The Best Free Resources to Learn Japanese (2026)

You don't need to pay to learn Japanese well. Below is a curated toolkit organised by what you actually need, with the most useful genuinely free tools in each category. We include trusted external tools too, so you can assemble your whole free study kit from one page.

Grammar explanations

• Nihongo to Japan - Grammar (our site): 660 free grammar articles from N5 to N1, each with the rule, example sentences, common mistakes, and practice questions.
• Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese: a well-known free grammar guide that teaches Japanese in a logical order from the ground up.

JLPT practice questions

• Nihongo to Japan - Challenge Zone (our site): 10,000+ free JLPT-style questions across N5 to N1 with instant grading, explanations, and a leaderboard.
• Level Check (our site): an adaptive test that estimates your JLPT level in a few minutes.

Dictionary

• Jisho.org: the go-to free online Japanese-English dictionary; search by kanji, kana, romaji, or English meaning.
• Nihongo to Japan - Vocabulary (our site): a free vocabulary dictionary with readings, pitch-accent, and native audio.

Flashcards and spaced repetition

• Anki: the most popular free spaced-repetition flashcard app (free on desktop and Android), great for long-term retention.
• Nihongo to Japan - Flashcards (our site): built-in flashcards with auto-furigana, pitch-accent, and audio; no setup.

Reading and listening (native input)

• NHK News Web Easy: free simplified-Japanese news with furigana and audio from Japan's public broadcaster; ideal graded input.
• Nihongo to Japan - Graded sentences and travel (our site): level-graded example sentences plus 59 first-hand Japan travel articles for extensive reading (tadoku).

A structured beginner roadmap

• Nihongo to Japan - Self-Study Course (our site): 128 free structured lessons from hiragana to N3 grammar, with interactive drills; no prior knowledge and no sign-up required.
• Verb Conjugation Trainer (our site): drill godan, ichidan, and irregular conjugations with instant feedback.

Not sure where to begin? If you're a complete beginner, start with our free self-study roadmap and follow it step by step; to test as you go, head to the Challenge Zone. Everything is free, no sign-up.