How to Start Writing in Japanese as a Beginner

Start writing Japanese with three to five short sentences about your day, in the polite です/ます form, using grammar from your course. Type them, get one round of correction, and use one fix in your next entry. Two or three short entries a week is a reasonable start. The goal is not essays. It is turning words you have studied into sentences you could actually send.

What to write first

Write the kinds of text you will need. The Japan Foundation’s Irodori course sets its beginner writing goals around filling in forms, sending messages to friends and others, and short social media posts about familiar topics, according to its How to Use This Textbook guide. One of its A2 goals is writing in simple terms about your hobbies and days off.

Three good first topics:

• A self-introduction. はじめまして。マリアです。カナダから来ました。 Hajimemashite. Maria desu. Kanada kara kimashita. Nice to meet you. I’m Maria. I’m from Canada.
• A three-line diary. 今日は雨でした。朝、コーヒーを飲みました。午後、図書館で日本語を勉強しました。 Kyō wa ame deshita. Asa, kōhī o nomimashita. Gogo, toshokan de nihongo o benkyō shimashita. It rained today. I had coffee in the morning. In the afternoon, I studied Japanese at the library.
• A practical message. すみません。10分ぐらい遅れます。 Sumimasen. Juppun gurai okuremasu. Sorry, I’ll be about ten minutes late. Irodori uses a late message as one of its writing tasks.

Keep to です/ます. It is the safe default when you write to people you do not know well, including the strangers who will correct you. Mixing polite and casual endings in one entry is an easy way to collect corrections that have nothing to do with what you wanted to practice. Some correctors may suggest plain endings for a diary. Both are correct, so keep です/ます until your course teaches plain form.

Type first, handwrite if you want

Except for paper forms, which you fill in by hand, Irodori asks learners to type messages and posts on a phone or keyboard, as they would in real life. The same guide says you do not have to be able to write kanji by hand for its kanji word sections. Typing also makes it easy to post your text for correction. If your keyboard is not set up yet, follow how to type in Japanese.

Handwriting kanji is a separate goal. Practice it on its own if you want it, and do not let stroke order block your first sentences.

Write from what you know

Write from patterns you know rather than translating English sentences. Before each entry:

1. Pick one or two patterns from your latest lesson, such as the past tense ～ました or the place where an action happens, marked with で (図書館で勉強しました).
2. Write sentences that use them. If a sentence only works as a word-by-word translation from English, simplify it.
3. If you need a new word, look it up, read an example sentence, and use it once. The dictionary entry guide shows what to check.
4. Read the entry aloud. If you stumble, shorten the sentence.

Do not paste machine translation and post it as your own writing. Corrections help with the Japanese you produced, not with a translator’s output. LangCorrect’s community guidelines prohibit machine-generated or machine-translated text presented as your own.

How to get corrections

Pick one route and stay with it for a few weeks. On LangCorrect, native speakers correct journal entries sentence by sentence while you correct entries in your own language, according to its homepage, and its prompts sorted by CEFR level help when you do not know what to write. Exchange apps such as HelloTalk and Tandem list built-in correction tools (HelloTalk, Tandem) and suit short messages, while a tutor on italki can explain the pattern behind a repeated error. The writing-feedback shortlist compares these routes, their limits and their costs.

When you post, add one line so the reader knows what you want:

• 添削をお願いします。 Tensaku o onegai shimasu. Please correct my writing.
• 自然な言い方を教えてください。 Shizen na iikata o oshiete kudasai. Please tell me a natural way to say this.

Use the correction, not just read it

A correction is useful only if it changes your next entry.

1. Type out the whole corrected entry again instead of copying and pasting it.
2. Pick one error you now understand. For example, 昨日、映画を見ます becomes 昨日、映画を見ました (Kinō, eiga o mimashita. I watched a movie yesterday), because a finished past event takes the past form. Or 友だちを会いました becomes 友だちに会いました (Tomodachi ni aimashita. I met a friend), because 会う takes に (or と) for the person you meet, not を.
3. Use that pattern correctly in your next entry.

If two correctors disagree, or a change makes no sense to you, check a grammar reference or ask one follow-up question. Do not try to absorb every change at once.

Limits

Peer corrections vary in quality, and a corrected sentence is often one natural option among several. Writing practice also does not train fast listening or speech. Keep entries short so they do not take time from your course and input. The daily study plan guide fits light writing into its 60-minute day, not its 15-minute one.

Next step: tonight, write three sentences about today in the ～ました form and post them through one feedback route. In your next entry, use one correction you received.

Sources

• Irodori Elementary 1: How to Use This Textbook (Japan Foundation) — Beginner writing goals (forms, messages, simple social media posts), A2 goal of writing about hobbies and days off, a late-arrival message task, typing messages on a phone or keyboard, and kanji not required by hand. (checked 2026-10-15)
• LangCorrect homepage — Free journal corrected sentence by sentence by native speakers, correcting others in your native language, and writing prompts graded by CEFR level. (checked 2026-10-15)
• LangCorrect community guidelines — Machine-generated or machine-translated text presented as your own writing is prohibited. (checked 2026-10-15)
• HelloTalk official site — Built-in translation, pronunciation, transliteration and correction tools. (checked 2026-10-15)
• Tandem official site — Text, voice note, audio or video call practice with in-app correction and translation tools. (checked 2026-10-15)
• italki official site — 1-on-1 lessons with Japanese teachers. (checked 2026-10-15)

Prepared by our editorial team with AI assistance. Product details are checked against the sources below.

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