Hey people, second-year ALT from Chiba prefecture here! I wanted to make this post because I’ve been consistently shocked by the amount of incoming JETs who wanted to study Japanese before they came/when they got here, but weren’t sure what resources to use, or WORSE, ended up using \*shudder\* Duolingo. That said, I believe the best resources **is the one that works for you**, so if the green owl really gets you going, so be it. I will, however, share the resources that I would recommend using!
1. [MaroMori.io](https://marumori.io/) An all-in-one site with in-depth grammar articles, a really fun gamified system, and overall just super cute. The site is 100% free to use at the moment since I believe it’s technically in beta (?), which is honestly insane considering the amount of resources they have available. The downside is they only have grammar articles for N5/N4 (beginner) at the moment, so more advanced learners might not have as rich of an experience (they have study lists for advanced vocab/kanji though). If you’re just starting out, I can’t recommend this site enough.
2. [WaniKani](https://www.wanikani.com/) Tried and true site. If you just want to focus on kanji and vocab and forget about grammar, then you could use WaniKani from zero to N1. The only downsides here are that it’s paid, not super cheap, and doesn’t let you start where you want. This means you have to slog though *all* of the beginner kanji/vocab, and your pace is locked in too. I also hear that they recently made some strange changes that the community isn’t happy about, but I don’t use the site anymore so I can’t comment.
3. [Bunpro](https://bunpro.jp/) Like WaniKani but for grammar. They have really concise break-downs for pretty much every grammar point from N5-N1, as well as grammar SRS. I personally don’t like their SRS, but I do think it’s a useful resource for looking up grammar. As an absoltue beginner, you may be a bit lost as this site doesn’t teach kana, so I’d recommend it in tandem with another resource.
4. [Cure Dolly](https://www.youtube.com/@organicjapanesewithcuredol49) For audio/visual (YouTube), Cure Dolly is a community favorite. If you can get past the voice and semi v-tuber style, the content is very well-delivered and well-explained. Unfortunately I don’t think they’re making videos anymore, but there’s a huge backlog of content to go through.
Anywhoo, those are the main four resources that I would recommend. Please feel free to ask any questions, or recommend your own resources as well. Happy studies and I hope this helps!
Edit: Incoming\* LOL
6 comments
Thanks for your recommendations! How was your Japanese prior to your move? If it wasn’t too good, did you still manage?
Anki for flashcards – arguably one of the most popular tools that also happens to be free
Genki I/II – tried and true textbooks/workbooks for people that prefer physical study tools (N5/N4ish).
Tobira/Quartet – textbooks for those aiming for N3+
Local Japanese classes at your placement if it exists. Likely free and you get conversation practice
https://learnnatively.com/ – no point in grinding vocabularly/grammar if you’re never gonna consume native material
Hire a tutor on italki – if you want conversation practice with a native speaker
https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/resources – also has a massive list of resources.
>Unfortunately I don’t think they’re making videos anymore
AFAIK there haven’t been any more updates to Cure Dolly’s channel because she passed away a few couple of years ago……
Any study or practice is good practice so I wouldn’t discourage the use of apps like Duolingo.
It’s better than doing nothing and a lot easier than sitting down for a good 20+ minutes studying consistently.
I’m currently going through an N5 course on Udemy and found that Duolingo follows the same course progress and topics so it’s an amazing tool to revise what I’ve learned.
It shouldn’t be the only way you’re learning but it’s a very good supplement to courses or resources that go into more detail. It’s very easy for me to do a few lessons on the way to work or during my lunch break.
Human Japanese. Human Japanese pro. A wealth of practical and useful daily-use conversation content.
Re: WaniKani’s new change, it’s the decision to add non-kanji flashcards into the mix. So far I believe it’s only a limited number, but they’ve reworked their system to allow for it and unless they dial it back entirely the amount of vocab will probably increase. I hope that they make it an opt-in/out feature, since I think it doesn’t have to be a purely negative change. In my mind the pros and cons are as follows
Pros: more vocab, more learning. Also (though I don’t know if they’re going to change this for their existing kanji) a lot of words that technically have kanji aren’t written with them most of the time. You absolutely have to learn vocab independant of kanji. If you’re a beginner, this is just more to learn. Also if you’re level 60 and bored, it’s more to do (dubious positive).
Cons: you may already know vocab, or have a system you prefer for studying it. If you use WaniKani as a precise tool for kanji learning, this change means you have a bunch of unwanted flashcards to slog through alongside the kanji.
Overall though I highly recommend the site if you’re new to it or on the fence. It does cost a good bit, but I’m glad I sprung for the (discounted) life-time membership myself, since I’m a very slow learner and have been at it 4 years now. I also highly recommend installing some community-authored scripts to suit your personal learning preferences and for quality of life improvements.