Duolingo, Drops, Memrise, Mondly and LingoDeer compared — hiragana and katakana first, kanji depth, real-speaker clips and sentence-rhythm practice.
Japanese starts with a hurdle French and Italian do not have: you must learn to read before you study anything else, and there are three scripts to manage. That makes the choice of app more decisive than for any other language, which is why most learners end up combining two tools rather than trusting one. The 5 apps in this guide were picked around that reality — one to introduce the syllabaries, two for vocabulary and the ear, one for pronunciation and rehearsing sentences, and the grammar specialist no generalist can replace.
Duolingo teaches hiragana and katakana from the first unit, the gentlest free route into Japanese writing.
Duolingo's familiar five-minute gamified lessons bring the usual streak-driven habit to Japanese, and the writing system is handled carefully from the start rather than avoided, making it a good free on-ramp. Its limitations are well known among learners: it explains little grammar, while Japanese grammar works nothing like English, and the free version includes ads with ad-free Super paid.
Drops drills Japanese words through illustrations and keeps them in their real script, not just romaji.
Drops restricts itself to a vocabulary game with illustrations and drag-to-match interactions in five-minute sessions, and for Japanese its presentation matters: words appear in the original script rather than only transliteration, which reinforces reading from the start. It teaches no grammar or sentence building, the free plan stops at five minutes a day, and it works only as a supplement.
Memrise plays short clips of Japanese people speaking at natural speed, the best ear training available.
Memrise teaches through short videos of real native speakers, backed by spaced repetition that locks in vocabulary, so you encounter Japanese as people actually speak it rather than a slowed textbook version. That makes it the strongest tool for listening practice and authentic phrasing. Full access requires a subscription, grammar is less structured than in Babbel or Busuu, and the focus stays on vocabulary rather than writing.
Mondly teaches Japanese from your own language and uses speech recognition to drill sentence rhythm.
Mondly spans 41 languages and is one of the few apps that teach Japanese directly from your first language instead of routing everything through English. Its short lessons use speech recognition to work on pronunciation and the rhythm of full sentences, plus a chatbot for trying basic exchanges. The free tier allows one lesson a day, grammar depth is limited, and lesson quality varies between language pairs.
LingoDeer is the Asian-languages specialist, explaining Japanese grammar in the depth Duolingo avoids.
LingoDeer is built specifically for Japanese, Korean and Chinese by native teachers, with proper grammar explanations where generalist apps skim, plus character writing, native audio and a structured level-by-level path. For Japanese that grammar layer is the core of the language rather than an extra. Full access requires a subscription, the app is less gamified than Duolingo, and its catalogue of languages is deliberately small.
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Questions & answers
Where should I start with Japanese?
With hiragana, always. It is 46 characters, learnable in a week or two, and nothing else progresses until they are automatic. Katakana follows for foreign loanwords, while kanji is the multi-year project after that. Duolingo introduces both syllabaries well, and most learners then add AnkiDroid for kanji.
How many kanji do I need to learn?
The Japanese government lists 2,136 common-use kanji, taught through the end of high school. With around a thousand you can read most everyday text comfortably. It is a years-long job suited to spaced repetition: AnkiDroid is the standard tool, with prepared decks that follow the order of the most-used textbooks.
Is Duolingo enough to actually learn Japanese?
It is enough to begin and keep the habit, not to get far. It teaches the syllabaries and basic vocabulary well but explains little grammar, and Japanese sentence structure works nothing like English. The standard setup is Duolingo as the daily base, AnkiDroid for kanji, and a grammar resource such as LingoDeer or a grammar book.
How long does it take to learn Japanese?
Far longer than a European language. The institutes that train diplomats place Japanese in the hardest group for English speakers, with estimates above two thousand hours for a professional working level. For trip-level survival, a few months of vocabulary and set phrases gets you through the practical basics.
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