alternatives to Duolingo

4 comments

1. Get a proper textbook like Genki, remove Duolingo from your life and never get back to it ever again.

   Edit – Care to explain why some of you are downvoting me? Or are you stuck in your Japanese learning because you’ve created a “streak” in Duolingo and that’s your biggest in Japanese learning?

2. I would recommend the core 2k/6k deck with the program anki – as well as immersion if you have enough time every day. The Moe way has a great guide on immersion and you can find plenty of discussion about it using the searchbar on the sub. Enjoy your journey!

3. As far as apps go, you might want to try Renshuu. It’s also gamified, but the content seems to go much deeper and geared towards actually teaching you good japanese.

   Anki is incredibly useful if you get some good decks and build a good system to make your own, but you have to consciously dedicate some study time to it.

   I’m also using Kanji Garden for Kanji learning ($5 a month). I tried Heisig’s Remember the Kanji, and while the system is great in helping you build strong mental images related to the kanji, it annoyed me that it didn’t offer any help with learning readings.

   As far as books go, Genki I and II are very solid choices. Start with Genki I if you want to start building a solid grammar foundation from the start.

4. Though not free, I have very much enjoyed using LingoDeer. Focuses a lot more on grammar than vocabulary I’d say.