Introduction:

Japanese is the National language of the East Asia language spoken by about 128 million people in Japan. Learning a language like Japanese has become increasingly important in our globalized world. 

Japanese is thought to be one of the more difficult languages to learn for a native English speaker. It takes some amount of dedication and time to learn the language. Studies say that depending on several factors like your original language, how much time you devote daily to learn the language, etc. one can decide how difficult it is to learn Japanese. Again contrary to this popular belief, many linguists agree that spoken Japanese is comparatively easier to master than other languages, because it has only five vowels and thirteen consonants. In this blog, I will discuss a few points why Japanese is easy to learn for some people and why it is difficult for others. 

Why Japanese is so a unique language?

The unique culture can obviously be experienced through visiting, but learning the language itself really helps in understanding the history and the cultural differences. For example, there are certain words in Japanese that can’t be translated into English or other languages, because of the uniqueness to the culture.

With its impressively large expressive potential, complex levels of politeness, and captivating simple-yet-beautiful sounds, Japanese pleases the ears and mind. Japanese is also considered to be one of the most useful languages for singing because all of the Japanese syllables are open.

• Multibhashi

• Coursera’s

Coursera’s free Japanese for Beginners course is great for those who want a college class-type experience, online. This 20-hour course is taught over a series of videos, exercises, and quizzes and covers basic grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills. Learners who like this course can proceed to Japanese for Beginners 2.

• Udemy

Udemy has a number of Japanese classes for a fee (and often on sale), but something that stands out is their targeted classes for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) across all five test levels. Additionally, they offer specialized classes like business Japanese or kanji mastery. In particular, the Online Japanese Beginner Course is one of the top-rated intro Japanese courses on the platform.

• Skillshare

At Skillshare, a wide variety of instructors offer Japanese courses on a number of topics, such as travel Japanese, writing hiragana, and beginner Japanese. There are both free and paid classes, with paid classes available under a free trial for seven days. The quality varies widely, but you can see an introductory video and read a description to get a feeling for the teacher’s style. 

• Japanese lesson. Com

Japanese-Lesson.com offers 10 completely free lessons that cover essential Japanese words and phrases for complete beginners. Each lesson focuses on phrases and words associated with a certain lesson topic and includes audio files for key terms.

Lessons also include grammatical and cultural explanations under the “Tips” section, and there are three different drill exercises to help solidify your knowledge in each lesson.

• Rosetta stone

Rosetta Stone is one of the few online courses for individual learning that monitors and helps you improve your accent and intonation, something that can often be overlooked when studying without a physical, human teacher.

Rosetta Stone’s philosophy is to teach new languages in the same way you learned your first language, by associating pictures with words and introducing grammar later on. It’s a lot of fun to use. 

• Coscom

CosCom Japanese offers to-the-point lessons that focus on all the Japanese basics. These basics include vocabulary and grammar topics and tackle the Japanese writing systems.

All the words and phrases included in the online lessons have recorded authentic Japanese audio and English translations. CosCom also offers invaluable add-ons to their lessons such as short world news updates in simple Japanese, the most common 200 Japanese verbs and instruction 

• Tofugu

The popular Tofugu website and blog about learning Japanese spawned WaniKani, a web-based application for learning kanji and vocabulary. The WaniKani system uses repetition and mnemonics along with digital flashcards. The funny mnemonics and cute illustrations will make you chuckle — but will also help you to remember tricky characters. The first three levels are free, then there’s a choice of a monthly ($9), yearly ($89), or lifetime ($299) subscription.

Duolingo 

The popular language app Duolingo offers gamified learning with a cute owl mascot to cheer you along. Since the courses are crowdsourced, some of the translations can be strange (and often hilarious). One nice feature that many other platforms don’t offer is that you can test out of lower levels so that you don’t spend time going through material you already know. The app is totally free and can be used on iOS, Android, or desktop. An ad-free version is available for $6.99/month after a free 14-day trial.

Mango

The Mango platform offers dozens of language courses, including Japanese. A single language subscription is $7.99/month, and there’s a free trial lesson so you can get a feel for the interface. The site also points out that many organizations such as libraries offer access to Mango for free, and provides a search engine to look for nearby access. The interactive course offers spoken English explanations, with native speaker pronunciation examples. The application is available on web browsers, iOS, and Android.

Italki

The platform italki matches students with teachers for live one-on-one lessons. Prices vary greatly, but many fall between $10-20 an hour. With almost six hundred Japanese tutors on the site, you should be able to find someone who suits your learning goals, interests, and skill level. The site differentiates between community tutors who teach informally and professional tutors with official teaching qualifications. After choosing your tutor, you can book a lesson and pay, then meet 

over the video chat software (such as Zoom, Hangouts, or FaceTime) of your choice.

Cafe talk

Cafe Talk also offers various languages and skills, but as it originates in Japan, the site has a large number of Japanese tutors and lessons, offered live. You can set search parameters around the tutor’s qualifications, country of origin, residence, gender, and whether or not they offer a free trial lesson. After settling on a tutor, you book and pay for the lesson, then meet via Skype. Registration is free, and you only pay for the lessons you reserve.

Japanese from zero

Japanese From Zero! was created by a Japanese learner named George Trombley who attained fluency in Japanese and went on to interpret the language around the world for companies such as Microsoft and IBM.

The first course, which is comprised of 13 full lessons, is available completely for free with sign up on the website. The additional four courses must be purchased in either their online or textbook formats.

If you’re looking for something completely free, however, the online and textbook courses are supported.