At some point in the learning journey, almost everyone needs a break. So how can you come back to Japanese effectively after burning out and get motivated again?
The short answer is: just pick up where you left off and actually study again. While there are some ways to make the transition easier, there is no magic bullet: you literally just have to sit down and start doing it again.
This seems about right…
To be honest, I’m in a similar boat right now. After completing the first 10 levels of Wanikani with ease, I decided to reward myself with a small break. The small break turned into a longer break and then the idea of doing 400+ reviews was extremely unappealing so I just… didn’t. Eventually I had to face the music and get going again. I won’t lie, it was extremely difficult and trying to get myself motivated was a pain. But I’m pushing through and I’m on level 12 now so that’s at least progress.
Hopefully this post can help you find what you need to jump back in, but really, I hope it motivates me just as much!
Stop waiting for motivation to study Japanese after burning out.
Motivation is kind of a tricky concept. Realistically, a lot of the time you don’t need motivation, you need commitment. I think motivation implies waiting around for inspiration to feel like doing something, where as commitment is just doing it. If you’re just sitting around waiting to be motivated you’re never going to achieve anything. Don’t wait for motivation, just go and do it.
Here are some ideas that have helped me want to study Japanese again after burning out.
Remembering why you were studying Japanese in the first place.
Was it to read a particular manga? Was it because you wanted to be able to speak to friends in Japan? Was it for business? Remember your original goals and see how close you are to reaching them. Still a long way off? Break your study into smaller more bite sized goals and work towards them.
Recognise that sometimes life happens… but don’t use it as an excuse.
Ken realised that he was using his love of staring off into space as an excuse not to study.
Ok so maybe you’ve had a life event like moving house, starting a new job, a trip, a friend in crisis, whatever. These are all great reasons to recognise that you can’t study at full power 100% of the time. But that’s not a good excuse to stop your studies completely. Sure you might not have the brain space for 100+ kanji revisions every night but maybe you could watch a drama with subs or listen to some music in Japanese.
Life events make it easy to fall into the trap of using them as an excuse to say “Oh today was hard, I deserve a night off from studying”. While it’s probably true, it’s easy for one night off to turn into 2, then 3, then a week and well here we are. Be honest with yourself and understand when you NEED a break vs. can’t be bothered to work.
Sit down and… just do it.
Seriously, that’s all it takes. Sit down and study.
It feels like that’s not easy to do because coming back to a mountain of reviews seems much bigger than that. But it’s not.
If you’re anything like me, on your time off you’ve built up to dreading going back to studying. Dread at the reviews that piled up while you were gone, dread at the idea that you’ve forgotten everything, just general dread.
Dreading it isn’t helpful. What’s helpful is sitting down and studying for 10 minutes. So go do that instead!
Build momentum again… slowly.
Don’t worry if even a small child has more motivation to study that you, just do better than them and rub it in their tiny faces!
At this point you’ve convinced yourself to get back into it but if you’ve been using an SRS system then there are probably going to be a tonne of reviews that piled up while you were gone. Don’t think you can come back and just tackle them all in a day as it’s a quick way to make yourself hate it even more!
It’s much better to ease into learning and reviewing again. Start with 5 minutes of studying and tackle a few reviews. Don’t stress if you get them wrong. It’s better to lose a little knowledge and keep powering through.
Tips for tackling a big pile of reviews:
Do 5-10 at a time, multiple times a day.
Take breaks between sets.
Don’t waste time thinking hard about the answers, just answer and move on even if you’re wrong.
Remember that you don’t have to get the entire lot done the first day you start again. I had around 500 reviews piled up when I restarted, it took around a week to clear them all and get back into the swing. My study routine was still out for a few weeks because I wasn’t adding new kanji during that time either.
As you do a little more each day, you will find yourself sinking back into your old routines and hopefully enjoying it again!
Reward yourself.
It’s important to associate learning with positive feelings, especially if you’ve been avoiding coming back because it doesn’t seem fun anymore. Reward yourself with a little treat to help yourself keep focused.
I like to set myself 10 reviews to do and if I reach it within a time limit I eat an M&M. It’s silly but it’s effective!
Making study a positive experience really does help, especially in your first session back!
But be careful… don’t reward yourself with more time off!!
Try not to burn out again!
The first step is to actually touch the pen to the paper. Next, move the pen in various shapes!
Consider what got you into burning out in the first place. Were you working too hard? Over confident in your level? Studying too many hours? Going too easy on yourself? Boring work? Whatever it was you need to figure it out so you avoid doing it again! You can also check out my previous post on avoiding burn out for some tips.
So now what?
Coming back to Japanese after a prolonged absence is hard but it’s completely possible to get back into a good routine. You need to be committed to pushing through resistance until you are enjoying it again.
Now if only I felt motivated to write some more posts! Oh well… better tackle that Wanikani queue instead!
By now, you’ve got a good grasp on hiragana and katakana so it’s time to begin your kanji self study routine. Good work getting this far! There are multiple paths you can take from here, so to make it through kanji you will need to be organised and have a great plan of attack.
The most important things you will need learning Kanji is patience and determination. The amount of sheer memorisation involved is huge so having interesting ways to study and a good routine will help you avoid burning out!
Lots of kanji to learn and no time to waste so let’s get into it!
Before you start the kanji self study routine.
You too could learn all of these kanji and more for the low low price of your soul!
To get to this point I’ll assume you’ve already completed the 7 day hiragana guide and the 7 day katakana guide. You really need to be completely familiar with both kana before jumping into kanji or you will have problems down the line.
If you want to spend some time learning some very basic vocabulary and grammar before you get stuck into kanji that will also give you a great foundation to learn with.
About the guide
This guide is not going to teach you kanji, it’s just a road map on where to focus, how to manage your time and how use your own study apps and books effectively.
This is just a starting point on your kanji learning journey. The majority of your time will just be spent memorising the characters but this guide will point you in the right direction and set you up into a study routine that you can continue going forward.
Remember your end goals.
Kanji isn’t something that needs to be included in every Japanese learners study plan. So if you’re only at the kanji stage because it’s “next” in the order things to learn, then you should consider your goals and decide whether it fits. It’s a shame to sink such a HUGE amount of time into kanji if you aren’t going to have any use for it at the end!
If you’re unsure if kanji works with your goals, have a read of my previous article to decide whether you REALLY need kanji.
Avoiding the slump.
Karen decided it was easier to hulk out rather than having to learn 2000 kanji.
With long terms study like this, it’s almost unavoidable to end up in a slump at some point. Inspiration and motivation come and go so the important thing is to figure out how to push through and keep going. That’s pretty personal as it involves figuring out your own motivations.
As you worked through kana, you have hopefully figured out what kind of study routine works well for you. Take this knowledge and use it to tailor your approach to kanji. Work at a time of day that you feel the most alert, have music to get you in the mood and take regular breaks to refresh your mind.
It’s pretty tempting to think “Ok I’ll devote myself fully to kanji for a year and then move on to vocabulary and grammar once I’m done”. Studying this way is so much harder because you won’t be able to link concepts together to memorise them. Flash cards are good but being able to read kanji in the wild or in a book and link it to an experience is much more effective at sealing it in your memory.
On this note, I highly suggest using a program that includes vocabulary WITH your kanji learning. By learning vocabulary items that contain your kanji, you memorising things that are more useful in every day life and also reenforce the kanji you know.
Personally I think it’s best to alternate concentration between levels of kanji and grammar as it feels like you have a fuller understanding of the language. It also makes you feel like you’re progressing a lot faster!
Budget your resources: time and financial!
Kanji is the hardest part of Japanese. Frankly it’s tedious and very easy to burn out on. As such I think it’s important to use every resource you have at your disposal to get through it. If you’ve been saving your money, now is the time to start using it! Buy which ever apps or resources you think will help you stick with it to the end.
You will also need to start budgeting your time efficiently. When you were just tackling kana, it was easy to revise things in a few minutes a day. Kanji study is cumulative and you will need to adjust your routine to make sure you cover everything. If you are also studying grammar and vocabulary this can really blow your timelines out!
This study plan aims for around 30-35 minutes a day but you should adjust that to your own learning speed and schedule.
Now let’s get to the first day!
Kanji Self Study Routine
Julie was all ready to go in her kanji self study, just as soon as she returned her overdue library books.
Kanji Day 1 – Wtf is kanji.
Kanji are basically characters (originating from China) that represent entire words or ideas. They are incorporated into Japanese either alone or with hiragana attached. While hiragana and katakana are used often, without kanji knowledge you will never be able to read entire sentences.
Key study points:
How does kanji work? Kanji is a bit harder than kana because each character represents a concept, and characters can have multiple meanings and pronunciations based on context. Combining 2 kanji can result in a word with a different meaning. We will cover the idea of readings tomorrow but today you should just get a basic understanding of how kanji works.
Kanji are used alone, together or in conjunction with hiragana to represent words. There are no spaces between words in Japanese so hiragana particles break up the kanji.
For example:
Japanese: 今日は日本語を勉強しています。 Romanji: Kyou wa nihongo wo benkyoushite imasu. English: Today I’m learning Japanese.
In that sentence, the words for “today”, “Japanese” and “study” are all made of kanji which is broken up by hiragana.
The word 今日 means today, the reading is きょう (kyou). It’s made up of 2 kanji which individually represent “now” and “day”. Those two kanji have their own readings/meanings when used individually but when used together they are read as “kyou”.
So to know that part of the sentence, you would need to learn the 今 and 日 kanji characters, their individual readings, then them together as the vocabulary word with pronunciation.
Sound complicated? It’s not as bad as my terrible explanation makes it but there is a lot to remember. Check the suggested reading article in today’s study break down and from there, do your own research online until you have a good grasp on how kanji is used in sentences.
Choosing your study resources. I haven’t written out a full guide on recommended kanji study apps yet but I will update here once it’s complete. In the mean time you should look for an SRS app that has mnemonics, revision and type in answers (not just flash cards). Ideally you want it to have simple levels so you can measure your progress and the ability to pause revisions in case you need a break.
I’m currently using Wanikani which has all of those features. The main downside to Wanikani is the price and that there is no official app currently. The mobile versions of the website are ok but it’s a lot easier to use the desktop version. The benefits far out weight the negatives though so have a look as the first 3 levels are free.
Study time break down:
Research and choose your study apps – 15min
Research and understand how kanji is used in Japanese sentences by reading Tae Kim’s guide or similar guides- 15min
Kanji Day 2 – Readings
Maybe stick to pen and paper, chalk seems a bit counter productive… but you do you.
Today we’ll be learning all about kanji readings and the differences between them so buckle in!
Key study points:
Readings So as you saw in yesterdays’s guide, for each kanji you learn there are quite a few different things to memorise.
Each character usually has 2 kinds of reading: Kun-yomi- Japanese readings, usually used for words that only have 1 character. On-yomi- Chinese original readings, usually used for words with multiple characters.
I’m using the word “usually” a lot here because like all language rules: they are more like guidelines and there are exceptions.
For example:
Character: 日 Meaning: Sun/Day On yomi- にち, じつ Kun yomi- ひ, か, び
To make all of this easier, hopefully your study app has good mnemonics that include the readings and meanings together. That will save you a lot of time and trouble! In terms of studying, it’s most useful to learn matching vocabulary with kanji as you go so you can cement the readings with different words.
Setting long and short term goals At this point you should also begin setting your kanji goals. Figure out what level you are working towards, when your end date is and how many kanji you need to achieve that. Next use that data to decide how many new characters you need to learn every day. I suggest giving yourself some breathing room and trying to finish 1 month before your actual end date so if you need to take time out you aren’t pushing yourself.
Kanji radicals are about as radical as this sweet virtual reality set.
Well done on making it so far, this is the last day before you jump into actual kanji! Today we are learning about kanji radicals which are the building blocks that make up characters.
Key study points:
Radicals So you’ve seen some kanji at this point and they are all looking a bit the same by now… that’s because most kanji are made up from roughly the same set of simpler characters. The simple characters are called radicals and it’s a common teaching technique to learn the radicals before you learn proper kanji.
By learning the radicals you set yourself up to be able to use their meanings in mnemonics when you learn kanji. This can be really useful as it helps you to “read” the characters and guess their meanings more easily.
The downside of this is that you then are adding a few hundred more characters to your learning list. Radicals don’t have pronunciations so at least it’s one less thing to learn. Have a read about them and think about whether this is something that you would find helpful or just tedious.
Read through a list of most common radicals to familiarise yourself – 15min
Kanji Day 4 – Learning your first Kanji
After about 500 kanji learned, Justine was even dreaming in Japanese. Bad dreams, but it’s still a step forward…
Well done on making it into the actual kanji phase! By now you should have a grip of what kanji is, how it’s used and how long it’s going to take you to achieve your goals.
Key study points:
Start learning! So now it’s time to use whatever learning app you chose to start burning through the kanji! Ideally to make good speed, I suggest aiming to learn 10 kanji or radicals per day but it’s totally up to you and your schedule.
Mixing in grammar and other learning. Remember when I said not to learn kanji in a vacuum? Now is the time to put it into practice. Break up your study by doing something OTHER than straight up kanji. Learn some grammar, read a book, watch tv, do literally anything else you like to keep things interesting.
Study time break down:
Learn 10 new kanji – 15min
Learn some new grammar or other non-kanji Japanese – 15min
Kanji Day 5 – Your average day – Learn and revise
“How do I say you have terrible breath in Japanese?” Kylie asked.
Today is the the last day in the guide and it’s the day which you will repeat for most of the rest of your study. Up until now you’ve been learning about kanji, from this point on it’s really just about getting it all into your brain.
Key study points:
Learning. Every day try to aim to hit your goal of characters learned!
Revisions and mini revisions. Revision can mean a lot of things. For the most part to progress in your app you will probably need to do a certain amount of standard multiple choice questions or type in answers. Don’t limit yourself to that though. Write characters down, use them to talk to friends, recognise characters in subtitles etc.
It’s also great if you can do mini reviews like you were doing with kana. If you can, do the revisions your app requires in bites of 5-10min throughout the day and then using your study revision time to do something fun.
Study time break down:
Learn 10 new kanji – 15min
Revise the kanji – 10min
Grammar/reading/tv/anything else – 10min
Where do we go from here?
You too will be this appropriately happy once you finish your 2000 Kanji. Everyone will also have coffee for some reason. I don’t know.
Well done on making it through the kanji self study routine basics! Now it’s up to you to repeat Day 5 and keep learning!
You should have your goal plan set out and rewards along the way as you hit your targets so there’s not much left to tell you other than to keep going!
What about grammar and vocabulary?
Grammar and vocab are just as important as kanji so we will tackle them next and I’ll put together a full timeline of my guides to learning Japanese.
For now, stick to learning your kanji so you have a good base, I suggest at least finishing up to N5 level before you get into too much grammar. By learning some kanji before you get stuck into grammar you will find it a lot easier eventually read and understand.
The main take away here is to keep pushing through. While it does seem insurmountable, keep chipping away at kanji until you reach the end and you’ll be fluent in no time.
It is extremely easy to get overwhelmed when learning Japanese. It’s pretty much as far from English as you can possible get and learning several new alphabets is tough. It’s listed as one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn and with thousands of characters to memorise, it’s easy to feel like you aren’t making any progress.
Once you find yourself on a path of being overwhelmed it can be hard to climb out without spiralling. The best thing to do is avoid the downturn in the first place by pacing yourself and creating good habits. Once you’re in a slump the easiest way to get out is to pivot and completely change your study plan.
Learning a language is a big undertaking so today I’ll share my biggest tips on avoiding a Japanese slump.
How To Avoid Becoming Overwhelmed By Japanese
Learning Japanese is a multi-year commitment so it’s inevitable that your interest will ebb and flow during that time. The key to long term learning success is to know how to sail through the low points and make it to the next upswing.
Trent regretted committing to learning Japanese when he remembered that he couldn’t read in any language.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
The biggest tip I can give is to not go crazy with your study schedule. When you’re starting out and you have the kind of energy that makes you want to LEARN ALL THE KANJI… don’t. By starting with a completely unrealistic study routine you are setting yourself up for failure.
Take a hard look at your schedule and see how much free time you can consistently devote to studying. If you’re working full time and have other commitments, don’t think you can do 5 hours a day because that kind of routine will burn you out quickly.
Personally, for an adult with a life, I think half an hour a day is a good amount of study with more on the weekends. You can also pepper in learning throughout the day with games but don’t force it if you’re getting bored!
Study a little every day consistently.
Studies have shown that studying a little bit every day is better for knowledge retention than doing long drawn out sessions. It’s better to study in smaller amounts like 30min a day where you can really concentrate, rather than force yourself through several hours when you would rather be doing literally anything else.
The longer your study session, the more likely your mind to wander. When you find yourself reading the same sentence over and over, you’re not retaining information and there’s no point.
One thing I find effective is to review kanji in 5 minute bursts throughout the day. This really breaks up my work day and by linking kanji to being a reward in my mind, I’m more likely to follow through with proper study later.
Set small, tangible goals.
“Learning Japanese” is a terrible goal. It’s vague and not something with a quantifiable end. You don’t one day wake up and go “Oh I have achieved learning Japanese!”.
If you are motivated by goal setting, you should be setting small achievable goals that are easy to tick off a to do list.
For example, these are good goals:
It can be depressing when you’ve been studying hard but even a small child has more vocabulary than you do.
Learn 10 new kanji
Revise hiragana for 20min
Read 1 manga without using a dictionary
Get 90% on Clozemaster
Do 5 lessons of Mirai Japanese and the super quiz
All of those things are tangible instructions which can be completed and ticked off.
Set yourself a long term plan with Big, Medium and Small goals. Small goals are thing you do daily, Medium are monthly and Big are the ones that will take many months or years.
For example:
Small – Learn 5 new Kanji Medium – Read through 10 Chapters of Genki 1 Big – Learn and pass a test on JLPT N3 Kanji
By having a constant stream of achievements you will be able to see actual progression and it’s really motivating.
Mark that out with your word lists or kanji goal and get ready to feel REALLY good when you colour it in.
Study in interesting ways.
Sure, cracking a text book and buckling down is the standard way to study but it’s not the only one. Consume media, read books, watch tv, talk to people, put your language skills to good use! This is really helpful because it creates links and re-enforces the words you’ve learned in new contexts.
For this to work you will need to understand what kind of learning makes you tick. Is your goal to read manga? Then find some comics that are appropriate to your level and start reading. Want to make some language friends? Then get online and start studying together.
Buddy up.
“Yes, don’t you think this blank page really matches my dress?” Corine said in perfect Japanese.
Speaking of language friends, now is a great time to make some. It can be super motivating to be accountable to someone else when you’re studying solo. While you might not enjoy the classroom setting, it’s much easier to chat to like minded people online. If you play online games, try chatting in Japanese and seeing how far you can get. Talk to people on Instagram, make a specific language account to mark your progress online.
If you’re not at a level that you feel comfortable speaking Japanese get then make friends with people who are also learning Japanese. Set a goal that all of your conversations will eventually be in Japanese and start teaching each other.
Don’t overshoot your level.
While it’s important to challenge yourself with new material, if it’s too hard you will become discouraged. If you can’t understand anything it’s easy to think that your study so far has been a waste. So make sure you stick to media that is around your current level rather than skipping far ahead.
Much lower level – Boring, easy to gloss over meanings. Slightly lower level – Easy to understand, good to build confidence! Current level – Great to reenforce and revise what you are learning. Slightly higher level – Good for learning new words by context. Much higher level – Hard, discouraging because you don’t feel like you know anything.
Recognise when you need a break.
If the thought of doing your current study routine fills you with dread, it’s time to rethink your schedule. Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away for a while and come back refreshed. Set a realistic timeline like 7 days and make sure you have a date to come back to.
The key to a good break is to get your mind refreshed and ready to learn again.
Recently I found I was struggling with getting through the levels in Wanikani so I decided to give myself a 7 day break. The break wasn’t long enough and it was mostly filled with other stressful life things in my life. When I sat back down at my computer it didn’t feel like any time had passed at all!
Many SRS programs don’t have pause buttons so while you’re away, your revisions might keep piling up! It’s very unmotivating to come back to a few hundred revisions so I always suggest trying to just push through the slump if you can.
So for taking a break to work, you need to be honest with yourself and know if walking away will re-invigorate you or if your attention will just move to somewhere else. My break was filled with stress so while it didn’t inspire me, it lifted one thing off my plate so I could concentrate on the rest of my life.
Make study relaxing.
Study time or bed time? Hard to tell somedays tbh.
Studying doesn’t have to be a slog. You can train yourself to find it relaxing and comforting. Most of these ideas are aimed around longer study sessions (30min+) but they are really effective to get into study mood.
Find a soundtrack. Do you like those Youtube compilations of music to study/chill to? Perfect. Like something else? Go nuts. The key is to only play this music during your study sessions. It’s better to use your own music rather than the sound track of any apps you’re using so it can carry over as your learning journey progresses. When you turn the music on it should tell your brain: it’s time to study!
Mix with your favourite routines or snacks. Love coffee? Study time is now coffee time. On a diet? Reward your study sessions with a treat you’ve been denying yourself. The key is to find something relaxing that already makes you happy and link it in your brain to studying.
Try to use your other senses like smell! Another way to trick your mind into a studying mood is to use smell. Find a nice candle and use it only during your study periods. Anything you can do to link in your other senses is great.
Help! I already got overwhelmed and I want to quit…
Firstly, don’t quit.
Maybe find somewhere more comfortable than the bare floor to study. That laptop doesn’t look very ergonomic.
Ok so things are looking a bit down but don’t give up! Take stock of how much you’ve already learned, when you lay it all out you will probably be surprised at how far you’ve come. So don’t stop, if you quit now you will have a much harder time achieving your goals!
Inspiration tends to come in waves so don’t feel like you need to be at 100% at all times. It’s perfectly reasonable to scale back your study when other life events get in the way.
The important thing is to keep moving forward, even if it’s at a slower pace.
Stop treading water.
Particularly while learning kanji, I find myself treading water rather than actively learning. The downside to SRS apps is that once you are a few months into learning, the reviews really pile up heavily. The work loads increase a lot and if you skip a day or two it’s like coming back to 3 times the work.
With that in mind, it’s easy to find yourself only barely keeping up with reviews rather than learning new words and moving forward. It’s an easy trap to fall into but if you aren’t learning new words, you aren’t making progress. Of course it’s important to revise but not at the expense of keeping yourself motivated.
My advice here to to KEEP LEARNING. Even if it’s only 1-2 new words a day, learn something to keep your brain active. Don’t fall into a pit of reviews of 500 reviews, give your mind something interesting. Set a time limit on your reviews so they aren’t taking over.
Scale back
Pete scaled back his study by not writing in Japanese at all.
Getting through 5-10min of revisions seemed easy when you were at Level 1 in Wanikani but towards Level 10+ the amount of time required is a lot greater.
A lot of SRS programs are primed for optimal learning but they don’t really take into account your life outside of the app. For most people, it’s easy to study for 20min a day but if you have 200 reviews of kanji piled up that’s probably going to take a lot longer. Not to mention factoring in grammar and vocab.
Give yourself permission to stick to your study schedule and work around your life. Learning is important but if it’s causing you stress or eating into other areas of life, don’t feel at all guilty at scaling back. Learning Japanese isn’t a race!
If you can pause your reviews while you try something else that’s even better because you can pick up where you left off without worrying about a pile of work when you’re ready to come back.
Take a different approach.
It’s been suggested already to PREVENT burn out, but changing your study habits it a great way to dig your way back out once you’re there too.
Often I find it’s not that I’m bored of learning Japanese but rather I’m bored of the app I’m using or the kind of learning I’m doing. If you’re sick of your apps then take a look through some of my recommendations to see if there’s something new to try. Or if you’re bored of kanji then switch to grammar. If you’re bored of grammar then switch to listening etc.
Sometimes I’m also just bored of stuffy polite words. To combat that, I can keep my interest up if I skip reading text books and put my skills to use reading social media accounts. The conversation there flows a lot more easily and it’s nicer to be able to just chat freely without being overly concerned about being CORRECT.
If all else fails take a break.
If you just can’t push through then it’s time for a break. While I think it’s important to try new things and ways of learning, if it’s not working then you need to recognise it and quit before you never want to come back!
Keep in mind that it can be harder to get that enthusiasm coming back to learning than it was the first time.
In conclusion…
Remember, learning Japanese isn’t a race but it is a ticking time bomb.
Feeling overwhelmed by learning Japanese is a pretty normal part of studying a language so don’t feel bad if it happens to you. Often we take for granted how easy it is to communicate even basic concepts when you’re a native speaker so it seems like a huge step down while you’re learning.
To keep from feeling overwhelmed you should give yourself clear small goals and track your progress. Try different styles of learning and make your study time a relaxing part of your day.
If you do start spiralling, stop and take stock of how much progress you’ve made. Don’t give up, just try to study in a different way. Keep trying new things until you get back into the groove.
Remember that there is no right way to learn Japanese and any study is better than no study!
So at this point, you’ve already powered through learning hiragana and now you need to continue with a katakana self study routine! Katakana is the second set of characters you need to read Japanese and luckily, it only takes another few days to learn them!
The most important factors to learning katakana without a teacher are: good study materials, a strong routine and powering through. The routine you set up in your hiragana study will continue here and it’s important to keep on track so you don’t burn out when you eventually get to kanji!
Katakana can be harder than hiragana because the initial excitement has worn off and it’s easy to mix up the characters. If you can focus you’ll be done with basic kana in just another week, so let’s get into it!
Before you start the katakana self study routine.
And to think, this person hasn’t even changed their notes since we were studying hiragana!
I’m going to assume you’ve already gone through and completed my 7 day hiragana study guide and you’re familiar with some of the ideas I’m using. If not, I strongly suggest you complete hiragana before you learn katakana to avoid confusion.
Hiragana will give you a foundation in how Japanese characters work/sound so it’s important to get through it first.
Refocus your goals.
While studying hiragana you should have gained some insight into what works best for you in terms of study and revision. This will help you tailor your katakana study to be more effective. For example if you found writing tedious, skip it and replace it with reading. If you hated multiple choice cards, replace them with write in answers. Try to keep it interesting and be consistent with your end goals in mind.
I find it effective to make your study into a ritual. Have the same kind of tea or coffee every time, play the same music, sit in the same place. This will help your brain get into study mode easily even if you’re not feeling it when you sit down.
Remember that learning Japanese is a long term goal not a sprint!
Don’t forget to revise hiragana.
Considering you’ve just spent a week on hiragana, it’s tempting to put it to the side and concentrate all of your energy on katakana. That’s not a good way to learn. If you ignore hiragana at this point, you will quickly forget the characters or mix them up with katakana. You need to study both simultaneously now to get the best results. I have included 10 minutes per day of hiragana revision in this plan on top of the 30min learning and revising katakana.
This study plan aims for around 40 minutes a day but you can adjust that around your own learning speeds.
Budget your resources.
As mentioned previously, if your later goals don’t include kanji then you might want to buy the higher priced apps I’ve recommended here. If you do plan on tackling kanji then stick with the free or lower priced apps and save your coins for the harder tasks later.
Before you start studying katakana you will need:
An iPhone or Android to download learning apps
Access to a printer and paper
A pen
Now let’s get to the first day!
Katakana Self Study Routine
Jessica loved that she could do her katakana practice easily on her phone, if only it had actually been switched on.
Day 1 – Wtf is katakana.
Like hiragana, there are 46 characters in basic katakana alphabet and plenty more when you add in modifiers. The sounds are also the same with katakana so we won’t be spending specific time focusing on pronunciation again. Make sure to continue saying the characters out loud as you go anyway as practice.
This is your first day on katakana so we’re only going to deal with the 5 vowels so you can spend more time revising hiragana while it’s fresh in your mind.
Key study points:
Download your study resources. This guide assumes you’re using the apps I recommended in my katakana app guide. Particularly, I recommend Katakana Memory Hint and Kana School or Kana Mind but if you want to use your own apps that’s fine. You need to have a “learning app” and a “revision app” for this to work well. If you’re looking for a learning app, check for mnemonics, pictures and easy learning tools that stick in your brain. The revision app needs to have quick multiple choice tests or typing tests so you can improve your reading speed.
Install your apps and also print out several katakana practice sheets to use later in the course.
What is the difference between hiragana and katakana?
Hiragana and katakana cover the same character lists and sounds. So what is the point of katakana when you can already spell everything with hiragana?
Hiragana is used for: Japanese origin words, grammar points, joining kanji words together, just about everything. Katakana is used for: foreign words, foreign names, emphasis, onomatopoeia, technical words, sound effects, stuff that doesn’t fit in Japanese.
Katakana is kind of like an emphasis on a word or writing in bold font. Hiragana and katakana are never mixed into the same words and you will need to know both to communicate in Japanese.
Study time break down:
Download your study apps – 5min
Learn the 5 vowel characters (A, I, U, E, O) in your study app – 10min
Compare the characters to their hiragana counter parts and say them out loud to learn pronunciation – 10min
Revise the characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the hiragana characters in your revision app – 10min
Katakana Self Study Routine Day 2 – K and S characters
She decided to take her studies to the next level: the floor.
Ok day 2 coming up! If you made it through hiragana study you’ll know the first thing we do is revise yesterday’s characters. After that, it’s time to jump into some comparisons with hiragana and how you can tell them apart.
Key study points:
Still revising? This is a good point to pause and check in with yourself on how the revision process is working for you. Revising the characters is almost more important than learning them in the first place. So make sure you’re still taking the time every day to skim over yesterday’s work and get in some multiple choices.
Comparing characters After you’ve learned some katakana you might see some similarities in the characters. Several katakana characters just look like pointy versions of their matching hiragana. Ka is a great example of this. Very easy to remember! The flip side is that some of the characters also look extremely similar… like Ku and Ke, so it’s important to take time to get the hang of them.
Learn the K characters (Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko) and S characters (Sa, Shi, Su Se, So) in your study app – 15min
Compare the katakana and hiragana tables to look at similar characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the hiragana characters in your revision app – 10min
Katakana Self Study Routine Day 3 – T and N characters with writing practice
The virtual reality suit for learning katakana was one step too far though. After several tests, Mary was diagnosed with “Katakana madness“.
By day 3 things might feel like a bit of a slog so let’s break it up with some writing practice.
Once you finish today’s lesson you will be half way there so keep your head up!
Key study points:
Revision tips The first revision today will include all of the katakana you’ve learned up to this point. Make sure to concentrate on keeping your speed up. Don’t spend ages debating over a question, just pick an answer and move on. If it’s wrong, take a moment to review and keep going. This will set you up to recognise the characters as second nature.
Keeping up with hiragana By now you might be bored with standard multiple choice questions so if your app offers type in questions or written/drawings then switch to that. If you find revising with the app is getting tedious then switch to writing out any words you know in hiragana. You could also download children’s picture books to get an idea of how much hiragana you’ll need to read. Tailor your hiragana revisions to what you personally find the most interesting.
Writing If you haven’t already, print out your katakana practice sheets so you can start writing. While it’s not a skill that you will use often, it’s a great learning tool. Write out characters that you find hard to remember and compare them to similar characters. Say the character out loud as you go and see how quickly you can get the pen to paper accurately.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 T characters (Ta, Chi, Tsu, Te, To) and 5 N characters (Na, Ni, Nu, Ne, No) in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the hiragana characters in your revision app – 10min
Katakana Self Study Routine Day 4 – H and M characters and mini revisions
The only known cure for Katakana madness is to buckle down and get through the week of study.
By now hopefully you are in a good routine with your studying every day. If you find yourself speeding up then embrace it and use the extra time to revise in more interesting ways. Try to get creative with it!
Key study points:
Restarting mini revisions. If you stopped doing mini revisions throughout the day after finishing hiragana then now is the time to get back into it. Mini revisions are 5-10 question lightening rounds that you do several times a day to speed up your recognition. Try to do them with both hiragana and katakana now.
Mixing katakana and hiragana. Now is also a great time to start revising the hiragana and katakana together at once if your app allows it. By mixing the questions up you will learn to differentiate the characters and make more memory connections in your mind.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 H characters (Ha, Hi, Fu, He, Ho) and 5 M characters (Ma, Mi, Mu Me, Mo) in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few characters you have trouble remembering – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the mixed hiragana and katakana characters in your revision app – 10min
Katakana Self Study Routine Day 5 – Y, R, W, N characters
April wished she had just taken 7 days to study before being diagnosed with severe Katakana madness.
Today is your last day of the basic katakana, well done! Like with hiragana, there is just one other full set of 5 along with a few stragglers. If you complete the lessons today you have finished all of the basic katakana and just have the modifiers left. So get studying!
Key study points:
Left over characters. These left over characters are used in the same ways that they were in hiragana. The W and N characters are used a lot less often as katakana is not used for grammar points.
Similar characters. Today you also have the last of some very similar characters: N, No, So, Tsu and Shi. All of these look a bit like smiley faces but they differ in the number and direction of the flicks. These are all characters that are used often so be sure to look closely so you can tell the difference!
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 R characters (Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro), the 3 Y characters (Ya, Yu, Yo), the 2 W characters (Wa, Wo), and the N character in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the mixed hiragana and katakana characters in your revision app – 10min
Katakana Self Study Routine Day 6 – Modifiers – Dakuten and Handakuten
Rachel was no fool, she knew from health class that Katakana Madness was spread via study contact through windows. Only regular old book study for her!
Yep you guessed it, the 46 regular katakana are also joined by dakuten and handakuten to form new sounds. For this lesson make sure you have a hiragana chart that includes modified characters. The idea is exactly the same as hiragana so if you understand the concept you can skip the key study points.
Key study points:
Understanding modifiers – Dakuten The first of the modifiers we will study today are called Dakuten. They look a bit like quotation marks and you add them to top right of the regular katakana to change the sound. They are used on characters that start with K, S, T and H. The same basic sound concepts apply, they just change the consonants so K>G, S>Z, T>D and H>B.
Understanding modifiers – Hadakuten The second kind of modifier for today is Hadakuten, it looks like a little circle and it’s used to change H sounds to P.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 kinds of modified characters that use Dakuten and Hadakuten – 15min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the mixed hiragana and katakana characters in your revision app – 10min
Katakana Self Study Routine Day 7 – Modifiers – Diagraphs
Well done on making it to the last day!
As with hiragana, our last day is spent studying diagraphs. They are used in exactly the same way here so they might also not be included in your flash card app. If you can’t revise them that way then just try writing them down.
Key study points:
Understanding modifiers – Diagraphs Ya/Yu/Yo Diagraphs are a kind of mini character that’s put after the main katakana. It changes the vowel sound on the end, so for example Ki+mini ya = Kya sound. You can do this with Ya, Yu or Yo, just check your katakana chart to see which other characters it works with.
Understanding modifiers – Diagraphs Tsu The tsu character is a little different. When Tsu is used as the mini character, it means that the next character’s consonant is double long. So Ki-mini tsu-Ko becomes ki-kko when you pronounce it.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the Y and Tsu modified characters in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Revise the mixed hiragana and katakana characters in your revision app – 10min
Congratulations you’ve finished learning katakana through self study!
Katakana Madness symptoms include being awkwardly surprised at flags. If symptoms persist please see your medical professional. Then go learn kanji.
Second week of Japanese study is DONE! You have officially added katakana to the Japanese systems you know! That’s over a hundred characters you’ve learned in just 2 weeks: CONGRATULATIONS!
“Finishing” is kind of misleading though, this isn’t the end of kana. When you move on to your next lessons you need to continue to revise your katakana and hiragana until it’s embedded in your brain as a second nature.
Now what? How do I apply this? Kanji?
Hell yeah the next step is kanji and there is no time for a break! I suggest jumping right into kanji the next day but if you do need an information holiday just do a few days of kana revision before you move on.
Don’t take any actual days off though, stick to the 30 minutes a day and keep your motivation high! Now you should be able to sound out some easy words. Try writing your name in katakana, check out some Japanese social media to see kana in the wild and try have some fun with it.
My next study guide will show you how to integrate kanji, vocabulary and grammar into your study so stay tuned!
The main point is to keep studying in the mean time until you can recognise and read hiragana and katakana as easily as English.
If you’re at the beginning of your journey into the Japanese language, the first thing you’ll need is a hiragana self study routine! Hiragana is the first set of characters you will learn to begin reading Japanese and you can teach yourself in just a few days.
The key points to learning hiragana without a teacher are: good resources, good study routines and determination. The routine you set up now will either help or hinder your entire Japanese journey so I’ll show you how to get into good habits early.
Unless you’re still in education you probably don’t have a regular study routine currently. Self study has some major obstacles so it’s important to know what to focus on. You’re probably excited to get started, so let’s jump in.
Before you start the hiragana self study routine.
A good place to store your writing is in a notebook! Who would have thought?
There are a couple of things you need to think about to decide if self study is right for you. I’ll be writing a post on that soon but for now, I’ll assume you’ve thought it over and come to the conclusion that you would prefer to study alone!
Decide what your Japanese focus and goals are.
You can’t study effectively if you don’t know what you’re working towards. Hiragana is important to any form of Japanese reading so your overall goals won’t effect the plan too much in this routine but it’s still important to consider them so you can tailor your study plan. Later on you might decide that you have no interest in reading and concentrate only on listening and speaking. But if your aim is to read manga then you will definitely want to get as quick as possible at recognising characters.
Don’t get overwhelmed by jumping in too fast.
Timing is key to learning. Some people jump in head first and try to memorise every hiragana character in a day. Later they find they can’t recall anything well at all! Learning too much at once is just not effective. While it’s exciting to get started, if you commit to just doing a little bit every day and you will get much better results long term.
Set aside time every day.
The most important part of a study routine is constancy. A little bit every day is better than 1 long session once a week. Your brain will get fatigued with too much new information at once and not take any of it in. Personally I find that I learn best first thing in the morning so I do my study right after breakfast while I have a cup of coffee. Find what time learning works best for you. If you can, also get some music that you only listen to during study time so it sets the mood and primes your brain to learn.
This study plan aims for around 30 minutes a day but you can adjust that around your own learning speeds.
Consider your budget for resources.
If you don’t plan to go further than kana, you might want to splash out on the higher priced resources I recommend in this guide. If not then I recommend keeping your budget tight for hiragana and splurging further down the line when you start kanji.
Before you start studying hiragana you will need:
An iPhone or Android to download learning apps
Access to a printer and paper
A pen
Now let’s get to the first day!
Hiragana Self Study Routine
If your desk looks like this then you probably aren’t getting much learning done.
Day 1 – Getting comfortable with vowels and sounds.
There are 46 characters in basic hiragana and it almost doubles when you add in modifiers. We’re going to learn the base 46 over the next 5 days then tackle the modified characters on days 6 and 7.
As it’s the first day we’re only going to deal with the 5 vowels so you can get a feel of how Japanese actually sounds.
Key study points:
Download your study resources. In this guide I will be assuming that you are using the apps I’ve recommended in my hiragana app guide. Specifically I am recommending Hiragana Memory Hint and Kana School for this course but you can substitute any of the other apps so long as you have a “learning app” and a “revision app”. The learning app should have an easy way for you to learn eg. mnemonics and the revision app should have a fast paced multiple choice test where you can select which characters to include.
Go ahead and install those apps and then print out several hiragana practice sheets for later use.
Pronunciation The most important thing to take away from today’s study session is how the vowels are pronounced. The vowel sounds effect how all of the other Japanese characters sound so they are important to get right. Listen to the guides in your apps and try to say them out loud. Make sure that you are matching the Japanese pronunciation rather than your native language.
Study time break down:
Download your study apps – 5min
Learn the 5 vowel characters (A, I, U, E, O) in your study app – 10min
Study pronunciation of the characters and say them out loud – 10min
Revise the characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 2 – K and S characters
Remember that just highlighting English text will not improve your hiragana knowledge.
Today is our second day learning, so the first thing we need to do is revise the characters we learned yesterday. You only know the 5 vowels so far, so it should just take a few minutes to do your revision at the beginning of the study session.
Key study points:
Revising from yesterday Revision will become an important part of your study routine so it’s good to get in the habit now. Start each session directly revising what you covered the day before. It doesn’t have to be in depth, don’t spend ages re-reading, just skim over the characters/mnemonics and run a round of the multiple choice quiz.
Understanding the sound table After learning the next group of characters you should spend a little time looking over the rest of the hiragana chart to understand how the vowels interact with the table to make sounds. You can find a nice hiragana chart print out which includes stroke order or here’s one which includes all of the modifiers.
Study time break down:
Revise yesterday’s vowels – 5min
Learn the K characters (Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko) and S characters (Sa, Shi, Su Se, So) in your study app – 15min
Look over the hiragana table to understand how the character sounds interact – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 3 – T and N characters with writing practice
Karen wondered why it was taking her so long to learn today’s 10 characters and then she realised this was all a dream, she was studying French and her name was Anne.
You don’t want to get bogged down so today we’re going to break things up so it’s a bit more interesting. After you’ve done your revisions and learned your new characters you will start to give writing a try.
By the end of today’s session you will know 25 characters, you’re more than half way there!
Key study points:
Revision tips Today’s first revision should include all of the characters you’ve learned so far. Don’t spend any extra time on this, just try to answer as many questions as you can. It’s not important to revise every single character every day, just get a general gauge of how you’re doing.
The T’s Keep a sharp eye out for the sounds of the T characters, so far most of the sounds have followed the table with their vowels. Chi and Tsu are a little bit different so watch the pronunciation.
Writing Today we’re going to give writing a try. You should have already printed out your hiragana practice sheets so grab them and start writing. These days with computers and phones, people don’t write much in their every day lives. It’s much less important than it used to be to have perfect writing. Rather than learning to writing fluently, our practice aims to give your brain another way to remember the hiragana. This is particularly effective for characters you’re having trouble remembering so start with those.
Try to match your stroke order with the examples given and see how fast you can produce the characters accurately. I find it helps a surprising amount to say the character out loud as you go too.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 T characters (Ta, Chi, Tsu, Te, To) and 5 N characters (Na, Ni, Nu, Ne, No) in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 4 – H and M characters and mini revisions
Janine started practicing her hiragana and before she knew it, she’d written the recipe for tomato soup.
Today we tackle the H and M characters and do some writing revisions of the previous lessons. You should be in a routine of learning every day now so you might find yourself not needing the full time to learn the characters. If this is the case, don’t linger, just switch over to writing practice early and add some more characters.
Key study points:
Mini revisions. At this point it’s a great idea to start doing mini revisions throughout your day. Each set of mini revisions should only take you a few minutes so stick to 5-10 questions. The aim of these revisions is to begin to speed up your recognition. You want to get as fast as possible so you can read easily without sounding things out. Don’t worry about getting answers wrong, just go with your first feeling until it becomes instinct.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 H characters (Ha, Hi, Fu, He, Ho) and 5 M characters (Ma, Mi, Mu Me, Mo) in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few characters you have trouble remembering – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 5 – Y, R, W, N characters
Today is your last day of the basic hiragana characters, well done! There is only one more full set of 5 along with a few stragglers.
Once you complete the lessons today you will know all of the basic hiragana, so get studying!!
Key study points:
Left over characters. Today’s lesson only has 1 full character set while the others are fewer than the full sets. The W and N characters here are often used in special ways. For example, the N character always comes at the end of the word and sometimes it sounds a bit more like an M. The Wo character is used as a particle which you’ll learn about later when you study grammar. Make sure you listen carefully to the pronunciation of Wo too as that can be a bit tricky!
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 R characters (Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro), the 3 Y characters (Ya, Yu, Yo), the 2 W characters (Wa, Wo), and the N character in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 6 – Modifiers – Dakuten and Handakuten
Charlotte laughed and returned the books to the library as she realised that this entire course was based around apps! Goodbye book carrying back pain!
Along with the 46 regular hiragana, there are little modifiers you add to them to change the sound. For this lesson make sure you have a hiragana chart that includes modified characters.
Key study points:
Understanding modifiers – Dakuten The first of the modifiers we will study today are called Dakuten. They look a bit like quotation marks and you add them to top right of the regular hiragana to change the sound. They are used on characters that start with K, S, T and H. The same basic sound concepts apply, they just change the consonants so K>G, S>Z, T>D and H>B.
Understanding modifiers – Hadakuten The second kind of modifier we’re looking at today is Hadakuten, it looks like a little circle and it’s used to change H sounds to P
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the 5 kinds of modified characters that use Dakuten and Hadakuten – 15min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Hiragana Self Study Routine Day 7 – Modifiers – Diagraphs
If hiragana feels like a lot of characters, don’t stress… just wait until you get to kanji!
You made it to the last day!!
Today we’re looking at a different kind of modifier: diagraphs. This kind is a mini hiragana character that’s put after the main character that changes the sound. If you’re using a standard flash card app these lessons may not be included and it may not appear in your revisions. Most apps focus on learning the standard hiragana and throw these in somewhere afterwards.
Key study points:
Understanding modifiers – Diagraphs Ya/Yu/Yo Diagraphs are a kind of mini hiragana that’s put after the main character. It changes the vowel sound on the end, so for example Ki+mini ya = Kya sound. You can do this with Ya, Yu or Yo, just refer to your hiragana chart to see which characters it works with.
Understanding modifiers – Diagraphs Tsu The tsu character is a little different. When Tsu is used as the mini character, it means that the next character’s consonant is double long. So Ki-mini tsu-Ko becomes ki-kko when you pronounce it.
Study time break down:
Revise characters – 5min
Learn the Y and Tsu modified characters in your study app – 15min
Practice writing a few of the characters – 5min
Revise today’s characters in your revision app – 5min
Congratulations you learned hiragana all on your own!
Congratulations on finishing hiragana! Go celebrate with your equally attractive friends! I need to buy some new stock images…
Well done on making it through your first week of Japanese study! You have successfully learned all of the basics you need for hiragana yourself. That deserves a big pat on the back!
Of course, this just a crash course so there are some other rules around hiragana but those will be covered in more depth when you start your grammar studies.
Now what? How do I apply this? Katakana?
Self study requires a lot of motivation and keeping up your routine is the best way to do that. Keep studying for 30 minutes every day and move on to the next challenge. If you need to take a break from learning new information, do a few days where you just revise your hiragana before moving on. Whatever you do, don’t break your routine or it will be harder to keep up your motivation!
Start trying to put your hiragana knowledge to use by reading anything you can. You won’t have the vocabulary to understand fully yet but the focus should be on character recognition.
Now you have completed your hiragana studies, get ready to start katakana. Katakana will require different techniques and routines so I will have a guide on that coming up next.
Keep studying!! Don’t stop doing mini revisions throughout the day, keep trying to improve your recognition speed.
Once you’re finished with hiragana apps, you’ll be ready for Katakana study apps! But should you just use the same apps or are there katakana focused ones that you should be learning with?
The criteria I judge katakana apps on is the same as hiragana: includes a fun way to learn, allows reviews and has a clean design. Once you finish with katakana you won’t need these apps anymore so they just need to motivate you enough to get you through the second stretch!
Some of these apps will be the same that you used for hiragana and some are just katakana focused. Make sure you click the links to get the right ones because they all have very similar names!
These guides will change over time as I update them with new apps I’ve tested. If you’re looking for an idea of how long it will take to learn katakana check out my earlier post.
Best Free Apps To Learn Katakana.
The first category of katakana study apps we’re looking at is completely free! These apps don’t have paid upgrades and are just as good as thier paid counterparts. Learning Japanese on a budget can be tough but it is definitely do-able. It’s better to put money into learning kanji than kana because it’s a longer part of your journey and can be very tedious if you don’t have a way to keep it fun.
This app will be familiar to you if you did hiragana with it’s counterpart. The series is made by the Japan Language Institute and includes mnemonics, quizzes and kana tables. This is one of my favourite apps because it features visual mnemonics drawn with the characters. A native speaker pronounces the character and you can flip the cards to see the drawings side by side.
Quizzes include reading, listening and reversed multiple choice. They have a review period after each answer so you can really secure things in your memory. There is also a quiz for similar looking characters which is a great point for beginners.
Once you finish with your katakana there is also a follow up with beginner kanji. It’s great to be able to grow within a series of apps once you find your ideal learning methods.
Covers: Katakana Design: Nice design, coloured backgrounds with black and white illustrations that stand out. Learning style:Review the mnemonics at your own pace then try the quizzes. Mnemonics included: Yes, illustrated.
Good:Clean modern design. Bad: Some of the mnemonics are a bit of a stretch, it would be nice having a voice over to read the captions.
This is the best free option for katakana! The mnemonics are a big plus and the design is clean and easy to use. I think this is the best of all of the katakana apps and it’s free!
This is a great app for revising and tracking your learning. It features detailed statistics on your time reviewing so you can adjust your study. The downside is that there are no mnemonics or ways to learn outside of staring at the kana table. Within the kana table you can select a character for more information, try drawing it and listen to pronunciation.
The app features a variety of tests including multiple choices, type in answers and drawing. Like most apps, the drawing tests are self marked against the guides. I find the most useful tests to be typed in answers, it’s a nice middle ground between multiple choice and writing. It also helps link the character in your brain with how you will usually be using it.
Covers: Hiragana and katakana Design: Clean, modern and simple. Easy to read. Learning style:Learn via a kana chart, then various quizzes. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Great design, lots of statistics about your learning. Reminders and written answers available. Bad: No mnemonics or interesting ways of learning the characters.
This is a really interesting app as it focuses on learning through quick guided repetition. When starting a new game you are presented with a number of customisation options. You are then shown a character with 6 answers. When you are learning, only the correct answer is clickable. As you review, more items are clickable and you can only progress with the right answer. It’s an effective way to build up quick recognition.
My favourite part of this app is the speed that you can review items. The animation is really quick so there’s no waiting around for the next question. The faster you go through the better you will be at reading.
Covers: Hiragana and katakana Design: Clean and simple. Learning style:Learn via guided repetition and speed reviews. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Simple design, speedy, fun reviews. Bad: No mnemonics, no kana chart and no sound.
Fun for reviewing and getting yourself speedy with recognition. As there is no sound you will need to already know how to pronounce the kana.
Honourable mentions:
Kana School– Another great app for revisions with both hiragana and katakana.
Best paid katakana study apps.
The free resources are great but sometimes it’s worth paying extra for curated content. The apps in this section are fantastic learning tools but they average around AU$15 to unlock. You may already have them from learning hiragana so the prices aren’t that bad when you can learn both.
Dr Moku is a popular system of Japanese apps known for their mnemonics. The lessons are katakana mixed with pictures and funny captions to help them stick in your mind. You view the picture while Dr Moku reads the mnemonic. His over the top voice acting and annunciation helps keep things memorable. If you flip the card you can view an animation of the stroke order.
For revising katakana you’ve learned, there are multiple choice quizzes for reading and listening. Writing practice is via a self graded test.
Additional quick reference and audio charts are included along with some common words and phrases. If you enjoy the style of the app, there are other apps for kanji and phrases once you finish katakana.
Covers: Katakana (25% included in free app, the rest unlocked with paid upgrade) Design: Bright and simple. Easy to see each item for review. Fun drawings. Learning style: Review at your own pace, then timed multiple choice quiz. Mnemonics included: Yes.
Good: Good mnemonics, written practice included. Family of apps available if you like the style. Bad:Lots of upgrade banners and ads for the other apps. The app design can get tedious with several selection screens before you start most options.
Price:Free download, AU$7.99 upgrade to unlock all hiragana. Bundle in the app store with the katakana and phrases apps for $12.99
A fun way to learn katakana via mnemonics. The free version is ok to test but you will need to upgrade to learn the whole alphabet. The bundle is good value if you are also needing hiragana.
You might be familiar with this app as it covers hiragana, katakana and also some vocabulary grammar and kanji. The lessons are worked in sections and the style of learning via repetition.
The app doesn’t include mnemonics but there are a variety of multiple choice formats to teach you with active repetition. The reviews are in an SRS style but I’m not sure on the frequencies.
During the quizzes you can toggle an option for written answers which begins with you tracing as you learn and then progressively fades the character until you are remembering how to write it. I find this to be a really effective way to memorise as it holds your hand a bit without being annoying.
Covers: Basic katakana (5 items available free per lesson, others unlocked via paid upgrade) Design: Dark, clean and simple. Easy to see each item in quiz. Learning style:Learn via repetition, writing and quizzes. Review with the same methods. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean, modern design. Writing reviews are useful. Bad: No mnemonics or learning options other than repetition.
Price:Free download, AU$2.99 upgrade for katakana only or $12.99 for all lessons (hiragana, katakana, some kanji, vocabulary and grammar)
Great dark design, worth downloading with the full unlock for the amount of content. If you don’t learn well via repetition then I would look for an app with mnemonics.
I still think this app is a bit expensive compared to other apps but the design and speed of reviews make up for it. The app revises katakana (and hiragana) through timed multiple choices. The timing makes you answer fast and it’s really good for improving your recognition times in reading. The design is clean and simple which I love. If you are looking to learn katakana then I would stick to other apps but if you just want to speed revise then this might be great for you.
Covers: Katakana and hiragana (katakana via paid upgrade) Design: Clean and simple. Easy to see each item in quiz. Learning style:Learn at your own pace via kana chart, then timed multiple choice quiz. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean modern design, fast pace for improving reading. Bad: High unlock price, no spoken pronunciation during learning, no mnemonics.
Price:Free download, AU$7.99 upgrade to unlock hiragana with modifiers and katakana.
Worth it if you want to do speed reviews but it’s too fast for learning katakana from scratch.
This is the app you need when regular flash cards are too boring. Ok so it’s still just a regular flash card app but there’s also a ninja and some kind of skeleton viking… When you get answers correct the ninja does some sweet moves with his sword to celebrate! If you get one wrong he… kills himself… So, you know, that’s fun.
There is also a reference chart which has stroke order animations for each character.
Covers: Katakana Design: Nice and simple. Learning style:Multiple choice quiz with a reference kana chart. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Funny animations, standard revisions. Bad: Just a plain old no frills quiz system, nothing to help you actually learn.
This app pretty much does what it says: it drills kana. It’s a multiple format multiple choice app without much customisation. You unlock 1 row of kana at a time as you progress with reviews.
The only downside I found is that when you exit a test half way through, it’s supposed to punish you with an ad but the the button only seems to work sometimes. If it’s not working then there’s no way to exit the test without closing the app.
Covers: Hiragana and katakana Design: Minimal and red. Learning style:Not much learning, just lots of multiple choice questions. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Clean modern design, fast pace for improving reading. Bad: Obviously requires sound to use so you can hear the beat.
Price:Free download, possibly ad supported but I could find any.
Easy way to review kanji quickly but I would stick to a different app for actual learning.
Honourable mentions:
Hiragana Pixel Party– A fun way to test your kana knowledge with a rhythm based jumping game. Very cute, AU$2.99 to unlock all levels including katakana.
Katakana study apps not to waste time with.
With so many katakana apps available there is definitely a wide variety of quality too. The apps in this section are ones that I didn’t like or found unhelpful. While they may not be terrible, they are here because there are better options in the apps listed above so don’t waste your time with these ones.
I was a bit sad about this app because it looked like it had promise. The layout is fairly clean and it has interesting stats included about reviews. The problem is that a lot of the buttons don’t seem to work. Full screen ads pop up at random through reviews and when I went to pay to remove them, the link was broken. I would revise this when the app is updated to fix the bugs. Regardless of what I was doing in the app the “End game” screen would randomly show up.
Covers: Katakana Design: Nice design but not currently working. Learning style:Not really focused on learning, there is a kana chart but if you click it just takes you to an immediate quiz. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Interesting stats. Bad: Lots of ads, weird pop ups, pretty broken.
Price:Free download, ad supported, unsure of cost to remove ads.
Could be a decent review app but currently broken.
While this app had good reviews on the app store, I didn’t have a good experience. On opening there’s an ad for a Japanese ebook which I couldn’t close without signing up. The design is very dated and the layout is distracting. The quizzes are standard multiple choices.
It features study and test areas. The information in the study areas is good but to get to each item you have to click through several screens. On the plus side there are a lot of vocabulary items included as examples.
Covers: Katakana, hiragana and vocabulary. Design: Cluttered and annoying to use. Learning style:Review at your own pace, then multiple choice quiz. Mnemonics included: No.
Good:Lots of information. Bad: Hard to use design, annoying to find information, no mnemonics.
Price:Free download, ad supported or $1.49 to remove ads.
Don’t bother, just get one of the other apps that has both good information and good user experience!
My favourite katakana app study plan of attack
By now, you will have mastered hiragana and so you should have an idea of what kind of study works well for you. Mnemonics are definitely the quickest and easiest way to power through katakana so continue on with either Katakana Memory Hint or Dr Moku. You might like the swap to the one you didn’t use for hiragana to prevent yourself zoning out.
After you’ve gotten through the basic learning, it’s time to get quick with revisions. Move onto a combination of Pastel Kana, Kana Mind or Learn Japanese!!. Do reviews until you can speed read the characters.
The biggest tip for katakana study apps is to review as often as possible and try to get your speed up. The faster you can recognise the characters, the faster you will be able to get into proper reading.
Having to slowly sound words out makes reading boring. If you can recognise katakana quickly then it will be less tempting to quit later!
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