JA Sensei: Learn Japanese JLPT

RaphaelW

Contains adsIn-app purchases

Why choose JA Sensei?

Japanese learning features

About this app

All-in-one app to learn Japanese. Learn hiragana, katakana, kanji, vocabulary, phrasebook, grammar, and much more. Japanese lessons from beginner to advanced level. Build confidence in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Discover surprising Japanese cultural codes and avoid embarrassing mistakes.

Why choose JA Sensei?

★ Ongoing project since 2011 with continuous updates and improvements
★ High-quality content developed over the years and validated by native Japanese speakers using authoritative sources
★ Native Japanese audio recordings for authentic Japanese pronunciation
★ Learn Japanese offline: most content can be downloaded for offline use
★ Highly customizable quizzes with spaced repetition (SRS) to track your progress

Japanese learning features

Progressive Japanese lessons

✓ Learn Japanese step by step, starting at beginner level
✓ For each lesson: Japanese dialogue, vocabulary, grammar, exercises, and a culture page
✓ Take the final quiz to validate each lesson
✓ Many entertaining and explanatory illustrations

Japanese kana, kanji, radicals

✓ Phonetic information and audio recordings for each Japanese sound
✓ Explore 6,350 kanji with stroke orders, meanings, word examples, and more
✓ Kanji breakdown to analyze the composition of each kanji and remember them more easily
✓ Powerful kanji search by handwriting, radicals, meanings, on/kun readings, and JLPT level
✓ Detailed information on kanji radicals (Kangxi number, position, meaning, frequency, etc.)
✓ Drawing tool to learn how to write kana/kanji/radicals with the right stroke order
✓ Learn by JLPT, Jouyou, or Kanji Kentei levels
✓ Create and manage your personal lists

Japanese vocabulary

✓ Japanese dictionary with 136,900 words, authentic audio recordings, and example sentences
✓ Over 74,300 example sentences with native audio to learn words in context
✓ Take listening, writing, and speaking quizzes
✓ Learn vocabulary by JLPT N5, N4, N3, N2, N1 or by theme
✓ Hands-free mode for learning while commuting or walking
✓ Search Japanese words from a single search box
✓ Record your voice and compare your pronunciation with native Japanese audio
✓ Create and manage your personal lists of Japanese words

Japanese phrasebook

✓ Travel to Japan with confidence
✓ Over 900 common Japanese phrases for real-life communication, grouped by topic
✓ Smart quizzes to improve Japanese speaking and listening skills
✓ Learn Japanese phrases with audio clips and words in context
✓ Each Japanese phrase can be broken down to get a list of words and detailed grammar explanations

Japanese listening comprehension

✓ Practice Japanese listening with entertaining illustrated situations
✓ 3 levels of difficulty for each situation. Easy enough for beginners and challenging enough for advanced users
✓ Take the final quiz to validate your comprehension
✓ Learn the vocabulary before listening to each text

Japanese culture guide

✓ Be ready for a culture shock and avoid embarrassing situations!
✓ Discover Japanese culture, customs, social rules, and everyday behavior
✓ Understand cultural codes to communicate naturally and avoid common mistakes

More Japanese learning tools

✓ Grammar: 429 beginner-to-advanced Japanese grammar guides with examples organized by JLPT level
✓ Dialogues: 152 real-life dialogues to learn Japanese in context
✓ Stories: 30 stories to practice Japanese reading skills
✓ Japanese particles: 168 usages with examples
✓ Japanese counters: 45 essential counters with examples, quizzes, and exercises
✓ Japanese verbs and adjectives: basic and advanced conjugation

Ratings and reviews

I like this app, but there is an occasional issue that is quite vexing. When writing some characters, they're almost always marked as being incorrect even if I trace them exactly as depicted. Ultimately, when I get it "correct," the final result can be skewed and distorted. Sometimes, this gets fixed in an update, but then a formerly correctly recognized character breaks. Also, the "retake review quiz" feature never works. It just says that there are no items left to review.

I wanted to expand my knowledge of Japanese, and this seemed like a really good option because of the reviews. But it was not at all what I felt it advertised. I thought I'd be able to start at a more advanced level, but it just immediately starts beginner, which is okay if you wanna start there, but it just felt like a waste of my own time. And I couldn't seem to find any instructions on how it works, so I was completely lost. It also took forever to load.

Wow, I wish I'd downloaded this first when I started learning Japanese! All the grammar and syntax and such are laid out where I can easily read them and take a quick quiz, instead of having to listen to someone explain things or watch a video. That really helps me to process at my own pace! Still a little fuzzy about what to do with "points," and a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of things to explore, but overall, I'm impressed!

What’s new

* Kanji: on/kun readings improved
* Vocabulary: 1798 new examples + search by drawing
* Reading: illustrations added
* Lessons: new Challenge added
* Grammar: 74 new documents