Mimi: Learn Japaneseby listening.
The science-backed way to get fluent in Japanese from real anime, vlogs and shows.
This is the real thing: a clip playing through YouTube, the transcript under it. Tap a word.
Clips you would watch anyway.
Anime from the studios' own channels. Street vlogs from Tokyo. Cooking, gaming, news, interviews. Pick the worlds you like and your level from N5 to N1, and the feed stays inside them, getting a little harder as you get better. None of it was made for a classroom; it is what people in Japan actually watch.
Every word, broken down.
Subtitles give you a sentence you cannot take apart. Mimi gives you the pieces, in the order you hear them, so you always know where one word ends and the next begins.
Anime · N5
- The romaji sits above every word. You can read on day one, before you know the kana; the reading of every kanji is one tap away.
- The English of each word appears under it as it is spoken, so you learn which piece means what.
- The word being spoken lights up as you hear it, so your ear and your eye meet on the same word.
- The English waits one line below, where your eyes land second, not first.
Words come back until they stick.
A word you saved comes back as a card with the clip and the line you heard it in. Got it, or Again. A few cards a day, never a pile.
Tap to reveal
Why clips, not lessons.
| Anime with subtitles | You read the English and the Japanese goes by unheard. |
|---|---|
| Flashcard apps | Words with no sentence around them, so they never sound like anything. |
| Textbooks | Sentences nobody says, in an order nobody needs. |
| Mimi | Real lines, every word explained, from clips you would watch anyway. |
Good to know.
- I am a complete beginner. Will I understand anything?
- Start at N5. Every word has its romaji and its reading, and the English is one line down. You will not understand whole clips at first. You will understand words, one at a time, and that is how it starts.
- Can I use Mimi without paying?
- Yes. You can watch every clip free, with no account and no subscription. Mimi Pro is what adds the transcript, the readings and romaji, the English, the word cards and the review.
- Is there an account?
- No. Your words, your streak and your progress live on your phone. Delete the app and they are gone; we never had them.
- Where do the clips come from?
- YouTube. Every clip plays through YouTube's own player inside Mimi. We do not download or store video.
- How do I cancel?
- Settings on your iPhone, tap your name, Subscriptions, Mimi, Cancel.
- Which phones?
- iPhone only for now.
More on the support page.