After living in Spain for a few years and settling into a stable job, my daily routine started to feel a bit boring. I’ve always been interested in Japanese anime and culture, so I thought, why not use the local language environment to find some Japanese courses taught in Spanish? It would also be a great way to reinforce my Spanish. After about half a year of trying out various courses, from free to paid, I’m here to share my experiences and help others who want to learn Japanese avoid some common pitfalls.
My Journey into Learning Japanese
Initially, like many people, I tried to find free resources and searched for a lot of videos on YouTube. There are indeed many Japanese teachers and enthusiasts in Spanish-speaking regions who post free tutorial videos on topics like pronunciation and the hiragana/katakana syllabary (gojuon). The advantage of this method is that it’s completely free and you can watch anytime. But the disadvantages are also obvious: the information is very scattered and lacks a structured system. After learning the basic syllabary, I had no idea what to do next, and I often found myself getting distracted by other fun videos while trying to follow the Spanish online courses…
Later, I realized this approach wasn’t sustainable and I needed a proper, structured course. After some research, I found that there are quite a few online Japanese courses designed for Spanish speakers. I primarily looked into a few of the more well-known platforms, and their teaching models and prices vary significantly. For those of us with a solid foundation in Spanish, learning Japanese through Spanish is much more intuitive than using Chinese or English. The mental switch feels smoother, especially when grasping grammatical concepts.
A Comparison of Mainstream Spanish-Taught Japanese Courses
To make it easier for you to choose, I’ve compiled a table of the platforms I researched, clearly listing their pros and cons. You can pick one based on your budget and learning style.
| Platform Name | Pros | Cons | Best for |
|---|
| Kira Teachings | A native Spanish team, very detailed grammar explanations, and a community for interaction. | A bit pricey, and course updates are not very frequent. | Absolute beginners who want to build a solid grammatical foundation systematically. |
| Japonés en la Nube | Engaging content that incorporates a lot of Japanese culture and real-life scenarios. | Focuses more on speaking and practical application, with less emphasis on complex grammar points that you might find in other online language courses. | Learners interested in Japanese culture who want to start speaking quickly. |
| Udemy (Spanish section) | Affordable, frequent sales, and a wide variety of courses. | Instructor quality varies, so you need to spend time finding highly-rated courses. | Budget-conscious learners with good self-discipline and the ability to discern quality content. |
| italki | Flexible 1-on-1 practice with native Japanese tutors. | Most expensive option, better suited for supplementary practice than for systematic learning. | Learners with some foundation who want to focus on improving their speaking and listening skills. |
There’s no ‘best’ course, only the one that’s ‘best for you’. If, like me, you’re serious about learning Japanese and not just trying it out for fun, I personally recommend starting with a systematic, paid course. I ultimately chose Kira Teachings’ N5 beginner course. I found the teacher’s explanations in Spanish to be very clear, making complex topics like Japanese particles and verb conjugations easy to understand. Of course, this is just my personal experience. You should definitely check out the trial lessons on each website before making a decision. I hope everyone can find a new hobby for themselves here in Spain!
