Three things: recognizing hiragana and katakana (the Japanese syllabaries), the flick keyboard finger gestures, and a vocabulary that unlocks as you go. The focus is reading the script and typing Japanese on a phone.

No. It isn't a full language course; it doesn't teach grammar, sentence building or speaking. Think of it as a practice dojo for the script and keyboard.

A deliberate choice. Jumping to kanji before kana is solid overwhelms most beginners. We lock down the syllabaries and keyboard first; kanji is a separate topic for later.

To keep the scope narrow and honest. Grammar is a huge field that deserves to be done well; rather than bolting on a half-version, we left it out. This is for recognition and typing practice.

No, and let's say so upfront. You'll recognize kana, use the flick keyboard, and visually know a few hundred words. Speaking fluency is a whole other road, and this is a solid first step toward it.

Those are broad courses or memorization systems. This app tries to do one thing well: kana recognition + flick keyboard muscle memory. Small, offline, ad-free and focused.

Not directly. But kana and basic vocabulary recognition are the foundation of JLPT N5 too, so it gives you an early base. It isn't enough on its own for exam prep.

The keyboard most Japanese people use on phones. It has 12 keys; you press a key and flick your finger in a direction (up, right, down, left) to type the different vowels of that row. Fast and comfortable one-handed.

Real phone messaging in Japan is mostly done with it. It's faster than romaji and lets you type “like a local.” Learning kana through key directions also makes the letters stick.

You add the Japanese (かな / 12-key) keyboard in your phone settings. iOS → Settings › General › Keyboard › Keyboards › Japanese-Kana. Android → usually add Japanese in Gboard and pick the “12-key” layout. Then the practice here gives you the muscle memory.

Romaji works, but it's a bit of a “crutch”: it keeps you tied to English letters and below native speed. Flick lets you think directly in kana, which is what most Japanese people use anyway.

Both spell the same sounds but are used for different jobs. Hiragana is for native Japanese words and grammar; katakana is for foreign-origin words (camera, hotel, coffee) and emphasis. Their shapes differ.

For most people, hiragana, it's the most fundamental and frequently used script. Once it settles, katakana comes much easier. You can also go in any order from the home screen.

We split kana into small sets of rows (gojūon, dakuten, yōon). Studying in chunks like this sticks far better than memorizing 46+ characters all at once.

Dakuten are small marks that change a character's sound (か→が, は→ば). Yōon are sounds where two kana combine into one syllable (きゃ kya, しゅ shu). Both are practiced as their own sets.

It depends, and there's no magic number. With a few short sessions a day, basic kana recognition settles in a few weeks. Being regular matters more than long sessions.

When you correctly type a word in free writing or exercises, it gets “discovered” and added to the Word Explorer. So your collection grows as you type.

The Word Explorer is a hand-picked, limited list (currently N5, N4 and some N3). Not every Japanese word is in it; new word packs are added over time.

They're JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) levels. The N stands for Nihongo, i.e. “the Japanese of Japanese” 🙂 The smaller the number, the higher the level: N5 is the very beginning, N4 one step up... all the way to N1, where you're basically a master. N1 is usually only asked for academic work, serious job interviews, or citizenship applications (it earns points there). The words here are picked from the very base, N5 and N4.

500 words in total: 285 at N5, 140 at N4, 75 at N3. The list keeps growing.

The classic Japanese word-chain game: you give a new word starting with the last syllable of the previous one (さくら → らく...). If you end on “ん” you lose. You can take a hint when stuck.

In Shiritori, when you're stuck it shows a possible word starting with the needed syllable. It's there to help you learn and keep the flow going.

Two speed games. 60 Seconds: how many kana you can correctly recognize in a minute. Flow: a streak that runs until you slip, with rising tempo. Both are for muscle memory and speed.

There are 13 badges in total. Kana, finish all hiragana sets. Katakana, finish all katakana sets. Flick, complete the Keyboard Practice lesson. 8 discovery badges unlock as you collect words in the Word Explorer (first word, 10 / 50 / 100 words, certain rows, finishing N5). The final 2 badges come from games: build a long Shiritori chain, and reach a 7-day streak.

On the Achievements page, below Level and Kana Mastery, all in one grid. Earned ones show in color, unearned ones appear dimmed.

Entirely on your own device (in the browser's localStorage). Nothing is sent to any server, no cloud.

No. The data is device-specific; it won't automatically appear on another phone or browser. If you want to move it, you can export/import from Settings.

If you clear browser data/cache, your progress goes with it. That's why we suggest backing up now and then via Settings → Export data.

No. The app works offline, once loaded, you can use it without internet (it's a PWA).

No. No personal data is collected, no tracking, no third-party analytics. Nothing is sent out.

None. No ads, no in-app purchases.

Yes, completely free.

Most pronunciations are recorded audio files. For some unsupported text, your device's own speech engine (TTS) kicks in as a fallback. No audio data is recorded or sent.

Right now the interface is Turkish. Groundwork for English is underway (this FAQ's English is the first step). A full English version is coming in a future update.

The app was designed for Turkish-speaking learners first, explanations and examples were written with Turkish in mind. English and other languages are on the roadmap.

No. No account, no sign-up, no email. Just open and use.

Yes. Settings → Export data saves your progress as a file; Import data restores it or moves it to another device.

Probably not yet, but you'll read the title, catch a few words, and get those “hey, I know that!” moments. Understanding anime needs listening, grammar and lots of exposure. Still, this is a sweet start.

You might want a bit more practice before packing your bags 😊 But being able to use the phone keyboard and read signs genuinely helps, and it's not a bad kit for day one.

It means something like “idiot / silly”; it shows up a lot in anime, often playfully. We'd never call you one, since you're kindly learning a new language 😄

Sadly that feature isn't on our roadmap 😅 But being able to read kana does make a nice first impression. The rest is up to you!

For now the focus is kana and the keyboard. Kanji/grammar could be added later as separate, properly-done topics, but no promises; we'd rather do what we do well than overpromise.

Write to hello@zeynepkaya.app. If you include the app version, your device model, and the screen where you saw the issue, it can be looked at faster.

Made out of curiosity by Zeynep Kaya, a photographer and filmmaker who loves Japanese and gaming and started learning Japanese after turning 40. It grew out of little games she was building to teach herself Japanese. We hope you find it fun too.

Yes, the app is updated regularly: new words, a kana review system, language options and more are on the roadmap.