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Learning Japanese is certainly a challenge. With complex grammar, Hiragana, Katakana , Kanji , Keigo (polite language) and cultural customs to learn and understand it is understandable why Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world.
I remember my first few months of studying Japanese to be very frustrating and slow going. I was studying quite hard but felt I was going nowhere. That was 15 years ago. I created this website to help students progress quickly with their Japanese with free lessons and product recommendations and reviews.
I have produced several of my own Japanese language learning programs – an intermediate Japanese language learning program and practice test for the JLPT. I don’t usually recommend competitor products, but if you are a beginner student then you will get a lot out of the Rocket Japanese language course.
Click Here To Try Rocket Japanese
My favourite way to learn Japanese years ago was with Japanese audio lessons. I would sit on the train going from Nerima to Shibuya with my “discman” and listen to a Japanese audio course I had borrowed from a private Japanese school. I can’t remember the name of the course. The course was from a Canadian university and focused on polite conversational Japanese. At the time it was the only Japanese audio program I could get my hands on.
For someone starting to learn Japanese in this century, there is an abundance of Japanese learning programs giving students of the language a choice to study what they want. Back in the 90′s there was very little in the way of quality Japanese audio courses. Most of them were still on tape and cost several hundred dollars. Now you can learn Japanese for free with the many Japanese language podcasts on iTunes and hundreds of Japanese lessons on Youtube. The problem is no longer a lack of choice, but an over abundance of resources.
The Best Japanese Audio Lessons
The old expression “you get what you pay for” holds true with most online content for learning languages. While there are some great free audio lessons and podcasts out on there web, most fall short of providing what students really need – quality audio lessons that build upon each other in sucession. For example, you’ll find most Japanese youtube lessons are just random monologues of people sharing what they know of the Japanese language. I haven’t found a Youtube channel that provides concise lessons that build on each other.
There are a number of paid programs which I have tried including:
- Rocket Japanese
- Pimsleur Japanese
- Rosetta Stone
- Japanese Podcast 101
Rocket Japanese Audio Lessons
Rocket Japanese, in my opinion, still remains as the best paid Japanese audio program on the web. The lesson build on each other and reinforce past learnings. If you like talking your lessons on the go then you will be very happy with Rocket Japanese.
The product is unpdated often and has a great support forum where your questions about the Japanese language will be answered within 24 hours by the moderators.
There are also games and quizes with the program and a very helpful progress tracker.You also learn about Japanese culture and how it relates to everyday lagnuage and conversation.
Here is how Rocket Japanese compares with other competitors.
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Free Japanese Lessons
If you are wanting some quality free Japanese lessons then check out NHK World’s Yasashi Nihongo Lessons. You can download the audio and text of each lesson free. No sign is up required. They update their site with a ten minute lesson every week. The lessons are top notch and well worth your time. Like with most things in life, we tend to undervalue what we can get for free.
Why You Should Check Out NHK World
- The lessons are free and you can learn Japanese whenever you want.
- The lessons are concise and easy to understand so even kids can learn without getting bored.
- You learn Japanese from native speakers – it’s important to listen to the pronunciation of native speakers and practice by imitating the way they speak
- MP3 Downloads – You can download lessons onto your MP3 player and listen to them on your way to work or school.
- PDF textbook – you can read the contents of all the lessons at once.
If you are a beginner and are not want to spend any money on online lessons then you’ll find more than enough resources at NHK World.
If you are wanting to learn Japanese then most likely you are considering buying an audio course to help you with your studies. With quite a few courses online, working out which product will best suit your learning needs will take some investigation. I have decided to review several of the most popular and commercial Japanese language products to help you make the right choice.
I believe there are many factors in a learning program that are essential in order to help students learn how to speak Japanese fluently, but there are two that I think are most important. One is that real colloquial Japanese is taught as it is spoken by Japanese in Japan. Not the formal language you’ll find in text books. Another factor is recognizing the importance of situation and culture, and the influence they have on the Japanese language.
We looked at Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone and Rocket Japanese. Which is the best one? Rocket Japanese
Let me tell you what we looked for in each product.
- Value for money
- Ease of use
- Realistic conversation examples
- Japanese cultural references
- Enjoyment factor
At this stage we are only recommending Rocket Japanese. I believe it to be the best product online to learn basic to intermediate Japanese The core of the product is the 14 and a half hours of audio lessons. The lessons cover all the fundamentals of basic Japanese – from introducing yourself to getting around on public transportation, and ordering food in a restaurants. They take a friendly radio style approach with their teaching method. At times I do feel the lessons go on a bit and sometimes the dialogue seems too scripted. However, over all the audio lesson are very good and teach Japanese you would actually use.
Each audio lesson comes with grammar and cultural notes in a down-loadable PDF format. The reference material also contains instructions and explanations on written Japanese. Even if you don’t want to buy any products I recommend you at least subscribe to their Email course. It is great value – you get lots of sample lessons. Sign up ASAP.
Pimsleur
Pimsleur claims that you can learn a language in 10 days. I know that a lot can be learned in ten days with multimedia products and cutting edge learning methods, but learning Japanese in 10 days with the Pimsleur method doesn’t seem possible. I think Pimsleur is somewhat dated and is in need of upgrade and update. In order to speak Japanese I believe you need a certain amount of cultural understanding of Japan. This is something missing with Pimsleur. Pimsleur claims that their CDs have been scientifically sequenced to rapidly lock language material into your brain after just one listening and that you can absorb Japanese effortlessly without any reading, writing or computer use. Sounds too good to be true. Learning Japanese requires effort – it takes more than ten days.
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is the most expensive language program out there. I would probably make some good money promoting their products. They have 3 levels they individually sell starting from around $260. Buying all three levels at once is the best option, but you will have to fork out $550 dollars. The product comes in a CD-ROM format, with audio CDs. This means it is software heavy. This can be good for some things such as learning vocabulary and Hiragana and Katakana. However, in general I don’t believe learning a language through software is the way to go. You end up stuck in front of a computer learning just the basics. Rosetta Stone don’t provide any samples of their audio lessons on their site. You have to sign up to get a demo. There are promotion movies at their site. However, as I watched them they gave me the impression that I would get sick of using the software after about half an hour.
So if you are looking for a Japanese language pack to help you speak Japanese in a short amount of time we recommend Rocket Japanese.
