Japanese games and learning activities

All Japanese acquisition games on this website are completely free to use, do not require registration or logins, and have been designed for Japanese language students of various ages, abilities and learning needs. Designed for use in Japanese language classrooms or as a self-study resource for independent students of Japanese. Young kids will find the visual and colorful animals and fruit vocabulary games enjoyable, and visitors to Japan may find the phrases sections useful, as well as the numbers games and some of the basic vocabulary sections. Japanese study topics include vocabulary lists with audio for learning the correct pronunciation. When learning words written in katakana and hiragana it is advisable to listen to the audio that features on the vocabulary list. Japanese uses three writing systems; kanji, katakana and hiragana. We advise beginning with the hiragana alphabet section for those quite serious about progressing with Japanese. Unlike the mammoth task of learning the Japanese kanji writing system, the hiragana and katakana alphabets are fairly easy to learn and are a good place to begin studying the sounds in the Japanese language. Choose the Japanese topic you would like to revise, brush up on the phrases, vocabulary or characters, and then test your Japanese language skills with the language acquisition games. For learning Japanese vocabulary before testing with the practice quizzes, we host several Japanese picture dictionaries with audio as well as some interactive Japanese flashcards.

The Japanese language

Japanese is spoken by around 128 million people, almost all of whom live in Japan where Japanese is the national language. Apart from the Ryukyuan languages of the islands to the south of Japan, there are no languages similar to Japanese, and the origins of Japanese remain unclear. Although Japanese uses the Chinese script, and a considerable proportion of Japanese words derive from Chinese, the languages are not related. In modern times numerous English loanwords have been incorporated into Japanese.

Is the Japanese language difficult to learn?

The author of this website spent around one and a half years in Japan studying the Japanese language part-time. He found Japanese a relatively difficult language to learn, even compared to other Asian languages. However trying to speak some Japanese while traveling or living in Japan is worthwhile, and will be greatly appreciated by Japanese people. Furthermore, trying to communicate in Japanese will encourage Japanese people to communicate with you in English, which they are generally too shy to speak. Although some sounds are different, notably the 'r', Japanese is not particularly difficult to pronounce and does not rely on distinct as many other Asian languages do. Japanese is spoken quite slowly and clearly, which makes picking up words in spoken sentences quite easy. The grammar is only moderately difficult to learn. The greatest challenge in learning the Japanese language is the kanji writing script, which contains thousands of characters. For more information on the challenges of learning Japanese read the LingQ article How hard is it to learn Japanese?. The conclusion is - difficult! Most teachers and linguists agree.

Kanji writing script

Kanji script derives from the Chinese writing system, and the word 'kanji' literally means ‘Han characters’. Kanji characters are ideograms; each kanji character correlates to a particular word. Words are often made up of multiple (compound) kanji characters following various rules. It is unknown exactly how many kanji characters there are in Japanese, but there are certainly several thousand. Many of these characters refer to specialist fields and are not known to many Japanese people. Serious students of Japanese should learn at least a thousand characters.

Hiragana alphabet

Beginning your Japanese studies with the hiragana alphabet will familiarize you with Japanese pronunciation. The hiragana syllabary consists of 46 phonetic characters. Hiragana was developed out of Chinese characters in the 5th century, and was originally considered 'women's writing'. For the famous Japanese classic 'The Tale of Genji', penned by noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in 1008 used the hiragana script.

Katakana alphabet

Katakana is a phonetic writing system, and the letters represent the same set of sounds as the hiragana alphabet. Katakana is mostly used for writing foreign loanwords and names, and is used for adding emphasis in a similar way in which italics are used in English writing.

For further information on the three Japanese writing systems visit Omniglot's Japanese section.

Online Japanese games include:

Start your Japanese studies with our games for learning the katakana alphabet and the essential hiragana alphabet. Both the hiragana and katakana alphabets are phonetic and are relatively easy to learn. If you feel you don't need to know these just yet, most of the games on this page have rōmaji options; which is a way of writing Japanese using Latin script. After learning the katakana alphabet you may wish to try the katakana vocabulary drills.

Numbers in Japanese using kanji and rōmaji - learn to count in Japanese with quizzes and wordlist with spoken Japanese audio. The Japanese numbers 1-12 quiz provides the option of learning these numbers with a 1-12 romaji game and for beginning to learn kanji characters, a 1-12 kanji numbers game.For contiuning on to the numbers up to 20 play the Japanese numbers 13-20 game. Here again you can play the 13-20 kanji characters option or the same game with rōmaji (13-20) options. Arithmetic games in which you add the Japanese words or kanji character for numbers together to choose the correct answer.

Japanese phrases - say hello in Japanese! Basic communication with the most common salutations and greetings, and phrases for ordering food or asking directions. Japanese phrases 1 has three playing options; the audio version with spoken Japanese, the rōmaji game, which provides phrases in romanized transliterations, and if you have already learned hiragana and katakana, try the phrases script version. Continuing with your language studies you could play the second Japanese phrases 2 game, which also comes with the same language options. A perfect resource for practicing your knowledge of basic phrases before you get out amongst locals and try to communicate! Visit the learn Japanese phrases page for further useful sentences, including those relating to accommodation, transport, dating and eating. If you'd like to learn a couple of survival phrases for a holiday break to Okinawa or to surprise a Japanese buddy, check out our how to say hello in Japanese webpage. For those in or seeking a romantic relationship with a Japanese person, visit our how to say I love you in Japanese page with audio.

Colours in Japanese quiz - 11 words. The most common colour vocabulary in the Japanese language. rōmaji or kanji symbols games with audio. Note the Japanese work for pink is pinku, a loanword, and as is written in katakana - ピンク. Otherwise, this game is good for basic kanji study. Otherwise, this game is good for basic kanji learning. Use our Japanese colours flashcards for learning the colours before testing with the practice quiz.

Fruit and vegetables games - 15 of the most useful words for Japanese fruit and vegetables in a simple quiz with audio. For elementary level students and kids. Both hiragana and katakana (for loanwords) are use in the Japanese script option. Flick-thru our funky Japanese fruit flashcards for learning this vocabulary before playing the Japanese practice quiz.

Animals in Japanese game - learn the words for animals and play the practice game. Simple intuitive game that require minimal instruction for playing, and that can be used by kids without much adult supervision. Check out our Japanese animals picture dictionary for teaching these Japanese words to kids.

Animals in Japanese 2 - another fun vocabulary quiz for learning the names of a further 17 animal words in Japanese. You can use our Japanese flashcards: animals 2 for learning these Japanese words before testing with our interactive quiz.

Learn to spell basic words written in hiragana with this hiragana spelling quiz.

2 vocabulary quizzes for absolute beginners - games with vocabulary lists and audio, each of which contains 17 essential Japanese words. Beginners may wish to first take the simpler quiz with 17 words. Study the nouns and play the Japanese vocabulary game 1, and then progress on to the Japanese vocabulary game 2. For learning these first Japanese nouns, use our Japanese vocabulary flashcards 1, with 17 essential words, and our further Japanese vocabulary flashcards 2. Both Japanese flashcard sets come with voice recordings.

Learn 34 essential words in Japanese (continuing with the same visual vocabulary quiz format) - two further fun online tools for learning new and essential words in the Japanese language for beginners. Play our Japanese vocabulary game 3, and then progression on to our fourth Japanese general vocabulary game 4. Both of these Japanese activities include audio recordings.

Days and months in Japanese - learn the seven days of the week and the 12 months of the year in a simple visual quiz that is suitable for kids and elementary students. Uses rōmaji.

Tell the time in Japanese - after completing our Japanese numbers exercises, the student can try these fun activities for learning to ask or tell the time in Japanese. A picture dictionary, flashcard set and a practice quiz that include rōmaji and hiragana text, and Japanese audio recordings.

Vocabulary builders - as you begin to acquire more Japanese vocabulary, these two games each offer 48 additional words. Match the Japanese word with the corresponding English word. First play the vocabulary builder 1, and then the intermediate level vocabulary builder 2.

Dual text hygiene presentation in Japanese and English - 'wash your hands' in Japanese. Learn a few simple sentences and words in both romaji and hiragana relating to very basic hygiene practices.

Japanese vocabulary lists: for those wishing to learn extra general vocab on a range of Japanese language topics and subjects. Vocabulary lists include Japanese audio.

Mobile and tablet games for Japanese - there are several games with audio on our Japanese for mobile pages including colors, numbers, phrases, animals, vocabulary. If you come to this site with a mobile device you will be automatically redirected to this page.

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Prefectures of Japan geography quiz: first learn the names of the 47 Japanese prefectures with our Japan interactive map. After learning the names and locations of the prefectures, play the prefectures of Japan geography quiz.

Some great materials for learning Japanese can be found on Tofugu. Also you may visit the Free Japanese Lessons website, a clear and useful guide to various aspects of the language that hosts several free to use language acquisition lessons.

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