Duolingo finally adds Japanese language to its catalog

Long gone are the days when you learnt Japanese from watching anime as Duolingo has finally added the much anticipated Japanese language to its service.
Duolingo teased the launch of the course a month ago with very positive responses.

Surprise... we’re finally building a Japanese course! It’ll be ready in one month. Click here to get notified:https://t.co/Soq7zkmYYa pic.twitter.com/7PZiLyAVxu

— Duolingo (@duolingo) April 20, 2017

You may be wondering why it took so long for them to release Japanese, well that's because Japanese has a different writing systems and structures. They could have just used Romaji which are Japanese words written using Western alphabets ("konnichiwa", "kawaii", "nani desu ka", etc.), but instead it will teach you to read and write over 100 Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana characters.

Unlike other languages on Duolingo that teach you statements you might never actually hear anyone say, the Japanese course will place strong emphasis on real world interactions like asking for directions, ordering food. The course will be useful if you're planning on going for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in which case you'll have a lot of time to study and practice.

I haven't had a chance to try out the course since it's only available on iOS devices for now but will surely get my hands on it once it's released on Android in a couple of weeks.