Languages · course 80 of 105
Hiragana and Katakana Without the Mix-Ups
Turn both Japanese kana scripts into romaji (Latin letters): every basic hiragana and katakana, the voicing marks, combined sounds, the look-alikes that trip people up, and real words.
Not on sale yet. When sales open: $4.99 USD for this course, paid once, or every course for $9.99 USD a month. Prices
$4.99 USD, paid once. Or every course for $9.99 USD a month until you cancel; try it free for 7 days first (email only, no card, ends on its own). Tax added at checkout where it applies.
Runs in Claude (claude.ai, the Claude apps or Claude Code) with your own Claude account. A course opens there as soon as your payment goes through; nothing is shipped.
Preview
What it teaches
The two kana scripts (hiragana for Japanese words not written in kanji and for grammar, katakana for loanwords), the basic kana of both, the marks (゛ voices a consonant, ゜ turns h into p), combined kana (きゃ kya, しょ sho), the small っ that doubles a consonant and the ー that lengthens a katakana vowel, and how to write it all in modified Hepburn romaji, the most common Hepburn variant today (し shi, つ tsu, ふ fu, ん before a vowel = n'). The look-alikes (シ shi / ツ tsu, ソ so / ン n, ぬ nu / め me) are drilled on purpose. The AI asks 3 questions, places you, shows a short card per module, then gives you one kana or word at a time.
How long
51 items. About 25-50 rounds (about 25 for a student who knows some kana, about 50 for a beginner) plus a 12-item final: 2 sessions (estimate, not timed with a real student). The tutor gives a one-line save code at the end of each session.
The modules
4 modules, drilled one item at a time.
- M0
Two scripts, marks and romaji
The two scripts, the marks and romaji
- M1
Hiragana
Read a hiragana
- M2
Katakana
Read a katakana
- M3
Voiced kana, yōon and real words
Voiced kana, yōon and real words
Before it teaches, it asks
- 1Why are you learning kana (a trip, anime, a class), and which kana can you already read?
- 2Hiragana: し. Romaji?
- 3Katakana: ツ. Romaji?
What’s exact, and what isn’t
Show
Straight from the course’s own notes.
- Two sources must agree on every kana
- Each romaji key is checked against the romanization chart on Wikipedia’s “Hepburn romanization” page (107 kana and kana pairs, parsed from the page) AND the official Unicode character names (e.g. HIRAGANA LETTER KA), converted with the 8 Hepburn spellings the chart shows. All 107 agree. Each katakana is checked to be the same Unicode syllable as its hiragana. Every kana printed on a card is checked against the chart.
- Word Keys are the page's own examples
- タクシー takushī, けっか kekka, こっち kotchi, かんい kan’i and more; the script’s romanizer reproduces 17 of the page’s 18 example words (it leaves out ぐんま Gunma). A planted-error test was caught.
- Sourced
- What each script is used for, the marks, the small っ, the ー and n' from Wikipedia; 10 quotes matched word for word on the live pages (re-checked 2026-10-11).
- Honest limits
- Reading kana into romaji only; the drills cover 14 of the 46 hiragana and 14 of the 46 katakana (the look-alikes and the Hepburn spellings), the rest are on the cards. No audio (a text tutor can’t play sounds), no handwriting or stroke order, no kanji. Romaji is a crutch for reading kana, not a substitute for hearing Japanese.
- Not in it yet
- Writing kana from romaji, extended katakana (ティ, ファ), the obsolete ゐ and ゑ, more words.