This article may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For full information, please see the disclaimer here.
Do you have plans of traveling to Japan? Are you into J-pop and would like to sing along to the tunes? Or are you just gung ho about all things Japanese? Whatever your reasons for learning Japanese, it’s one of the best decisions you’ll ever make.
If you’ve been learning languages for some time now, you’ve likely heard that Babbel is one of the best language learning apps out there. I couldn’t agree more, as you can see from my Babbel review.
Unfortunately for Japanese learners, Babbel Japanese doesn’t exist yet. I know, it’s a bummer. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have great options. Scroll down and you’ll see awesome alternatives!
But first, let’s learn more about Babbel.
What is Babbel?
The premise behind Babbel is simple: through real-world conversations, you can learn to speak a new language right away and in an authentic manner. Make it stick through effective review methods and you’re well on your way to mastery.
If you can spare 10 minutes a day, the app can help you learn a new language through listening, speaking, writing, and reading exercises. Babbel keeps it real by using recordings of native speakers. This helps hone your pronunciation and familiarizes you with the nuances of the spoken language.
The app gives enough opportunities to practice. You can choose from flashcards, speaking and typing drills, stories, podcasts, games, and more.
Babbel has 13 languages (or 14 if you count the Latin American Spanish separately) on offer. Most of these are European languages, with only Indonesian as the sole Asian language.
The best Babbel alternatives
There’s no Japanese on Babbel, but there’s no shortage of great Japanese learning apps. Whether it’s gamified interfaces or well-structured options, you won’t run out of options!
1. Mondly
If bite-sized but well-rounded Japanese lessons appeal to you, Mondly’s ideal for you. Just like Babbel, Mondly recommends 10 minutes of studying daily, although these lessons make it feel less like studying and more like playing.
Mondly’s engaging lessons target all core language skills through real-life dialogues, audio guides, and chatbot conversations. While it doesn’t teach you to write in Japanese, the app lets you toggle between Romanization and Japanese script. Choosing the latter can help you be more familiar with the characters.
What’s more, Mondly’s voice recognition engine is accurate and comes in handy when sharpening your pronunciation and accent.
Find more about Mondly with this in-depth review.
Key features:
- Short but engaging lessons
- Beginner-friendly as it teaches simple vocabulary and contextualized grammar
- Sufficient listening and speaking exercises
2. Pimsleur
Try Pimsleur Japanese for FREE today
Building your vocabulary is one thing, being able to confidently speak is another. Pimsleur helps with the latter.
This app is all about improving your conversational skills. In fact, it gets you speaking right away. Pimsleur’s core 30-minute audio lessons don’t just involve listening to native Japanese speakers but also repeating what you hear. You’ll learn new phrases at gradually increasing intervals until you establish long-term memory.
That said, Pimsleur is not the best app for learning how to write in Japanese. While it includes reading lessons on kana and select kanji, you’ll need other resources to learn stroke order.
This Pimsleur review goes deeper into this app’s features and benefits.
Key features:
- Established and proven method of learning languages
- Building relevant vocabulary that doesn’t overwhelm learners
- Best way of learning native pronunciation and accents
3. Rocket Languages
Learn Japanese on Rocket Languages
While you can survive in Japan with basic phrases like Konnichiwa and Arigatou gozaimasu, you’d want to know more than that if you want more meaningful experiences. For a holistic approach, an app that improves all your Japanese skills is a must.
Enter Rocket Japanese. This program is a great option for structured learning. Interactive audio lessons and a top-notch voice recognition system help with listening and speaking, while text materials aid with reading. To learn how to write, you can watch the course’s instructional videos.
Rocket also features informative Culture Notes for a well-rounded Japanese education. Grammar is also taught in context and the vocabulary used is relevant.
Find out what else makes Rocket Languages awesome—check out this comprehensive review.
Key features:
- Well-structured program
- Suitable for learners of all proficiency levels
- Lots of downloadable audio content and extensive writing lessons
Other great resources to learn Japanese
To learn Japanese effectively, it’s best to mix apps with Japanese learning books, online courses, online tutors, YouTube channels, and podcasts. These are the ones that come highly recommended.
Preply: Get connected with highly-rated and reliable Japanese tutors on Preply. This platform offers a variety of Japanese courses (structured and customized) at affordable rates!
italki: Whether you’re looking for conversational Japanese lessons or aiming to pass the next JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), there’s an italki tutor that can meet your goals and budget!
LingChat: This conversation-focused app uses AI speaking partners for 24/7 practice in real-life scenarios, acting like an always-available tutor and helping you get over the fear of speaking Japanese. You get instant grammar corrections and tips on improving your accent and fluency, making it an easy way to build confidence with the language.
Lingopie: Learn while watching Japanese TV shows and movies! Simply choose a show or movie, click on the subtitles, and grow your Japanese vocabulary the natural way.
Rosetta Stone: A classic, total immersion Japanese learning tool that teaches without translations, forcing you to think in the language. Its speech recognition feature is one of the best out there, helping you really nail down pronunciation.
Cudoo: Sharpen your Japanese conversational skills quickly and effectively with Cudoo’s well-rounded courses. Here, you’ll find courses for all levels, including Japanese for businss, hospitality, and retail. Each course comes with a certificate of completion!
Udemy: This giant marketplace offers hundreds of on-demand Japanese video courses taught by different instructors. You can find everything from beginner Kana/Kanji writing to advanced JLPT exam preparation. Learning is flexible, self-paced, and many of the popular courses use the Direct Method to train your listening and speaking.
Talkpal: This AI-powered language app focuses on real-time Japanese conversation practice. It uses GPT technology to let you chat with an advanced AI via voice or text in realistic scenarios, like ordering food. Not only does it train your listening and speaking skills; you also get instant feedback on your grammar and pronunciation.
NHK World-Japan’s Easy Japanese: A fantastic (and free!) way to learn Japanese, NHK World-Japan’s Easy Japanese program includes fun illustrated skits with videos, audio recordings, dialogue transcripts, vocabulary lists, select kanji, and related culture tips and facts about the Japanese language. The site even has a downloadable ebook!
No products found.
Japanese From Zero: This bestselling textbook series gradually introduces vocabulary and grammar through fun dialogues. It also manages to make kana non-intimidating by introducing only five or six syllabic characters per chapter.
Imiwa?: Containing over 170,000 Japanese entries with corresponding English translations, this dictionary app should be part of every Japanese learner’s arsenal. Imiwa? also includes conjugations, neutral and polite forms, and over 13,000 kanjis with handwriting animation!
Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese: Tae Kim untangles tricky grammar concepts by first focusing on the essentials, and then giving lots of examples, engaging dialogues, and practical applications. This site also includes downloadable guides, links to other resources and tutorials, and informative blog posts.
Japanese Ammo with Misa: Japanese translator and teacher Misa teaches conversational Japanese and breaks down grammar in her fun videos. The lessons can go in-depth, with videos that can be 20-minute to 1 hour long.
Conclusion
Babbel is indeed one of the best language learning apps. But until a Babbel Japanese course gets developed, you can work with these alternatives.
And as you can see, you’re not settling for less. These alternatives can meet all sorts of learning goals and can even beat Babbel’s best features. Give any of these apps and resources a go and as always, have fun learning!