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

What I like About Rocket Japanese

What I like about Rocket Japanese is the fact that it was designed  teach you to learn and speak conversational Japanese. Unlike other courses, it really engages you to participate and practice what you learn. The online program builds on each lesson and there is plenty of revision so that you retain what you learn. The membership interface is well designed and easy to use. You can print out and download lessons easily. You can also keep track of your progress a progress tracker.

What is in the course?

The Rocket Japanese Premium course consists of 31 interactive audio lesson. The lessons are about 20min in length and focus on modern, everyday conversations. The structure of the lesson are friendly and engaging, sort of like a radio program. They are not false and formalized like most language learning programs are. In total you are looking at about 13 hours of great audio content. Also, you don’t need to be in front of your computer to listen to the lessons. You can pop them into you iPod or MP3 player and listen on the go.

Included in the course are simple, but effective quizzes that will help you build your vocabulary and reinforce what you learn with the audio program.  They are quite fun to do. And the best part is that you’ll know that you are making progress.

The help and Support section of the membership area ensures that you can get the most out of the course. I’ve never had any problems with Rocket Japanese to write a support ticket, but I have looked through the FAQ’s. Everything from how to download the Interactive Audio Course to upgrading to a Premium account is covered.

Rocket Japanese Community and Forum

Creating on online community is quite a commitment as questions have to be answered within 24 hours to keep members happy.  It is something I have been unable to do with my own products because I don’t have the time or resources to maintain an active forum, but Rocket Japanese does.  You’ll find that many of the questions or concerns you have about learning Japanese are already answered in the forum. You also find words of encouragement from other members which makes you feel that you are not alone in your desire to become a fluent speaker of Japanese.

Rocket Japanese Results

Rocket Japanese is the most popular online Japanese learning program on the web.  The program has helped hundreds of people achieve their learning goals.

“What a relief it was to hear friendly voices teaching a wonderful language in such an easy to follow, easy to learn format. Words cannot explain how simple it is to learn Japanese with this program…No more useless memorizations or boring drills, just the facts of what you need to know in an understandable format.”  - Lucas Broadway 
Kentucky, U.S.A

“I have wanted to learn Japanese for a while now but never thought I would find something so amazing and rewarding to help get me through it quickly. Not only are the lessons easy to understand, but affordable.  They are set up in a way that is fun and easy to learn.  The games are also very helpful in learning certain words and characters. Whether you need to learn it for travel, or you just want to learn it for fun I think there is no better choice than the Rocket Japanese system. “ - Molly Arnold
 MO, U.S.A

Advantages of Rocket Japanese

• Over 13 hours of quality audio lessons
• Active support forum – your question are answered within 24 hours
• Course regularly updated – video lessons
• 60 day money back guarantee

Disadvantages of Rocket Japanese

• May be too basic if you have studied Japanese before
• At times too much revision in certain lessons
• Physical CD version quite expensive

Rocket Japanese make it really easy to order and access their Online Japanese Course! Even if you have never ordered or downloaded anything online before, it is super easy. When you click on their Red Button button below you’ll order form and enter your name and email address.

Get redirected to the Rocket Japanese online member’s area, where you have lifetime access to your Rocket Japanese Premium package!

 Final Verdict

If you are a complete beginner or are struggling to learn the fundamentals of the Japanese language I highly recommend this course. It comes with a no-hard feelings, no-hassle 60 Day guarantee. In fact, you can trail the program for 6 days completely free. So there is no risk for you to give this program a go. Go get started and take the trail now.

Click Here To Start Learning Japanese With 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.

Visit Rocket Japanese Now and Take Advantage of Their Special Offer – an exclusive Rocket Japanese Survival Kit
worth $79.90, FREE with your order!

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

Rocket Japanese

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.