The Best Anki Decks for Learning Japanese

Pre-made vs. Custom Decks

Anki is a spaced repetition system (SRS) used to memorize information through flashcards. When starting out, pre-made decks save time because the material is already curated for you. However, as you progress and start A Practical Guide to Language Immersion, it becomes more efficient to create your own cards based on the specific media you consume.

The following sections outline the standard pre-made decks used by learners to establish a baseline in Japanese.

Hiragana and Katakana

Before studying vocabulary or grammar, it makes sense to learn hiragana/katakana (The Japanese Writing System).

• Hiragana/Katakana https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/576084877

Radicals

Radicals are the building blocks that make up more complex kanji. There are 214 radicals in the Japanese language, but even just learning the 50-60 most common ones will be tremendously helpful and is absolutely recommended before starting to study kanji. Knowing the building blocks primes your brain and makes it much easier to learn kanji.

• All Radicals https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1044119361

Kanji

After learning radicals, you can start learning Kanji. Even though you can learn passively by studying vocabulary, it is still recommended to study them separately. There are a lot of kanji to remember, so it is best to start early.

• Most Common Kanji https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/798002504

Vocabulary

Studying vocabulary is the core of learning any language. Even though there are a lot of good reasons to create your own cards through sentence mining, to get started, pre-made decks can be a real timesaver, especially for the first few thousand words.

• 1K https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/567658455
• 2K https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/424963747
• 3K https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/772729980
• 4K https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/851502598
• 5K https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1775665406
• 6K https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2027003999

Grammar

Even though grammar is best learned through context (The Comprehensible Input Hypothesis), there are some good decks to internalize specific patterns.

• Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide Deck: This deck turns the sentences from Tae Kim’s written guide into flashcards. It helps you recognize basic structures. (https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782)

Pitch Accent

It is generally not recommended to learn the pitch accent for every word, since you should be able to hear what pitch accent is used over time. However, training that skill specifically—especially at the beginning—can be really helpful to improve your ability to differentiate between similar-sounding words.

• A simple deck to learn pitch accent https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1206091675
• Add pitch-accent info to your own cards https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/148002038