Japanese learning blog
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
All articles · Page 26
How to Pronounce Japanese Names: Long Vowels, Beats and Asking
To pronounce a Japanese name well, split it into beats (Sa-i-tō is four beats, not two), give each beat roughly the same length, hold long vowels for two beats, and keep the stress flat instead of punching one syllable. When you are not sure, ask the person how their name is read; Japanese people do this with each other all the time.
10 min readJapanese Words English Speakers Mispronounce: Karaoke to Tsunami
English borrowed many Japanese words, then reshaped them: karaoke became carry-okey, karate became ka-RAH-tee, and sake became sah-key. In Japanese these words use five short, pure vowels, even beats and no heavy stress, so karaoke is ka-ra-o-ke, karate is ka-ra-te and sake is sa-ke.
10 min readHow to Pronounce Japanese Place Names: Tōkyō, Kyōto and Beyond
Most Japanese place names are easy once you hear their beats: Tōkyō is to-o-kyo-o, four beats, Kyōto is kyo-o-to, three beats, and Ōsaka starts with a long ō. Add the common endings such as -eki (station), -ji (temple) and -gawa (river), and you can say almost any place on a map.
10 min readKatakana Practice for Beginners: Five Drills That Build Real Reading
The best katakana practice for beginners is short, varied and built on real words: separate the look-alikes シ, ツ, ソ and ン, read long vowels and small ッ correctly, learn the combinations like ティ and ファ, read the objects around you, then build speed with timed rounds. A few focused minutes a day of these five drills will do more than copying the chart again and again.
10 min readHow Long Does It Take to Learn Hiragana? A Realistic Answer
Many learners can recognise the 46 basic hiragana within one to two weeks of short daily practice, and add the voiced kana (が, ぱ) and combinations (きゃ, しゃ) within another week or two. Reading hiragana smoothly, without sounding out each symbol, usually takes a few months of regular reading.
10 min readJapanese Listening Games: Fun Ways to Train Your Ear
Japanese listening games turn the hardest skill into short, repeatable rounds: karuta, where you grab the card that matches what you hear; the telephone game; number and time bingo; and which-one-did-I-say games with pairs like ojisan and ojīsan. Play them a few times a week and your ear learns to catch long vowels, small pauses and fast numbers.
9 min readHow Many Japanese Words Should You Learn a Day? Finding Your Number
For most learners, somewhere between 5 and 15 new Japanese words a day is a pace you can keep for months, with 10 a common starting point. The right number is the one you can still review comfortably a few weeks later, because reviews of old words grow much faster than the list of new ones.
10 min readLearn Japanese With a Study Buddy: Sessions, Roles and Phrases
A study buddy is a fellow learner you meet regularly to practise Japanese together. It works best with a fixed time, a simple routine (a quick check-in, a quiz, a roleplay, a plan for next week) and one rule: when neither of you is sure, you look it up instead of guessing.
10 min readLearning Japanese as an Older Adult: Use the Life You Already Have
You can learn Japanese at any age, and older adults bring real advantages: clear goals, patience, and a lifetime of stories to talk about. Build your study around your own life, such as family, career, travel and hobbies, use polite Japanese from the start, and ask people to speak slowly whenever you need to.
10 min readAI Japanese Flashcard Maker: Get Good Cards and Check Them
An AI Japanese flashcard maker can turn a word list, a text or a real situation into cards in seconds, with readings, meanings and example sentences. It works best when you tell it your level and where the words came from, ask for one meaning per card, and check each card's reading and example before you start reviewing.
10 min readKanji for Music: 音 and 楽 in 音楽, 楽しい and Everyday Words
The Japanese word for music is 音楽 (ongaku), written with two kanji: 音 (oto, sound) and 楽 (gaku, music, or raku and tanoshii, ease and fun). Neither kanji means music on its own, so if you want to say or write music, use the full word 音楽.
13 min readKanji for Blood: 血 (chi, ketsu), Blood Types and Everyday Words
The Japanese kanji for blood is 血, read chi on its own and ketsu in compound words such as 血液 (ketsueki, blood, formal) and 出血 (shukketsu, bleeding). It has six strokes and looks like 皿 (dish) with one extra stroke on top.
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