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Forums - Are there any other resources as game-changing and helpful as Renshuu?

Top > 日本語を勉強しましょう / Let's study Japanese! > Anything About Japanese

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nathantesoriero
Level: 169

I just started using Renshuu this year, and I’m honestly blown away by how in-depth it is covering grammar, vocab, and kanji all in one place. It feels like almost all the structured, book-style studying I need is right there in the app.

Right now, I mainly use Renshuu and Anki for everything thats like bookwork related and YouTube/podcasts for immersion. But since discovering Renshuu, I’ve been curious what other tools or resources do you all use for studying Japanese? I’d love to hear what’s worked well for others!


4
16 days ago
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ハデクヨン
Level: 42

Here's what I've used:

Duolingo - Good for learning the characters, but pretty bad at explaining nuances of words. I still use it, especially for the kanji, but definitely Renshuu does a better job at teaching stuff more accurately and in-depth. For example, Duolingo translates サークル as "club" when it could've just been "circle."

Kanji Study - This is an app, it focuses especially on Kanji. Good for learning Kanji for sure, and you can sort them by grade, JLPT level, etc. This one does have a paywall beyond the earliest level, by the way (though I'm still on the earliest level of it, and it's still useful for reviewing).

MochiKanji - Pretty similar to Kanji Study in function, but more aesthetically similar to Duolingo. It also has a paywall, it was good but other free services have everything this one already has aside from "Golden Time", which is a scheduled review.

Minato - This is a service provided by the Japan Foundation, which is like a semi-goverment non-for-profit organization that tries to promote Japan internationally. It has some unique approaches to things (watching a drama in Japanese is part of the course, for example), but it doesn't really focus on the characters as much and isn't really customizable at all.

Anki - I've used this a little bit, but I'm not into flashcards so I've never gotten much out of it.

Aside from that, I've used some textbooks some and experienced plenty of Japanese media in Japanese.

I'm super happy I found Renshuu, it's definitely my favorite so far. It's way more customizable than any other option, and that alone makes it great. I wish I started using it years ago instead of like 2 weeks ago...

9
16 days ago
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Rickyyyy145
Level: 63

1 word, wagotabi(it's paid but cheap)

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16 days ago
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kao_think.png If I want to improve my speaking skills and I need to understand people speaking fast, then which app would be the best?

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16 days ago
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kao_think.png If I want to improve my speaking skills and I need to understand people speaking fast, then which app would be the best?

For speaking, it depends on how extroverted you are. kao_heh.png

Language exchange apps are basically the "language learning" version of dating apps. For introverts, it's language learning, but with emotional damage included kao_rocking.png

For understanding "people speaking fast", just watch native content. I like listening to streams and reading chat. In fact I'm listening to one right now. Takes a long time to get used to, and is much better for people already at around N3.

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16 days ago
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マイコー
Level: 301

Just wanted to jump in here and say that let's keep things generally positive (like everyone has done so far :) ) - I know there is a lot of hate for duolingo, but if a tool works for you, then it works! That's all that matters!

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16 days ago
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nathantesoriero
Level: 169

I don’t know how to directly reply to comments lol but “Just wanted to jump in here and say that let's keep things generally positive” I also agree. People love to hate on duolingo like it’s the worst thing ever but realistically any interest or drive to learn a language is a good one and something to be celebrated.

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16 days ago
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I don’t know how to directly reply to comments lol but “Just wanted to jump in here and say that let's keep things generally positive” I also agree. People love to hate on duolingo like it’s the worst thing ever but realistically any interest or drive to learn a language is a good one and something to be celebrated.

I don't like the direction Duolingo has taken as a platform, but it can still serve as a good "gateway" into language learning.

You can quote using this link. Seem to only be available when posting directly from the Forums.

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16 days ago
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I'm listening to 'Nihongo con Teppei Podcast for Beginners' and honestly, cannot recommend it enough. It helped me immensely with vocabulary and listening comprehension.

The episodes are 4-5 minutes long (1300+ episodes so far!), with gradually increasing difficulty. You can find it for free on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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16 days ago
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There is one problem that I found in podcasts even thought its pretty trivial, they introduce words that I don't know and then they think to get the hang of it quickly which is out of my league.

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16 days ago
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with gradually increasing difficulty.

Do they really increase in difficulty? I don't see much of a difference between the first few and the last few episodes. A great recommendation for beginners of course. kao_great.png

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16 days ago
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If I remember correctly, the earliest episodes contain phrases like: 'how are you' / 'where are you from' / 'how long you've been learning Japanese', and the later ones are about more real life scenarios like visiting family on holidays, catching a cold, knowing places' names etc. so in my opinion the difficulty is increasing.

There's another podcast for more advanced listeners: 'Nihongo con Teppei Z' / 'Nihongo con Teppei '.


@🌩セージ͎.𝓡_8̯̭͓̓̇͂̽𝓚𝓪𝓲𝖙𝖊𝖓⚡
I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. You can get a lot from context by listening to an episode multiple times, plus you can always look up a term in Renshuu's dictionary.

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16 days ago
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Imo, along with renshuu, I think one of the best resources would be other people. Whether that’s a native speaker or someone else learning too, it’s always super helpful to have someone there, giving constructive feedback and just allowing you to practice with them in general. kao_think.png

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16 days ago
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@ニベル[Nibel]Ah, I see what you mean. I'll check out the more advanced podcasts.


Not sure if OP was necessarily asking for YouTube/podcasts recommendations, but I recently found these guys https://www.youtube.com/@JSI55

Videos tend to be longer, but the quality is quite high. It being a conversation is also nice, since I'm not big into monologues.

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16 days ago
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Icepick87
Level: 376

To my detriment, I have a narrow personal preference, and this is something I've been struggling to find independently.

I have, so far, 3 apps I would find useful, including Renshuu. Only one of them is usable offline, but it's not exactly like the others as it's more of a guidebook, like Tae Kim's guide. And it's more piecemeal with information, not unlike my notes, so it doesn't have depth to study and learn. I'd have to study the topic in advance. I'm also on the free tier on Renshuu, which means limitations on the material I can practice and study.

So, it's hard for me to find something I can practice offline for free that's not going to involve a textbook just to strictly read. I certainly don't want anything with AI on it, because I don't exactly want it to affect my learning process. I like studying at my own pace, without having to compete with anyone. It's motivation enough to use it.

I've searched quite a bit. Something that would be fun and would just reinforce my grammar study without it being sone sort of competition with other people. Playing it would be motivation enough. So far it's a unicorn, since I haven't found it yet.

One other thing I discovered was that there's a download for a web-based workbook that can be used for offline work based on the Genki textbooks. The problem for me is that I don't have the textbooks to really follow the format, but I do figure the same that if I study the topic ahead, I might be able to figure stuff out and get serous practice. It's a big download though, and not exactly an app.

3
15 days ago
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nathantesoriero
Level: 169

I'm listening to 'Nihongo con Teppei Podcast for Beginners' and honestly, cannot recommend it enough. It helped me immensely with vocabulary and listening comprehension.

The episodes are 4-5 minutes long (1300+ episodes so far!), with gradually increasing difficulty. You can find it for free on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Yeah I love that podcast although sometimes I feel like it’s hard to progress without the visual context and help you get from real life and other forms of immersion. Teppei himself though is very funny and entertaining that’s the main reason I listen.

3
15 days ago
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nathantesoriero
Level: 169

“To my detriment, I have a narrow personal preference, and this is something I've been struggling to find independently.

I have, so far, 3 apps I would find useful, including Renshuu. Only one of them is usable offline, but it's not exactly like the others as it's more of a guidebook, like Tae Kim's guide. And it's more piecemeal with information, not unlike my notes, so it doesn't have depth to study and learn. I'd have to study the topic in advance. I'm also on the free tier on Renshuu, which means limitations on the material I can practice and study.”


I started tae Kim as an absolute beginner and have been slowly working through it. It’s a amazing resource but I really do not think it’s for beginners I find it much more useful and mind opening for me at least once I used renshuu to learn the N5 grammar and then back tracked to tae kim I felt like I soaked up a lot more info. Although I guess N5 technically is still beginner so maybe I just proved my self wrong lol.




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15 days ago
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nathantesoriero
Level: 169

You can quote using this link. Seem to only be available when posting directly from the Forums.

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Ah yes I see it now thank you, before I was on my phone so it didn’t show up, but now on my iPad it’s here.



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15 days ago
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nathantesoriero
Level: 169
Imo, along with renshuu, I think one of the best resources would be other people. Whether that’s a native speaker or someone else learning too, it’s always super helpful to have someone there, giving constructive feedback and just allowing you to practice with them in general. kao_think.png

Talking to other people kao_rocking.png. Easier said than done kao_dejected.png.

Who knows though maybe this year I’ll step out of my comfort zone I have no issues speaking to people in English, so I’ll try to apply that theory to other languages. Thank you for the advice!thanks.png

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15 days ago
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Icepick87
Level: 376

I started tae Kim as an absolute beginner and have been slowly working through it. It’s a amazing resource but I really do not think it’s for beginners I find it much more useful and mind opening for me at least once I used renshuu to learn the N5 grammar and then back tracked to tae kim I felt like I soaked up a lot more info. Although I guess N5 technically is still beginner so maybe I just proved my self wrong lol.


Tae Kim is a lot like a lot of articles and books I've read. This is not to say they're bad. Sometimes it isn't comprehensible. They might overexplain some nuance, which is still interesting, but I'd lose sight of the main point. So I'd skim to the simple parts and focus on that. So yeah, it makes it harder to learn, which is why as I study, I just take notes off the main points and go off on that. If there was something I missed, I'd amend/correct that. It's all manual.

The real work is processing that to my brain so that I don't rely on my notes. It would've been easier to gamify it to give a little more input, but this is all I get. Despite the modern age, it's still the same old fashioned business.

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15 days ago
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