What Japanese resources should a beginner use first?

One structured course, a dictionary, and a small amount of reading or listening you can finish. Add a review tool only after you have material worth remembering.

Do beginners need Anki?

No. Anki is a memory engine. It helps once you know what to put on the cards. A prepared review loop or a course workbook is enough for the first months.

Is Duolingo enough to learn Japanese?

No. It can introduce kana and some vocabulary. Adults still need grammar, reading, and a review loop that matches real Japanese.

Japanese resources for beginners

A beginner needs a path, not a toolkit. Pick one course, one dictionary, then add short reading and audio you will finish.

No resources match that search or filter. Clear the query or try a broader category.

A beginner Japanese stack has five jobs. Most abandoned setups fail because they buy five products for the same job, or skip the jobs that are not an app.

A course that tells you what to study this week.
A dictionary for words that block you.
Reading you can finish.
Listening you will actually play.
A review loop small enough to survive a workday.

Do not start all five at full volume. Start with a course and a dictionary. Add the rest when the first two still happen on a normal Thursday.

If you already know you are past this stage, use the intermediate hub.

Pick one course

Irodori is the free default: Japan Foundation lessons for daily life, with official audio. Use it if you will study from a site and you do not want to buy a book yet.

Genki is the book many classes and tutors assume. Buy the workbook if you buy the textbook. If you are choosing between Genki and Minna no Nihongo, read the comparison before you order both.

Do not run Irodori, Genki, and a gamified app course in the same month. One sequence is the point.

Grammar without a second course

Tae Kim is a free explanation source. Use it when a lesson is thin, not as a third syllabus. If you already sit with Genki or Irodori, you do not need a second grammar product on day one.

Look words up. Do not collect them yet

Jisho is enough. Search English, romaji, or a pasted word. A popup dictionary such as Yomitan can wait until kana is comfortable and you are reading real pages. See the reading shortlist when that day comes.

Reading and listening that finish

NHK News Web Easy is a short daily article with furigana and audio. Nihongo con Teppei is free beginner audio you can play on a commute.

Finish the article or the episode. Opening a library is not practice.

A longer workflow lives in How to start reading Japanese before you feel ready.

Review last, and keep it small

Review is for material you already met. It is not a beginner curriculum.

Inku is made and operated by our team. It is a prepared iPhone review library: kana, JLPT vocabulary, phrases, audio, local progress, no account. It is not a grammar teacher, not Android, and not a reason to skip a course. Use it when you want ready-made cards after kana is readable.

Anki is the better engine once you will write or import cards you understand. It is a poor first app if you still need someone else to decide what belongs on the card. Details are in A beginner path that does not start with Anki.

If reviews start eating the week, read How to use SRS without burning out.

A first month that can survive

Job	Pick one	Skip until later
Course	Irodori or Genki	A second textbook, MaruMori plus Duolingo plus Genki
Dictionary	Jisho	Mining pipelines
Input	NHK Easy or Teppei	Native news, untranslated novels
Review	Inku on iPhone, or a tiny Anki deck, or workbook recall	Three SRS products

When those four rows are stable, combine them on purpose with How to combine a textbook, SRS, reading, and listening.