Japanese Core 6000
Learn hiragana, katakana, and the top 6,000 words in Japanese.
Learn the 6,000 most common Japanese words. Each item features an example sentence and audio from two popular Japanese voice talents. Master these 6,000 words to master Japanese!
iKnow! コース診断で、自分のレベルに合わせたコースをみつけましょう。
The Japanese written language is composed of three writing systems: kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
Kanji are the characters borrowed from Chinese. These number in the tens of thousands, but to read Japanese you really only to need around 2,000 kanji.
Hiragana and katakana are both phonetic systems, each numbering 46 basic symbols, or letters. Each hiragana symbol has an exact corresponding katakana symbol and vice versa.
This series covers the basic hiragana and katakana symbols in addition to all the modified forms (those with diacritic marks and the cさらに見る
Japanese Core 1000
This series of ten courses covers the top 1,000 most commonly used words in Japanese.
If you’re new to studying Japanese, we recommend you first read our Guide to Japanese. This will explain the basics of inputting Japanese.
Each item in this series has an example sentence with both audio and image. The audio was recorded by two well-known Japanese voice talents: Yuko Kaida and Yukitoshi Tokumoto.
Mastering these 1,000 items and sentences will give you the vocabulary and sentence patterns to function in most everyday situations.
The Japanese Core 2000 covers the next 1,000 most important words in Japanese.
We recommend you first read our Guide to Japanese. This will explain the basics of inputting Japanese.
If your Japanese is already at an intermediate level, you can start here instead of in the Core 1000. Mastering all the items in the Core 1000 and Core 2000 will give you a very strong foundation in Japanese. Not only will you understand dialogue in most basic situations, you’ll also start to develop skills for reading on your own.
The Japanese Core 3000 covers the 3rd 1,000 most commonly used words in Japanese.
We recommend you first read our Guide to Japanese. This will explain the basics of inputting Japanese.
Each item in this series has an example sentence with professionally recorded audio. The Core 3000 is suitable for intermediate and upper-intermediate students of Japanese. Mastering all 3,000 items and sentences of the Japanese Core 1000, 2000, and 3000 will put you in a position to start reading Japanese without the assistance of dictionaries.
Japanese Core 4000
The Japanese Core 4000 covers the 4th 1,000 most commonly used words in Japanese.
We recommend you first read our Guide to Japanese. This will explain the basics of inputting Japanese.
The Core 4000 is suitable for upper-intermediate students of Japanese. Mastering all 4,000 items and sentences of the Japanese Core 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 will allow you to function independently in most contexts.
Japanese Core 5000
The Japanese Core 5000 covers the 5th 1,000 most commonly used words in Japanese.
We recommend you first read our Guide to Japanese. This will explain the basics of inputting Japanese.
The Core 5000 is designed for advanced students of Japanese who are confident in their speaking and reading skills, but who want to dive deeper into Japanese literature.
The Japanese Core 6000 covers the 6th 1000 most commonly used words in Japanese.
We recommend you first read our Guide to Japanese. This will explain the basics of inputting Japanese.
The Core 6000 is designed to help advanced students reach a level where they can read difficult materials on their own. Students who master all 6,000 words in the Japanese Core category will be well on their way to mastering Japanese!