Start Learning Japanese– category –
New to Japanese? Start here. Hiragana, katakana, first grammar patterns, and beginner vocabulary to go from zero to conversational basics. Recommended first read: Japanese for Complete Beginners.
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Confusing Katakana Characters: ソ vs ン, シ vs ツ, and Other Look-Alikes
Katakana is famous for its confusing look-alike pairs — characters that appear nearly identical at first glance but have completely different sounds. Here are the most important pairs to master. 【The Most Notorious Pairs】 ン (n) vs ソ ... -
Confusing Hiragana Characters: め vs ぬ, わ vs ね, る vs ろ and More
Some hiragana characters look nearly identical to beginners. Mixing them up is one of the most common early mistakes — but once you know the specific differences, they become easy to distinguish. 【The Most Confused Pairs】 め (me) vs ぬ... -
Katakana Complete Guide: All 46 Characters and When to Use Them
Katakana (カタカナ) is the second Japanese syllabic alphabet. Its 46 characters mirror hiragana exactly in sound — the difference is their shape and usage. Katakana is used primarily for foreign loanwords, scientific terms, onomatopoeia,... -
Japanese Double Consonants: The Small っ (Sokuon) Explained
The small っ (and its katakana equivalent ッ) is called the sokuon (促音), meaning "doubled consonant." It creates a brief pause or stop before the next consonant — a feature English speakers often miss at first. 【What Does っ Sound Lik... -
Hiragana Yoon: Combination Sounds きゃ しゃ ちゃ and More
Yoon (拗音) are combination sounds formed by pairing an i-row character with the small versions of や, ゆ, or よ. These create sounds like "kya," "sha," "cha" — essential for reading everyday Japanese. 【How Yoon Works】 Take any charact... -
Hiragana Dakuten: Voiced Sounds が ざ だ ば and Handakuten ぱ
Once you know the basic 46 hiragana characters, you unlock 25 more by adding two small marks: the dakuten (゛) for voiced sounds, and the handakuten (゜) for the P-sounds. 【Dakuten (゛) — The Voiced Mark】 Add dakuten to transform unvoi... -
Hiragana Complete Guide: All 46 Characters with Pronunciation
Hiragana (ひらがな) is the first Japanese alphabet every learner masters. Its 46 base characters cover every sound in Japanese, and once you know them, you can read any Japanese word written phonetically. 【The 5 Vowels — Start Here】 Ev... -
How to Start Learning Japanese: Complete Beginner’s Roadmap
You've decided to learn Japanese — congratulations! But then you open a browser, search "how to learn Japanese," and suddenly you're drowning in advice: "Download Duolingo!" "Start with kanji!" "Watch anime without subtitles!" "Memorize ... -
Japanese Counter Words: Complete Guide to 本, 枚, 匹, 台 and More
In Japanese, you cannot simply say "three cat" or "two book" the way some languages allow. Japanese uses counter words (助数詞, じょすうし, josuushi) — special suffixes that attach to numbers depending on what you are counting. The shape... -
A Guide to Japanese Particles: Wa, Ni, Ga, Wo and More!
Japanese particles like は, が, に, を, で, and と are tiny words that carry huge meaning. This complete guide explains each particle with examples, a comparison chart, a decision flowchart, and a quick quiz — perfect for N5–N3 learners.
