日本語 · A curated guide

Awesome Japanese

A hand-curated list of the best resources for learning Japanese — from your first kana to native immersion.

📺 Japanese TV Channel Guide Watch real Japanese networks for immersion practice →

How To Use These Resources

Indicator Description
👶 beginner
🧑 intermediate
🧓 advanced
📱 mobile app
💻 computer software
📡 browser extension
🇯🇵 Japanese UI only
🗾 Japan IP restricted
💰 costs money
⚠️ warning
📖 book
🗂️ Anki deck
🤖 generative AI

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).

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

  2. 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 a deck that displays 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 choose one from the Dictionary list.

  1. 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.

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 in addition to the textbook.

Minna no Nihongo

Similarly to Tobira, Minna no Nihongo is intended for intermediate-level students.

Quartet

The natural successor to beginner textbooks like Genki, Quartet develops all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) across two volumes, progressing from JLPT N3 in Volume 1 to N2 in Volume 2. Downloadable resources and a companion Vocab & Kanji app are available.

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, it also includes some reading resources such as Yotsubato, and some listening material.

Course

Hiragana and Katakana

Alphabet of Japanese language.

Kanji

Vocabulary

Grammar

Reading

Listening

Speaking

Community

Video

Dictionary

Software

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Read the contribution guidelines first.