Try it · 01
か is said ka. How many kana is ka?
Choose an answer.
See this question in the courseIntroducing Japanese · A course for beginners
Learn hiragana from the first あ.
Read a short story at the end.
The course teaches the 46 basic hiragana a row at a time. Then you meet katakana and a few kanji, build sentences, and read a nine-line story.
Free course · Taught from English · Zaban account required
5 short sections26 pages to explore1 first story
Course outline
From 46 hiragana to a nine-line story
The course starts with hiragana, one row of the chart per page, then introduces katakana, a few kanji and how the end of a word changes. From there it moves to sentences and 24 everyday words, and ends with a short story you read in Japanese.
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Hiragana cards
Five vowels first,
then one row per page.
Hiragana is learned in rows: a i u e o, then ka ki ku ke ko. Every kana has a line to remember its shape by (い is two short lines, like the two i’s in Hawaii) and a word spelled with kana you already know.
あaa, as in father
Word cards
あい means love.
You say it like the English word eye.
Word cards show each kana with its sound above it, so you can read a word one syllable at a time. Later cards cover katakana words like コーヒー, coffee, and a few kanji such as 日本, Japan.
Cards are added to your collection as you reach them in the course. You can go back and practise them at any time.
Practice questions
Try two questions from the course
These two questions come straight from the course pages. Choose an answer and you will see if it is right.
Try it · 02
Where does the verb go?
Choose an answer.
See this question in the courseCourse questions · This preview doesn’t save your answers.
Begin with one page
Your first Japanese story starts here.
No Japanese needed to begin.
Just a little curiosity, and a Zaban account.
Free course · Your place is kept as you go