My Japanese Learning Tools and Systems

1. LingQ (reading and listening) — paid
2. Animelon (reading and listening; watching anime) — free
3. DeepL (translation software 10x better than Google’s) — free
4. Anki (flashcards for memorizing kanji: NihongoShark deck) — free / paid for mobile
5. Nihongo-Pro.com (looking up kanji data) — free
6. Jisho.org (looking up kanji data) — free
7. Cure Dolly Youtube channel (for grammar fundamentals course) — free
8. 10ten reader (browser extension; reading helper) — free
9. Okaeri School Youtube channel (for intermediate & advanced grammar) — free
10. JapanesePod101 Youtube (for beginner content) — free
11. Random websites (to learn hiragana and katakana) — free

LingQ is the only tool I pay money for, and it’s worth every penny.

Time Spent

Note: I believe the language learning journey is divided into “gears.”

(Gear 1) — complete beginner

1. JapanesePod101 — 70-80%
2. Learn hiragana and katakana from random sites — 10-20%
3. Learn kanji — 0-10%
4. Watch content with English subs on Netflix etc — spare time

(Gear 2) — starting to get really confused beginner

1. Cure Dolly, Okaeri School — 80-90%
2. Hiragana & Katakana — 10-20%
3. Kanji: 0-10%
4. Watch content with English subs — spare time

(Gear 3) — motivated beginner

1. LingQ (+ Animelon if you like anime) — (60-70%)
2. Kanji — (20-30%)
3. Cure Dolly, Okaeri School (for occasional reference) — (10-20%)

(Gear 4) — Momentum (my current level)

1. LingQ + Animelon + Netflix (without English subs; use a dictionary) — (60-70%)
2. Kanji — (30-40%)
3. Speaking practice — (5%)

(Gear 5) — Cruising

1. LingQ + Animelon + Netflix — (80-90%)
2. Speaking practice — (10-15%)
3. Kanji reviews — (5%)