Learn Japanese
Japanese, and you never have to type a kana.
A 110-word course that reads real Japanese from the first week. Almost nobody has a Japanese keyboard set up, so every exercise accepts romaji, long vowels optional. We test your Japanese, not your input method.
Designed by linguists and built with data.
Read the whole course freeOne Plus subscription covers all 11 languages, not just Japanese, and the full Learn IPA course See what Plus adds
Try Japanese now - no sign-up
Quick taster
3-word session
A quick mix of exercises - recognise, recall, type and build each word. Miss one and it comes back round until it sticks.
Graded reader
ホテルで
Only words the course has taught
。。。
I'm a student. Today I'm having coffee at the hotel. My friend is having water.
Tap any word for its word page
Read Japanese from the first week.
A graded reader written only from words the course has already taught, in real Japanese with furigana over every kanji. Tap any word for its page.
Browse Japanese storiesGrammar that treats you like an adult.
Particles do the work English gives to word order, and the verb comes last. Two ideas, and most of a Japanese sentence makes sense.
Explore Japanese grammarThe ます form
食べる
to eat - Ichidan verb
- dictionary
- 食べる
- polite
- 食べます
- polite negative
- 食べません
- polite past
- 食べました
- past negative
- 食べませんでした
Japanese verbs never change for person: 食べます is I eat, you eat and they eat alike. The ending carries politeness and tense instead, and it is the same for every verb in the language bar two.
Built for Japanese, specifically
Not one course photocopied eleven times. Each language gets the tools its own difficulties actually call for.
The Learn IPA course comes with it
One Plus subscription gets you the Japanese course and the full Learn IPA course: ten lessons, every drill, and the same words heard in six English accents. The Japanese IPA chart then maps every kana to its sound, devoiced vowels, long vowels, ん and the small tsu included, so you can see what the kana spelling leaves out.
Japanese by the numbers
Counted from the course, not rounded up for the brochure.
- words in the course
- 110
- grammar guides
- 6
- graded readers
- 1
words in the course
grammar guides
graded readers
Every way to learn Japanese
The course is the spine, but every part of it stands on its own.
Courses
Read
Words and sounds
Play
Teach and print
Read real Japanese stories from chapter 1
Graded stories, a grammar article and drill for every point, a whole games arcade, printable worksheets and lessons by email. One account, every language.
Chapters 1 and 2 free, forever. Plus: 7 days free, then $5 a month for all eleven languages.
Start Japanese at word one.
Every word and grammar lesson is free to read, and stays that way. Plus adds every graded reader past chapter 2, the story drills, grammar practice, games, printables and lessons by email: free for a week, then $5 a month - one subscription for every course on the site, not just Japanese, and the full Learn IPA course with it.