This page provides a list of websites and products that will help you learn Japanese.
Some of the links are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click through to these sites and make a purchase.
JapanesePod101
JapanesePod101 is a great way to start your Japanese journey. It offers thousands of hours of high-quality content from complete beginner to advanced.
The materials are also very thorough, with audio and video as well as transcripts and notes. They gradually fade out the English as you reach a higher level. Sign up for free here.
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Simply the best book I have found for mastering the basic structures of Japanese. Don’t be fooled by the title. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is not really a dictionary as such. It’s also pretty far removed from any grammar lessons I had at school.
This book is full of clear and practical examples that are easy for beginners to apply. If you know this book well, then Japanese conversation should be a breeze. You can pick it up here.
I have used the intermediate and advanced titles in the series too, which are also excellent.
Pimsleur Japanese language courses
Pimsleur was the first resource I used to learn Japanese way back in 2005. For those of you that feel like you quickly forget new information, this is for you.
The design of the courses ensures that you remember the content, which gradually builds upon itself with each daily 30-minute lesson.
Pimsleur is one of the most useful courses for actually learning to speak Japanese I have found. Try it out for free here by signing up for an Audible trial.
Edit: I recently wrote about my experience using Pimsleur.
Weblio
Weblio is probably the best online Japanese dictionary out there. I use this daily as a professional Japanese translator (contrary to popular belief, there are actually some words we don’t know!)
Weblio is completely free and has a huge number of Japanese-English definitions. There are also many example sentences to help you memorize new vocabulary. A huge thumbs up from me.
Linguee
Do you have ever difficulty trying to grasp the context of a word? Linguee is the best site I know for finding example sentences. These examples are vital to improving your understanding of Japanese.
Linguee apparently uses AI and deep learning to match bilingual examples of any term you enter. It’s almost scary how many useful sentences it comes up with!
ReversoContext
This is the newest site on the list than I just started noticing in the last few months. Like Linguee, they use AI to give you tons of example sentences for any given word, but I’m tempted to say that ReversoContext might have even more. It has been highly useful in my daily translation work. Give it a try.