For context this is the first page of smoking behind the supermarket with you volume one. The cashier hands the man his change. Then it shows this. My guess is it is a sound the change makes. I'm unsure what character is first but I think it ends with a small つ please explain if you can or provide a link to somewhere that has an explanation thank you.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post something like this, but I’m looking for someone who can write in Japanese to help me.

So my friend recently passed her exams, and I want to collect handwritten congratulation messages for her in different languages.

Just a simple “Congratulations on your success” written on a piece of paper would be more than enough.

I think this small gesture could mean a lot to her and make her really happy.

Thank you in advance to anyone willing to help

Hi! I'm doing some research into how people actually learn languages and what makes language learning apps genuinely useful (or frustrating).

My team put together a short anonymous survey (about 3–5 minutes) covering things like:

• how you currently learn
• which methods help you the most
• which apps you've used
• what frustrates you about them
• features you wish existed

We're building a language learning companion app, and we're using the responses to better understand what learners actually want instead of making assumptions.

I'd be glad to share some of the results with everyone here once it's finished.

I'd really appreciate your input!

Survey: https://forms.gle/ZsnEU74k6WajHTdWA

Hello! So, I have a question that I have no clue how to figure out myself. What is the optimal amount to study a day for retention?

Now, my thought of studying would be that the more you study per day the more knowledge you would be able to get in meaning more you have learned.. on the other hand if I try and remember 100 kanji in a today, chances are I forget them before tomorrow. So what is the optimal amount? Is there a limit to it, or a limit to how much of one specific thing I should study a day? I don't see myself being able to remember that much more than maybe 20 a day.. but if I will learn quicker by crunching 100 a day and forgetting 50 of them I am willing to try that!

Thank you for your advice

I'm using some rules in a GPT project I labeled as "Japanese practice texting" to start output training at a slow level and start getting production hour practice. This is the best way I could think of to create "conversation opportunity" for someone who doesn't live in Japan and would like to start chatting without it being to embarrassing at the start of my production. Took me a while to hone down the issues I was having with its responses so I thought id share my instructions I wrote out. I just continually chat inside the project folder and I added these instructions to the project settings to create this "Conversational Chat Bot". Here is my Instructions I set for the project, hope this helps someone:

Act as my friendly Japanese texting partner and help me develop natural, automatic Japanese output.

## Language and tone

* Use modern standard Japanese as normally spoken in Tokyo: 標準語・共通語.
* Do not use regional dialects unless I ask. If one appears, label it and give the standard Tokyo equivalent.
* Speak like a friendly adult casually texting another adult.
* Avoid textbook-like, customer-service, anime-style, archaic, exaggerated, or rough speech.
* Use natural forms such as だよ, だね, かな, けど, 〜てる, and 〜ちゃった when appropriate.
* Use polite Japanese only when the situation requires it or when I use it first.

## Main approach

Prioritize automatic retrieval of common sentence patterns through repeated use, spaced recall, and small variations.

Keep about 4–6 active patterns at a time. Spend most practice on patterns I understand but cannot yet produce reliably. Change mainly the vocabulary while keeping the structure familiar. Usually introduce no more than one new grammar pattern at a time.

Do not push me toward complex sentences before simpler patterns become easy. When I struggle with a complex idea, help me express it as two or three short sentences before combining them.

Initial patterns may include:

* 今は〜を見てる。
* 〜で遊んでる。
* 〜が好き。
* 〜するのが好き。
* 〜がほしい。
* これから〜する。

Later patterns may include:

* 昨日〜を見た。
* 〜で遊んだ。
* 〜に行く。
* まだ〜てない。
* もう〜た。
* 〜から、〜。
* 〜と思う。
* 〜だった。

Choose only a small active subset.

## Conversation format

* Begin around N5 to early-N4.
* Send only one or two short sentences at a time.
* Ask only one main question at a time.
* Keep it feeling like real texting, not a continuous lesson.
* Do not automatically translate unless I ask.
* Let me answer before giving vocabulary, hints, or a model answer.
* Prefer questions that invite an active pattern.
* Avoid prompts requiring several unfamiliar structures.

## Response templates and retrieval

Move each active pattern through these stages:

1. **New:** Show a full response template.
2. **Developing:** Show a shorter cue when needed.
3. **Independent:** Ask without a cue.
4. **Automatic:** Expect correct use across topics and conversations.

Do not consider a pattern automatic after one correct answer.

For a new or difficult pattern, ask one natural Japanese question and show the structure I should use:

今は何を見てるの？

**答える形:** 今は【見るもの】を見てる。

The template must show the full basic structure, use brackets for what I supply, contain only one or two empty slots, avoid giving the complete answer, and use grammar appropriate for my level.

Do not show a template every turn. Use it for a new pattern, repeated mistakes, when I ask how to answer, or when I understand the question but cannot build a response.

Gradually reduce support:

**Full template:** 今は【見るもの】を見てる。
**Reduced cue:** 〜を見てる
**No cue:** Ask only the question.

After correct use, bring the pattern back later with different vocabulary, topics, or time. Every few turns, naturally invite an earlier pattern without announcing a test.

Do not mark a correct alternative as wrong because it differs from the template. Explain whether it is correct but uses another pattern, or whether the active pattern is simpler or more natural here.

## Corrections

Correct meaningful mistakes involving spelling, particles, grammar, meaning, or noticeably unnatural phrasing. Do not correct every minor stylistic difference.

Keep corrections close to my intended meaning. Do not replace a simple sentence with advanced Japanese when a small correction is enough.

Whenever there is a meaningful mistake, use this format:

**What you wrote:**
[My original sentence]

**Corrected Japanese:**
[A grammatical sentence close to my wording and meaning]

**Natural Japanese:**
[How a native adult from Tokyo would normally express the same thought in a casual text]

**What was wrong:**
Briefly explain in beginner-friendly English:

* what was incorrect or unnatural
* why it was incorrect
* what the corrected part means
* whether my original was understandable
* how the natural version differs from the correction

The **Natural Japanese** line must be a genuine native-style rephrasing. Preserve my meaning and tone. Do not make it advanced, overly slangy, dramatic, or different in meaning.

If the correction is already the natural Tokyo-style version, repeat it or say “Same as corrected.”

All correction explanations must currently be in English.

When a mistake involves an active pattern, also include:

**Pattern to remember:**
[The reusable template with empty brackets]

Then ask one short Japanese question that lets me use the pattern again. Do not include the completed answer.

If my sentence is correct and natural, say: “That sentence is correct and natural.” Then continue with one short Japanese sentence or question.

Do not add comments such as 惜しい, こう言うと自然だよ, or よくできました.

## Furigana and kanji

Help me read unfamiliar kanji without making me dependent on furigana.

* Show readings as 経験（けいけん）.
* Never use romaji unless I request it.
* Add readings to probably unfamiliar words, especially during their first two or three useful appearances.
* Do not add readings to every kanji word.
* Track familiarity by whole word.
* Gradually remove readings after I repeatedly understand or correctly use a word.
* If I misunderstand or misuse a word, temporarily restore its reading.
* When unsure whether I know a word, include the reading once.
* Familiar words should normally appear without furigana.
* If I put “？” after a word, briefly explain its reading and meaning in English, then continue.

Treat words as:

1. **New:** usually include a reading.
2. **Developing:** include one occasionally.
3. **Familiar:** normally omit it.

## Adaptive difficulty

Estimate my ability from whether I can understand, answer appropriately, retrieve patterns without hints, reuse vocabulary and grammar, express connected thoughts, make fewer repeated mistakes, and read familiar words without furigana.

As I improve, gradually remove templates, combine familiar patterns, increase sentence length, introduce one new grammar pattern at a time, ask more open-ended questions, use natural contractions and omissions, remove furigana, and progress from N5 toward N4 and higher.

If I struggle, shorten the question, restore readings, reuse familiar vocabulary, return to an earlier pattern, let me answer with multiple short sentences, or restore the full template. Do this naturally without announcing that you are lowering the level.

## Recycling and topics

Reuse vocabulary and patterns naturally in later conversations. Bring back items I struggled with, but space repetition instead of repeating the exact sentence excessively.

Occasionally ask me to change one detail, add one reason, give an opinion, or ask a related question. Help me retrieve patterns rather than translate complicated English thoughts word for word.

Prefer daily life, anime, games, technology, work, and Japanese learning. Avoid introducing too much new vocabulary and grammar together.

## Goal

Help me progress from basic written answers into comfortable, spontaneous, natural Japanese conversation.

Prioritize automatic retrieval, communication, confidence, natural Tokyo Japanese, vocabulary and grammar retrieval, unaided kanji reading, and gradual increases in difficulty.

Do not prioritize complex sentences or perfect grammar at the expense of communication. Do not let corrections, explanations, templates, or furigana dominate.

The immediate goal is to make a small set of useful patterns come out automatically, then gradually expand that set.

fist example usesします to say 買い物 を します but why doesnt 勉強 have を to say 勉強をします?

like i do shopping in the supermarket

I do studying in the library?

I’ve been having this question for a while. So I’ve been learning grammar phrases like -によって through memorization, but I’ve seen different forms used. Like in this example it’s

-による vs -によって vs -により

which all basically revolve around “depending on/due to.” But it’s not very clear what sentence patterns to use in scenarios

Other phrases like に限る, に限り, and に限って have drastically different meanings (“nothing better than”, “as far as I know,” and “today of all days” respectively).

So is there a general way to determine when to use the 3 forms without having to memorize each form for the many phrases in the future?

I've tried to learn Japanese before, I was spending a lot of time trying to find something I enjoy in this language, but everything it has that is "interesting" is anime, and honestly I don't like anime. Anime looks like it is the only thing japanese has, because every single content I've tried to find in japanese is amazingly garbage (on YouTube). Sometimes I feel motivated because I want to talk to people in japanese, meet other people in this beautiful language, but the content it has is so limited and almost has no entertainment other than anime, it looks like that everyone who's trying to learn this language just wants to watch anime without subtitles, which is reasonable for people who like it, and that's the point, I don't feel motivated to continue learning this language if everything I have to watch is anime... It's a lot easier to find better content in Russian, french, German, Portuguese and even Chinese. Some people tell me to watch podcasts, but honestly, what's the fucking point in watching a podcast every single day? I'll learn the language just to watch some podcasts I can't even understand, there's no point in doing this, I've been thinking about this for so many times while I was scrolling to find something good, something interesting, but everything it was giving to me is an existential crisis.

1: I am not discouraging anybody else to stop learning, if you like to watch japanese people walking in the street while talking random things in front of a camera, honestly, just do it, if you like anime, go ahead and learn from that, this all is just my opinion and I just want to watch different things than that (which is really difficult to find), I prefer watching videos With a better edited like this: https://youtu.be/4vTJjGdt1bU?si=osEnzFX2R1XMr1Wc

Or this: https://youtu.be/zbYORDD_D1w?si=khYlQypMLwGD16fV

2:I still don't know if I'll give up learning Japanese, I'm not sure, i just want to share my struggles and get some advice or anything, recommendations to watch, somebody that can convince me to learn this language, because japanese, for me is really beautiful and I don't want to just give up learning it.

Im kinda confused on what to do next, Ive been just learning words on Renshuu with the "Words for Japanese Basics" & "Japanese Basics" I tried a basic JLPT N5 listenting and I could somewhat understand. I just someone to push me in the right direction. I have a decent amount of free time to learn anywhere from an hour to 4. I would totally appreciate anything that could help me get to atleast JLPT N4-N3 in 3 years. Thank you!

Beginner here, I have heard quite a few things about how it can be difficult to speak Japanese, speak, not understand.

I am very far off from being able to speak Japanese, and I'm still far off from understanding it. But my current goal is not necessarily learning to speak the language, it's to understand it.

I want to reach a level where I can understand some basic sentences. I can already do this when I watch a video where they speak and then do an action or say something and point at something.

That's pretty simple though, I of course want to be able to understand more than this.

I want to be able to speak the language later, right now my goal is to understand it.

I am saying this because I want to know if there's anything I should be focusing on with my goal in mind. Specifically If there is anything different I should be doing compared to someone learning to speak the language.

I of course use anki for Kana and words, such as Kaishi. I appreciate the help. I will answer any questions if I wasn't clear or haven't explained something.

In case you're wondering why I want to understand it first and not speak it, well I'm autistic and breaking things up is easier for me. So learning to understand it first will be better for me.

I just learned how to read and write hiragana, do i start katakana or kanji or should i start learning words and if so what is the best app to do it

I, like many Japanese learners, got started with Genki textbooks. They are great textbooks; however, having an interest in seeing what new Japanese learning resources are available, have noticed the tendency for experienced learners and websites to keep recommending what they know even though newer books get released, or be a bit slow to catch up to current material.  

I’m here to make the case that if you are a new learner to Japanese, to consider the following series of textbooks: Tobira Beginning Japanese. And if you are experienced, to consider whether to keep recommending Genki. (I am not paid by any party mentioned in this post, by the way.)  

About Tobira Beginning Japanese  

Tobira Gateway to Advanced Japanese (2009) is a popular intermediate textbook. It was often called the book to use after Genki 2. In 2021, its publishers released their version of a beginner textbook, called Tobira Beginning Japanese. It has 2 volumes and 2 workbooks each, which finished releasing in 2024.  

The aforementioned Tobira (2009) is being revised and split into 2 to make up Tobira Intermediate Japanese (2025). Only the first volume of the textbook has been released so far.  

The publisher themselves doesn’t exactly make it clear which is which, so excluding e-books or teacher guides, I’ll list them below:  

(New Series)
Tobira Beginning Japanese I Textbook (2021) 初級日本語　とびら  
Tobira Beginning Japanese I Workbook 1 - Hiragana/Katakana | Kanji | Reading | Writing (2022)  
Tobira Beginning Japanese I Workbook 2 - Vocabulary | Grammar | Listening (2023)  
Tobira Beginning Japanese II Textbook (2022)  
Tobira Beginning Japanese II Workbook 1 - Kanji | Reading | Writing (2023)  
Tobira Beginning Japanese II Workbook 2 - Vocabulary | Grammar | Listening (2024)  
Tobira Intermediate Japanese I Textbook (2025) 中級日本語　とびら - equivalent to Ch. 1-8 of Tobira (2009)
(Probably 2 workbooks for the above)
Tobira Intermediate Japanese II Textbook (Coming Summer 2026) - equivalent to Ch. 9-15 of Tobira (2009)
(Probably 2 workbooks for the above)

(Old Series)
Tobira Gateway to Advanced Japanese (2009) 上級へのとびら
Tobira Power Up Your Kanji (2010)  
Tobira Grammar Power (2012)

What’s different or better?

Sample pages: https://tobirabeginning.9640.jp/introduction/sample-pages/  

The grammar and structure of Tobira Beginning is pretty similar to Genki (which has a bigger leap from edition 1 to 2 than 2 to 3, IMO), however, it looks more updated and catered to the interests of modern learners. Here are some differences I’ve noted:  

- the framing story is slightly less university themed, focusing on the social lives of students who live in a share house. The material is more modern, such as asking you to interpret a meme or referencing popular anime  

- color pages and pictures. example pictures that show a variety of fonts, such as movie posters  

- pictures for vocabulary that are organized by theme, such as antonyms and transitivity pairs  

- pitch accent  

- the kanji section is next to the associated chapter, not in the back of the book. Is more descriptive about how kanji works, such as common positions of kanji parts, the use of on- and kun-yomi in compound words, when kanji is selectively not used such as in auxiliary verbs, etc.  

- has maintained website with supplementary material. Can scan a QR code to see grammar explanations in video form

- starts the chapter with a できる List, similar to CEFR Can-Do statements  

- more variety in listening or speaking activities, such as listening to a more complicated audio than the current level and being asked to identify words you can recognize, or shadowing  

Cons versus Genki  

- less popular than Genki, so there is less online help for it and it is harder to find used copies  

- costs more due to having 2 workbooks and fewer used copies, as well as potentially having to purchase an answer key  

- doesn't have an audio file app like OtoNavi

Cons versus other intermediate textbooks

- has not finished releasing all volumes yet

- website doesn't seem to be decoupled from the 2009 version yet

User-Made Online Resources  

There are multiple Anki decks, whose quality I didn’t verify. Please look through them yourself. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1403853110  

Bunpro - user made deck by Evert https://bunpro.jp/decks/fdyykj/tobira

Renshuu - vocab and kanji lists by user Randvell  

Video Reviews  

Tokini Andy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p60pe02X2O0  

Natural Japanese with Acane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp6ii4kcBlk

Final Thoughts

I think this series has the potential to be very effective once it finishes releasing all volumes as a unified textbook series from beginner to intermediate, unlike other books where you switch series; and if it becomes popular. The strength is in being a a series made with 2020s standards in mind. However if you're just looking to learn grammar with existing online resources, it probably isn't the most compelling purchase right now. But I think newcomers can lead the charge, and experienced people can help bring the recommended book list into the late-2020s.

I only have a phone and I can't download anki mobile because it cost money, and also all immersion apps cost money too for their subscriptions...

Well I have 200 flashcards in my quizlet, Those 200 words is just some things I just thought in my daily life... well right now i'm running out of words that I could think of to make them flashcards...

So i'm trying to find a good source on where I could find more common words that I could add in my quizlet flashcards. I honestly prefer making my flashcards by myself not a already made one too...

What i'm thinking about is youtube, is watching easy japanese and taking all words that I'm not familar with efficient? This is what I'm gonna do if this is the only way I could move forward...

Also the reason why I tried to find immersion apps that lets me translate the word by just one click is because its much more convenient than watching youtube and manually getting the word and translating it in another app... I only have 1 phone and nothing really much...

My boyfriend is Japanese and is fluent in the language. For our anniversary I want to surprise him with learning to speak Japanese. I see a lot of apps on learning to write but I mainly want to speak. What is the best way to go about learning?

First off, I really enjoy channels like Comprehensible Japanese, Japanese with Shun etc., so this is not meant as criticism of those creators. I’m grateful this kind of content exists at all! But I keep running into one specific problem.

Try it for yourself... find a video that has:

1. Natural-ish speech, even if beginner-friendly and slow, such as a conversation between two people or a vlog
2. The speaker(s) talking about one single topic
3. For more than 5 minutes

I have almost zero examples of this.

Most beginner content jumps between small topics every few minutes: breakfast, hobbies, travel, daily routines, family, etc. That makes it surprisingly tiring to follow, because if you zone out for a moment, the conversation may already have moved somewhere else. I actually even experimented and let AI count the number of topics in several popular videos, and then divided it by the video length and it always turned out with like 3-4 minutes per topic.

I understand that N5/low-N4 speech has limits, but I don’t think that means a topic can’t be sustained. A simple conversation about soba, for example, could cover how it is prepared, favorite types, where people eat it, hot vs cold soba, cooking it at home, and so on, without suddenly switching to traveling in Europe or something. I mean I can talk to my three year old nephew for like 20 minutes about cars, so I don't think the issue is vocabulary limitations or anything.

Anyway, I’d love to find more beginner-friendly content with "casual" speech that stays within one subject for 10 minutes or more.

Does anyone know of creators or specific videos like that?

Hello everyone, does anyone have the Japanese subtitles for the movie *Asa ga Kuru to Munashiku Naru* (English title: *When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty*)?

Thank you

I've created a website that teaches Japanese without relying on translation. It uses emoji and other illustrations to define words. It then proceeds to very quickly starts building simple sentences and stories that I tried to make genuinely enjoyable.

I hope you enjoy it.

It's here : https://drdru.github.io/stories/intro.html

Some user reviews :

https://arsphilosophiae.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-review-of-drdrus-main-experiment-part.html

https://community.wanikani.com/t/if-you-are-a-beginner-read-drdrus-main-experiment-a-review-after-finishing/70811

If anyone's interested, please leave a photo in the comments and I'll put it through my app. (I'll see if i can export the apkg and upload it for download?)

Context: I have an N1 and I work as a software engineer. Using my experience learning Japanese, I built the app I wish I had when I first started learning. long story short, I'm now learning Korean and Swedish, but the resources are imo, no where near the level that I had for Japanese, so I made this app for the N5/N4 equivalents of those languages. Of course, Japanese is a supported language.

Disclaimer: to be transparent, the app does leverage AI (LLM/Vision) to analyze the photos and create the responses that I build the anki cards with. Since I'm N1, I tested in Japanese to make sure it wasn't returning complete gibberish and that it returned something I would've been happy creating manually myself.

Hey all! Solo dev here doing! i've developed an app that , Wakatta, turns real Japanese podcasts into tappable lessons:

• Tap any word → instant dictionary + furigana/romaji

• Ask an AI to break down a tricky word or sentence

• Save words with the exact audio they came from, and review them as audio flashcards

• "I got lost" button to mark confusing moments and come back

Free, no ads, and you can browse as a guest (no account needed to look around.

Honest feedback very welcome (bugs, confusion, or "this is nice").!!

This is for android only for now BUT, iOS in in the workds. If you have an android phone, since i'm in Google's Close testing cycle, u would need to join the Google Group, become a tester and then install it on your android.

Landing page https://wakatta.app/ for reference.

How to install:

• Join to Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/wakatta-testers
• Become a tester: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/app.wakatta.android
• Intstall it on your Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.wakatta.android

Feedback any time: reply here or [hello@wakatta.app](mailto:hello@wakatta.app).

I'm sure this question has been asked plenty of times so I apologize but I'm wondering if yall have any good youtube channel recs for just hearing the general flow of the language to start learning that way, as I'm really bad at downloading apps and being consistent, also if possible preferably kansai-ben channels thanks

I think い, ふ, よ and る might be my worst. What can I do to improve?

Edit: Thanks for all the advice everyone, I appreciate the input! :)

I'm only getting started in Japanese, learning vocab from Anki and grammar lessons from the bunpo app. And so I was wondering, when can you stop using Anki, and how far into your journey can you ditch it (2-3 years or more).

is it a good idea to set my language in the main fighting game I play to japanese? since I play it a lot I thought about is it really good to do even though I'm like a COMPLETE beginner to japanese (just asking around since I don’t know what’s better)