How I Study Japanese (free resources for all levels: apps that I use)

こんにちは my beautiful souls!

A lot of you asked me what apps do I use to study Japanese and if i could make a post about resources, so here I am, with my new post about the apps that I use on a daily basis.

I'm the type of person who likes to study languages through conversation with native speakers, through music and through learning apps more than buying a book with grammar exercises. Of course, it's important to study grammar, but try to use a fun way to learn it or you will stop studying your target language after a week.

APPS THAT I USE

I would like to start talking about the apps first. My favorite app for studying Japanese is Bunpo, for sure, 100%! I started using Bunpo in 24.11.2021 and using it since then!

BUNPO

Bunpo is an app that I use aaalll the time. It has an amazing illustrations, and more importantly, it has great and meaningful exercises. What I like the most about this app is that I can do whatever exercise I want to do. I don't need to finish one level in order to move to higher level, as you have to do by Duolingo.

As you can see on the picture (purple picture: bunpo courses), Bunpo allows you to practice Japanese no matter what your level is. At the moment, I'm working on Alpabets Unit and JLPT N5,

© screenshots, Anja Trokic

Every time you'll jump one level higher, new word will come up with the characters that you already know (hiragana).

Another great feature of Bunpo is 'Review'. You can review your mistakes anytime.

© screenshots, Anja Trokic

After finishing all the tasks I have set for myself, I take my notebook, open my Notion page and write down everything I learned that day with Bunpo app.

© photos, Anja Trokic

© screenshot, Anja Trokic

DUOLINGO

And here it is! Duolingo, that everybody knows. I downloaded this app back in 2019, but didn't use it a lot, so I downloaded it now again. Duolingo is an amazing app. It makes studying way more fun. What I don't like about Duolingo is that it doesn't allow you to practice the chapters you want, but you have to finish one chapter in order to move to another and that is a total waste of time in my opinion, because I like to move forward and expand my vocabulary and then come back to review old vocabulary. Another 'not so good thing' about Duolingo is that the sentences they teach you sometimes doesn't make any sentence like: dog is purple.

In general, Duolingo is great. You can also add friends and support them on their language journey and reverse. Every time you open an app, they will put you in one of the league. Your job is to finish 7 day streak and gain XP.

I don't want to write much about Duolingo, because I already talked about it in one of my post 'How I Study Korea'. If you want to know more about Duolingo and if you are not familiar with the features that it offers, check out this link: https://anjatrokic.wixsite.com/anjasbeigepyeonji/post/5-tips-on-how-i-study-korean

I'll also make new folder on my website, where I'll share my accomplishments on Duolingo and if you want to support me on there - my ID is: anjaspyeonji.

© screenshots, Anja Trokic

HEY JAPAN

Hey Japan is the cutest app ever! The design of it's really beautiful and the chapters and units are organized perfectly! I manly use this app for reviewing vocabulary that I learned from Bunpo. Both apps have chapters revolving around the same words from fields as: family, animals, dish. When I finish chapter on Bunpo, I open Hey Japan and review vocabulary. That's how I know how much I actually remember and learned on Bunpo app.

Sadly, this app has one point as Duolingo has, you can not move to another chapter if you didn't finish previous one. But since I learn words and grammar on Bunpo, I can finish chapters on Hey Japan faster.

On the pictures you can see, that app contains UNITS 1 with introduction, which I love! If you are more of a 'learning by heart' person as I am, this will help you a lot!

Another great feature of this app is 'writing practice', which is usually hard for me because I use my phone, but if you're using an Ipad this should not be a problem at al.

Here is how I take notes:

© photos, Anja Trokic

MIGII JLPT

Migii JLPT is another app on my phone. I don't use it a lot, because my Japanese knowledge is still low to start working on tests like this, but it is great for reading and listening practice. You can also get the real test certificate. Sadly, a lot of the lessons need to be upgraded to Premium.

RENSHUU

I just downloaded Renshuu few days ago and it's really interesting app, it's more like an game app. Right now I'm at 3rd level, because you are limited to do just a certain amount of exercises per day :(.

As by other apps, also this app allows you to review previously studied materials. You'll also continue to get new terms introduced alongside your views.

One feature that I like the most is 'stats' folder for grammar and vocabulary! I know exactly what I need to practice more and what I already know and don't need to practice as much as other things for example.

© screenshot, Anja Trokic

LEARN JAPANESE

And here is the last app that I want to show you. I don't think this app is really popular, because I couldn't even find a poster for it haha, but I said I'll give it a try. What I noticed right away, is that this app has to much adds, which I hate. I'm not using this app a lot , but I downloaded it because of the hiragana exercises. Good thing is, that it gives you a detailed introduction of every unit and information about grammar and other things + you can listen to the audio, to know how to pronounce sentences and words.

So, that's it for today's post! I hope you'll download some of the apps and use them for your own language journey. Thank you so much for reading and

I'll see you in my next post.

With love,