Topic hubs
Japanese: Topic Hubs
Short orientations to every major area of Japanese. Start here if you want a map of the terrain.
Each of these is a compact briefing on an area of Japanese. The deep work lives in the pillar guides; these hubs are the map.
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Hiragana: The Japanese Cursive Script
The 46-character cursive script used for native Japanese words, particles, and verb endings.
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Katakana: The Japanese Angular Script
The 46-character angular script used for foreign loanwords, brand names, and emphasis.
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Kanji: The Japanese Imported Characters
The thousands of Chinese-derived characters that carry meaning in Japanese. The long tail of Japanese learning.
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Japanese Particles
The one- and two-syllable markers that do in Japanese what word order does in English.
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Japanese Grammar: What You Actually Need
The grammar patterns that cover most real-world Japanese. Shorter than the textbook makes it look.
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Japanese Pronunciation
Phonetically simpler than English, but with pitch accent that most apps ignore.
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Essential Japanese Phrases
The phrases you actually need in your first week of using Japanese.
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Japanese Pitch Accent
The high/low tone pattern most learners (and most apps) skip. Why it matters and when to study it.
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Keigo: Japanese Honorific Speech
The polite, humble, and respectful registers that change Japanese sentences depending on who is speaking to whom.
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Japanese Verbs
The two main verb classes (ru-verbs, u-verbs) plus two irregulars. The whole system fits in a page.
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Japanese Numbers
How to count from 1 to a billion in Japanese. The two reading systems, the counters, and the big four irregularities.