SimplyHiragana: Learn Japanese

Learn hiragana -- the first step in reading Japanese.

SimplyHiragana covers all 46 hiragana characters and 45 real Japanese words, each paired with the character it teaches. Five minutes a day is enough.

No accounts. No login. Tap Start and study.

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WHY HIRAGANA FIRST

Before kanji, before grammar, before anything else -- hiragana is the foundation of written Japanese. Every textbook, every app, every course assumes you already know it. And it's only 46 characters. Most beginners learn them all in about two weeks.

The common problem isn't the characters themselves. It's forgetting them overnight. You study for an hour, feel confident, and the next morning half of it is gone. That's usually not a memory problem. Passive study methods -- re-reading a chart, copying characters, staring at a table -- create short-term recognition without durable recall. The format is the issue, not the effort.

SimplyHiragana fixes this by changing how you study, not how much.

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THE SCIENCE

Most study apps show you a character and ask you to re-read it. Re-reading feels productive, but it creates shallow memory -- you recognize the answer while it's in front of you and forget it an hour later.

SimplyHiragana works differently in two ways.

First, every card is a retrieval attempt. You see a prompt and pull the answer from memory before revealing it. That act of retrieving -- even when you get it wrong -- builds stronger, longer-lasting memory than passive review. In 1967, researchers at the University of California demonstrated this effect in a series of memory experiments. Psychologists have been replicating it ever since. It's called the testing effect, and it's one of the most consistent findings in learning science.

Second, the app tracks which characters give you trouble and brings them back at calculated intervals. Characters you know well fade into the background. Characters you keep forgetting come back sooner. Your practice time goes where it matters instead of cycling through things you already know.

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HOW IT WORKS

1. Open. Tap Start.
2. Choose your character group, or let the app decide what you need most.
3. Recall. Tap to reveal. Rate how well you knew it.

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WHAT'S INSIDE

- All 46 hiragana characters and their readings
- 45 real Japanese words -- each character paired with a word that uses it (あめ for rain, いぬ for dog, ねこ for cat)
- Active recall on every card -- you retrieve, not re-read
- Spaced repetition that adapts to your memory
- Six study modes: Sequential, Random, Group, Weak Points, Review, Learning
- Mnemonic hints for every character
- Daily goals and streaks
- Works offline -- no internet required
- No tracking. No data collection. Your progress stays on your device.

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THE 10 CHARACTER GROUPS

Vowels: a, i, u, e, o
K-row: ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
S-row: sa, shi, su, se, so
T-row: ta, chi, tsu, te, to
N-row: na, ni, nu, ne, no
H-row: ha, hi, fu, he, ho
M-row: ma, mi, mu, me, mo
Y-row: ya, yu, yo
R-row: ra, ri, ru, re, ro
W-row: wa, wo, n

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WHY I BUILT THIS

Years ago, I was living in Japan and commuting by train. I found a flashcard app -- nothing fancy, just characters organized by level -- and started reviewing on the ride to work. Five minutes out, five minutes back.

Then the app disappeared from the App Store. The replacements I tried were either buried in features I didn't need or missing the simplicity that made the original work.

So I built SimplyKanji -- the app I wished still existed. And then I built SimplyHiragana and SimplyKatakana -- because most people need to start with the basics before they're ready for kanji.

Now on iPhone, iPad, and Android.

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Five minutes a day. Start reading Japanese today.