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How to Use Kana Daily
Everything you need to know to master Japanese Hiragana and Katakana - from your first lesson to advanced practice.
Getting Started
The dashboard is the first thing you see when you open Kana Daily. It shows your overall progress, unlocked lessons, and quick-access buttons for all practice modes.
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Your stats bar shows Days Done, Characters learned, Words learned, and your Kana Progress percentage.2
The lesson grid shows all available days. Locked lessons show a lock icon - complete the previous day's quiz to unlock.3
After completing at least one lesson, activity buttons appear for Speed Round, Typing, Listening, and Confusing Pairs.4
After two lessons, a Mixed Review section unlocks for cross-lesson practice.
💡Your day streak (🔥) appears on the dashboard. Stay consistent - even one activity per day keeps it going!
Recommended Learning Path
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1. Study the Lesson (Flashcards)
Open a day and flip through each character card. Hear the pronunciation, see stroke count, and read example words.
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2. Practice Writing
Watch the animated stroke order, then trace the character yourself on the canvas. Score 60%+ to mark it as practiced.
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3. Play the Matching Game
Test your memory by matching kana characters to their romaji reading. Fast and low-pressure.
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4. Take the Quiz
Score 60%+ to unlock the next lesson. This is the gate to keep progressing.
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5. Review with SRS
Come back daily to review due cards. The spaced repetition system schedules reviews at the optimal time for long-term memory.
Lessons
Each lesson introduces a group of related characters through interactive flashcards. Cards have two sides - the kana character on the front, and the romaji reading with examples on the back.
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Click any unlocked lesson on the dashboard to open it.2
Tap the card (or click the flip button) to reveal the romaji, pronunciation, and an example Japanese word.3
Press the audio button (🔊) to hear the character spoken in Japanese.4
Use arrow buttons or the dot indicators to navigate between characters in the lesson.5
Once you've seen all characters, the Take Quiz button activates. Score 60%+ to unlock the next day.
💡Look at the stroke count shown on each card. Knowing how many strokes a character has helps you write it correctly.
Writing Practice
The writing view has two modes: Demo (watch animated strokes) and Write (trace the character yourself). A scoring system gives feedback on accuracy.
Watch the character being drawn stroke by stroke with animation. Press Replay to watch again. When ready, click "I'm ready to write".
Draw on the canvas over the faint guide character. Press Check to get your score. A visual diff shows green (correct), pink (missed), and blue (extra) areas.
| Score |
Meaning |
Action |
| 80-100% |
Excellent - very close to reference |
Mark as Practiced |
| 60-79% |
Good - covers most of the character |
Mark as Practiced |
| Below 60% |
Needs more practice |
Clear and try again |
💡Use the character selector pills at the top to switch between any character from the lessons you've started - great for reviewing specific ones.
Quiz
Each quiz has 10 questions mixing two formats: see a kana character, choose the romaji and see the romaji, choose the kana character. You need 60% to pass and unlock the next lesson.
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Questions alternate between kana-to-romaji and romaji-to-kana.2
Select one of the 4 answer options. You get immediate feedback (green correct, red wrong).3
Track your progress on the pip bar at the top - green pips are correct, red are wrong.4
After 10 questions, see your score. 60%+ unlocks the next day. 80%+ earns "outstanding".
10 questions from one specific lesson. Required to progress. Available from inside the lesson view.
15 random questions from all unlocked lessons. Unlocks after 2+ lessons. Great for cross-lesson review.
Matching Game
Match each kana character on the left to its romaji reading on the right. Low-pressure and great for building quick recognition before a quiz.
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Click a kana character on the left column to select it (it highlights).2
Click the matching romaji on the right column. Correct pairs lock in; wrong ones flash red.3
Match all pairs to complete the game. A confetti screen appears at the end.
Pairs from one specific lesson. Accessible from inside the lesson view after seeing at least one character.
8 random characters from all unlocked lessons. Available from the dashboard after 2+ lessons.
Listening Quiz
Hear a Japanese character spoken aloud and identify which kana it is from 4 options. Trains listening comprehension alongside visual recognition.
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The audio plays automatically. Press the large 🔊 speaker button to replay it.2
Pick the correct kana character from the 4 options shown.3
10 questions total from your learned characters. Your score is shown at the end.
💡If sound doesn't work in your browser, the app automatically switches to Google TTS as a fallback - no setup needed.
Speed Round
20 rapid-fire questions. See a romaji word and pick the correct kana - but you only have 4 seconds per question. The timer bar shrinks and changes color as time runs out.
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See a romaji reading. Pick the matching kana character from 4 options before the timer runs out.2
The timer bar turns orange at 50%, then pink at 25% time remaining. Running out counts as wrong.3
At the end, see your score, average response time, and best (fastest correct) time.
💡Speed Round unlocks after completing at least one lesson. Use it to build the instant recognition you need for real reading.
Typing Quiz
The hardest recall mode. See a large kana character and type its romaji reading from memory - no multiple choice hints here. Tests active recall rather than recognition.
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A large kana character is shown. Type the romaji in the text field (e.g. "ka", "shi", "tsu").2
Press Enter or click Submit. You get instant green/red feedback.3
For characters with dual readings (e.g. し = "si" or "shi"), either spelling is accepted.4
10 questions from your learned characters. Score shown at the end.
Confusing Pairs
Some kana look very similar and are easy to mix up. This mode focuses specifically on those pairs, showing them side by side with tips on how to tell them apart.
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Learn Phase: 2-3 similar characters shown side by side with audio. A yellow tip box highlights the visual differences.2
Quiz Phase: 6 questions where all answer options are the confusing characters. Forces you to distinguish them under pressure.3
Common pairs covered include: め/ぬ, は/ほ/ま, わ/れ/ね in Hiragana, and ソ/ン, ツ/シ in Katakana.
💡If you keep getting the same pair wrong in other quizzes, come back here specifically to drill the confusing ones.
Spaced Repetition (SRS)
The SRS system tracks how well you know each character and schedules reviews at the optimal time. Characters you struggle with appear more often; ones you know well appear less frequently.
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Every time you answer a quiz question, the SRS data for that character updates automatically.2
When cards are due, a "Review Due (X)" button appears on the dashboard.3
Complete your daily reviews to build long-term retention without wasting time on characters you already know well.
Up to 20 SRS reviews per day. Plenty for daily study sessions.
Unlimited daily SRS reviews. Great if you're in an intensive study phase.
Progress & Badges
The Progress view shows a full breakdown of which characters you've learned, achievements you've unlocked, and options to export or import your data.
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The character grid shows every kana organized by lesson. Colored cells = learned, gray = not yet reached.2
The achievements section shows all badges - locked ones display 🔒. Earn them by hitting milestones like perfect quizzes.3
Export Progress downloads a backup of all your data as JSON. Use this to move data between devices.4
Import Progress restores from a backup file (Premium feature).
Hiragana vs Katakana
Kana Daily teaches both Japanese syllabic alphabets. Use the script toggle (あ / ア) in the header or dashboard to switch between them.
The foundational script. Rounded, flowing shapes. Used for native Japanese words and grammar. Start here if you're a beginner.
Angular shapes representing the same sounds. Used for foreign words (e.g. "coffee" = コーヒー). Tackle this after Hiragana.
💡Progress, streaks, and SRS data are tracked separately for each script - switching won't affect your Hiragana progress.
Premium
Everything in Kana Daily is free to use. Premium removes ads and unlocks power-user features for serious learners.
☆No ads
∞️Unlimited SRS reviews
📥Import progress from backup
📤Export progress (also free)
📊Detailed analytics
🌐Sync across devices
💡Create a free account to sync progress across devices via Firebase. Premium is only needed for unlimited SRS and import.
Study Tips
Even 5-10 minutes a day beats long infrequent sessions. Your streak counter keeps you accountable.
Always listen to pronunciation on the flashcard. Connecting sound to shape is faster than visual memorization alone.
Writing practice cements memory. Even if you're on mobile, trace the guide character with your finger.
SRS reviews are the most efficient study tool here. Skipping them means forgetting characters you already learned.
Use Speed Round only after you feel confident with a set of characters. It builds speed on top of knowledge - not a replacement for it.
め/ぬ and ソ/ン trip up almost everyone. Use the Confusing Pairs mode specifically when you notice recurring mistakes.
Ready to start learning?
All 46 Hiragana characters await - start with Day 1 and build from there.
Open Kana Daily