Update: Smart.fm is sadly no longer available and has been replaced by a paid-for service at iKnow.jp.

I'm using a website called smart.fm to help teach myself Japanese - it's a great website and I'd recommend it especially as it's free.

smart.fm is a e-learning tool and features a number of 'Lists', which as the name suggests are basically lists of items to learn. Being of Japanese origination, smart.fm started out with their own Japanese language lists but now many languages are covered and users are able to upload their own lists for people to learn from.

There are three different applications to help you learn from a list. iKnow! will be your most commonly used application, with words introduced one at a time. You see the kanji/kana (depending on your choice) for the word, hear it spoken, read it in the context of a sentence etc. You are then tested a little bit at a time whilst you are learning which really helps to reinforce the words. If you're weak on a word, it shows it again and you can refresh your memory.

Dictation is similar but concentrates on being able to understand the spoken language, rather than the written language. This is more useful if you're going to need to be speaking and listening rather than reading and writing. Last is BrainSpeed, which quick-fires questions at you with a choice of two answers at a time. This helps to get you into the habit of recognising words quickly and is best done after you've learnt a bit through iKnow! first.

Used in conjunction with each other, these are powerful tools that will really help speed up your learning. I would recommend that you still get a book and practice writing the characters though - typing on an English-language keyboard isn't much of a substitute. You'll also need to be able to commit the time as the starter series of lists that I'm on cover 2000 words and I'm finding that each set of 5 words takes about 10-15 minutes.

I do like the fact that I can break my learning into small chunks though, and spread out the time needed for this. I'm really looking forward to the iPhone app that is in development - if it is anywhere near as good as smart.fm, I'll be getting it.