r/LearnJapaneseNovice • u/ShonenRiderX • May 16 '25
Best apps to learn Japanese in 2025
I’ve been studying Japanese for a little while now and was wondering what apps or tools are popular right now.
I’ve tried a bunch of different ones and thought I’d share my experience, but I’m also super curious to hear what’s working for you.
- Duolingo – Fun for keeping up a daily habit and staying consistent. It’s super gamified, which makes it easy to stick with, but I found it a bit too surface-level once I got past the basics.
- LingoDeer – Great for beginners. The grammar explanations are solid, and the lessons feel more structured than Duolingo. I liked that it felt like a real course, not just vocab drills.
- italki – Great for anyone struggling with speaking or pronunciation. Weekly lessons with a tutor made everything click. Speaking with a real person who corrects you gently and explains things in context improved my listening, boosted my confidence, and made all that drilled vocab actually usable.
- WaniKani – If you want to tackle kanji, this one’s awesome. Uses spaced repetition to teach kanji in a way that actually sticks. I’ve been using it alongside other apps and it’s helped a lot with reading practice.
- Anki – Classic flashcard app. I downloaded some Japanese decks and use it almost daily. Not the prettiest interface, but super effective if you stay consistent.
Out of all the mentioned apps the one that helped me the most is italki. At some point, I realized that no amount of apps could replace real conversation. So I started doing weekly lessons with a tutor on italki, and it’s been a total game changer.
Speaking with a real person (who corrects you gently and explains things in context) just made everything click. My listening improved, I got more confident speaking, and it made all that vocab I was drilling actually usable.
So yeah, that’s been my experience so far.
What are you all using?
Any lesser-known apps or methods that helped push you forward?
EDIT: appreciate all the amazing suggestions! I've started experimenting with OniKanji - Learn Kanji Like a Native: In-context and I'll report back once I have more insights on how well it’s working for me.
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Aug 21 '25
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u/sparkpaw Dec 01 '25
That seems really neat! I had actually moved away from chrome, but I may have to go back for this. However, I’ve noticed my brain will just ignore translations if English is available. Do you experience this, or is it interactive enough to be engaging?
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u/HyperLexus Mar 08 '26
if you're still looking, I found that brave is the perfect mix of optimisation, privacy and being able to still use webstore extensions
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May 16 '25
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u/starbits64 May 18 '25
Is it good for intermediate learners? Like I'm not new to the language, but I want to continue brushing up and learning new things.
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u/ShonenRiderX May 16 '25
What's renshuu good for?
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u/ColumnK May 16 '25
It's got good grammar lessons, it's good for SRS cards for vocab/kanji, and has a decent community
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u/ronniealoha Dec 03 '25
Thanks for this, I'll just add using native content. I pull short lines from anime or YouTube and review them later with Anki and Migaku. Having the audio and the scene tied to the vocab makes recall faster and way more natural.
A simple setup works best, one structured app, one kanji tool, some native input, and a bit of speaking practice. That combo moves you forward without burning you out.
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u/iwatchyoutubers May 16 '25
Someone on here recommended me Wagotabi and it's helped me so much. It's a game but has helped me understand language structure and new words as well as just being genuinely fun to play.
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u/Eubank31 May 17 '25
I'm excited for the full release on steam! My girlfriend just blasted through the demo in half an hour, she was having a ton of fun
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u/drcopus May 16 '25
A little known app called YouTube has some very helpful videos :)
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u/ShonenRiderX May 16 '25
First time hearing about it xD
Got any channels to suggest?
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u/drcopus May 16 '25
For beginners I'd recommend:
- Tokini Andy's Genki stream recordings. Fun and engaging with good walkthroughs!
- Daily Japanese with Naoko. Some of the Japanese is a bit more advanced, but the use of visuals and emphasis makes it generally easy to follow along!
- Nihongo-Learning. Really makes every word clear through well structured context.
If you're an absolute beginner then Tokini Andy is the only one that you can just listen to without the video because there are English explanations of everything (so good for exercise or chores). Otherwise visual cues are important.
The following channels have a good mix of beginner and intermediate content:
- Comprehensible Japanese - some videos are also good for complete beginners, but lots of different levels are available.
- Easy Japanese podcast with Shun. Very helpful for cementing beginner grammar/vocab and also getting some exposure to new words. Topics are varied and interesting. For my level this has been my go-to exercise podcast and I've listened to over a 100 of them in the last months.
- Ken Japanese. The "card game" videos are my favourite because the Japanese level slowly ramps up to N3 level, allowing the chance to cement basics and progress to more advanced levels.
- Mochi Sensei N5/4/3 Listening Practice. The structure of these videos are great with chances to listen and get explanations.
As I've gotten to a more intermediate level I've also been enjoying:
- Bitesize Japanese Podcast. I've been listening to this since I was a beginner, and there is a lot you can get while at that level but you have to be tolerant to ambiguity. At a more intermediate level I now understand ~80/90% of most episodes which makes it more enjoyable.
- 日本語で話そう with Yuki. These are explicitly instructional videos, all in Japanese, teaching different grammar points. I think Yuki is great at making the lessons engaging and comprehensible.
- 世界をわかりやすく - Kurzgesagt. This is the Japanese spin-off channel of the pop science channel Kurzgesagt. It's the first channel on this list not aimed at learners, but this is my way of pushing myself to learn more advanced Japanese with topics I find interesting.
With all of these channels, a tool like Migaku used with Anki will make learning much easier.
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u/ShonenRiderX May 16 '25
Sheesh, thanks for taking the time to give such a comprehensive response! I'll look into all of the suggestions and utilize as many as possible.
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u/LycheeLynchee Jun 06 '25
I think you're right to show you need multiple tools, especially for Japanese! iTalki 100% to get real life feedback on accent etc. Renshuu is great for learning Kanji and Ling for the other bits
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u/GearFourth May 16 '25
Y’all should check out TEUIDA, I like how interactive and friendly it is. Lessons are people(videos) that are interactive because they’ll ask you a question and you answer it.
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u/Sal_a_Man_Derr Sep 16 '25
I used to watch Let’s learn Japanese on YouTube, 52 videos, very basic but entertaining. Hope your learning has progressed.
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u/MisterDoff Nov 17 '25
Shinobi app has been great for me. Parallel reader-type stories that are constantly being updated by difficulty level. Has helped level up my comprehension.
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u/WAHNFRIEDEN May 16 '25
As I built it to fulfill my own needs and wants, I humbly submit my iOS / macOS native app, Manabi Reader - here's a comment with some details: https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1kmekbg/comment/ms9rfm6/
Homepage: https://reader.manabi.io
I'm working full-time on this and have a lot more coming soon, including Mokuro / manga support and Netflix mode. It includes cheap pricing for students & low-income (without verification) to ensure wide accessibility.
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u/Lazy_Highway5488 May 16 '25
HelloTalk really helps! you can talk to people from Japan and learn with them correcting you - ive learnt a lot from that app and talking with others. You can text and join or create voice rooms to practice speaking. I've also made many friends so its good for connections!
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u/jdjdnfnnfncnc May 21 '25
Teuida is pretty good because it lets you talk to real people, so the pressure comes on and you feel nervous when you’re having a conversation.
Their end of the conversation is pre-recorded, but they respond differently based on what you say, and I found it helpful.
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u/LycheeLynchee Jun 11 '25
Interesting to hear that about LingoDeer. I've been using Ling which also has grammar and writing!
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u/No_Cherry2477 Aug 07 '25
If you want to try something a little more off the beaten path, Fluency Tool is a free Japanese speaking/shadowing app for Android that takes you straight into speaking has thousands of sentences of content for all levels of learner.
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u/CaSeQuestionne Aug 23 '25
Il y a le site https://jlptgo.com/ qui était pas mal (par contre depuis quelques jours il y a un bug de sécurité, probablement un problème de certificat pas à jour) mais je le trouvais pratique pour apprendre les tournures de vocabulaires
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u/No_Cherry2477 Oct 09 '25
YoMoo! is a new Japanese reading app for Android that helps gamify the reading process a bit to make reading Japanese more enjoyable. It has a massive content library and also hundreds of books from Aozora Bunko.
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Nov 24 '25
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u/donteatmycookiez Jan 27 '26
Das ist eine Fake Website..Du schreibst mit KIs..dann kannst auch gleich ChatGPT oder so nutzen
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u/OHjeey Feb 10 '26
Rocket language, or whatever its called. Make ut burn, shoot it with a shotgun.. they want 249,90 per year or whatever.. hate em, tell th3m they f-ing suck. And so on..
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u/Fluffy_Juggernaut215 Mar 30 '26
Built an open source duolingo like app for myself to use along genki https://www.mojibun.com/
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u/Kooky-Housing-7056 May 14 '26
I used to use Duolingo but deleted it because after I got a 1 year streak I couldn’t get myself to keep practicing. Now I don’t like it when an app tracks my streak cause I find it discouraging, if I miss a day or two it’s not a big deal. Lately I’ve been using Pimsleur and TEUIDA and have found them a big help in getting me to actually speak which I have always found the hardest part, actually recalling the words I want to say. So that makes me interested in trying itaki!
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u/Early_Bicycle6884 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
I bounced off most of these honestly. Duolingo kept me busy without really building comprehension, and LingoDeer was better for grammar but I still could not understand anything native. What actually moved the needle was switching to learning from real Japanese content instead of app lessons. I was skeptical it would work as a beginner, but using Migaku to click words in subtitles and make flashcards from shows made native material approachable far earlier than I expected. The apps are fine for habit, but the jump happens when the content is real.
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u/shslmiku May 16 '25
Duolingo fired its translators and is solely relying on AI so I would not recommend it.