We'll ignore basic counting (1, 2, 3...) and focus on how to count actual items in this post. When Japanese started borrowing half their language from Chinese, they also borrowed the Chinese counting system that says stuff like "2 lettuce heads" (not 2 lettuces), "2 milk cartons" (not 2 milks), "2 paper pages/leafs" (not 2 papers or 2 looseleafs), "2 airplane machines" (not 2 airplanes).

There's not actually all that many "counters" in daily use, and the ones that aren't also get messed up by Japanese people. New concepts will go by different counters until people've decided on a good one, ex. in the 60-70's "robots" might be "2 robot bodies" (体) but nowadays it's "2 robot machines" (台). Which one you use can also change according to your thoughts on the subject, as in you can call a huge monster either a "huge monster" or a "little critter". Generally speaking, the rarer counters appear more often in 1950's-and-before writing.

A note about counters: Japanese people will understand you no matter HOW badly you mess up which one to use (my wife said ふた にち instead of ふた つ ひ, ふっか or に にち and people still understood). You can also use none at all and just pause where a counter should be instead ("3... 犬" instead of "3匹犬"), and they'll understand that.

Here's the ones I've encountered while learning Japanese. Later on I'll try to add photo examples where you can actually see the counters used:

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The list of N5 pronunciation changes from the JLPT grammar example list post was getting too long so I decided to put them in their own post instead. Last updated: 2017.09.09

あい、おい、いい —> えー (えぇ) : in manga this usually happens in informal or childish speech but my teachers say in general it's simply showing "the spoken language" (versus the written language).
• いい —> ええ "is good, yes"
• ない —> ねー "is without, -less, non-existing"
• こわい —> こうぇえ "is scary"
• うまい —> うめぇ "is tasty"
• うるさい —> うるせー "is noisy" = shaddap!!
• ぐらい —> ぐれー "around (this time/amount)"
• おもしろい —> おもしれー "is interesting, fun"

い —> ゆ: same as above.
• いく —> ゆく (in most dialects). "goes".
• どう いう —> どう ゆう "what way" (used to mean ex. "what do you mean, what are you saying?").

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We're all probably studying Japanese, right? So why doesn't anyone ever tell us the actual useful words for learners?? I'll start making a list here as I find them.

違い　a difference (ex. in word usage: 何 の 違い what kind of difference?). when i want to know the difference between two different kanji i just write something like "熱　暑　違い" into google and see what comes up.
語源　word origin = etymology
読み方　"read-method" = pronunciation
動詞　move word = verb
複数　more than one (layer) number = plural
形容(詞)　modify (word) = adjective
同義語　same duty word = synonym
辞書　word (compared to grammar) writings = normal dictionary
字書　letter writings = kanji dictionary (though i don't know if they have another term for it)
意味　meaning
さま (様)　means the same as 様子 which is "tends to behave like; form", in the case of words: "tends to be used like, tends to mean".
ニュアンス　nuance
外来　arriving from overseas = foreign/loanword. 外 is short for 外国 or 海外 and 来 for probably 出来.
略語　short(ened) word = abbreviation (ex. JD, JP)
熟語　a 2+kanji word where the individual kanji have almost exactly the same meaning (ex. 思想)
　
宿題　(at-)lodging (work-)theme = homework
試験　test-try(?) = exam
受[試]験　receive-try(?) = taking an exam
模試[験]　imitation test = mock exam
授業　receive-knowledge work(?) = class lesson
卒業　? = graduate
予習　pre-learn = study in advance
練習　? = practice exercise (ex. listening drill)
復習　? = review-study
自習　self-study (ex. study at home the material you learned in class)
習う　learns (under someone's instruction; not necessarily a school-teacher)
勉強　study (not necessarily with anyone's help)
締め切り　tie-up(?) run-out/cut-off = deadline

Most Japanese "phrases" are super clear and instantly understandable (stuff like "your work, your result = you've made your bed, now lie in it") but of course there's still many that aren't so clear. I've slowly started learning some, as I find more I'll list them here. Feel free to post your own!

詰め が 甘い、詰め の 甘さ = fuck-up. ex. "you're a fuck-up, you always fuck-up right at the last minute" — but it's slightly more polite than the english version (closer to "slip-up" in politeness, but still putting blame on the person). sounds like it should be 爪が甘い (and some people do write it that way) but it apparently comes from chess slang, where 詰め means checkmate, so "your checkmate is (too) weak" i guess.
念 の ため： "feeling's reason", just to be safe
役 に 立つ："stand in(to the) role", be useful. "role" is the same as in ex. "we're playing the role of the fox, and he of the hunter".

苦労：ご 苦労 様、ご 苦労 さん　"(You Mr.) Painful Work" = good job today! thanks! You can also put でした after it.
疲れる：お 疲れ さま、お 疲れ さん　"(You Mr.) Become-tired" = same as above. You can also put でした after it.
今日は：こんにち は、こんにち わ　"this day is", good afternoon!
今晩は：こんばん わ　"this night is", good evening!
お 早い ござる：お はよう ござい ます "(your) early exists", good morning!

気（気分 mood）：
気 が 早い　"feeling is fast" = is rash about something
気 が 短い　"feeling is short" = short-tempered (he's got a short wick)
気 が 遠い　?? I thought I saw this somewhere but maybe not.
気 が 遠く なる　"feeling becomes distant" = passes out
気 が 付く　"a feeling sticks" = notices something
気 が 入る　"feelings go in", put effort into
気 が 難しい　"feelings are difficult", difficult to please, grouchy
気 を 付ける　"can stick to a feeling" = watch out!
気 を 失う　"lose feelings" = pass out
気 を 落とす　"feelings are dropped (by something)" = get disappointed
気 を 引く　"draw feelings" = draw attention (引く is pull as in drag, pull a gun trigger)
気 に 入る　"enter into feelings", (start to) like something, be pleased with something
気 に する　"causes a feeling", lets something get to one, is bothered by something (short-term??)
気 に なる　"becomes a feeling", worries about something (long-term??)
気 の せい： "feeling's fault", it's just (my) imagination
気味 の 悪い（きもい）　"bad (to the) feelings", gross
気 安い　"feelings are easy/cheap", too friendly. in anime i see this constantly used for BAD stuff, ex. "you're touching my butt" "you're trying to help me when i haven't asked", but i don't know if that's the normal connotation

Japanese doesn't "really" have plurals so when they need/want to specify, they add in extra words that make the meaning clear. For example, "a bunch/group of", "ten", "diverse types", "all", "every", "countless". Usually people feel confused about this, but we have the same thing in English.

In a phrase like "every dog has its day", we know we're actually talking about multiple (countless) dogs even though we're using the singular "dog". In "they said that's their hat" we assume "they" refers to one single person because probably multiple people aren't sharing a single hat. But in "they announced it on the news" we can assume multiple people because we're referring to the multiple people who work at the news station.

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With a lot, lot of words there's actually 2 forms in common use: usually the "everyday" one is English, the "formal/archaic" is either originally Japanese or Chinese. Make no mistake, these Chinese ones ARE used and WILL come up when reading in Japanese! It might be in the newspaper, it might be in the title of an anime, etc. These are NOT "katakana words that have kanji forms", I mean actual synonyms that are more than just one-time borrowings.

From what I understand, Chinese/kanji words sound "tough, manly, harsh" while English words sound more "cool, fun, mysterious". So an action manga will use tons of kanji in the attack names but an advertisement will use a ton of English, for example. But ignoring that, here's the list! I don't know so many of them so please add in any you know!

電脳　コンピュータ　コンピュ　コン　computer (kanji = used a lot in scifi: ex. 電脳コイル "Dennou Coil", anime name)
自動車　車　カー　car (カー is hardly ever used)
乗り合い自動車　乗合自動車　バス　bus
動力　力　エネルギー　エネ　energy
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When you're just starting out, I advise you to learn katakana first. This is because you already know most katakana words! Here I'll make a list of all the ones I find in reading so that you can practice your katakana: note that this list will, eventually, get reaaally long.

NOTE!: These words are "officially" supposed to be written in katakana because they're foreign; in reality there's no such limit, you'll constantly see "katakana" words written in hiragana and vice versa. Don't memorize them as if they can "only" exist in katakana.

Last Updated: 2017.07.30

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I've been playing some online games and reading "Overlord" (manga about an MMORPG) and slowly learning chatspeak so I'll start making a list of what I figure out here!

Last updated: 2017.09.20

こん茶：こんにちは good afternoon!
いてらー:　い[っ]てら[っしゃい]　see you later!
おは:　おは[ようございます] 'morning!
ノ:　乗る "riding" as in "i'll ride/hop on the bandwagon" = "i agree", "i'll come join the raid" etc. usually someone will ask something and then a string of people will "raise their hand" like this to agree.
あざーす:　あ[りがとう ご]ざ[いま]す "thanks"
イベ：　イベント "event", ex. キルイベ "kill event" (event where you're supposed to kill enemy soldiers)
サブ：　"sub" as in "sub-account, my non-main account"
アカ：　アカウント "account", ex. サブアカ "sub account", 新アカ "new account".
イン(している)：　ログインしている "is logged in" (インする to become logged in = to log on). note that instead of saying someone's "offline" they tend to just say "not logged in" (インしていない).
テレポ：　テレポート (アイテム) "teleport(ation scroll etc)"
引退：　"retirement" = quit the game (or guild)
神：　"god" = what you'll be called if you're online constantly, appear whenever someone needs you, or can translate between japanese and another language
kwsk：　詳しく　"in detail" = details/source please
w：　笑、笑う　"laugh" = lol
g：　ゴールド　"gold" (in-game money)
(お)ひさ：久しぶり　"long time (no see)"
萌え：　萌える "buds, becomes sprouting" but actually this is the kanji for "moe". Ex. ギャップ萌え "gap moe", the moe of a gap in looks vs personality.
ノンケ : ノンゲイ "non-gay", straight.
i am japanese! : this actually means "i only speak japanese, i don't understand a single word of what you're saying, slow down and be nice" etc.
native : too foreign/not japanese (as in "i only understand broken english, not authentic english!" = "too native lol i'm japanese lol").
モン:　モンスター monster
ハン:　ハント、ハンチング hunt(ing), ex. モンハン monster-hunting

General useful vocabulary:

同盟 "alliance" = guild (in certain games)
合併 "merge" = merging 2 guilds into one etc
兵士 = soldiers
切れ(た) = ran out of something, ex. スタミナ 切れ "out of stamina"
敵 = enemy
襲う = attacks, robs
敵襲 (=敵 襲う) = raid (enemy attacking you)
攻撃(される) = (become) attacked