Top 10 Japanese Language Learning Apps for Beginners (2023) Free on Android

  Top 10 Japanese Language Learning Apps for Beginners (2023) Free on Android

Languages unlock a world of endless possibilities from forging personal connections and immersing yourself in different cultures to exploring new travel destinations and boosting your career prospects. Whether you want to learn Japanese for business purposes, an upcoming trip, your love of anime, or to simply expand your linguistic repertoire, these apps will make your language learning journey more enjoyable while teaching the essential skills required to reach fluency. 

 While traditional methods like English-to-Japanese dictionaries, phrase books, and grammar guides can get the job done, it isn’t the most enjoyable and can drive some away from language learning entirely. By providing the opportunity to study anywhere, at any time, at a fraction of the cost of hiring a tutor; these language learning apps provide the perfect tools required to reach fluency, all in the convenience of your pocket! 

Ultimately, everyone is different, so play around with the apps and see which ones interest you. Building a habit takes time, as does learning a language. Keep at it as often as you can and stay positive about your progress. 

The selection of apps I have curated are free-to-download and offer free-to-use models, so price needn’t be an issue. These apps were personally downloaded, tested, and hand-selected by myself from a huge initial selection, so don’t be surprised that a couple of them are still under-the-radar! Apps such as Babbel, FluentU, Memrise, Mondly, and Pimsleur were not considered due to their lack of free availability beyond a limited free trial. Some other apps, like Clozemaster and Todaii are great learning tools, but not aimed at beginners. All photos are independently sourced via self-captured screenshots on a Galaxy S23 Ultra. 

A Note on Scripts / Alphabets

Since Japanese uses a different script (alphabet/writing system), it is important to learn these first if you intend to read the language. Hiragana is a phonetic system used to spell Japanese words and is the most commonly used, often in conjunction with Kanji. Katakana uses the same sounds as Hiragana, but with different symbols, and is used to spell foreign words, like American terms. Kanji is not used as a script in the same way as Hiragana and Katakana. While Hiragana and Katakana are used to spell words, Kanji represents an entire word or idea through a singular symbol. While Kanji are derived from Chinese characters, it is important to note that the overlap between them is relatively small.

Additionally, users should be aware of romanization. When learning the scripts, sounds are often spelt phonetically using an English alphabet. However, once a user knows the scripts, the sounds will be represented with Japanese characters. For those who wish to start learning vocabulary without knowing the scripts, users will engage with romanized spellings. These utilize the English spellings of Hiragana to provide approximations of Japanese words, though it is important to note that they are only approximations. Some languages (including Japanese) utilize sounds rarely found in English and are challenging to spell without using the native script.

Overview

10.) Kanji Study - best for in-dept Kanji learning

9.) kawaiiDungeon - best gamified experience

8.) LingoDeer - best for those who already know Hiragana

7.) Learn Kanji! - best for learning basic Kanji

6.) Busuu - best exposure to native speaking in context

5.) BNR Learn Japanese - best straight-forward learning path

4.) Hiragana Memorizer - best to learn Hiragana

3.) Renshuu - best written guide

2.) Drops - best for vocabulary

1.) Duolingo - best for a little of everything

10.) Kanji Study - Best for in-dept Kanji learning

Kanji Study is a great tool to aid your Japanese language learning - once you’re ready for it. It offers route Kanji memorization along with quite a few learning tools. Translations of Kanji are offered in English, Hiragana, Katakana, and Furigana. You can quickly see multiple definitions and uses by clicking on the spelling. By clicking on the Kanji itself, you can see the steps to write it; a decomposition of the stems/parts; form explanation; reading examples; and recommended words. This app includes flashcards, multiple choice quizzes, writing challenges, Kanji/word search, and much more.

Kanji Study is incredibly in-depth and offers a plethora of information for deeper learning, however, it does not teach grammar or sentences and requires already knowing how to read Hiragana. The app will likely be overwhelming initially, but is a great tool as your learning advances.

Japanese Kanji Study (abbreviated as Kanji Study) has over 1M downloads on the Google Play Store and an impressive 4.9 star average rating from 50K users. Unfortunately, Kanji Study is not currently available on the Apple App Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store.

9.) kawaii Dungeon - Best gamified experience

kawaiiDungeon: Rise of a Goddess is a fun way for beginners to learn Hiragana, Katakana, and vocabulary while battling evil goons, defeating dungeons, collecting weapons, and leveling up. Users start on the Hiragana map and battle their way through to the boss, which unlocks the next map. There are daily quests to motivate you to keep playing and learn more. The app is super cute and is a great way for those who already enjoy playing games on their phone regularly to add some learning into the mix.

kawaiiDungeon has over 100 thousand downloads on the Google Play Store. Before kawaiiDungeon, there was kawaiiNihongo: a similar app by the same developers in which the user can navigate a small town to learn lessons at the school, play language games at the arcade, and more! The app has over one million downloads and is definitely worth checking out if you want a more cutesy learning experience.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. 

8.) LingoDeer - Best for those who already know Hiragana

LingoDeer offers a traditional learning path under their ‘learn’ tab - the app’s home page, so-to-speak. Each section offers lessons, learning tips, and options to practice by either reading or speaking a story. LingoDeer’s app also features a ‘review’ tab with options consisting of a 5-minute quiz, vocabulary, grammar, and ‘knowledge cards’. The app shows vocabulary in Kanji with translations in Hiragana and a romanization directly above and below the word, respectively. This makes it easy to get a sense for all the ways you may see or hear the term.

The app jumps right in with vocabulary and quickly asks users to piece together words. This requires at least a basic knowledge of Hiragana, or a lot of attention and patience. With that in mind, it may be best to pair LingoDeer with another tool to help you learn the scripts. Consider using Hiragana Memorizer first or alongside LingoDeer to help you get a feel for the sounds and start reading along.

Though the app isn’t as flashy as some others, it’s Japanese language path is worth checking out. LingoDeer has over ten million downloads from the Google Play Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. 

7.) Learn Kanji! - Best for learning basic Kanji

Learn Kanji! teaches the 2,136 Kanji that are tested in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). There are five levels associated with the five proficiency levels. The first (beginner) level includes 66 lessons with three to four Kanji introduced each lesson. As users progress, they are able to add learned vocabulary to a custom review session.

Learn Kanji! is an excellent introductory tool to quickly learn the most important Kanji. However, it does not teach grammar or sentences and requires already knowing how to read Hiragana. This is a good tool to use after you already have some familiarity with the Japanese language. Learn Japanese! - Kanji Study (abbreviated as Kanji!) has over 100K downloads on the Google Play Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. 

6.) Busuu - Best exposure to native speaking in context

Busuu is an app by the same developers as Chegg, the studying and homework help app that got so many of us through high school math. Busuu offers a standard lesson path that introduces vocabulary words individually while offering contextual sentences as examples. As the lesson progresses, users are asked to answer true and false questions; pair phrases; and even spell newly introduced vocabulary words from a set of given letters. The Busuu app explicitly teaches vocabulary, grammar, and cultural phrases using techniques including vocabulary building and spelling; grammar exercises; conversational learning; listening comprehension; and speaking lessons. My favorite part of the app is the ability to save vocabulary words for later review.

The lessons are very short, and add up to complete a chapter, which can be tested out of. Chapters are then divided by skill level using the CEFR language levels. In addition, Busuu offers a ‘community’ section in their app where users can connect with other language learners. This section includes weekly challenges, such as answering questions and describing pictures in Japanese; translating from English into Japanese, and practicing speaking skills. Once completed all of these challenges will be corrected by native speakers to help you improve. Through this tab you can add friends, and are able to see their name; native language; their progress towards fluency in languages they are learning; their current nation of residence; and their involvement in the community app. The app is very visually clean and includes a nice progress session that displays the number of words the user has learned and their fluency in a percentage.

The app jumps right in with vocabulary and quickly asks users to piece together words. The app does cover the scripts, though this is dispersed throughout the beginner lessons rather than put solely at the beginning. This is likely to keep users engaged by introducing conversational vocabulary right away and to prevent users from feeling discouraged with the time required to learn multiple new scripts. With that in mind, Duolingo offers a similar path structure, while also offering the option for users to learn the scripts at their own pace, either before or alongside the conversational path.

Busuu holds a 4.7 star rating on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store with over ten million downloads on the latter.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. 

5.) BNR Learn Japanese - Best straight-forward learning path

Learn Japanese by BNR Languages starts with the basic scripts: first Hiragana, then Katakana. Users then move on to acquiring vocabulary. Each lesson is worth a total of three stars, earned by completing three successful learning/review sessions. Several lessons (typically six, with some exceptions), add up to make a section or unit. Users must earn all the stars from the previous unit in order to unlock the next section and gain access to moving forward in their learning. This forces users to review the terms more than once in an effort to ensure the knowledge sticks. There is unfortunately no test out feature.

Learn Japanese has over 1M downloads on the Google Play Store with an average rating of 4.5 stars. This app is not currently available on the Apple App Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store. 

4.) Hiragana Memorizer - Best to learn Hiragana

This app is the perfect starting point for absolute beginners. Since knowing Hiragana is so important, (though not essential), I personally focused on mastering this script before moving forward in my Japanese language journey. It offers great memorization tactics by utilizing gamification of learning. Unfortunately the app does not go beyond Hiragana into Katakana, Kanji, vocabulary, or grammar.

In the basic quiz mode, users can select which Hiragana columns they would like to be included in the set and choose the correct matching answer from one of four types of romanized spellings of the pronunciations. The total score of correct and incorrect answers is tallied in the corner. The quick quiz option (indicated by a falling meteor) has only two options to choose from, which may be easier for beginners. The final game is ‘don’t touch the lava’: a timed version of the quiz with only two options to choose from. Lava moves up as time progresses, goes up faster with incorrect answers, and can be reduced with correct answers.

Hiragana Memorizer has been downloaded over 100K times on the Google Play Store and has a 4.5 star rating. Hiragana Memorizer is not currently available for download on the Apple App Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store. 

3.) Renshuu - Best written guide

Renshuu is the ultimate written guide for those looking to gain in-depth knowledge and engage more actively with their language learning. It covers scripts, grammar, vocabulary, reading, and much much more. If you can get past the initial difficulties navigating and understanding the app, it is a phenomenal tool to use as a reference for anything linguistic that you may not understand from other apps.

Renshuu offers the ultimate written guide to talk beginners through grammatical rules in the Japanese language in the ‘resources’ tab. This section also has Kana and Radical charts to teach the scripts and Kanji. There are six games to play in the ‘games’ tab which test skills from drawing to vocabulary and more. The ‘tools’ tab offers some really cool features, including a text analyzer where users can insert a paragraph in Japanese and receive an in-depth translation with notes. Users can also find worksheets available for print. Finally, users can interact with one another in the ‘community’ tab by asking and answering questions, chatting in forums, writing haikus, and playing games as a team.

Renshuu has an amazing average rating of 4.9 stars on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. To date, over 500K Android users have downloaded Renshuu.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. 

2.) Drops - Best for vocabulary

Drops, (brought to us by the much-loved quiz app Kahoot!) is a fun way to learn vocabulary in bite-sized lessons without worrying about grammar or any other lesson formats. Users are slowly introduced to more and more vocabulary words and asked to engage with them in a variety of ways, from matching sounds, pictures, and words to spelling and answering true/false questions.

The app prompts users to engage in spelling early on, which is easier if you’re familiar with the script, though possible through rote memorization of vocabulary terms. Drops actually teaches the scripts as well, though it doesn’t force users to learn them on the app. Though you won’t learn Japanese using this app alone, it is a wonderful way to begin expanding your vocabulary. The company has received numerous awards from AppAdvice including 5 Best Learning Apps of 2023. 

The free version of drops only allows users five minutes a day, which is just perfect in my opinion! In the same way that it's better to study a little bit over the course of a whole semester than it is to cram for a final exam the night before, you want to be careful not to push ahead too fast when learning a language. Steady practice is what will help you learn a language, not simply diving in for hours on a single night. 

Drops has over five million downloads on the Google Play Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. 

1.) Duolingo - Best for a little of everything

Perhaps one of the most well-known language learning apps, Duolingo is host to over 500 million language learners. The app offers a traditional learning path which focuses on acquisition of vocabulary and relevant grammar concepts. While grammar is naturally embedded into the learning plan, it is also available explicitly both for the individual unit in the ‘tip’ section as well as the section as a whole by hitting ‘see details’. Duolingo tests users in reading, listening, writing, and speaking making the app an all-in-one learning tool. Users are also prompted to stay motivated with a gamified experience including daily and weekly challenges, friend quests, leaderboards, streaks, and more.

Duolingo has a separate tab to teach scripts, allowing users to learn these at their own pace. I personally started with learning Hiragana, then moved to Katakana, and started the learning path when I was comfortable. That said, if you’re eager to get learning, feel free to jump right in and review the scripts as you go! The Japanese course has expanded greatly over the past couple of years and has even made many improvements in the past few months. This course is getting a lot of attention from Duolingo at the moment, so while some elements are still missing (such as speaking exercises), users may be able to expect these in the near future.

Duolingo has a 4.7 star rating and over a hundred million downloads on the Google Play Store.

Get it on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.