Kana typing trainer.
Charts are good for first exposure, but kana only become truly usable once you can look at them, hear them, and answer without slowly scanning the whole table.
This trainer keeps the scope tight: core hiragana and katakana only, drilled through romanization, sound recognition, and script conversion. It is meant to be quick enough to repeat several times in one sitting.
Overview
Last updated May 30, 2026.
- Drill core hiragana and katakana by sound, romanization, and script conversion in a compact typing trainer.
- Beginners usually learn scripts faster when the page explains what the symbols are doing before asking them to memorize shapes or stroke order.
- The goal here is system recognition: patterns, structure, and repeated forms that make later reading easier.
Switch the question type, not the item set.
Use the mode buttons to decide what kind of recall you want: read hiragana, read katakana, type from sound, or convert from one kana script into the other.
See kana, type romaji.
Good for building direct recognition instead of silently translating the whole chart in your head.
Hear the sound, type romaji.
Useful for separating similar syllables once the visual forms are already somewhat familiar.
Switch between hiragana and katakana.
Helpful once you know the sound values but still hesitate when moving from one script to the other.
Type the answer and check it immediately.
Related reading
How To Write Japanese Hiragana and Katakana
A beginner guide to the Japanese kana charts, basic pronunciation, and full kana stroke-order reference.
Sino-xenic Vocabulary Explorer
See one character or compound across Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean readings, meanings, and script forms.
Japanese and Kanji: Why a Non-Sinitic Language Still Writes with Chinese Characters
A long-form essay on why Japanese still uses kanji, how multiple readings arose, and why the mixed script remains functional.
Why Japanese Uses Three Scripts
A learner-oriented essay on why kanji, hiragana, and katakana coexist and what work each script does inside modern Japanese.