Want to learn Japanese? Although considered as one of the toughest languages to learn, it is undeniably fascinating and poetic. Imagine yourself being able to make Japanese friends, watch Japanese cooking classes, or even read books in Japanese. Wouldn’t that be great? 
That said, there are several online Japanese courses on the internet but not all are the same. Some Japanese courses focus on one thing and lose on another. For instance, concentrating on listening and speaking kanji, while other courses on grammar. So what is your reason for learning Japanese? 
Could it be that traveling to Japan to visit the famous ancient temples or experiencing their iconic culture has been on your bucket list? You could also be planning to work or set up a business in Japan. Whatever the reason, you need to find the right place to get Japanese lessons. 
Some of these online courses are free while others require you to pay to join their classes. This article aims to help you find the right sites to learn Japanese online as well as know the pros, cons, and price for each course.
Online Japanese Classes
Table of Contents
- I Will Teach You a Language
- JapanesePod101
- Pimsleur
- Lingodeer
- Bunpo
- Wasabi
- Imabi
- Human Japanese
- Easy Japanese by NHK World
- BondLingo
- Assimil
- Kanshudo
- Marugoto
- Mango Languages
- Samidori
- Japenese Level Up
- FluentU
- Coto Academy
- Japanese Ammo
- Nihongo – Pro.com
- Loecsen Japanese
1. I Will Teach You a Language
Suited for:
It is suited for both complete beginners and intermediate-level people.
Cost:
The beginner course price is $397 and is automatically billed on day 8 after having gone through a 7-day free trial. You are free to cancel after the 7 day free trial without any obligations.
What is special?
Their Japanese Uncovered course is a detailed 20 classes program that will help you become an intermediate-level speaker of the Japanese language. It completely immerses you from day one by listening to and reading stories carefully crafted for beginners. It gives you access to a wide range of audiobooks, stories, Japanese artwork, and English translations to help you get a better grasp. You get to learn from more than 100 video lessons that teach you pronunciation, grammar, writing, Japanese culture, and vocabulary. It has fully downloadable learning resources and you can do creative tasks and quizzes to help track your progress. Though some learners may feel that the course is intense, it is very useful for learning Japanese.
2. JapanesePod101
Suited for:
This learning platform is suited for people at all levels i.e. beginner to advanced levels.
Cost:
The monthly price for the basic, premium, and premium plus plans are $8, $25, and $47 consecutively. Both premium plans have a 7-day free trial and lifetime account offer.
What is special?
This online Japanese course helps you learn to speak from the very first lesson. The teachers slow down to explain every phrase and word as you’re reading, writing, understanding Japanese culture, and grammar. Their Japanese language lessons are specially tailored based on your goals and needs. You will get flashcards that re-examine you to make sure you never forget the words taught. This learning platform also provides slideshows and lists of words to help you learn Japanese. They give you a breakdown for each sentence and a slowed audio to help you get every word spoken. With this online course, you can have your own Japanese tutor who can help you learn how to make a 3-minute conversation within a week. You will also receive personal feedback and corrections via the platform private messenger. You however have to subscribe to their paid packages to unlock some of these features. It’s advisable to try the free 7-day trial to see it fits your needs.
3. Pimsleur
Suited for:
This is a beginner-level course.
Cost:
The price for Level 1-5 of their Japanese course is $230 however you can opt to buy a Pimsleur audio-only CD at a price of $119.95.
What is special?
Pimsleur’s Japanese online course combines the Pimsleur method with learner participation to achieve success. Every lesson blends rhythm, vocabulary, intonation, melody, and grammar to give you a real feel of the language and culture. Each Pimsleur lesson selects sentences, phrases, and words according to your everyday conversations beginning with basic Japanese. They also make sure they don’t engulf you with too many of those words. It has an intuitive reminder of new structures and words at precise intervals to increase your chances of remembrance. This is mostly a self-study platform that can be accessed from your desktop or mobile device and you can share the application with up to three other users. The application teaches you widely used Japanese alphabets including Kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
4. Lingodeer
Suited for:
This platform’s online Japanese courses are most suited for beginners as it teaches the language through fun lessons.
Cost:
You can learn Japanese at the price of; $13.99 / month, $34.99 / quarter, $79.99 / year. You can also make a lifetime purchase for $119.99.
What is special?
LingoDeer offers two Japanese courses namely Japanese 1 and Japanese 2. Both of these teach you basic vocabulary and grammar with a focus to practice speaking Japanese as you build upon it. While many other applications focus on vocabulary, this platform is great for learning grammar. It uses clever strategies to help you learn Japanese faster such as Gamification. Here the Japanese lessons are scheduled in a series of quizzes and engaging games for a more effective learning experience. The lessons are strategically paced based on your advancement by gradually introducing new devices as you hit new milestones. This is to help you have a better hold of natural Japanese speech. Lingodeer provides you with grammar study notes that are easy to understand before starting a new lesson. It is a fairly new language app but is much better than most others and fairly cheaper as well. There are many exercises after completing a lesson starting with easy and ending with harder questions. At Lingodeer anything in Alphabet, flashcards, tests, reviews, and the first unit are granted free of charge.
5. Bunpo
Suited for:
It is best for beginners to intermediate-level speakers.
Cost:
Bunpo is an absolutely free-to-use application on an Android or iOS device.
What is special?
Bunpo is a heavily packed application with lots of content. You can choose to learn a fundamental Kana lesson or cover JLPT from N5 to N1. The application is also excellent for learning hiragana and katakana for a beginner. It has various grammar lessons arranged in cards which you can review or study in order. Each card provides excellent explanations to each grammar point together with example sentences. Are you having difficulty reading the words? You can always opt for the audio mode as well as experience the version in English. At the completion of a flashcard, you immediately get quizzed using questions and multiple choices to choose from. Bunpo claims to have about 8,000 quiz questions and 1,700 sentence examples. It has a built-in Japanese translator/dictionary to better understand Japanese. The free plan is great but you can also get extra features by subscribing to Bunpo Plus which is a paid plan.
6. Wasabi
Suited for:
It is good for beginner to expert levels of speaking Japanese.
Cost:
The wasabi light plan price is $34.49, the basic plan costs $68.99, and the price for the intensive plan is $128.12. You can take a 7-day free course without providing your credit card details.
What is special?
Leaning Japanese online has been simplified by Wasabi’s tutor-student interactive online classes and the free self-study materials it provides. It provides several guides on Japanese grammar, video lessons as well as audio recordings done by graded readers. Believed to be among the top online Japanese courses, Wasabi typically teaches in Japanese but you can always request an English-speaking tutor. It publishes tons of self-study materials therefore you don’t have to subscribe to one of its paid plans. These materials however don’t have quizzes or exercises to test your comprehension. One-on-one lessons with the Japanese teachers helps you understand and speak better in native Japanese. Japanese learners can be sure of tons of materials and support from the tutors as they go through the language courses.
7. Imabi
Suited for:
Imabi will take you from beginner to superior level through its online lessons.
Cost:
This is another excellent free Japanese course with more than 400 lessons covering from beginner to advanced Japanese vocabulary.
What is special?
Imabi website is purely text-based but cannot be used as the only resource even for learning basic Japanese as well as high-level. It does not have any audio lessons to learn with however it has more than 30 classical Japanese lessons. Despite it being a comprehensive platform to learn Japanese online, it only has occasional quizzes. You also benefit from in-depth explanations and lots of examples to better understand the language. The lessons teach the fundamentals of Kanji, how to differentiate it, and how to use it in a word list. It is a well-organized and comprehensive guide to learning Japanese however you need to have a strong understanding of hiragana and katakana before taking on their lessons. It teaches classical Japanese lessons with a huge library of kanji vocabulary.
8. Human Japanese
Suited for:
It is best for both beginner and intermediate levels of people who want to learn Japanese.
Cost:
The price for each supported software is as follows; $18.99 for Mac or PC, $9.99 for Android and iOS, and $14.99 for iPad.
What is special?
Taking Japanese online courses with Human Japanese could never be better because of their exhaustive explanations and attention to detail. It features thousands of crystal clear recordings, reviews, clever quizzes, and animation of the kanji, hiragana & katakana characters. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to take up your knowledge of the Japanese language a notch higher, this is the app to go for. Its applications have both full and lite editions. The lite editions only have the initial 8 chapters together with their audios and quizzes while the full app editions contain the whole course content. This online Japanese course is divided into two sections for the absolute beginner and the person with basic speaking skills. The application allows you to share your version of the application with more than one person or your household. Japanese learning becomes fun because of its easy-to-use interface and excellent presentation of information. Language learning in this app is designed to progress at the learner’s own pace with quality and logical instructions. You may however want to supplement the study materials provided you want to learn with extended sessions.
9. Easy Japanese by NHK World
Suited for:
This platform is most suited for beginning learners.
Cost:
The course is free for all who want to learn Japanese.
What is special?
For a beginner, learning Japanese can be quite fun as the platform presents the course in a dramatized audio style that is conversational. Learners get everyday use expressions for various scenarios such as a classroom setting, talking with a friend, or a shopping experience. Students have access to a library of 48 dramatized lessons in audio format. Users can keep their language learning records as well as add Japanese vocabulary notes to the notebook on the dashboard. You will however need to supplement it by learning kanji, hiragana & katakana from another source. Overall, this is a high-quality resource platform for people who want to learn Japanese grammar, writing, culture, and conversations. Its animated videos are bit-sized therefore quite manageable for all students. The audio files are downloadable in MP3 format and the textbook as a PdF file.
10. BondLingo
Suited for:
The course is perfect for beginners as well as high-level learners. The course curriculum for BondLingo follows the same taught in Japan.
Cost:
BondLingo can be accessed for a price as little as $10/month for the premium package while the unlimited package price goes for $20 per month.
What is special?
This online Japanese platform is said to be among the best in the market as it provides Japanese courses for students undertaking JLPT N1-N5. Other online Japanese courses provided include; casual Japanese, business Japanese, and survival Japanese. Students can access over 500 video lessons which they can listen to at their own pace and practice Japanese pronunciation. A digital textbook is provided on the dashboard while live lessons are ongoing for the students to use. The teacher-student chat interaction makes it all the more worthwhile as they can ask questions and have them answered. It has a fantastic community of students which the tutors help to facilitate discussions. You can always subscribe for a free trial to see if it is a good fit for you. The dashboard is easy to use, well organized, and engaging as you can even convert your English name to kanji. With the premium plan, you can access live lessons, JLPT exams, download textbooks, chat with your tutor, and get one on one instructions. The platform however limits the number of videos you can watch in a day to 5. BondLingo also allows students to study their online courses free of charge for a month however they can gift you two extra months if you are guidable.
11. Assimil
Suited for:
It is best for the beginner level and the intermediate level.
Cost:
The price for this online Japanese course is currently $58.86 inclusive of VAT.
What is special?
Online Japanese courses offered by Assimil include Japanese with ease and writing Japanese with ease. Both have a total of 99 online lessons with the first volume having 49 lessons. The students are expected to listen to recordings, read the provided dialogues, and try to repeat what has been spoken or read. After completing a lesson, learners complete the provided quizzes to better comprehend what they have learned. Its intuitive interface shows a dialogue page written in Japanese and an English translation next to it. Every lesson provides users with notes at the end of a dialogue explaining the grammar and language aspects. The Assimil course teaches you the basics of writing in Japanese through their classes. The course teaches the basics of writing in the kanji system which makes it very convenient for learners. After completing these online courses you will have expanded your Japanese vocabulary by around 1,800 words. Compared to apps that only provide audio courses, it is quite an exceptional course for learning Japanese. Their classes immerse learners fully into the language because the course is offered in very minimal English. Assimil application is compatible with iOs, Mac, Windows, and Android.
12. Kanshudo
Suited for:
Kanshudo online courses mainly offer beginner and intermediate courses with lots of materials to help learners master the Japanese language.
Cost:
The guest and registered user accounts are free while the price of the Kanshudo Pro package is $6/month.
What is special?
Kanshudo provides some of the top-rated Japanese language courses around the world coupled with two free online plans. Their popular kanji wheel has been built for students who want to master kanji making it easier to learn Japanese online. This wheel helps students to visualize their progress as well as recommend targeted study for the level they’re at. They have an extensive flashcard system for repetitive practice and several study games and progress quizzes. It also has an extensive library of names and vocabularies which can be bookmarked and also has several examples. The system provides how-to-guides to help you with certain functions in the system. One excellent feature of the Kanshudo system is getting coupons for free access to the pro plan as you continue to study. You get introduced to 5 new kanji at the beginner lessons, then the system strengthens your understanding through numerous pleasant activities. Once you complete the initial 20 starter lessons, you should be able to take more difficult vocabulary and grammar as well as 1,000 more kanji. Based on the level you are at, you can practice reading by clicking the text at the reading corner. On clicking the text you get the audio pronunciation, explanations for grammar, vocabulary, translations, and a kanji breakdown.
13. Marugoto
Suited for:
Marugoto online Japanese courses are crafted for new beginners who want to become Japanese speakers as well as intermediate and advanced speakers.
Cost:
The Japanese course is free of charge having several classes to learn from.
What is special?
Created by the Japan Foundation, Marugoto is a book series ranked according to the common European Framework of Reference and the council of Europe’s CEFR. The creators of Marugoto are also responsible for administering the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The system contains a huge library of Japanese words to study and uses natural conversations in Japanese. You will gradually become a native Japanese speaker as it gradually introduces you to kanji while giving you several exercises to practice from. It has two kinds of study courses namely Katsuudo for informal learners and Katsudo & Rikai for serious learners. The latter gets you deeper into writing short essays, grammar, and reading too. Both of these courses contain several activities in writing, speaking, watching videos, and listening to dialogues. While the platform is free for a self-study learner, one can subscribe for paid group classes with a Japanese teacher. Despite being a free Japanese online learning course, it’s considered to be of high quality with lots of practice opportunities for speaking and listening. The system is so well designed that it teaches you different ways to use a sentence structure instead of repeating the same over and over.
14. Mango Languages
Suited for:
Mango Languages is a very good platform for beginners and intermediate Japanese speakers.
Cost:
The price for a Mango Languages subscription is $7.99/month. Learners can however pay $17.99/month for all languages on the platform.
What is special?
Japanese language courses are some of the many other languages Mango Languages offers on its platform. Its online courses focus on basic language learning skills such as Vocabulary, grammar, culture, and pronunciation. All this is presented in easy-to-understand modules with exercises to enhance your memory, application, and practice. This is a good platform for teaching a new learner the Japanese culture and their way of life. Such include courtesies such as body language, etiquette, and gestures. It provides learners with enough grammar practice but not enough writing practice. Mango Languages courses provide you with a two-week free trial period before the start of your subscription. Courses in this platform slowly build on themselves assuming that you comprehend the chapters learned. Therefore, it can be confusing for complete beginners to get confused when they fail to follow the order of lessons. Its clever intelligent interface prompts you to do a certain task and effectively practice and record your Japanese pronunciation then compare it with the original recording. Mango Languages is an excellent tool for gaining Japanese cultural, grammar, and language skills
15. Samidori
Suited for:
The Samidori course is best suited for complete beginners as well as lower intermediate level speakers.
Cost:
This is an absolutely free online course.
What is special?
As mentioned above, it is a free online Japanese course offered by the University of Kyoto. The courses have well organized and in-depth introduction to the Japanese language. Their courses cover vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening, and the kana (hiragana & katakana). The samidori courses don’t teach kanji nor are there speaking and writing activities in as much as they help you recognize them. The lessons are structured using the same format where the vocabulary and topic are first introduced, examples are then provided and practice quizzes come at the end. In as much as it is a good platform for beginner Japanese learners, they would need to supplement with speaking, writing, and doing kanji studies from a different source. Samidori lessons provide detailed and excellent explanations, superb grammar breakdowns, and enough materials for beginner students to intermediate level students.
16. Japanese Level Up
Suited for:
It is suited for beginners and intermediate-level speakers.
Cost:
$99.99 per level
What is special?
Jalup has proven to be a very helpful application for people who have not been very successful with other applications in learning Japanese. Their improved SRS flashcard method of learning makes sure that every new card follows with the last used card. Students who subscribe to their courses are therefore able to comprehend fully most sentences given to them. To go from beginner to expert, you will have to undergo Jalup’s six-level courses. You will know how to read and write fundamental Japanese alphabets as you slowly increase your knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, kanji, and sentence structure. At Julup level 4, all content is presented to the trainee in Japanese. By this time you can enjoy Japanese video games, anime, and manga without difficulty.
17. FluentU
Suited for:
The platform is excellent for complete beginners and advanced learners.
Cost:
The price for learning Japanese is $ 19.99/month if you decide to take the yearly course or the normal $29.99 monthly fee.
What is special?
FluentU is an excellent platform offering excellent Japanese courses for beginners and advanced learners. It contains thousands of superbly captioned videos with their content posted on your screen. This is to help you not have to pause the video every few seconds to look up a word or take notes. This application is available for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. It gives you a real-world experience like a native as you listen to various speakers such as comedians, musicians, bloggers, or politicians. The app also tracks your learning development and can indicate what you understand of a video before you watch it. The beginner courses offered are only in levels 1 and 2 therefore not complete. In as much the lessons help a learner get out out of the woods and start watching videos from the library with more ease. The process is easy, user friendly and you can add unknown words to your vocabulary list. When you click on a word, the system translates as well as pulls out clips from its library showing how it has been used in other instances. This real-world experience gives a better understanding of how and when to use the vocabulary learned as you practice pronunciation.
18. Coto Academy
Suited for:
This Japanese platform is most suited for intermediate and advanced level speakers.
Cost:
The plans start from $118.6 for one 50 minute lesson a week.
What is special?
Coto Academy believes that a student should learn in a comfortable atmosphere that is why they allocate small class sizes to each student to enhance learning. Coto school provides well-designed and easy-to-understand lessons and ensures that students practice and understand Japanese words. With over 20 years of experience, the Coto Academy has grown to be among Tokyo’s best language learning institutions. The lessons in this platform are customized based on the student’s needs. Such include learning new vocabulary, grammar, or speaking practice. Their classes prepare you for the JLPT exam as you improve on your skills. The speaking courses on this platform are recommended for a person who doesn’t live in Japan but wants to practice their pronunciation of Japanese. Their online JLPT prep courses equip the student with kanji, grammar, vocabulary, and teaching practice. A student can always go back to a lesson to refer as they are always recorded.
19. Japanese Ammo
Suited for:
This platform is best suited for beginners learners.
Cost:
The platform is absolutely free to use.
What is special?
This is another free but very reliable channel for learning basic Japanese language courses. It is mostly done via video tutorials. The host Misa teaches basic Hiragana as she claims that it should be the first step towards knowing how to speak Japanese. Hiragana is not as tough to learn because you can grasp of few vocabularies within a couple of hours. The website contains tons of tutorial videos for learning Japanese vocabulary using mnemonics and other methods. Taking a Japanese class on this platform will transform you from a beginner to an intermediate in a relatively short period. The platform however does not have a lot of quizzes and materials to help you practice speaking and writing in Japanese
20. Nihongo-Pro.com
Suited for:
This is an excellent platform for beginners, intermediate, and advanced level students.
Cost:
With Nihongo-Pro, you can book private lessons with a native-speaking tutor at a price between $28 and $35 for a 50-minute lesson. You can also purchase the Nihongo-Pro text ebook for $20.
What is special?
Nihongo-Pro is a pleasant platform where you can learn Japanese words and phrases with ease. Students can study from the online platform for their Japanese Language Proficiency Test, for their jobs, or even for fun. Students can test and practice their vocabulary with the help of their native Japanese tutors. Lessons are customized based on the learning needs of the students. This helps one to learn Japanese faster while making good use of their study time. Nihongo-Pro has custom-made s online classes with advanced features such as a built-in English-Japanese dictionary, a big whiteboard used for presenting materials for the lesson. At Nihongo, you can buy your preferred number of lesson tickets. These can last between 3 to 12 months depending on the number of tickets you purchase. For every lesson bought users get free points for the pro version which can be redeemed for their classes. Their system enables a student to reserve lessons 30 days in advance The platform also has a couple of freebies such as Japanese quizzes, free kana, and kanji games, free trial lessons, and a free 24-hour chatroom for everyone. Nihongo-Pro is known for quality teachers, student-focused learning based on needs, and their superb software for online learning.
21. Loecsen Japanese
Suited for:
This Japanese course is most suited for absolute beginners.
Cost:
The platform is free
What is special?
Loecsen is a perfect tool for a beginner to start learning Japanese. Its lessons are easy to grasp and well organized as it teaches you through audio lessons and illustrations. Students have access to MP3 audio files and PDf’s to help them practice listening and speaking skills. It uses high-quality files done by native speakers to guide you when listening to the correct pronunciation of words. Its interface is not very engaging therefore one may get confused trying to know what each section does. It has a word list, extensive quizzes, and an outline of fundamental pronunciation. Its read-aloud tool helps you effectively practice pronunciation with excerpts of texts and several songs. The system is also able to record you as you practice speaking and singing to be able to compare yourself with the original audio. For those looking to learn basic Japanese say for a trip to Japan or for fun, then Loecsen is the program to go for.
Conclusion
With this list, it is clear that several credible, free, and paid platforms can help you learn the Japanese Language. To learn faster and understand better, make it a habit to dedicate a few minutes daily to visit your online class and learn some Japanese grammar and vocabulary. It will just be a matter of time before you start speaking fluently like a native in Japan. While you’re at it, remember to have fun and don’t lose consistency in your daily practice of listening and speaking. Sometimes without good motivation, people find themselves failing in the course. Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world as well as the biggest telecommunication and computer market in the world. This, therefore, means that Japan is a key international business market. Therefore since not many people in Japan speak English, you will need to acquaint yourself with their language and customs.
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Author: J Maver
Passionate in tech, software and gadgets. I enjoy reviewing and comparing products & services, uncovering new trends and digging up little known products that deserve an audience.
