I’m just starting out on learning Japanese so I can, hopefully, move there one day. Are these apps accurate?

15 comments

1. [deleted]

2. Human Japanese is a good app.

3. Duolingo is generally no good for Asian languages unless you just want to drill stuff you already know. Sadly I can’t recommend any decent apps as I take live lessons over Zoom. I *can* say that “Japanese Dictionary Takaboto” is a pretty good dictionary app; at least, it’s what I lean on during my lessons, and my teacher doesn’t*always* look at me like I’m insane.

4. It’s good to start with apps, but you will soon find out that they all have the same limitations. They only go so far and “far” means nowhere past beginner level in most occasions.

   My best advice I can give you is to spend a small amount of money on Human Japanese and use that one if you really want to start with an app together with Anki to keep track of all words you learn. At some point you will be able to read texts or listen to Japanese materials and that’s probably also the point that you’ll stop using Anki as the benefits from daily grinding will also come to an end.

   After that it’s basically a matter of practicing and trying to use the language every single day. Made a video with more information for people who want to go from beginner to intermediate (Just a video full of advice) https://youtu.be/wBD6rCivJ2Y

   Enjoy the journey, it’s a difficult one but worth it!!

5. If you’re learning in hopes of moving here someday, the very first thing you should do is investigate your eligibility for a visa.

6. I found Duolingo to be very random, and a lot of the sentences and stories were ridiculous. The one thing it was good for, imo was low-effort drilling things like time, counters, etc… some of that has still stuck with me. The two apps I’ve found useful are:

   [LingoDeer](https://www.lingodeer.com/learn-languages/jp/) (basically what a good Duolingo would look like)

   * Teaches grammar & vocab through organic sentences that afaict you’d actually use IRL
   * Audio for every example & word in each lesson
   * You can toggle scripts (kanji, kana, romaji, etc) and transliteration styles
   * Each lesson has an accompanying “Study Tips” card, which contains a grammar breakdown + other contextual usage notes
   * Each unit has a Story at the end with listening comprehension and speaking practice
   * My only criticisms: transcription exercises seem to be a bit buggy with accepting kanji. The desktop version is underwhelming vs the mobile app

   [WaniKani](https://wanikani.com/)

   * Teaches you kanji & vocab, very effectively imo.
   * Each vocab lesson has example usages & context sentences. The sentences vary from silly to “I would actually say or see this IRL”
   * You won’t get applied grammar out of it though, unless you reverse-engineer the sentences.
   * – There are some great user scripts to add extra functionality to it. Also has a helpful community

   In either case, apps can be a helpful tool, but they’ll only get you so far.

7. Bunpo is definitely better than duolingo, but I’d still recommend grabbing some physical textbooks (like the TRY! books) for grammar, paired with Wanikani for learning Kanji and vocabulary.

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9. Try JLRPG quest. Better than duolingo

10. Rather than apps, I think working with books is better, I’d start by getting a handful of books for beginners. For starting to speak I used Pimsleur, which is an app now (used to be CDs).

11. Wani Kani is great though you must have the self discipline to study each and every day. The program even says to do your reviews on your birthday. I haven’t missed a day yet but my friend who is doing it is overloaded by reviews and lessons when missing a day or two. It’s a great site with a very active and helpful community

12. Here’s what worked for me. Take it with a grain of salt (I live in Japan)

    Grind katakana and hiragana. Learn them well. Spend a full month if need be.

    Do things like dualingo, books like Genki, n5/n4 practice books. Learn the general grammar, congugation, and sentence structure.

    Anki your ass off. I mean an hour a day for months. Every single day. Don’t stop the grammar learning, but vocab acquisition should be there priority.

    Use language exchange apps and consume native material. Watch things you know (pokemon for example) in japanese, with japanese subtitles. Amount of time hearing the language is by far they most important thing. Translate words that you hear often, and try to spend a good portion of time studying without any other languages involved.

    This worked for me and while I am no expert I have plenty of friends who speak no English and we communicate fine. To be clear this is not a path but more so of things to add. It’s important to get fundamentals down, down really well. You’ll be glad you did in the future

13. If you’re open to getting a tutor I would try italki it’s relatively competitive so the pricing is great. It helps I’ve learned so much since meeting with My one on one japanese tutor. Her name is Junko on the app. It helps really hearing it from a native.

14. I’d like to recommend a few apps!

    Obenkyo can be a huge helper with vocabulary, particles and grammar. It’s the first app i downloaded to learn japanese.

    Yomiwa has a special function that lets you draw a kanji when you don’t know how its hiragana, which is very good for finding the meaning and writing of kanjis you find in games and some subtitles for example. I don’t remember if i paid for this function or not.

    Kakugo can be a huge helper to test your knowledge. This app single-handedly taught me hiragana and katakana.

    Others that helped me a lot to learn are Jiten (since one of its functions give you a lot of sentences to learn grammar), Coban which is the best grammar app i know, and some apps like kanji of the day or kanji study to help your kanji learning

    Last but not least, see if there’s a Kumon in your area, and if there is one, see if it has a japanese course. If it does, try to do it, it can help you a thousand times more than any of the apps i listed.

    I hope these tools help you in your journey!

15. Duolingo will definitely help you learn the basic basics, but it becomes useless after a few months of studying.