Japan Lifehacks!

Useful Information and Tips for Foreigners Living in Japan

Mastering Japanese for FREE

Do you want to master Japanese language? YES! For free? Why not?

Learning Japanese for free online is actually the first step for most Japanese learners, and one of most efficient way in mastering Japanese language these days. This article introduces methods of mastering Japanese for free by explaining how to utilize various materials widely available on the Internet.

Japananese Hiragana characters

If you are dedicated in learning Japanese language and ready to splash some cash, it is probably easier to get focus to achieve progress by enrolling to a paid Japanese-learning lesson. However, if you are just starting to explore Japanese language and not ready to spend any money on it yet, it cannot go wrong to search for sources which offer Japanese learning materials for free.


There is no such thing as the best learning method of anything which works for everyone, and Japanese language is no exception. It is very important to get the whole picture and select the learning method which suits you best! Getting the whole picture of all available options should be your first priority and this article provide helpful ideas about what and where to go for.

However, here is a secret: “There is no such thing as the best learning method”. Each learning method has its strengths and weaknesses. Thus, it is unfair to judge whether one learning method is definitely superior to others, as the result often mainly depends on the effort and dedication which each learner puts in the learning process.

Mastering Japanese for Free (Japanese Language)

 

General Materials

  1. Website of Japan Foundation
    This website is one of the treasures of free Japanese learning material on the Internet. Many of its materials can be downloaded for free.
  2. Website of NHK World (Starter -Beginner level)
    This website provide materials on learning Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji), key phrases, vocabulary, and related exercises while also give information on Japanese culture. Most material can be downloaded for free.
  3. Website of NHK World (Elementary – Intermediate level)
  4. Other Japanese learning website and videos
    • Meshclass Japanese
      Study of Japanese grammar, idioms and proverb from a Japanese native teacher.

Listening

  1. Online streaming of Japanese Radio
    Nothing is better than learning Japanese while getting latest information from real news and discussion directly from Japan. Radio program, due to its nature of absence of visual information, is generally easy to listen because speech and dialogs are pronounced more clearly than television program and video.
  2. Japanese song (J-POP) videos and lyrics
    Listening to Japanese songs and studying their lyrics can improve your Japanese language skills while also lighten your spirit up at the same time.
    • Website of Japanese song lyrics:
      1. jpopasia: Original lyrics with their romaji readings and English translation.
      2. Japanese Song Lyrics: Orginal lyrics with their furigana (hiragana character) readings.
  3. Listening to Japanese kids songs and stories videos
    Children songs or stories are also good materials to learn any new languages because they generally use simple grammar and words.

Reading

Reading comprehension naturally improves by exposing yourself to frequent and continuous readings. For starters/newbie, here is one of useful websites to help you to improve your reading skills efficiently.

  • Easy Japanese : Easy Japanese provides daily news in easy Japanese sentences, in which you can select whether to display its furigana (hiragana spelling) characters or not. Short routine but continuous daily exercise of reading news on this website would improve reading speed and vocabulary strength at the same time.
  • NHK News Web Easy: Read latest news in Japanese written in easy Japanese.
  • Aozora Bunko (青空文庫): Aozora Bunko is a Japanese digital library with several thousands of works of Japanese-language, both fiction and non-fiction. Almost all of them are out-of-copyright books or works whose their authors wish to make freely available.