What to use after Duolingo for Japanese

After Duolingo, the next useful move is a course that explains why a sentence works, plus Japanese that is not shaped like a streak.

Keep Duolingo only if it still gets you into the chair for five minutes. Drop it if protecting the streak is the study. Official character practice can introduce hiragana, katakana, and kanji. That does not make Duolingo a grammar course or a reading habit.

If kana is still shaky, finish that job first with Learn kana in two weeks. Then come back here.

Pick one next owner

If this is the gap	Use	Limit
You finish lessons and still cannot explain the grammar	LingoDeer	Paid course; do not also keep Duolingo as a second tree
You want a free structured path	Irodori	Feels like lessons and worksheets, not a game
You will sit with a book and workbook	Genki	Buy the workbook; kana is early, not the whole series

Use Duolingo vs LingoDeer if those two apps are the actual decision. Do not add both.

The beginner apps shortlist is the broader menu. This page is the exit from Duolingo as the whole method.

Add lookup and input, not another tree

Jisho is enough for words that block you. Do not install a second dictionary in week one of the transition.

Then finish Japanese you did not author:

• one NHK News Web Easy article, or
• one Nihongo con Teppei episode.

Opening a library is not practice. The beginner hub is the stack once the course is chosen.

What not to add this month

• A second streak app.
• Anki with a 5,000-card import.
• A kanji SRS while you still cannot read kana comfortably.

A review loop can wait until the new course is producing words and sentences you already met. Inku fits prepared iPhone review, with ownership disclosed on its profile. Anki fits later, when you will write or import cards you understand.

If the week is already a pile of apps, use Too many Japanese apps before you buy anything else.