My wife is Japanese and we are looking for a web-based program we can use to help our elementary-aged children start learning hiragana/katakana/kanji. My wife is native, yes, but doesn’t have the patience or training to give them a formal education in Japanese. My kids are decent with hiragana/katakana (definitely could use practice) but currently know no kanji. I’ve looked at the learning resource pages here and most stuff seems geared toward high school/college-aged students, and people trying to learn rather quickly (e.g., master all kanji within a year or two). We’re looking for something that’s more long-term and not too intensive for children (like, I’m not going to have my kids making/drilling Anki cards from anime immersion or whatever, you know?). Ideally something they could work on for maybe 20-30 minutes a day, that follows roughly a similar pace to compulsory education in Japan. Does anything like this exist?
3 comments
Try Japanese from Zero and the videos?
Wanikani can be found for Anki as well as listening practise decks with clips from anime (the name eludes me ATM).
Not sure if it will work outside if Japan, but have you looked at various Benesse products online? They’re intended for Japanese speakers, which might pose a bit of a challenge, but since your wife is Japanese perhaps she can help them with it. There’s also Smile Zemi, but that requires a dedicated tablet that they provide.
If you’re not opposed to paying you could use italki for lessons they’ll give you the resources and you’ll practice it with them online