Hiragana Drill

Green boxes show syllables that you will be drilled on; grey ones are syllables that will be left out of this drill. Click on any syllable to toggle it from green to grey or vice-versa; you can also use the red and blue boxes to toggle an entire row or column at once.

You will be drilled on words that only contain the syllables you select for your personalized drill. Note that you need to select at least about a dozen syllables to get more than just a few words in your drill!

If you're just starting off, some of the "Saved Tests" down in the bottom right make great places to begin.

Options at the bottom left let you add syllables with dakuten ( ゛) and handakuten ( ゜) and/or syllables with yōon (added small ゃ,ゅ and ょ).

Which dakuten and yōon syllables are selected is based on which of the gojūon (standard syllables) you have selected. A (han)dakuten will only be enabled if its "parent" syllable is turned on. (Example: だ is only active if た is.) A yōon needs to have both of its source syllables activated in order for it to be turned on. (Example: きょ requires both き and よ.)

The “Intensive Drill” mode is useful if you keep confusing a few syllables (for example, ち and ら, or ち and さ). It will simply generate random strings of the syllables you pick. These will not (necessarily) be real Japanese words! This simply lets you get extra practice with the syllables that are giving you trouble.

You can also drill on katakana instead of hiragana. Note: the hiragana/katakana choice will affect what words you see (see “Kana Choice” for details).

The choice of hiragana vs. katakana will affect what words you see. The hiragana drill uses native Japanese words, such as you might see written in ruby characters or furigana. Katakana drills focus on words you'd normally see written in katakana: mostly foreign loan-words, sound effects, and some business names.

The words and phrases used in this drill system are mostly taken from words, phrases, and vocabulary that might be familiar to the average Westerner with an interest in Japan and things Japanese. The focus — especially in the hiragana drills — is on martial arts, dining and cuisine (especially sushi), and common themes from animé, manga, and other well-known Japanese concepts.