How this course works
Japanese — 日本語 nihongo — is spoken by around 125 million people, almost all of them in Japan. It is the language of one of the world’s largest economies and of a cultural output — film, animation, games, literature — that reaches far beyond its borders.
What you will be able to do
By the end you will read and write both kana alphabets, recognise around 60 kanji, greet people at the right politeness level, introduce yourself, build sentences with particles, count with the right counters, order food, shop, and ask directions.
How the course is arranged
| MODULE | WHAT IT COVERS |
|---|---|
| Hiragana | The first alphabet, and Japanese sounds |
| Katakana and kanji | The second alphabet and how kanji work |
| Grammar | Particles, です, verbs, and adjectives |
| Everyday Japanese | Greetings, numbers and counters, food, travel |
| Reading practice | Putting it together, and where to go next |
A quiz closes each module.
What is hard, and what is not
| HARD | NOT HARD |
|---|---|
| Three writing systems used together | Pronunciation — the simplest sound system of any language in this catalogue |
| Politeness levels that change the verb | No tones, no gender, no articles, no plurals |
| Word order that puts the verb last | Highly regular verbs — barely any irregulars |
| Counters — different words for counting different things | Spelling is perfectly phonetic once you know kana |
Japanese pronunciation is genuinely easy for English speakers. Five vowels, a small consonant set, no tones, no stress patterns to learn. Almost every learner sounds acceptable within weeks — which is the reverse of Chinese.
How to study
Learn hiragana first and completely, before anything else. It is 46 characters and takes about a week. Everything afterwards depends on it, and using romaji as a crutch slows you down permanently.
Write by hand. Kana and kanji both stick through the hand.
Say everything aloud. Japanese rhythm gives each syllable equal length — と–う–きょ–う, not toh-kyoh.
A NOTE ON ROMAJI This course uses Roman letters as a support in the early lessons and drops them as soon as you can read kana. That is deliberate. Learners who stay on romaji stall.