Here are a few websites and apps that can be helpful with studying the Japanese language.
1. Memrise.
Memrise is an online learning tool with courses created by its community. Its courses are mainly used to teach language, but are also used for other academic and nonacademic subjects, including science, music, history, philosophy, and popular culture. Memrise uses flashcards augmented with mnemonics (known within the service as "mems")—partly gathered through crowdsourcing—and the spacing effect to boost the speed and ease of learning. (Wikipedia)
The website can be found here: https://www.memrise.com/home/
The android app can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.memrise.android.memrisecompanion&hl=en
The iOS app can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/memrise-learn-languages/id635966718?mt=8
2. Jisho.
Jisho is a powerful Japanese-English dictionary. It lets you find words, kanji, example sentences and more quickly and easily. Our goal is to build a new kind of dictionary that doesn't just let you look up single words or kanji, but rather helps you understand any Japanese text. Ultimately we want to see it be a Google Now or Wolfram Alpha for the Japanese language. Just paste what you want to understand into Jisho, be it English, romaji, a single word or an entire paragraph of Japanese text, and it will search a myriad of data to help you understand the words, kanji and even grammar patterns. (Jisho website.)
The website can be found here: http://jisho.org/
A very similar app for android can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ric.Jsho&hl=en
3. Mango Languages
Mango Languages is an online language learning resource. Mango Languages has 64 foreign language courses. Additionally, the service offers English lessons in 17 languages and specialty courses to teach cultural differences. Courses are accessible from a web browser or an app. (Wikipedia)
The website can be found here: http://mangolanguages.com/
The android app can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mango.android&hl=en
The iOS app can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mango-languages/id443516516?mt=8
4. Obenkyo
Learn Japanese hiragana, katakana and kanji, and test yourself by drawing, or multiple choice.
This application helps you memorize:
- Japanese syllabary :Katakana & Hiragana, with flash card, keyboard, or drawing recognition
- Numbers, in romaji, Hiragana, or kanji
- 2300+ japanese kanji's (level 1-5 JLPT or Jouyou 1-7) with stroke animation (source KanjiVG), translation, readings (Source KanjiDict) with flash card and drawing game.
- 14600+ japanese words (in english) from EDICT with flash card test
- Experimental gramatical particle test (around 100 sentences from project Tatoeba) central to japanese language. (Obenkyo app description)
This app is only for android devices and can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Obenkyo&hl=en
5. Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese
This guide was created as a resource for those who want to learn Japanese grammar in a rational, intuitive way that makes sense in Japanese. The explanations are focused on how to make sense of the grammar not from English but from a Japanese point of view.
If you are taking Japanese classes and you want to get a better understanding of how things work, the Guide to Japanese Grammar is designed to supplement your studies and give you a solid understanding of the grammatical structure of Japanese. It thoroughly explains Japanese grammar by starting with the most fundamental ideas and building upon it layer by layer. It is much easier to understand than a traditional Japanese class which will likely skip straight to the polite forms without explaining where they come from. (Taken from the site.)
The website can be found here (which contains the entirety of the book) : www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/
The android app can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexisblaze.japanese_grammar
The iOS app can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/learning-japanese/id377785100?mt=8
An official PDF version of the book can be found here: www.guidetojapanese.org/grammar_guide.pdf
The paperback book on Amazon can be found here: www.amazon.com/Guide-Japanese-Grammar-approach-learning/dp/1495238962
6. Maggie Sensei
The purpose of this site is to teach you REAL Japanese in a fun way. Among our hundreds of lessons you will find a variety of lessons. They range from formal to extremely casual and naturally include many colloquial and slang words and expressions.
A few of our expressions might even be considered technically (grammatically) wrong by an orthodox Japanese teacher, and in those instances we will do our best to point that out. However, the majority of our lessons here will concentrate on “everyday Japanese” and not “textbook Japanese”. After all, you can get “textbook Japanese” anywhere, right? (Taken from the site.)
The website can be found here: http://maggiesensei.com/
7. Japanese Kanji Study - 漢字学習
Kanji Study is an ongoing project that tries to be a helpful and easy-to-use tool for learning Japanese kanji. Study with flashcards, customizeable quizzes, and writing challenges. Each kanji has detailed information and many examples. The app provides a powerful search tool for looking up kanji by radicals, stroke count and more. You can also make custom sets to match your textbooks or focus on the kanji you struggle with the most.
Main Features
★ Writing challenges
• Improve your kanji recognition by challenging yourself to recall and draw the characters.
• Learn the correct stroke order using the finely-tuned stroke detection algorithm.
• Strokes will snap into place when correctly drawn and hints will appear if you are struggling.
• Use the self-check mode to compare your drawing attempts with the correct answer.
★ Multi-choice quizzes
• Customize quizzes to show either readings, associated meanings, example words or sentences.
• Example words can selected from JLPT and common vocab, as well as your favorited examples.
• Quiz timer and distractors adapt based on previous quiz results.
• Further customize with options to repeat wrong answers, remove the timer, pause after answering and more.
(Japanese Kanji Study app description)
The website can be found here: http://mindtwisted.com/
This android app can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
The iOS app can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kanji-study/id400074354?mt=8
8. Kanji no Owari
Kanji no Owari 「漢字の終わり」, also known as "The Kanji's End", is a Japanese language learning anime game that helps the players in memorizing Hiragana(平仮名), Katakana(片仮名), and JLPT Joyo (general use) Kanji characters「常用漢字」.
=== Learn Kana Mode ===
- Under Learn Kana Mode, you can choose to use Hiragana, Katakana, or both.
- However, it is considered a training phase so you only earn 25% gold when killing monsters, and boss kills aren't recorded.
- You can optionally show/hide the review sheet.
=== Learn Kanji Mode ===
- You can choose between English meaning combinations, or Kana 仮名 /Romaji ローマ字 readings as choices.
- You can optionally show Word Gems (Trivia) after every round to comprehend how Japanese words are formed.
- You can optionally show/hide the review sheet and also choose to display meanings, readings, or both.
(Kanji no Owari app description.)
This app is currently only android devices and can be found here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.SekaiProject.OwariNoKanji&hl=en
9. Easy Japanese
"Easy Japanese" is a program of Japanese language lessons produced by Japan's public broadcaster, NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN. You can learn basic grammar and useful expressions through lessons designed in audio-drama style. You can download audio and texts for the lessons free of charge.
The lessons are offered in 17 languages. Please select the language of your choice, and start learning!
(Easy Japanese Website)
The website can be found here: www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/
10. NHK Radio News
NHK (Japanese: 日本放送協会 Hepburn: Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai?, official English name: Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. (Wikipedia)
This site simply allows you to listen to the various news broadcasts of the NHK in Japanese using normal, slow, and fast speeds: www.nhk.or.jp/radionews/
11. Kanjibox
The website can be found here: https://kanjibox.net/
12. Pera Pera
Pera Pera is a simple dictionary of Japanese Mimetic and Onomatopoeic words used in daily life and manga.
For those studying Japanese or reading manga, Pera Pera is a useful resource to aide understanding.
Onomatopeia are words which try to imitate sounds. For example: wan wan (woof woof), nya (meow).
Mimetic are words used to describe the sound of an action or state. For example: goro goro (rolling around), pera pera (fluency).
(Pera Pera app description.)
This app is only for android devices and can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gigaelk.education.peraperalite&hl=en
13. Japanese Talk Online
Japanese Talk Online is a site full of articles and resources to help people teach themselves and learn Japanese. It contains a large amount of tips and advice for beginners all the way up to the more advanced, including lessons on anime and manga Japanese, business, and translation.
The website can be found here: http://jtalkonline.com/