Japanese is not as difficult to learn as many people believe. With the right resources and a structured approach, anyone can achieve fluency in Japanese. Here's a step-by-step guide to learning Japanese easily, quickly, and for free:
many people will tell you that it is not necessary but if you really want to learn Japanese you must immerse yourself in the language. To do this, you will need to start by learning the kanas, the Japanese alphabets. Thanks to this first knowledge, you will be able to read and write in Japanese which will immerse you and help you enormously to learn Japanese easily, quickly and with reliable sources.
What are kanas ?
Kanas are syllabic signs in Japanese writing. There are two: Hiraganas and katakanas. They are both made up of 46 characters but don't be discouraged because the signs of the two alphabets are very similar and have the same pronunciations, so they are quite simple to learn. An essential thing to remember is that hiraganas are used for words of Japanese origin and Katakanas are used for words of foreign origins.
Your first learning app
to learn what for me are the basics of Japanese, the alphabets, I strongly advise you to use Renshuu. Thanks to Renshuu, I was able to learn Hiraganas and Katakanas in less than 3 months by spending only 10 to 30 minutes a day. For learn faster, make sure to use the app more than 15 minutes EVERY DAYS !
2. Use apps properly
Now that you know how to read, there's one thing you'll need to pay attention to when you download the next apps: disable romaji! Romaji is a Japanese writing system which is simply Latin letters. They are rarely used in Japan and that is why I advised you to start with kanas, because now, you will do all your lessons with kanas. obviously, for each application, I will give you instructions to deactivate them. in fact, if you have romaji in front of you when you learn Japanese, firstly, you will forget the kanas and secondly, your brain will not be immersed in Japanese and when you get to the stage of reading books in Japanese or watch videos in Japanese, you will be unable to because your brain will make you unconsciously read these romaji and not the kanas.
moreover, as soon as possible: read the Kanji, it is the third Japanese alphabet, they are used all the time in Japan because the same words can have several different meanings which can be differentiated thanks to these Kanji.
3. Learn vocabulary
before learning sentences, I recommend that you learn a little vocabulary in order to be a little more comfortable later with different exercises. For this, there is a great application called Japanese Linduo HD. With it, you can learn a lot of vocabulary for free every day. It allows you to learn by listening, reading and writing quickly. Please use it after learning the kanas with Renshuu.
First, you will learn about this Japanese Linduo without transcription. to do this, go to the gear at the bottom right, and change the "word transcription" parameter to "no transcription" then, I recommend the "word style" "Hiragana+kanji", but by Next, please use "Kanji" to learn how to read Kanji.
4. Use DUOlingo
Even though Duolingo doesn't have the best learning method, it is a great help in learning Japanese because it "forces" you to learn regularly using different methods. Obviously, using only Duolingo is not at all the best way to learn Japanese, it is even one of the worst ways. This is why in addition to Duolingo, you will need to use, at the same time, the applications that I will give you in this lesson.
Now that you have Duolingo, use it for at least 30 minutes a day, and if you run out of lives, watch ads or do special review lessons to earn lives.
Desactivate Romaji !
As always, don't use romaji! to deactivate them: go to your profile, press the gear at the top right, and scroll to "Japanese Course". Here, disable "show pronunciation". Even if there are kanji, you have to read them without the hiragana otherwise you will never learn them.
In fact, most of the kanji I know, I learned unconsciously with Duolingo just by turning off "show pronunciation"
5. Speak with teuida
Teuida is really a great app for learning Japanese for free and especially speaking Japanese. You will only be able to access one section per day for free but for life. This application allows you to learn in an easy and fun way with almost real conversations. On Teuida, you will watch pre-recorded but interactive lessons, that is to say, if you have the right answer, the teacher will be happy and will congratulate you but if you give a wrong answer, the teacher will encourage you and ask you to start again until until you get there. Please complete the entire days section and use the application every day
6. the best source: NHK Word Japan
NHK is the most famous Japanese news channel. But what interests us most here is not the news, but their Japanese lessons. In fact, NHK gives hundreds of completely free Japanese lessons in different languages. In addition to teaching you Japanese, we will give you travel tips and you will be able to learn more about Japan.
Tsunahiro is a powerful Japanese website that will allow you to learn Japanese easily and especially Japanese that will be useful to you in everyday life. If you already feel quite good at Japanese, you can use it entirely in Japanese and if you are not really comfortable with English, there are dozens of languages available. I really recommend this website to learn Japanese.
8. Activate your Japanese !
Now that you have a good foundation and have started using NHK sources, it's time to activate your Japanese! To do this, go to this link (and yes! NHK again.). Here you can watch a series in Japanese. What I like best about this series is the onomatopoeia that we learn at the end of each episode. It’s really the best way to learn them!
As you learn Japanese with duolingo, NHK and other sources that I will present to you later in the article, you will have to watch these dramas in Japanese. I recommend that you start watching them about 2 months after you start learning with the NHK lessons and watch 1 episode per week.
NHK for school
NHK for school is a part of the NHK site that is entirely in Japanese. This website is used by Japanese children themselves to learn all kinds of things. Watching these educational videos will allow you to have more knowledge in everyday life and to practice Japanese without really realizing it.
I advise you to watch one video per day. obviously don't start straight away, wait 2 month after the start of learning on the NHK website.
9. Write, Watch, Speak !
By now, you should have been learning Japanese for 8 months to 2 year. Obviously it is important that you continue to complete all the lessons from all the sources that I presented to you previously, but now it is time to learn by writing, watching and speaking. you have actually already been carrying out all these tasks for a long time now, but here I am going to give you very useful sources to learn by completely immersing yourself in Japanese.
Write :
Now you are supposed to be an expert in katakana and hiragana and know some kanji, but you will have to practice them in long sentences. That's why I'm now asking you to write a story, or a diary entirely in Japanese using all the phrases and vocabulary you know now.
To provide you with even more knowledge of Japanese, whether in grammar, vocabulary or sentence starters, I also recommend that you read books or manga in Japanese. You can buy them online or read short stories directly on your phone for free thanks to Jreader.
Watch :
Watch anime, movies, YouTube videos, news, TikTok. all this in Japanese. Here are some sources:
indeed, you have already spoken Japanese with Teuida, but what I am telling you now is that you should speak Japanese with real Japanese natives. To do this, you can download helloTalk or any other application for connecting with Japanese people. Another method to speak with Japanese people is to go to a TikTok live and ask to join the live.
10. Tip : Watch Tiktok
Yes ! TikTok is surely the best help for learning Japanese. all you need to do is transform yours for you. To do this, it's very simple: search for "learn Japanese" and like all the videos. you will then learn everything that the applications did not teach you. you will also learn Japanese that Japanese people use with friends in everyday life. And since watching TikTok is addictive, you'll learn hundreds of things just by scrolling for a few hours. obviously you won't remember much, but there will inevitably be videos that repeat what you didn't remember and you will therefore remember these notions
11. You're fluent ! why not take a test ?
Now that you are completely fluent in Japanese, whether written or spoken, it would be time to test your knowledge using the JLPT. The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, abbreviated JLPT, is an official exam organized each year in July and December, aimed at certifying the Japanese language level of non-native speakers. It is organized by the Japan Foundation as well as the Japan Educational Exchanges and Services association.
Before going to centers to take the real JLPT exam, you will need to correctly answer all the JLPT sample questions available for free on the internet. For this, here are some websites:
Thank you very much for reading this article. I hope it will help you learn Japanese and I hope you will travel to Japan if you haven't already. As I am French, I wrote this entire article using Google Translate, so please do not take into account any English mistakes.
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