Awesome Japanese

A curated list of Japanese language learning resources.

Contents

• Awesome Japanese
  • Beginner Guide
  • Textbook
  • Course
  • Hiragana & Katakana
  • Kanji
  • Vocabulary
  • Grammar
  • Reading
  • Listening
  • Community
  • Video
  • Dictionary
  • Software

Emoji Description

Beginner Guide

New to Japanese? Start here!

1. All beginners should start with one of the guides below (the top two are the best in my personal opinion).

   • Starter's Guide - From /r/learnjapanese subreddit.
   • DJT guide - A well-written guide.
   • All Japanese All The Time (Overview/Timeline) - For people willing to completely immerse themselves in Japanese.
   • Japanese Walkthrough - A visual learning guide.
   • Grammar Guide to Japanese - By Tae Kim (there also exists the "Complete Guide to Japanese" by Tae Kim, this is a work in progress/not yet complete).

2. A summary of the guides is basically this: first, learn hiragana and katakana using the links in Hiragana/Katkana section further down this page. The Tofugu links is a good starting place.

3. Next is grammar/vocabulary. You can either use a structured textbook or a more free-form online grammar guide like Tae Kim. Either one works, try one or both and stick with the one you like the best.

   For vocabulary, three nice options are Wanikani, Memrise, and Anki. If you go with the Anki route, consider using this deck, which is the same as the deck in the above link, but with the front and back flipped around to display sentences on the front rather than single words, as this will force you to learn words in context.

   For translation, try to avoid Google Translate. Instead pick another one from the Dictionary list.

4. That's it. There are many, many paths to learning Japanese. The most important thing is to choose the one you enjoy. If you don't enjoy your study, you won't succeed, so keep searching until you find the resource or study method that you enjoy. Look through all the resources below, ask someone if you need help, and good luck.

Textbook

Textbooks provide you with structured learning material.

Genki👶

Everyone's favorite Japanese textbook. Recommended for beginners. Description: The second edition of the most highly regarded teaching textbook on the Japanese language, covering speaking, listening, reading, and writing to cultivate overall language ability. Each lesson in the revised edition features a new section dubbed "Culture Notes", and now includes the audio CD companion which is in mp3 format ready to install on any music player. In Japanese/English.

• Official
• Amazon💰
  • Genki 1 Textbook | Genki 1 Workbook
  • Genki 2 Textbook | Genki 2 Workbook
  • Genki Answer Key
• Anki Deck📇
  • Genki 1 & 2 - ALL the vocab from Genki 1 & 2 and more. ⚠️Still updating.
• Unofficial - Study tool.

Tobira👨

The "Tobira" textbook combines the practice of all four language skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking) and is designed for use by students who have completed a beginner level Japanese textbook, or in terms of classroom time, have taken somewhere between 250 to 300 hours of Japanese study. The primary goals of this textbook are to solidify the grammar, vocabulary and kanji foundation studied during the beginner level and to develop all 4 language skills. What makes this book unique is that you can learn Japanese using multimedia besides the textbook.

• Official - Unlock multimedia content and Anki deck with special code in the textbook.
• Amazon💰
  • Tobira Textbook
  • Tobira: Power Up Your Kanji - With it, students can study a total of 800 kanji-the 297 kanji generally introduced in beginning-level textbooks and an additional 503 kanji introduced in Tobira.
  • Tobira: Grammar Power - Japanese grammar skill build up book.

Other textbooks

Google Drive A | B - contains links to many textbooks such as Japanese for Busy People, Japanese - The Manga Way, and An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese. Additionally, there's some reading resources such as Yotsubato, and some listening material.

Course

• Easy Japanese - Made by NHK in multiple languages👶
• Erin's Challenge - Video based Japanese lessons👨
• LingoDeer - Japanese course on a new learning app similar to Duolingo, but made with a focus on East Asian languages.📱
• NHK高校講座 / NHK High School Course - Video or audio of high school course made by NHK.Easy to study the basic glossaries of different field.👨

Hiragana and Katakana

Alphabet of Japanese language.

• Hiragana
  • Tofugu for Hiragana - Hiragana lesson.
  • Learn Hiragana in 1 Hour - Hiragana video lesson.
  • Hiragana Practice Sheet - Print and practice.
  • Listening Game for Hiragana - Flash based Hiragana game.
• Katakana
  • Tofugu for Katakana - Katakana lesson.
  • Learn Katakana in 1 Hour - Katakana video lesson.
  • Listening Game for Katakana - Flash based Katakana game.
  • Katakana Practice Sheet - Print and practice.
• App
  • Hiragana and Katakana - iOS Hiragana and Katakana learning app📱
  • Kana Dojo - Android Hiragana and Katakana learning app📱
• Anki Deck
  • Hiragana + Katakana w/ Audio & Stroke Order - 📇

Kanji

• Hacking Kanji - Guide: 2,200 Kanji in 97 Days.
• Kanji Koohii - Help you complete the kanji learning method called Remembering the Kanji.
• Kanji Damage - A Kanji learning method.
• Wakikani - Kanji learning platform.💰
• Anki Deck
  • DJT Anki Guide - A guide for downloading/customizing Anki with a link to the popular 6k/2k deck
  • Kodansha kanji learner's course with vocabulary - 📇This deck is meant to be used together with the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course book (KLC).
  • Official KanjiDamage deck - 📇This is the ultimate deck to learn Kanji with the KanjiDamage method.
  • All in One Kanji Deck (Heisig's RTK Order, 6th ed.) - 📇Based on Heisig's Remember the Kanji 6th ed. book.
• Kanji alive - Kanji study tool created by the University of Chicago.
• Kanjipedia - Kanji search site operated by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation.🇯🇵
• Kakijun - Help you find the stroke order of a kanji.🇯🇵

Vocabulary

• Anki - Popular flashcard based software.📱💻
  • Anki User Manual
  • How to use Anki to Learn Japanese - Anki video tutorial.
  • Nayr's Core 5000 - 📇Designed around an i+1 approach where learners are exposed to more than they know.
  • Japanese Core 2000/6000 A | B - 📇Popular Anki Japanese Deck Core 2k/6k
  • Japanese 10K WK Breakdown - 📇Core 10K vocabularies, broken down by WaniKani kanji.
• Memrise - Popular online/app flashcard platform.📱

Grammar

• Japanese Grammar Guide - By Tae Kim. A complete guide to Japanese grammar from knowing nothing to advanced topics.📱
  • Supplement Grammar List by Araia to the Japanese Grammar Guide. Targeted towards intermediate and advanced learners.
• Imabi - A grammar website like Tae Kim, but made by a linguist. Has many great, in-depth explanations, but some may find them almost too in-depth.
• Visualize Japanese Grammar - Links to 66 animations of various grammatical structures in Japanese and 12 downloadable appendices.
• JGram - The Japanese Grammar Database.
• Maggie Sensei - Conversational Grammar.
• 📖Amazon💰
  • A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar - Popular Japanese grammar dictionary series.👶
  • A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar - 👨
  • A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar - 👴
• Dictionary of Japanese Grammar - 📇The DoJG deck allows you to review the contents of the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar through Anki.

Reading

• NHK Easy News - News for elementary, middle school, and foreigners with audio and video.👶
• Japanese Folktales - Japanese folktales with drawings and audio.🇯🇵
• Hukumusume Fairy Tale Collection - A website where you can read and hear traditional folk tales, legends and fairy tales - from Japan and all around the world - read aloud for you in Japanese.🇯🇵
• Kyoko Shinbun - Fake Japanese News(similar to The Onion), podcast available.📱🇯🇵👴
• 用例.jp - Search engine for Japanese sample sentences.🇯🇵
• Japanese in Anime & Manga - Learn Japanese from anime and manga.
• Satori Reader - Japanese reading and listening practice, first two chapters of each article is free.💰
• Keio University Reading Materials Bank - The site is mostly in Japanese, but follow the 1-stars for the easiest reading materials. It's great because there is an English glossary integrated into the articles.

Listening

• SuperNative - Trains you to hear, read, and speak Japanese using over 10,000 bite-sized clips from TV and movies. ⚠️ Only Chrome browser supports voice recognition practice.
• Delvin - Practice Japanese listening and reading with authentic Japanese video.
• mykikitori - Practice your Japanese learning skill.
• Podcast
  • Learn Japanese Pod - Japanese language learning podcast.
  • JapanesePod101 - Japanese language learning podcast with multiple levels and web platform.
  • News in Slow Japanese - Listen to Japanese News in slow speed.💰
  • NHK News Podcast - Three podcasts available: Japanese news👴, English news, and Easy Japanese.
  • Bilingual News - Bilingual English and Japanese news podcast. Casual and unedited colloquial language learning experience through a weekly review of relevant news topics.👴

Speaking

• Online Japanese Accent Dictionary - Learn the correct accent to properly pronounce Japanese words. Lists of words are categorized by textbook.

Community

• /r/learnjapanese - Learn Japanese subreddit.📱
• Kanji Koohii Forum - Forum which covers all aspects of Japanese learning.
• Lang-8 - A language learning platform where native speakers correct what you write.📱
• Discord - Popular chatroom platform.📱💻
  • English-Japanese Language Exchange - Highly active English/Japanese discord chat server.
  • 日本語と英語 - Another popular English/Japanese discord chat server.
  • Reddit Masterlist A list on Reddit of all the language Discord servers. Scroll down to the East Asian Languages section for Japanese servers.
• HelloTalk - Popular language exchange app.📱

Video

• YouTube
  • Nihongo no Mori - JLPT test-oriented YouTube channel.
  • Dogen - Japanese phonetic lessons YouTube channel.
    • Dogen's Patreon Lessons - A course that covers many different aspects of Japanese phonetics, like pitch accent and vowel placement.💰
  • Game Grammar - Teach you Japanese by playing video games YouTube channel.
  • JapanesePod101 - Popular Japanese podcast's YouTube channel.
• News
  • BBC News in Japanese BBC News in Japanese language YouTube channel.
  • Asahi News - Asahi News YouTube channel.
  • Asahi News Live - 24/7 Asahi News Live YouTube stream.
  • Fuji News Network - FNN live and vod.
  • News24 - News24 Channel live and vod.
  • Weather News Live - 24/7 Japanese Weather Channel Live stream.
  • NIKKEI News - NIKKEI News Youtube channel.
  • Yomiuri News - Yomiuri News Youtube channel.
• Stream
  • QVC Japan - QVC Japan Shopping Channel Live stream.
  • Keylabo - Free Japanese TV Live stream listing.⚠️Some channels may not work, and 3rd party streaming service.
  • Abema TV - Live Japanese TV stream.📱🗾
  • GYAO! - Japanese TV programs on demand.📱🗾
  • FRESH! - Japanese streamer platform.📱
  • NicoNico - Japanese streamer platform.📱
  • DaiWEEB - Japanese anime with both Japanese and English subtitles.

Dictionary

• Web
  • Jisho - Gold standard online Japanese dictionary platform.
  • Tangorin Japanese Dictionary - Tangorin is an online Japanese-English dictionary with example sentences and many features to help you learn the Japanese language.
  • Weblio - Japan popular dictionary website without en<->jp, jp<->jp, and more.🇯🇵
  • Google Translate - Supports voice and image translation, mobile app supports offline translation.📱
  • 語源由来辞典 / Gogen Yurai jiten - Etymology of Japanese.👨
  • Goo辞書 / Goo Dictionary - Online Japanese dictionry.🇯🇵
• Software
  • Houhou - The dictionary doubles as a learning tool.💻
  • Takoboto - Android Japanese dictionary app, also has web and computer based version.📱💻
  • imiwa? - iOS Japanese dictionary app.📱
  • Tagaini Jisho - Open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool for Windows, MacOS X and Linux.

Software

• Computer
  • Human Japanese - Popular Japanese learning program.📱💻💰
  • Google Japanese Input - Google Japanese Input, available on Windows, Mac, and Android.💻📱
  • How to Install Japanese Keyboard on Everything - Guide by Tofugu.
• Browser Extension📡
  • Firefox
    • Rikaichamp - Japanese to English/German/French/Russian dictionary. Just hover the mouse on top of a word, and a popup appears. This add-on is more compatible with latest Firefox version and comes with dictionaries files.
  • Chrome
    • Yomichan - Yomichan turns your browser into a tool for building Japanese language literacy by helping you to decipher texts which would be otherwise too difficult to tackle.
    • rikaigu - Rikaikun enhanced. Translate Japanese by hovering over words.
    • IPA furigana - Looks up the readings for kanji words and inserts them as Furigana.
    • ReadNihon - ReadNihon generates website Furigana by JLPT level. It also allows you to save known words that are ignored from Furigana conversion.
  • Safari
    • Safarikai - Rikaichan's Safari extension version.

Contribute

Contributions welcome! Read the contribution guidelines first.

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.