Japanese uses more than one script at once. That can feel like a lot. For beginners, two of them matter first: hiragana and katakana. They write the same sounds. They do different jobs on the page.
Kanji can wait. With kana alone you can already write Japanese phonetically.
Same sounds, different jobs
Think of hiragana and katakana as two outfits for one sound system, not as two different languages.
Hiragana (rounded shapes) usually covers:
- Native Japanese words
- Grammar particles (は, を, に)
- Verb and adjective endings
- Words you are not writing in kanji yet
Katakana (angular shapes) usually covers:
- Foreign loanwords (コーヒー, テレビ)
- Foreign names
- Onomatopoeia
- Emphasis (a bit like italics)
A simple mixed sentence: 私はコーヒーを飲みます (I drink coffee) uses kanji, hiragana particles/endings, and katakana for coffee.
What to learn first
- Hiragana chart (about 46 basics)
- Dakuten / handakuten marks (the little ゛ and ゜ that voice or change rows)
- Katakana chart (same sounds, new shapes)
- The long-vowel mark ー in katakana (コーヒー)
Do not try to memorize every lookalike trap on day one. Learn the charts, then drill the pairs that confuse you.
Common katakana lookalikes: シ vs ツ, ソ vs ン. Stroke direction matters.
Image cues that help
Pick one vivid image per kana you keep mixing up. Front: picture. Back: character + romaji if you need it. You are training shape and sound, not translating English essays.
Loanword practice works well in katakana: coffee, TV, bus, America. Native grammar glue stays in hiragana.
Where the full charts live
The free guide has hiragana, dakuten, katakana, and when-to-use tables: Japanese Writing Systems: Hiragana & Katakana. More languages: grammar hub.
A five-card practice (one soft next step)
- Five hiragana you keep failing
- Five katakana loanwords you actually say
- One シ / ツ pair
- One word with ー
- One mixed cue: hiragana particle + katakana loanword in a tiny phrase
Review when due. Rate honestly. That is kana vocab practice, not a full Japanese course and not a fluency promise.
If you want that review loop in the product, open How Vidi Works when you are ready.