Top Japanese language Twitterers to help you learn Japanese
This is the last in the Twitter series. In my previous two articles Top Japan-related people to follow on Twitter and Top Japan-related websites to follow on Twitter I listed only English language Twitterers. This time I've put together a list of twitterers who tweet in Japanese.
The 140 character limit means that you won't be overwhelmed with Japanese. It's perfect for reading now and again to help keep the kanji and kana you've learnt fresh in your mind. This list contains people who would normally tweet in English but use Japanese either as practice or to help others learn.
- makiko (maki) on Twitter @mainichinihongo
- jrfiction on Twitter @jrfiction
- learnkanji on Twitter @learnkanji
- Marcel Grünauer on Twitter @1day1kanji
I've kept the list to only those who have updated within the past month, so the list is small right now. If you know anyone actively teaching or practicing Japanese on Twitter please let me know in the comments.
You guessed it, native Japanese twitterers. You can use the Twitter search to find people talking about certain topics or you can even just search for people in Japan and pick a few at random like I did, I'm sure they'll be grateful for the follow. I don't understand half of what is said by those I do follow, but I'm slowly learning and seeing the language every day helps me a lot. Eventually I will thank them in Japanese and start a conversation!
If you want to be added or removed from this list please leave a comment.
Mike said on Fri 2008/12/05 09:37 JST:
僕も時々日本語でTwitterやっているよ！
ところで、このTwitterのリストってすごく役立つから、ありがとうな！
Brett Fyfield said on Fri 2008/12/05 10:08 JST:
Hey Chris thanks for the mention.
Twitter is an excellent resource for languages and precisely why I chose to use it in Japanese from the start. It never really occurred to me at the time to use it in English. I was living in Japan and using a keitai, so it was just a natural extension of what I was already doing via sms with my Japanese friends.
Recently a few of my Japanese students from eduFire have folowed me @jrfiction and I'm encouraging them to use it as much as possible.
My big tip: Spend a lot of time on the person's profile page before you choose to follow. If you can understand a third of what they're saying and it's not overly repetitive then follow them. Also try and follow someone that uses a lot of @ replies, because the conversation will be more natural and you'll be able to pick up more interesting people to follow.
Thanks again!
Chris said on Fri 2008/12/05 11:14 JST:
Great tip Brett, thanks!
yonasu said on Fri 2008/12/05 20:07 JST:
Sweet! I've added them now.
Got me thinking though, do you know of any Japanese Twitter apps? This could be a possible list for the future, no?
Chris said on Fri 2008/12/05 22:24 JST:
Hmm I don't know of any, but if you find some I'd love to know about them.
Nick Ramsay said on Sat 2008/12/06 02:41 JST:
Some of you will roll your eyes, but Second Life is a fantastic way to learn casual Japanese. I go to one of the Japanese clubs and just sit at the bar watching the text chat from the Japanese folk scroll up my screen (hey, the music is good!). If there aren't many people there, you can talk with a virtual host or hostess. They are paid to talk to you, and it costs you nothing! If you can't read the text, go to one of the Japanese voice clubs in Second Life instead.
Chris said on Sun 2008/12/07 10:15 JST:
Nice tip, Nick. I'll check out Second Life this week.
