Best App to Learn Japanese — We Tested Dozens

Pimsleur Japanese

As one of the longest-standing resources in the field, Pimsleur offers fully structured language courses that have made it a favorite among Japanese learners. Its programs take an immersive approach to help build and strengthen your listening and speaking skills. With more than 50 language options to choose from, Pimsleur primarily delivers its lessons through audio-based instruction, making it ideal for learners who want to strengthen their oral communication skills.

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See our Super-Detailed Pimsleur Japanese Review

Human Japanese

Human Japanese was created by a small dedicated team, and it shows. The app is extremely thorough, with explanations for just about everything every step of the way. It takes the absolute beginner through learning how to read and write with an engaging and personable writing style.

In many ways, it´s essentially an interactive textbook. The material is all presented via text, and you´ll do a fair amount of reading. There are animated writing instructions with stroke order for teaching Kana and Kanji, and there are some basic quizzes and practice activities to help you test your knowledge.

Although this resource is very thorough in its instructions, you´ll probably need to find some extra methods for committing what you learn to memory. Practice opportunities are what Human Japanese lacks most.

See our Super-Detailed Human Japanese Review

Lingodeer

Apps that gamify the learning experience can be a refreshing change of pace for learners who aren’t fond of a textbook-style approach, and Lingodeer falls into this category. It manages to achieve a good balance between fun activities and quality instruction. It especially stands out in the category of Asian languages, somewhere other similar apps often fall short. Lingodeer may not be totally free like insanely popular Duolingo, but it has better audio and grammar explanations. For Japanese, it’s really no contest between the two. 

See our Super-Detailed Lingodeer Review

Satori Reader

This Japanese reader uses the power of narrative to make your study time engaging and efficient. Through several series of varying themes, articles and stories are posted weekly, often as a continuation of a storyline. The material is written for learners at a variety of levels, and native speaker audio is provided for each.

The platform offers helpful translations that carefully consider the context in which you encounter words, the SRS review option is good, and there are useful grammar explanations. You will need to be able to read at least basic Japanese to use this app efficiently.

See our Super-Detailed Satori Reader Review

JapanesePod101

The amount of listening content available on JapanesePod101 is staggering, and while the lessons from ten years ago aren’t as good as the more recent ones, it’s still one of the best places to get Japanese listening practice.

It’s worth mentioning that this won’t be adequate as your only resource for learning Japanese. For listening practice though, there’s a lot to like. The huge amount of content means that there are quality lessons for learners at all levels, though the material at the advanced level isn’t quite as exceptional. Each audio lesson comes with detailed notes that make it easy to learn a great deal.

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See our Super-Detailed JapanesePod101 Review

Beelinguapp

Beelinguapp helps users interact with Japanese text by displaying it alongside their native language. This setup allows seamless switching between the two languages to ensure comprehension. You can even hide the translation to challenge yourself and focus on the original text. The app’s diverse content, from fairy tales to news articles, appeals to a wide audience. Additionally, the “karaoke” feature synchronizes audio with text, making it a smooth and engaging way to improve reading and listening skills.

The app does a fantastic job of supporting vocabulary building and reading comprehension, but it doesn’t include structured lessons or detailed grammar explanations, similar to exploring Japan’s food culture through takoyaki and okonomiyaki—delightful for the experience, yet not a complete culinary education.

Yomu Yomu

This reading and listening app offers a flexible and engaging way to study Japanese. There’s a growing library of articles and stories across a variety of topics, all tailored to different proficiency levels. Each text has synchronized audio, to help strengthen both your reading and listening skills.

The app includes a range of useful features, such as Kana and Romaji support, a built-in dictionary, and English translations. You can customize how you read by adjusting scripts and reading aids to suit your preferences. There’s an option to save new vocabulary and review them later using the integrated SRS system, and also monitor your progress over time with the progress tracking feature.

See our Super-Detailed Yomu Yomu Review

Write It! Japanese

Writing in any foreign language can be a daunting prospect, especially if it uses a completely different writing system. Sentence construction and vocabulary aside, learners of Japanese will first have to master the different writing systems. Fortunately, there are apps such as Write It! Japanese and Skritter that help learners with just that.

Write It! Japanese teaches Hiragana and Katakana stroke order and provides practice opportunities by having the user draw the character on their phone, stroke by stroke. There are also customizable tests and stars for completing challenges to keep things interesting. It’s a good option for learning the basics of the writing system.

Skritter

Skritter is a robust option that covers both Kana and Kanji, making it well-suited for committed learners aiming to master Japanese writing. While it is more costly, it utilizes effective handwriting recognition and spaced repetition techniques to reinforce stroke order, meanings, and vocabulary, offering a comprehensive approach to character learning.

See our Super-Detailed Skritter Review

Speechling

Speechling is a stand-out resource when it comes to getting feedback on Japanese pronunciation. It’s an area in which a lot of language apps simply fall short. Instead of relying on voice recognition technology, which has its shortcomings, Speechling gets real humans involved. The process involves mimicking native Japanese speakers to try and sound as natural as possible, and then having your pronunciation evaluated by a teacher. A free membership with the site enables you to submit a limited number of recordings to be evaluated each month. Paying for a premium membership means you’ll be able to submit an unlimited number of recordings each month and gain access to a few extra features. Use the promo code “ALR123” to save 10% on Speechling’s Unlimited Plan.

See our Super-Detailed Speechling Review

Pimsleur Japanese

Pimsleur has remained a top choice for language learners due to its focus on verbal communication skills through immersive audio based lessons. While it does not prioritize grammar or written language, the course offers a solid foundation for spoken Japanese. The lessons in the Japanese course are built around the Pimsleur method, which uses spaced repetition to reinforce learning and ensure retention. Pimsleur Japanese is ideal for beginners looking to start speaking Japanese quickly and effectively.

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See our Super-Detailed Pimsleur Japanese Review

Takoboto

This is one of the best offline Japanese dictionaries available. It’s got over 170,000 Japanese language entries with English translations, example sentences, and conjugated forms of verbs. There are also ready-made study lists, flashcards, history and favorites lists, and the ability to export words to the Anki app. This one does much more than simply provide definitions.

Clozemaster

Clozemaster’s retro arcade feel sets it apart from other resources right away, but it’s also got a cool approach to teaching vocabulary. As the name suggests, this app teaches vocab through cloze deletion activities, presenting new vocabulary in the context of a sentence. This method gets users accustomed to seeing the words as they’re actually used and boost contextual understanding of Japanese vocabulary. The arcade aesthetic is present in just about every aspect of the app — completing exercises gains users points, propelling them through levels and leaderboards. The free version of this app offers a good amount of useful practice, and the premium version includes some extra features.

See our Super-Detailed Clozemaster Review

Anki

This is another flashcard app that uses spaced repetition for effective vocabulary practice. What makes it special is its high potential for customizability. Anki allows users to build their own decks with whatever material they want to memorize, incorporating images, audio, unique tags, and adjustable study settings for a personalized experience. It takes a bit of getting used to when creating your own Anki decks, but there are also quite a few decks for learners of Japanese already made by other users. Anki will help enrich your Japanese word bank, you may even learn how to book a ryokan when you visit Kyoto. All in all, it’s a good option for those that want to get started right away, and you won’t have to create your own study decks if you don’t want to.

Memrise

Memrise offers an extensive library of free, user-created content for Japanese, making it both engaging and effective to use. Like most apps with a good flashcard feature, it uses spaced repetition (SRS) to help you practice the words you need the most help with. This is one of the fastest ways to commit Japanese items to long-term memory. There’s a lot of free material on Memrise, including some access to the official Memrise Japanese courses, which include videos, pictures, and native speaker audio. You’ll need more than Memrise as you shop in Roppongi, but you’ll develop an extensive word bank. Full access to these courses is available for a subscription.

See our Super-Detailed Memrise Review

italki

This is one of the better places to find a Japanese language teacher online. It’s also got some cool extra features. The number of teachers scheduling lessons on italki is one of its greatest advantages. For Japanese alone, there are over 450 available tutors. This is great for the language learner — finding a tutor with a price, schedule, and teaching style that fits your preferences should be no problem at all. The platform has convenient search filters which make this process even easier. The app also has a free community features section. While it isn’t as seamless or feature-rich as dedicated language exchange apps, plenty of people use it as a way to meet interested language partners. Messaging a Japanese-speaker that’s learning your native language is really easy, and it’s free. Your first purchase qualifies you for a $10 credit.

See our Super-Detailed italki Review

Preply

Another online tutor directory, Preply offers a broad library of Japanese tutors at affordable prices, although tutors earn limited commission and do unpaid trial lessons. The platform has a huge tutor pool—over 2000—including experienced professionals and newer tutors. Navigating and finding the right tutor is simple, with flexible scheduling options and tailored lesson plans to meet each student’s objectives. For those seeking a specific schedule, topic, or price, Preply’s wide selection makes it easy to find the ideal tutor.

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See our Super-Detailed Preply Review

HiNative

You definitely won’t be able to make this one your only study resource, but it can make an incredibly useful tool. HiNative connects language learners with questions to people that are proficient in that language. It’s the perfect resource for getting quick answers to questions you can’t look up in a dictionary or textbook. The way it works is pretty simple. Post a Japanese-related question and wait for a response. There are some pre-made question templates to make the process smoother, and getting a response usually happens very quickly. Of course, there’s always the possibility that random people on the internet will give inaccurate advice, but it’s a rare occurrence on this site. HiNative won’t get you fluent in Japanese, but it will help you get answers to your grammar, vocabulary and even pronunciation questions.

See our Super-Detailed HiNative Review

Rosetta Stone

Known for its immersive approach, this language resource is popular, but its heavy reliance on repetition and lack of explanations may not suit most people trying to learn Japanese.

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See our Super-Detailed Rosetta Stone Review

Rocket Japanese

The Rocket Languages series is a popular one that offers decent courses for general practice in some languages, but Asian languages such as Japanese aren’t its forte. While the lessons can feel repetitive and a bit tedious, relying heavily on memorization, they do provide solid explanations of various aspects of the Japanese language. It’s likely to appeal to learners who prefer a combination of audio and visual content, along with a clear course structure. However, advanced learners, those on a budget, or anyone focused on enhancing their reading and writing skills may want to explore other options.

See our Super-Detailed Rocket Japanese Review

Word Dive

WordDive is both user-friendly and accessible, offering short, AI-driven exercises to help learners retain language material over time. While the interface is convenient, some users might find the exercises somewhat repetitive and the range of material limited. Additionally, the absence of in-depth grammar instruction may be seen as a drawback for those seeking a more thorough learning experience.

See our Super-Detailed Word Dive Review

LinguaLift

This resource is text-heavy, feels a bit like a textbook in that there’s a lot of reading involved, and the lessons are all text-based. You’ll get some good practice and cultural lessons but you’ll have to wade through a bunch of English to get it.

See our Super-Detailed LinguaLift Review

Mango Languages

The Mango Languages courses for Japanese are user-friendly, with an easy to use interface and some well-designed exercises. However, they don’t offer much in terms of detailed grammar explanations, so they’re best suited for beginners or intermediate learners looking for basic practice rather than in-depth language structure.

See our Super-Detailed Mango Languages Review

Mondly

While Mondly can be handy for vacation preparation in Japan, it’s unlikely to help you progress beyond the basics. It provides a decent foundation of vocabulary, but doesn’t dive into more advanced language concepts or cultural nuances, limiting its usefulness for deeper learning.

See our Super-Detailed Mondly Review

Busuu

Busuu has an appealing design, a unique social feature, and well-structured courses overall. However, its Japanese course could use some improvement compared to other resources. Busuu is still a solid choice for beginners, however, those looking for in-depth Japanese content may find it somewhat lacking.

See our Super-Detailed Busuu Review

Bunpo

We haven’t had the chance to fully test this one, but it’s a popular app that’s quite engaging. Bunpo started out as a Japanese language resource, but soon grew to include more languages. Through the app’s interactive features and lots of grammar explanations, users are able to practice and hone several Japanese language skills.

It’s a pretty comprehensive resource in that you can start from the very basics and make significant progress. The built-in study tools include the snap feature, AI tutor and dialogue feature available in their Plus and Platinum subscriptions.

Radio Japan

It might not be a feasible option for beginners, but listening to Japanese radio can make a great addition to fill out your study plan. Listening to native material is one of the best ways to get used to the way the language sounds as it’s actually spoken. It’s also a great way to get some cultural insights to deepen your understanding and relationship with the language.

The Radio Japan app gives access to over 1,000 stations, making it likely you’ll find a few stations that interest you. Topics covered include sports, music, news, talk shows, and more. You will have to sit through the occasional ad, but this app is free.

Rikaikun

Rikaikun is a web browser extension for Chrome and is also compatible with Safari, which shares some functionality with LingQ and Readlang but is made specifically for Japanese. It is free to install and displays the definitions of words you hover over with your mouse on any web page. You’ll also get some extra information about the Kanji you select, and there is support for text-to-speech playback.

Yomichan

Yomichan is another free Chrome browser extension that has the same functionality and features as Rikaikun.

The app has the added benefit of allowing users to import material directly into Anki for later study.

Duolingo

Duolingo is one of the most popular language apps out there, with a global reach and a huge following since its launch in 2011. It’s a free program that has made language learning accessible to millions around the world. It teaches languages through short, gamified lessons that can make the language feel more approachable, especially for those who struggle with motivation. However, learning Japanese with Duolingo is somewhat text-heavy, with quite a bit of English explanation mixed in. Though it won’t help when navigating the bustling city of Tokyo, Duolingo remains a decent starting point for picking up Japanese basics.

See our Super-Detailed Duolingo Review

edX

edX offers free online university courses specifically designed for learners of Japanese, ensuring that the instruction is comprehensive and often maintains a formal academic approach. These courses cover a range of topics, from basic language skills to advanced studies. Learners have the option to pay for a verified certificate upon completion, which can enhance their credentials. With courses developed by universities, edX emphasizes quality education and allows students to learn at their own pace.

Coursera

Coursera provides a variety of online courses from universities around the world, open for registration at any time and designed for self-paced learning. Advanced learners can find courses on a range of topics taught entirely in Japanese, while beginner and intermediate learners have access to courses focused on learning Japanese language skills. Many of the courses are free to enroll in, and most offer the option to earn a certificate upon completion for a fee, making it a flexible option for Japanese learners at any level.