Duolingo Japanese Review 2022 (Pros & Cons, Alternatives) (2024)

Note: This Duolingo Japanese Review is up-to-date as of Feb 15th, 2022.

Whether you are a native English speaker or know English as a second language, picking up Japanese is no easy task. Japanese is a difficult language that requires a lot of practice to master.

With the growing popularity of the language, more and more online language programs are popping up all over the place, with some language learning apps allowing you to learn straight from your smartphone.

One of the popular options out there is Duolingo, so we thought we’d give our two cents here, in our in-depth Duolingo Japanese review.

Duolingo has four learning goals, or periods of time, that you can select from when setting up. You can choose between a ‘Casual’ 5 minutes per day, right up to an ‘Insane’ 20 minutes per day, depending upon your preference. (Personally, we feel that even 20 minutes per day is a very short period of time to be studying and you should really be spending at least 30 mins per day being immersed in the language if you are serious about actually learning the language.)

The course has been set up to gradually feed in the target language bit by bit, first introducing some hiragana, the basic writing style, and some numbers. From there, you slowly work on adding more and more new vocabulary to your memory, and then eventually work on building complete sentences on your own accord.

Note: Sometimes you are given a second chance to correct your answer without losing a heart.

• Listen to the sound and match to the rōmaji (the romanization)
• Match the rōmaji to the Kanji (Japanese characters)
• Translate the English to the Kanji (pictures are included to help also)
• Type what you hear
• Put the words in the correct order to make up a full sentence.
• Translate and write the full sentence in English
• Translate and write the full sentence in rōmaji

Already know some Japanese?

Those who are more skilled in Japanese can take a proficiency test to jump ahead in the course. However, we have doubts around the effectiveness of the test since it follows the same layout as the actual lessons.

Plus it’s very easy to actually cheat by clicking on hints (giving a full translation) or some of the questions are just far too easy – often the image completely gives away the answer, for example. Overall though, the placement test does a fairly good job of placing you somewhere vaguely in the right place in the course.

But is Duolingo really going to help you learn Japanese?

Let’s take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of Duolingo Japanese to understand how effective the program is, and thus conclude whether it’s worth your time as a learning resource, or best to skip it altogether.

Duolingo’s mission is to make language fun and accessible to all, for free. This really shows in how they’ve chosen to design the app – it’s super user friendly and very engaging to use. The Owl character guides you through each lesson giving you hints and tips, and encouraging every time you get a question correct with ’Great Job!’ or ‘Awesome!’

The whole program is designed to mimic a computer game, right down to the satisfying ding when you get a question right. Your progress is continually being tracked and you can even compete against your friends, which makes using the app very addicting and fun. The ingots or coins that you earn can be traded in the store for outfits, bonus levels and wagers (for more ingots). The whole system puts many traditional language learning platforms to shame, with its slick design and clever motivation techniques.

Although Duolingo relies on immersion and extrapolation to help you learn a language, Japanese is the exact opposite of English in sentence construction and grammar. That means it can be difficult to master if you are unable to grasp the foundational concepts.

For beginners, it’s perfectly adequate for the basic words and phrases but at some point some explanations are definitely necessary to understand all the rules and avoid confusion. Unfortunately Duolingo expects you just to pick up these rules and complex grammar points automatically without actually having been taught them.

Note: The desktop version does have some grammar notes however even these are over simplified, containing only example sentences and no thorough explanations of the important rules.

As we have already mentioned, Duolingo takes you through basic study to an advanced beginner level. Yes, you read that correctly. You are not going to become fluent using Duolingo exclusively. For those who already know some Japanese, the beginning might seem extremely rudimentary.

Someone who has already achieved the JLPT N2 or N1 proficiency tests will have no issues completing the proficiency test. In fact, if you don’t get messed up by some of the grammatical issues present in Duolingo you can easily complete the entire course in one day.

Once you have worked through the basics, you will start seeing new words presented in a couple of ways: hiragana/katakana, English, and with kanji. You will be asked to rearrange sentences, fill in the blanks, and translate. Later on, Duolingo tends to rely heavily on multiple choice questions that are relatively straightforward, and this can become a form of hand-holding throughout the course.

For example, you might get the question, “Which one of these is ‘bag’?” You will see a map, a school, a bag, and a bank. These pictures are paired with hiragana for the Japanese words. (see screenshot below)

The issue here is that you might not know the full hiragana system yet. Furthermore, katakana might get mixed in. This can be a little confusing, because Duolingo does not offer much explanation about Japanese sentence structure or writing systems. If you don’t do any additional research on the Japanese language, you might never understand the differences between hiragana, katakana, and kanji (and Romaji, for good measure), or why you need to know each of them and that can be problematic if you decide to go to Japan.

That said, Duolingo offers a wide variety of vocabulary to help you lay down a firm foundation. The app covers basic grammar, adjectives, verb tenses, and more formal speech (business and keigo) later on. You can certainly learn a lot from the app during your free time.

• You have a limited amount of time each day to practice, and that’s usually on lunch break or during a public transportation commute.
• You’re somewhat familiar with Japanese, such as previous practice with the writing systems and know some general vocabulary.
• You are a beginner who is looking to practice listening and some common speaking patterns.
• You plan on traveling to Japan for tourism or business some time soon.
• You have been out of practice with Japanese for a time and simply want to brush up on the basics.

• You have already passed the JLPT N2 or N1 exam.
• You are intermediate level or beyond and have decent command of the language.
• You want speaking practice.
• You are uncomfortable with reading hiragana, katakana, and kanji (or you are looking for writing practice).
• You prefer podcasts, textbook, and more detailed audio and video lessons.

Compared to Duolingo, Rocket Japanese has been around for many years and is one of the most well-known programs. Rocket Japanese is far more comprehensive than Duolingo, and the approach is different from the smartphone app. Rocket Japanese is immersive like Duolingo, but the grammar is demonstrated through podcast-style lessons. The lessons are delivered in chunks, similar to Duolingo, but certain grammatical points are discussed more deeply, helping you understand the language far better than with Duolingo.

If you are looking to get really good at Japanese, you can use JapanesePod101 or Rocket Japanese together with Duolingo, giving you a chance to practice whenever, wherever, while studying more diligently at home.

Read our Rocket Japanese Review here.

Duolingo is an excellent free resource for learning languages, especially if you consider yourself a beginner who is looking to immerse yourself quickly in Japanese.

The keyword here is ‘free’. We can really get behind the noble goal of making language learning free for all, however mass producing a language program for lots of different languages comes with its own challenges. Some of the issues stemming from the overly randomized and translation based system is choppy audio for the longer phrases, inaccuracies, and a lack of proper explanations (which is so essential when progressing with a new language).

However, the app does get a lot of things right, like how it utilizes a number of techniques to help you assimilate the new language and keep you motivated. While it is not the be-all-end-all with studying any language, Duolingo can help you make progress with your Japanese language learning goals (though we do recommend you use it just for review purposes only).

If you really want to accelerate your learning or are at a higher level than an advanced beginner, we recommend pairing Duolingo with another program, such as JapanesePod101.

Check out our full JapanesePod101 review here.