TL;DR Go to Niko Niko Japanese and sign up for a lesson, you won't be disappointed.

***Disclaimer*** All of the resources here are ones I've used and these are my opinions of them. I receive zero (0) compensation from any of them. (Obviously I'm biased towards my teacher. If I didn't like her, she wouldn't still be my teacher.)

Classes

Niko Niko Japanese or Smiley Japanese, is a relatively new company started by Koyama Sensei. Koyama Sensei is a Japanes native
living in Japan and conducts lessons via Zoom, utilizing google docs for notes, reminders, and class reports to share between herself
and the student. She is an attentive teacher, paying attention to the personality of her students and tailoring the lessons to fit the
individual student. Sensei has been my Japanese language instructor since late 2019. Thanks to her, when I went to Japan in 2023,
I was able to have conversations with people completely in Japanese.

Textbooks: Niko Niko Japanese uses Minna No Nihongo text books, available at the link under "Textbooks".


Manga De Japanese, MDJ, is a school out of Japan that is entirely over Zoom and focuses on teaching Japanese to foreigners.
They have many different teachers and whether you mesh with your teacher or not will greatly impact your experience AND ability
to learn. With this in mind, if a teacher doesn't work for you, don't be shy about asking to change teachers.

Textbooks: When I attended MDJ, they used the Minna No Nihongo textbooks. You can purchase the books from them,
or from the link under "Textbooks".

Applications

Duolingo is great for learning useful phrases for travel. I haven't had much luck using it to become conversation or fluent
in any languages, though.

Textbooks

OMG Japan is my go-to site for Japanese textbooks, but they also sell a variety of other things.

I haven't used the other Japanese textbook series', but I'll break down Minna No Nihongo for you.

 Minna No Nihongo

The overall course is split into 2 levels with 2 parts each

  1. Shokyu is the Beginner level. It is split into Shokyu 1, mostly consisting of red covered books, and Shukyu 2, mostly consisting of blue covered books.

  2. Chukyu is the Intermediate level. It is split into Chukyu 1, mostly consisting of pink/light red covered books and Chukyu 2, mostly consisting of green (mint) covered books.

  The exception to the rule is the Translation and Grammatical Notes books which, for all levels, are yellow.

  Each part consists of these books:

    1. Honsatsu - This is the main textbook for the level. All of the explanations are in this book.

    2. Hyojun Mondaishu - Main workbook. It follows the same layout as the Honsatsu and provides exercises to supplement the lessons in the Honsatsu.

    3. Kanji (English) - This is a supplementary textbook to learn Kanji. It teaches the Kanji used in the Honsatsu of the same level.

    4. Kanji Renshucho - Like Hyojun Mondaishu, this is a workbook that follows the same layout as Kanji (English) and provides exercises to supplement the lesson in Kanji (English).

    The above 4 books are the main books for each level. You don’t need them all, but they make learning easier when used together.

  I recommend doing the Honsatsu/Mondaishu for a level first, then the Kanji, then moving on to the next level.

  Personally, I completed Shokyu 1 and, a little bit through Shokyu 2, asked my Sensei to take a break and study Shokyu Kanji 1. After completing Kanji 1, I’ll resume Shokyu 2 Honsatsu/Mondaishu.

  There are other books, but I don’t have them. I just ordered them and I’ll add more here once I get the change to use them.