Guides
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How to learn hiragana in three days
A realistic three-day plan for the 46 basic hiragana, built around five characters at a time, immediate recall testing and reading real words on day two.
2 min read
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Dakuten and handakuten explained
The two small marks that turn k into g, s into z, t into d and h into b or p — what they are called, how they change pronunciation, and where they never appear.
2 min read
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Kana that look alike — and how to stop confusing them
The specific hiragana and katakana pairs beginners mix up, what actually distinguishes each pair, and why stroke order fixes most of them.
2 min read
Common questions
Should I learn hiragana or katakana first?
Hiragana. It carries Japanese grammar, appears in every sentence, and is what beginner material is written in. Katakana is easier once hiragana is solid, because the two scripts encode the same set of sounds.
Is it worth learning romaji?
Only as a way to label sounds while you learn the kana. Reading Japanese through romaji past the first week slows you down, because it lets you avoid the script you actually need and teaches your eye the wrong shapes.
How long does it take to learn hiragana and katakana?
A focused weekend each for recognition, and a few weeks of reading before they feel automatic. The chart is small; fluency is a matter of exposure rather than study time.
Do I need to learn to write by hand?
Not to read Japanese, but handwriting is the fastest way to stop confusing similar characters. Writing forces you to encode each character as a sequence of movements rather than a picture, and that is exactly what the look-alike pairs need.