日本語を学ぶ準備はできた？
(Nihongo o manabu junbi wa dekita?)
Before we memorize anything, let's talk about structure. Japanese uses three main writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana and katakana are kana syllabaries: their characters represent sound units, usually one beat, rather than individual letters like an English alphabet. This lesson starts with the same five vowel sounds in both kana styles.
Hiragana (The Curvy One): Used for grammatical endings and particles, many words, and furigana (small kana beside or above kanji that show how to read them).
Katakana (The Edgy One): The sharp, angular script. Often used for foreign loanwords, such as コーヒー (kōhī, or koohii, coffee). Both vowels are long; each ー extends the preceding vowel. Katakana can also add emphasis or a particular feel in manga. It is not an uppercase version of hiragana, and sound effects can use either script!
Kanji: Characters associated with meanings, used in many words alongside kana. You do not need to memorize kanji for this lesson.
Japanese has five basic vowels: a, i, u, e, o. In each card, hiragana is on top and katakana is below; both have the same sound. The Latin-letter spelling is called romaji. Tap 🔊 to listen, then try saying the sound. Browser voices may vary.
Just by knowing those vowels, you can already read actual Japanese words! These examples use hiragana for practice. Some are normally written with kanji, such as あい → 愛 (love) and いえ → 家 (house); you only need the kana here.
👨🍳 Chef's Note: Listen for vowel length: いえ (ie, house) has two beats, i-e; いいえ (iie, no) has three, i-i-e, with a longer initial i. Practice the distinction, but natural speech can vary. In おう (ō / ou, king), おう is pronounced as one long o held for two beats.
The quiz has 10 vowel questions: five hiragana and five katakana. Type romaji or choose the requested kana, including two listening prompts with a text option. Answer all 10 correctly on your first try in one round to pass. If you miss any, review and try a fresh round.
Question 1 of 10