And Now For Something Fun

While cruising YouTube for the previously blogged video of a seriously disturbed young man, I came across some videos from Genki Japan. Catchy tunes to help you learn things in Japanese like numbers, colors, months, directions, etc. Some of the pronunciations are a bit different from what I heard native speakers use, but mostly just the vowel sounds- easily overcome. The important thing is grasping the concept. The repetition, images and upbeat tunes are good for retention. And the best part is the frequent repetition of the appropriate kanji to help with recognition. Most of the videos are about one minute long.

This one is my favorite: a Japanese version of the classic children's tune, Mary Had a Little Lamb. Short, colorful and cheerful. Here are some of my favorites. Click on each title to view it on YouTube.

Learn Japanese Numbers 1 to 20 ...good visual of the number system; aids memory retention.
Learn Japanese: When, Where, Who, What? etc. ...lots of repetition for one minute.
Learn Japanese for Hot, Cold, Fun, Cool & Interesting ...good, slow breakdown of individual sounds in the words.
Learn Japanese: Food & Animals "What food do you like?" ...entirely in Japanese. Ends with a little joke.
Learn Japanese: Weather in Japanese (sunny, cloudy, snowy..) easy to read furigana with each kanji.
Learn Japanese: How much? + I'll take it! in Japanese ...shows different denominations of yen.
Where are you from? Song Learn Japanese GenkiJapan.net ...pretty good. The tune stayed in my head for a while.
Learn Japanese: Left, Right, Forward, Back GenkiJapan.net ...this one is very good. Like Dance Dance Revolution for toddlers!