Japanese · Kanji, readings, kanaHow to learn
Japanese vocabulary

The short answer

• Learn words, not lone kanji: the word fixes which reading a kanji has.
• Put the reading on every card, in kana, and keep the sentence you met the word in.
• Review on a schedule: a few words a day, seen again after growing gaps.

What makes Japanese words hard

Four things shape how a Japanese word should go into your notebook.

Three scripts, one sentence

Japanese mixes hiragana (grammar endings and many native words), katakana (most loanwords, such as コンピューター) and kanji (the meaning-carrying part of most words). The official list of kanji for general use, the jōyō kanji, has 2,136 characters (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Jōyō Kanji Table, 30 November 2010). Learn the kana first; then meet kanji inside words.

A kanji has several readings; a word has one

Most kanji have on readings, which came from Chinese, and kun readings, which are native Japanese. 生 is せい in 学生 (student), い in 生きる (to live) and う in 生まれる (to be born). Learning the kanji alone leaves you guessing; learning the word gives you the reading that goes with it. That is why a card should hold the word, not the character.

Many words share a sound

Japanese has many homophones. 公園 (park), 講演 (lecture) and 公演 (performance) are all read こうえん⁠. In writing, the kanji tell them apart; in speech, the context does. Keep the sentence on the card, and when two words you know share a reading, name the other in the usage note.

Reading aids and pitch

Furigana are small kana printed beside kanji to show their reading. Texts for children and learners use them, such as NHK’s News Web Easy, which adds them over its kanji (NHK News Web Easy). Standard Japanese also has a pitch accent: in Tokyo speech, 箸 (chopsticks) and 橋 (bridge) are both はし but differ in pitch. It is worth noting on a card when two words you know differ only by pitch; most learners leave it for later.

What to put on each card

The reading is the field English cards do not need. Here is the layout, using the fields of a Lexpad card; the same works on paper or in Anki.

Where to find your words

• News Web Easy from NHK: short news in simpler Japanese, with furigana over the kanji.
• Graded readers written in levels, such as the free ones from the NPO Tadoku (Tadoku).
• Manga with furigana, and series with Japanese subtitles: pause, and save the line with the word.
• Your textbook or class: its words come back in later chapters, which helps your reviews.

There is no official JLPT word list: the JLPT has published none since its 2010 revision (more on levels). Pick the words you meet. To pick them from a Japanese text, paste it into the free text to flashcards tool: your browser splits the text into words, and you tap the ones you don’t know.

Learning Japanese vocabulary without Anki

Anki is popular with Japanese learners, but it is a tool, not the method. What matters is the same anywhere: your own words, the reading on each card, the sentence, and reviews at growing gaps. A paper notebook works with a review plan (a free template); apps do the timing for you. If you already have an Anki deck, Lexpad imports it; Lexpad vs Anki compares the two honestly.

How many Japanese words a day

A new script usually brings more misses at first, so start lower than you would for a language in your own script: 5 to 10 new words a day is a good start. Try your own numbers in the spaced repetition calculator (set to miss 1 in 5, which suits a new script). The method itself: How to memorize vocabulary.

How Lexpad helps with Japanese

Made by the author of this page

A Japanese notebook in Lexpad

• Pronunciation is IPA, not furigana. Lexpad’s AI writes IPA for every language and generates no furigana or kana reading. Type the reading yourself in Pronunciation (More details).
• Paste a text splits Japanese into words, and so does our free text tool. A browser that can only split Japanese into single characters says so, and you add the longer word by hand.
• A word in kana or kanji goes to your Japanese notebook by its writing system.
• Importing a list: a header row such as “kana, kanji, definition” is understood, and a kana column becomes the reading. An Anki deck’s reading, furigana or romaji field comes in as the pronunciation. A CSV saved in Shift_JIS is read when it holds kana.
• The app’s own screens are in English.

Open in LexpadAll downloads

Free account, no card. Apps: Mac · Windows · Android · iPhone