🇯🇵 Learn Japanese

About

After starting the long and arduous journey of learning Japanese, I found lots of online learning materials to get me started. However, I couldn't quite find exactly what I wanted, an app for learning kana. So I made one. Partly inspired by Duolingo.

Over time, in-between work, this project has become a place where I just dump Japanese related learning things.

Contents

• Local Setup
• Kana
  • Regular
  • Diacriticals
  • Diagraphs
• Learning Topics
• Game Modes
• References

Local Setup

npm install

npm run start:msw

Kana

Regular Kana

Hiragana

.	w	r	y	m	h	n	t	s	k
ん	わ	ら	や	ま	は	な	た	さ	か	あ	a
		り		み	ひ	に	ち	し	き	ぃ	i
		る	ゆ	む	ふ	ぬ	つ	す	く	う	u
		れ		め	へ	ね	て	せ	け	え	e
	を	ろ	よ	も	ほ	の	と	そ	こ	お	o

Katakana

.	w	r	y	m	h	n	t	s	k
ン	ワ	ラ	ヤ	マ	ハ	ナ	タ	サ	カ	ア	a
		リ		ミ	ヒ	に	チ	シ	キ	イ	i
		ル	ユ	ム	フ	ヌ	ツ	ス	ク	ウ	u
		レ		メ	ヘ	ネ	テ	セ	ケ	エ	e
	ヲ	ロ	ヨ	モ	ホ	ノ	ト	ソ	コ	オ	o

Diacriticals

Syllables beginning with the voiced consonants g, z, d and b are spelled with kana from the corresponding unvoiced columns (k, s, t and h) and the voicing mark, dakuten. [1]

Syllables beginning with p are spelled with kana from the h column and the half-voicing mark, handakuten.

Hiragana

	p	b	d	z	g
a	ぱ	ば	だ	ざ	が
i	ぴ	び	ぢ	じ	ぎ
u	ぷ	ぶ	づ	ず	ぐ
e	ぺ	べ	で	ぜ	げ
o	ぽ	ぼ	ど	ぞ	ご

Katakana

	p	b	d	z	g
a	パ	バ	ダ	ザ	ガ
i	ピ	ビ	ヂ	ジ	ギ
u	プ	ブ	ヅ	ズ	グ
e	ペ	ベ	デ	ゼ	ゲ
o	ポ	ボ	ド	ゾ	ゴ

Diagraphs

Syllables beginning with palatalized consonants are spelled with one of the seven consonantal kana from the i row followed by small ya, yu or yo. These digraphs are called yōon. [1]

Hiragana

	r	m	h	n	t	s	k	p	b	j	g
ya	りゃ	みゃ	ひゃ	にゃ	ちゃ	しゃ	きゃ	ぴゃ	びゃ	じゃ	ぎゃ
yu	りゅ	みゅ	ひゅ	にゅ	ちゅ	しゅ	きゅ	ぴゅ	びゅ	じゅ	ぎゅ
yo	りょ	みょ	ひょ	にょ	ちょ	しょ	きょ	ぴょ	びょ	じょ	ぎょ

Katakana

	r	m	h	n	t	s	k	p	b	j	g
ya	リャ	ミャ	ヒャ	ニャ	ヂャ	シャ	キャ	ピャ	ビャ	ジャ	ギャ
yu	リュ	ミュ	ヒュ	ニュ	ヂュ	シュ	キュ	ピュ	ビュ	ジュ	ギュ
yo	リョ	ミョ	ヒョ	ニョ	ヂョ	ショ	キョ	ピョ	ビョ	ジョ	ギョ

Learning Topics

• Hiragana & Katakana
• Numbers & Counting
• Jōyō Kanji
• Basics (Colours, Animals, Directions, Weather, Family, Body)
• Days & Months
• Sentence Structure

Game Modes

Relaxed

The simplest mode for learning kana for those who aren't comfortable with all the Hiragana, Katakana and diagraphs. There is no timer or lives, and you can use any many tips as you want.

Time Attack

You're timed from 00:00 as soon as the first kana is presented. This mode is for those who are little more comfortable with all the kana and wish to test how fast they can answer all 214. A speed run if you will.

Rōmaji

The default game preset for the 'Rōmaji' question type. Here you're shown a single kana and must enter the rōmaji. Answering a question incorrectly loses 1 life. You start with 5 lives and 3 hints.

Kana

The default game present for the 'Kana' question type. Here you're given the rōmaji for a random kana and are presented with 4 kana on screen. You must select the correct kana for the given rōmaji. Answering a question incorrectly loses 1 life. You start with 5 lives and 3 hints.

Hardcore

The ultimate challenge for those with the utmost confidence in their Japanese kana knowledge (and reaction times). The question pool contains all 214 sounds. Hiragana, Katakana, Diagraphs & Diacriticals. You have 5 seconds to answer each question correctly and have only 1 life. Can you beat it?

Custom

Should none of the aforementioned presets work for you, this mode allows to configure any of the available game parameters.

• Display (Kana or Rōmaji Question Types)
• Kana (Syllabary / Diagraphs)
• Hints (Enabled / Quantity)
• Lives (Enabled / Quantity)
• Time (Timer / Count Down)

References

• [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana
• [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Diku_kanji
• [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CJK_Unified_Ideographs,_part_1_of_4
• [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CJK_Unified_Ideographs,_part_2_of_4
• [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CJK_Unified_Ideographs,_part_3_of_4
• [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CJK_Unified_Ideographs,_part_4_of_4
• [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_j%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji