Hi! I’ve been learning Japanese for about 2 months now and have only used Duolingo so far. It’s been amazing to learn Hiragana and Katakana which I can say I now confidently know, but as far as understanding Japanese and how to use it, I feel like Duolingo falls short.
I’m looking for an app (preferably free) that will actually give you lessons as well as quizzes. My issue with Duolingo is that it doesn’t really explain much about Japanese, it just quizzes you. I would like more lessons and information, especially with grammar and formal vs. informal instruction.
Thank you!
4 comments
The app with the most free stuff is probably going to be Renshuu (Renshuu.org if you prefer websites instead). Lots of customization, games, lessons, quizzes, and the majority of it is free. Other than that, you can find Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar free online, and I recently found a way to actually read Cure Dollys lessons rather than watch them on YouTube (I can’t stand the Vtuber/voice modification thing).
All of that is free, though there’s also decently priced apps also if you need more.
Edit: I seem to have lost the post that had the Cure Dolly Google doc link in it 🙁 but I think you can find others with the link if you search her name in this subreddit.
For study of kanji the best app is kanji study
The lifetime subscription is dirt cheap.
Anki (official one), YouTube, an epub reader, Shirabe Jisho, Netflix, CrunchyRoll
Don’t use apps, just bookmark resources that are recommended by advanced Japanese language learners. The discord community in this subreddit will aid you in whatever is troubling you. Albeit you would want to read the wiki here as to how to start as to not flood the chat.
https://sakubi.neocities.org/ Id also recommend this after learning hiragana/katakana. It’s a bit advanced so i’d hold off on it until you’ve checked other sites as it’s not verbose, but it is incredibly thorough.
And read native material whenever you can, even at the early stages, just don’t overload yourself