The secret to fluency: there is none.

Actually: inspiration and hard work. The time you put in is skill you’ll get out.

Here are steps to get you going:

1. Get inspired – Find what motivates you; it is arguably the most important part of becoming fluent. This is a TED talk about becoming fluent in three months.

2. Use technology – Below is a list of apps we use to study/practice Japanese.

Imiwa is a dictionary to look up words in english or japanese (ramaji, hiragana, or kanji). I love it because I can look up compounds (multiple kanji words), kanji by radical, make vocab lists and favorites, and see example sentences.

Anki is a great app when using a good set of flashcards. It uses a Spaced Repetition System which keeps you super fresh, and can include audio and images.

Genki is a series of textbooks as well as apps that are very well designed. As of this writing there are three apps: Vocab, Kanji, and Conjugation.


Google Translate is awesome for looking up words and sometimes it gets translations pretty close too. It’s most fun and useful to draw in kanji and look them up.

Subscribe to the Kindle Blog!