Travel

From the vibrant city life of Tokyo to the tranquil beauty of the Japanese Alps, Japan is filled with natural beauty and modern wonders. Japan is also famous for its cuisine, so you’ll want to try everything from sushi to yakitori here. The people of Japan are some of the most welcoming and friendly people you will ever meet. So whether you're looking for adventure or simply want to experience a different culture, Japan is definitely worth a visit.

You don’t have to know Japanese for you to enjoy a trip to Japan, particularly in major cities and tourist attractions. However, it can be helpful to know some basic phrases and help you really connect with the locals and the culture.

You can start speaking these phrases from day one! Our talk-first approach not only helps you learn a new language fast, but we build your confidence to speak from the very first lesson.

When you worry too much about grammar and rules, it can make you feel like you’re never ready to speak and start disconnecting from the language. That’s why we get you to start speaking from the beginning, and let you choose to learn what’s important to you. If you like to travel, learn that first. If you need it to further your career, learn phrases that’s useful there instead. When you focus on material that excites you, you'll be more motivated to practice regularly and immerse yourself in the language. Soon enough, you'll be chatting away in your new language like a native speaker.

These hand-picked words and phrases are chosen by our language experts for two reasons: that they are useful in real-life situations, and they are spoken in the same way that a local would.

There is nothing more discouraging to a language learner than finding out that the phrases they’ve spent hours learning are irrelevant or outdated. You trust us to not only to teach you the language but to do it in a way that is useable in the real world and can connect with native speakers. Otherwise, what’s the point in learning a language if you can’t use it in real situations?

There are three problems that Memrise addresses from textbook learning. The first is that people often feel disengaged because they feel the content is either boring or irrelevant. We let you choose what’s important to you so you don’t have to wait to learn those phrases. Second, you can’t hear how the language sounds in a textbook. That’s why we have thousands of videos of native speakers to teach you instead. Lastly, you don’t get to speak it out loud. Our talk-first approach not only helps you learn a new language fast, but we build your confidence to speak from the very first lesson.