Where to Find Sentences

Ever since the Sentence Method was popularized on the inter-webs. The biggest question regarding the Sentence Method has been, “where in world do I find sentences?”

To be honest, it’s an understandable question, even if there are currently much, much more readily available sentences then you will ever need to become fluent in Japanese. Nonetheless, finding quality sentences remains a hurdle for beginning and intermediate learners alike. That is why I put together this resources for those who are still looking.

On to the free cheese …

	Sentences	Estimated Difficulty
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar	500-800	Beginner – Intermediate
smart.fm – Core 2000 via Anki Database via Anki Shared Decks	2000	Beginner – Intermediate
smart.fm – Core 6000 via Anki Database via Anki Shared Decks	4000	Beginner – Upper
Tanuki Corpus via Anki Shared Decks via Megaupload	7000+	Intermediate – Advanced

On to the connoisseur cheese …

	Sentences	Estimated Difficulty
Kanji in Context Reference Book Kanji in Context Workbook Vol. 1 Kanji in Context Workbook Vol. 2	2500-4200	Intermediate – Advanced
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar	8000-1000	Beginner – Advanced
2001 Kanji Odyssey (updated 2010)	3000	Beginner – Upper
Japansepod101.com	5000+	Beginner – Advanced

On to the blue cheese …

Yahoo! 辞書	Dictionary
ALC 英辞郎 (Eijiro)	Dictionary
Tanaka Corpus	Dictionary	contains errors; use with caution (160,000)
Anki Shared Decks	Misc.	use with caution

I’m sure there’s a ton more … but I think I covered the good stuff.

One more thing …

Now that you know where to find all the sentences you may ever need, do not go and download everything into Anki. The best advice I can give you is, add every sentence manually. You can also add batches by formatting them in a spreadsheet, then importing into Anki.

see Migrating from Reviewing the Kanji to Anki for the basics

I recommend storing unused sentences on different sheets within one spreadsheet. At the time when you need to add a specific [kanji, compound, word, expression, or example of grammar] do a search (Ctrl+f) of the entire workbook and add only the sentences you like/need/want.

FURTHER READING School Supplies Method Overview Goals & Timetables Japanesepod101 Spaced Repetition Software Japanese Grammar Sentence Method How Much will it Cost to Learn Japanese?

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