on par with the Beginning Lessons and covering just the basics. Likewise, I don’t think I can pull off a comprehensive intermediate language course at this time. Instead, what I’m considering is to do a course in basic Japanese linguistics (with the amount of general linguistics TBD), and some selected topics in grammar and usage that draw on a linguistically-informed understanding of the Japanese language.
Before any of this, I need to do some general maintenance. During this time, you may notice some inconsistencies in formatting across pages; these will soon be ironed out. When I get to the revisions, I will try to go about them least disruptive way that I can, but in the meantime I ask that you forgive the unevenness between the old and new pages. Most of the individual page addresses and topics will be unchanged, but the conceptual ordering and the content will change somewhat.
I will continue to keep you updated as I go about all of these changes, which will be carried out graduate over the next few months. I will also mark recently revised pages as such in the contents pages. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if anything breaks in the process!
i really hope you update soon, your website has really been helping me understand things better and making things more simple for me. thank you!
I love your website!
Thanks so much for your posting. I have tried many textbooks before I found your posts.None of those books has the same clarity as yours. I hope you will continue posting soon or even considering publish a complete version in the future.
Thanks for your website. It’s really clearly written.
Wow! Thank you so much for this site. It’s helped me grow so much… Please continue making these. They are so helpful! I’m guessing you are fluent. You talk about linguistics in your lessons… Do you speak more than japanese? If so what others? My other question is what do you do for a living? Are you a linguist?
Thanks allot for this website, it’s probably the best free lessons in Terms of Grammar, and it has taught me allot 🙂
Thank you for the site. I’m eagerly wating for new updates, I’ve been learning japanese by myself for a few months now and your posts helps a lot, they are extremely well written, clear and simple.
Thank you so much for your cristal clear lessons !
I really hope you can add an update soon particularly regarding the verbs.
Again congratulations you’ve done a wonderful job !
Arigatou gozaimasu!
I have only found your website today and only been through the ‘expressions’ page but it is already the page I look forward to visit more in coming days. I am staying in japan and working in a multicultural English-speaking office which impedes my Japanese learning. I am not too good at homework if it is just rote learning – and your page, with its little additional but vastly more enlightening breakups of phrases (like o-kage-sama) solves some of the mysteries that I find in understanding the basics of the spoken Japanese (‘written’ is still quite a way – but I agree on learning the 92 kana as the minimum requirement and I should have done better at it as that HAS to be rote learning.)
Thanks and best wishes – looking forward to more classes from the professor.
Any chance of a new update? Love this site so far?
*Meant to use an exclaimation…
It is amazing that an English native speaker has such a deep understanding to Japanese and Japanese culture! Your lessons are so vivid and easy-understanding, I really hope you can keep posting. Actually I am quite interested in your experience study kanji—how did you learn another kind of letter that is completely different from and far more complex than your own language??
Thank you!! Your website is still helping us learners!!