About this site

Purpose of this site

“経済のにほんご” is a site for users to learn basic terms in economics and shows how to use them. Users are expected to have at least upper intermediate Japanese proficiency and a desire to:

Learn basic terms related to economics in order to major in a subject related to economics at college or university (or)
Learn basic terms related to the current state of the Japanese economy or world economy when searching for a job

How to use this site

1. Select a language.

The site “経済のにほんご” has English, Chinese, and Korean versions. Select one of them on the top page of this site. After selecting a language, you can still change to another one by selecting the language link at the top-right corner of the screen.

2. Select a subject of basic terms.

First, select either “Academic Terms” or “News Terms”, and then select which subject to study. “Academic Terms” are for those who want to major in a subject related to economics at college or university; there are 612 terms. “News Terms” are for those who are searching for a job; there are 140 terms. Both were selected from textbooks used at Japanese middle schools and high schools. Terms can be searched not only by subject, but also by entering a key word, such as “価格”, “かかく”, “price”, etc. in the search form at the top-right corner of the screen.

3. Learn the basic terms.

The reading in Hiragana is indicated above the basic term and its translation is indicated below. You can listen to spoken recordings of the basic term by clicking the mark on the right. The shading on the Hiragana indicates the pitch accent. For example, for the term "きぎょう",the accent is placed on「き」. When you listen to the spoken recordings, by paying attention to where the accent falls, you can learn to speak in a natural accent. The important basic terms have either one or two ☆ marks:

☆☆：Terms of primary importance, which appear in more than half of middle school Civics textbooks.
☆：Terms of secondary importance, which appear in more than half of high school textbooks on Contemporary Social Studies or Politics and Economics.

4. Learn how to use the basic terms.

For some of the most important terms marked ☆☆, “View Usage” appears. Clicking on “View Usage” displays a list of uses, such as “The price goes up”, or “price fluctuation”, indicating basic term usage. The translation is indicated below the collocation. You can listen to spoken recordings of the collocations by clicking the mark on the right. There are 92 basic terms with usage examples, and there are 630 usage examples in total.

There are two ways of learning the example sentences of basic terms:

“Show Example”: Read an example sentence » listen to an example sentence
“Practice Dictation”: Read hint collocations » listen to an example sentence » see answer » next question

“Show Example” involves reading and listening to each example sentence and is useful for those learning the term for the first time. The list of uses is shown in the following order:

Verb collocation, i.e. “The price goes up”
Noun collocation, i.e. “price fluctuation”
Adjective collocation, i.e. “The price is high”

Collocations are grouped by their meanings.

“Practice Dictation” shows one of the collocations as a hint. First, you listen to the example sentence of the collocation, and then check the answer. This is useful for those who have already learned the term. By using “Practice Dictation”, you can practice the following:

shadowing: speak as you listen to the example sentence
repeat: speak after listening to the example sentence
dictation: write after listening to the example sentence

Examples of collocations are short sentences written in simple Japanese with less than 35 characters. The sentences are natural, as they are written by a Japanese language teacher and experts in economics.

Producers

Titles are as of October 1, 2010.

Producer/Supervisor: KOMIYA Chizuko (Professor, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Selection of basic terms: KOMIYA Chizuko (Professor, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Classification of basic terms into subjects: NORIKAWA Satoshi (Lecturer, College of Economics,Teikyo University); KOMIYA Chizuko (Professor, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Research on accent of basic terms: OKUBO Masako (post-doctorate program, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University); TODA Akiko (received master degree, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University); TOYA Kanako (received master degree, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Assessment of collocations: NORIKAWA Satoshi (Lecturer, College of Economics,Teikyo University); YAGASHIRO Hideyoshi (Assistant Professor, College of Economics,Rikkyo University); KONGO Takumi (post-doctorate program,, Graduate School of Economics, Waseda University)
Selection and listing of collocations: KOMIYA Chizuko (Professor, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Translation of basic terms and collocations into English: NORIKAWA Satoshi (Lecturer, College of Economics,Teikyo University)
Supervision of translation of basic terms into English: IWAMOTO Takekazu (Professor, Graduate School of Economics,Kyoto University)
Translation of basic terms and collocations into Chinese: WEN Ming Yue (post-doctorate program, Graduate School of Commerce,Waseda University)
Translate basic terms and collocations into Korean: KIM Yun Jeong (post-doctorate program, Graduate School of Commerce,Waseda University)
Creation of example sentences of collocations: KOMIYA Chizuko (Professor, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Assistance with creating example sentences of collocations: KITAMURA Naoko (part-time lecturer, International Student Center, Yokohama National University)
Supervision of creating example sentences of collocations: NORIKAWA Satoshi (Lecturer, College of Economics,Teikyo University); AGATSUMA Yasushi (post-doctorate program, Graduate School of Economics, Waseda University)
Recording of basic terms, collocations, and example sentences of collocations: OKUBO Masako (post-doctorate program, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Creation of the website: SUNAMI Hokuto (Freelance web designer)
Creation of explanation of the website: KOMIYA Chizuko (Professor, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Translation of explanation of the website: Japan Interpretation and Translation Center, Ltd.
Proofreading of the English translation of the website explanation: Golia,Matthew (IMBA program, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina)
Proofreading of the Chinese translation of the website explanation: YU Nengjui (post-doctorate program,Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)
Proofreading of the Korean translation of the website explanation: CHO Seojung (master degree, Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics, Waseda University)

Copyright

The copyright of information (text, graphs, recordings) on the website belongs to KOMIYA Chizuko. Transferring or copying the information on this website in whole or in part for reasons other than personal use is strictly prohibited.

Privacy policy

Comments, opinions, and inquiries sent to the website will be used for operating and improving the website. The E-mail addresses given in those comments, opinions, and inquiries may be used for contacting you.

About linking to the website

There is no restriction on linking to this website. It is not mandatory to notify us when you link to this website, but it would be appreciated. Please feel free to notify us at any time. Please use the following banner to create a link to this site. (Banner in progress)

Addition

Creation of this website was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant NumberJP20520482, Chief researcher, KOMIYA Chizuko.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact:
keizai.nihongo AT mark gmail.com
(KOMIYA Chizuko and SUNAMI Hokuto)