Lesson 1
Hiragana あ–そ: the vowels and the K and S rows
Learn your first 15 hiragana — the five vowels あいうえお and the か and さ rows — and start reading real words like すし, えき and かさ.
Learn Japanese
Kana lessons
Hiragana and katakana: read and write the two Japanese kana scripts, from the first five vowels to katakana loanwords.
5 lessons
Lessons
Lesson 2
Hiragana た–ほ: the T, N and H rows
Learn the next 15 hiragana — the た, な and は rows — including the special sounds ち (chi), つ (tsu) and ふ (fu), and read words like ねこ, いぬ and さかな.
Lesson 3
Hiragana ま–ん, plus dakuten and handakuten
Finish the basic hiragana chart with the ま, や, ら and わ rows and ん, then learn how the small marks ゛ and ゜ turn か into が and は into ば or ぱ.
Lesson 4
Katakana basics: the 46 characters and how to read them
Meet katakana, the Japanese script for foreign words and names. Learn the 46 basic characters by linking them to the hiragana you already know, and read words like カメラ, テレビ and パン.
Lesson 5
Katakana for loanwords: long vowels, small ッ and new sound combinations
Read real katakana words from menus, shops and signs: learn the long-vowel mark ー, the small ッ, combined sounds like シャ and ジュ, and special pairs such as ティ and ファ.