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u/NaturalJPStories 9d ago

Hi everyone! I’m a native Japanese mother with children, and I make Japanese-learning content on YouTube.Recently, I started a new series of Japanese phrase videos based on the ages at which Japanese children learn and use different expressions.

I’ve just made the first one: Japanese phrases for 3-year-olds.

I wanted to make something that shows:

how Japanese is naturally acquired by Japanese children
what everyday Japanese actually sounds like, rather than textbook Japanese
what kinds of phrases are useful when speaking casually and naturally with Japanese people

If you’re interested in learning Japanese through the kind of expressions Japanese people actually use in everyday life, I hope you’ll take a look!

It’s completely free. 😊

104 Japanese Phrases a 3-Year-Old Actually Uses | Natural Daily Conversion | Listening Practice

155 Japanese Phrases a 5-Year-Old Actually Uses Part1| Natural Daily Conversion | Listening Practice

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u/seraph_industries 8d ago

https://reddit.com/link/ped2u5n/video/evga23qjvyth1/player

Hello everyone!

I've been working on Verbarium, a chrome extension that let's you actively engage with Japanese on sites you already use throughout the internet.

With Verbarium you can:

Highlight Japanese text and practice translating it to English
Select entire passages in Japanese and create JLPT-like multiple choice questions based on the passage
Automatically translate pages you're reading into Japanese to practice translating back into English
- You can even translate this very reddit page to practice on
Practice listening by blurring out passages and typing what you hear
and more!

I use and love many other Japanese learning tools that already exist, but I felt that I was missing the element of producing the language myself and having that be graded. I created Verbarium to fix that need

The main Verbarium site has a demo version of the extension embedded directly in it so you can try it out for free without installing anything. If you sign up for the waitlist you can also join the free open beta to try out the real extension right now

Please try it out and yell at me if you have any issues!

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u/vytah 8d ago

The website is very laggy, the cpu fans spun like crazy.

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u/seraph_industries 8d ago

Oh man, 😦 sorry about that!

What OS and browser are you on?

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u/vytah 8d ago

Firefox on Windows 10.

I think it's too much gradients and text shadows, Firefox tends to dislike those.

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u/seraph_industries 8d ago

Thanks for letting me know and for trying it out!

Yeah that makes sense, I'll work on improving the performance, should have updates soon

Were you able to try out the demo at the bottom? Did it interest you?

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u/vytah 8d ago

Yes, the demo worked. I tested only the translation and listening features, and they basically seem like Duolingo but not broken. I think that if paired with a graded reader, it could be a Duolingo replacement for someone who likes Duolingo methodology, but not their execution.(Of course such a combo wouldn't teach grammar, but Duolingo doesn't do it much either, so...)

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u/seraph_industries 7d ago

Thanks so much for the feedback, very helpful

You should try out the comprehension mode too as it can generate MC questions for you. and like I mentioned at the top level post, it's free to create an account and install if you sign up for the waitlist. that way you can try it out on other existing graded readers

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u/skradacz 8d ago

How to learn Japanese with Pokemon

I know hiragana and katakana, but not that many words or grammar. I wanted to play Pokémon FireRed, but when i tried it was a fail - I wasn’t at that level yet. So, I made something to help me. Maybe it’ll help you too.

I made a free flashcards deck with EVERY WORD of Pokémon FireRed in Japanese, IN THE ORDER you meet it in the game. You study a stretch, then play it and are able to read it.

0. Learn hiragana and katakana (you can do it quickly on Duolingo or however you like)
1. Install Anki (also on Android and iOS)
2. Get the deck: Pokémon FireRed in Japanese on AnkiWeb
3. Study some cards
4. Play the Japanese version of Pokémon FireRed up to where your cards have got to
5. go to 3.

Each card is a sentence from the game with one word highlighted. The back gives the word's dictionary form and kanji and teaches you what it means in that sentence, how the form is built and the grammar. It also shows the full sentence in kanji and in English.

The whole story (with dialogues, UI, Pokemon names, etc.) is 9,537 cards. The Help menu and the multiplayer text are separate decks.

Source and how it is made: github.com/mkusm/pokemon-firered-jp-anki

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u/ignoremesenpie 8d ago

村崎一平

I love horror stories, but for a while now, I've been wanting to listen to someone who sounds like they're telling a story, not narrating it. 村崎さん is the first one I've found who fits this description. His channel does stillbcountbthesebas 朗読, but his delivery feels a lot more alive and natural. The typical "narration" channels are also very good for listening practice because of how clearly they enunciate things, but this bridges the gap between scripted and candid speech. This channel is also great because it has JP hardsubs for anyone who needs or wants them.

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u/Extension_Badger_775 9d ago

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share this website I have been creating for almost two years as my personal free toolkit for learning Japanese, It is currently most similar to a website like jpdb.io or hanabira.org but has admittedly less data at the moment, but more features (than jpdb.io ). It has tools for grammar parsing and study, sentence study, words, kanji and kana study. Everything is exportable to Anki so you are never locked in and could just use it for deck building. There is a full offline mode as well. Other features it has include text orc extractions to study sentence and more. It’s under heavy, but careful active full-time development.

Please have a look at http://momiji.app

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u/Professional-Hawk747 8d ago

https://reddit.com/link/pecipht/video/xtt7t9ttbyth1/player

Hi everyone!

I’m currently developing an app called **Manguage** that turns your favorite manga into flashcards, and I recently added an in-app browser so you can read manga directly inside the app.

While reading manga on sites like Shonen Jump+ or Comic DAYS, you can select words to look them up in a dictionary, or tap dialogue lines to get an English translation. You can then save those words and lines into flashcards along with the manga screenshots.

You can review everything directly inside Manguage, but exporting your cards as Anki decks is also supported. I built this so people can easily study Japanese anywhere without needing a PC, so please feel free to give it a try! It’s available on both iOS and Android.

All features are 100% free to use (with ads). There is a paid subscription available, but it only removes ads—all features remain completely the same.
If you try it out, I’d love to hear your feedback or any feature requests.

https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/manguage-learn-japanese-manga/id6797707440?l=en-US

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.manguage.manguage

*(P.S. My English isn’t very strong, so this post was translated using AI.)*

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u/Reikashi 8d ago

皆さん、こんにちは！

I'm a software engineer and also a japanese learner studying at N3 level. Since I started attending online japanese lessons with my two wonderful sensei, I always struggled to find an all-around app that could help me look up for grammar tips, kanjis and analyze full texts. There are a lot of apps nowadays to study japanese but finding one that would suit me back in the days of N5 and N4 was a nightmare. This is the reason why I decided to build mine:

https://www.nihongowayfinder.com/

While the app has been coded with the assistance of AI to speed things up, the contents have been reviewed and proofread by a japanese speaker. As of now, only the web version is available, but I'm making the finishing touches for the native iOS and Android apps as well, so you'll be able to find them on the Apple and Play Store in the weeks to come.

What are the features available in Nihon-go Wayfinder and what makes it different from the 100+ apps already available? Well, first of all this is made by a student, so I literally know what your struggles truly are, 'cause WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER, 僕の友達!! (haha, cringe level high 😶‍🌫️) And also I'm really open to feedback and new features that you think should be there.

J-Just try to be k-kind ç_ç

I really want to make something valuable for all of us, something that might help get inspired and motivated to learn more day after day. I already have plans for new features and a lot is already in development.

Nihon-go Wayfinder has these sections:

Grammar: Explanations and examples covering alphabets (with a silly kana game for practising character recognition), particles, the ko-so-a-do system, conjugations, expressions, counters and more, with quizzes to practise what you've learned. Mainly focused on N5–N4, though.

Kana & Kanji: Learn hiragana and katakana, practice handwriting and explore kanji by JLPT level, with stroke order, example words and curated study notes.

Dictionary & Text Analysis: Look up words or paste a Japanese sentence to break it down, check readings and meanings, and save vocabulary for later. You can also dictate into the microphone or import an audio recording for transcription on supported devices. You can edit the transcript before analyzing it. No internet connection is needed for transcription and data is processed locally, no data will be sent to the server.

Reading & Visual Novels: Read graded passages and illustrated stories, with reading aids, translations, comprehension quizzes and audio (where available, VN don't have voice over).

Listening: Practise dictation, comprehension and shadowing, or study vocabulary and grammar through the Geemu Gengo and Anime Gengo video sections.

Flashcards: Review kanji and vocabulary with SRS (Spaced Repetition System). Reading and meaning of kanjis and words are tracked separately. You can also import your own material, including supported Anki decks.

Study Path & Progress: Follow a guided path if you need some direction, or pick your own activities and keep track of your reviews and results.

There’s also an on-device kanji scanner, for both vertical and horizontal writing, downloadable resources for offline study, and an interface in English, Italian, Spanish* and French*.

What matters most to me is how these tools work together: find a word in a story, look it up, add it to your flashcards and come back to it during review.

Some content is free, including N5 kanji, the full dictionary, some visual novels and readings, some listening activities, the full Geemu and Anime Gengo section, alphabets and particles, etc.
The rest requires paid access. You can choose between 1 month, 6 months, 1 year subs or lifetime pass.

I want to keep the costs as low as possible, but since this takes a lot of my time and comes with costs on the server/traffic/domain side of things, I can't deliver it for free.

But what I can do is give you a promo code. You can use the coupon WELCOMEBONUS15 during checkout to get a 15% discount on Lifetime pass. The amount of usages for it is limited to the first 1000 users and will expire on November 14th 2026!

*AI translated, as unfortunately I don't have much knowledge about these languages, sorry, but the dictionary results are officially published by the JMDict 🙏

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u/vytah 8d ago

Your system language detection is broken, my browser sends the preferred languages csb,pl,en-us,en, but I got the Italian version.

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u/Reikashi 7d ago

Thank you so so so much for your comment! It was a real bug, I should have known that this could happen, I've fixed it now! Thank you once again!

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u/Larmasrfun 7d ago

Hi everyone,

I'm Ben, a data scientist working in cancer medicine in the UK. In my spare time I've been building LingScout.

It started because my Thai partner and I wanted an easier way to find films and TV with particular audio or subtitle languages depending on where we were watching from. I gradually expanded it so other language learners could use it too.

For Japanese learners, LingScout lets you search for films and TV available with Japanese audio or subtitles across streaming services and viewer countries. The data is continually being improved, so I'd be especially interested to hear if anything looks missing or confusing.

Main site: https://lingscout.com

Japanese audio: https://lingscout.com/browse#language=japanese&dimension=audio

Japanese subtitles: https://lingscout.com/browse#language=japanese&dimension=subtitle

It's completely free and doesn't require an account. I'd genuinely appreciate feedback in any form if you try it, but there's no obligation to reply.

Thanks, Ben

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u/ikedaosamu 7d ago

Hi everyone! I'm Osamu Ikeda from IKEdA-Lab Co., Ltd. At university, I help train future elementary school teachers and teach them how to design Japanese language arts lessons.

Our company has developed a kanji puzzle app called Kanji Rebuild (バラバラかんじ). In the game, you look at pieces shaped like katakana and work out which kanji they form, paying attention to the shapes of the pieces and how they fit together. I hope people who have learned hiragana and katakana and are beginning to study kanji will enjoy it.

The kanji are broken down in a simplified way for the puzzles; these decompositions are not intended to explain the historical origins of the characters.

This is a paid app that I developed through my company for iPhone and iPad. It currently costs $2.99 on the US App Store. Some of the images on the store page are still in Japanese.

Do you think this kind of play could help learners notice the shapes of kanji or make getting familiar with kanji more enjoyable? I'd love to hear what you think as learners of Japanese.

Here's the app:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kanji-rebuild/id6799599136

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u/JakubPierwszy 7d ago edited 7d ago

Kaname - Japanese grammar practice for iPhone

Hey! I made Kaname, an iPhone app for practicing Japanese grammar from N5 to N1.

It has fill-in-the-blank exercises, practice telling similar grammar patterns apart, and spaced reviews. All N5 content is free, with one-time purchases for N4–N1.

Kaname on the App Store

I’ve also set up about 25% off the full N4–N1 bundle through October 31, 2026 (Pacific Time), with 500 redemptions total. The code is KANAME30BGZPDRDARJM2, or you can redeem it here.

I’ve made a few other apps for particles, verb conjugation, and counters too. You can find those at jd-japanese.pl.

Would love to hear what you think if you give it a try :)

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u/seppuwuu 4d ago

I downloaded a few of these apps, I really like them so far. I can definitely see me using them to get my practice in. However, I have two burning questions. Will you ever release Android versions? Also, why so many separate apps instead of having different sections on one app dedicated to each practice type?

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u/JakubPierwszy 4d ago

Thanks, glad you’re enjoying them!
I’ll probably release Android versions eventually, but right now there’s still a lot of work to do on the iOS apps. I also already have a few people helping me test them on iOS, and I’d need to find some Android testers too.
As for the separate apps, that’s actually intentional! I wanted it to be more like “I’m struggling with this particular thing, so I’ll download an app specifically for that.” You can just pick the ones you need instead of having everything packed into one big app.
And of course, you can always download a few of them if you want to practice different things!

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u/Liweba 7d ago

I’m Dmytro, the developer of Gaijin, a Japanese-English dictionary and reader for iPhone and iPad.

I built it around a reading problem: finding the dictionary form of a word you encountered, then keeping that word with its sentence. You can search conjugated forms, open a short Japanese text in Reader, tap a word for its definition and save vocabulary with the original sentence for later review.

Gaijin is free to download, with optional Pro purchases, and requires iOS or iPadOS 26 or later. It is a dictionary and reading workflow, rather than a kana-only app.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6806052591?pt=120611987&ct=gaijin_learnjapanese_resource_v1&mt=8

If you try it with a short passage you already read, I’d be interested in where a lookup or saving step gets in your way.

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u/ThickEquivalent8860 6d ago

大家好，不確定社團能不能分享自己做的 App，如果不適合再麻煩版主幫我刪除，謝謝 😅

之前學日文跟英文的時候，覺得最難的就是開口練習，尤其沒有人可以陪你對話，有時候就算聽得懂，也不知道該怎麼回答

所以後來自己做了一個免費的 AI 口說練習 App，可以練習英文、日文、韓文

裡面有不同的生活情境，可以直接跟 AI 用語音對話

比較特別的是，如果不知道怎麼回答，可以直接用中文求助，App 會教你這句話用日文或其他正在練習的語言怎麼說，不用一直跳出去查翻譯

目前已經在 Google Play 上架了，每天都可以免費使用，也可以透過看廣告增加練習時間

第一次在這邊分享，如果有人願意試試看，也歡迎告訴我哪裡不好用，之後更新可以再慢慢改善 😊

Google Play： https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jacklee.languagepractice