Learn kana in two weeks

Hiragana is the first script worth owning. Katakana is the second. Two weeks is long enough to make both readable if you drill a little every day and refuse extra apps.

This is a schedule, not a certificate. If week one is messy, repeat hiragana. Do not catch up by starting katakana and kanji on the same night.

For which tool owns which job, use the kana shortlist. This page is the routine.

The rule

One recognition drill. One review loop. No third kana product.

Job	Use	Do not use it for
Typed recall	Real Kana	A full Japanese course
Prepared spaced review	Inku on iPhone	Custom cards or Android
Course already in hand	Genki Lessons 1 and 2, or Irodori Starter	A second textbook

Inku fits this fortnight when you want prepared kana cards with audio on iPhone. It is iPhone-first and does not offer custom authoring.

If you do not have an iPhone, skip Inku. Use Real Kana as the drill and a paper chart or Tae Kim for handwriting if you need it.

Daily time box

Twenty to thirty minutes on an ordinary weekday. Ten minutes is still a valid day.

1. Review yesterday’s rows.
2. Add a small new set.
3. Stop. Do not clear every available character because the screen offers it.

Protect a little time for hearing the sounds. Inku includes bundled audio. Real Kana offers female and male audio on kana characters. Playing audio in Real Kana counts as revealing the answer, so use it as a check, not as a hint on every card.

Week 1: hiragana only

Days 1 and 2. Vowels and the K, S, T, and N rows. Read them aloud. Type them. Do not add dakuten yet if the base rows still wobble.

Days 3 and 4. H, M, Y, R, W, and ん. Keep reviewing the first rows.

Days 5 and 6. Voiced rows and the contracted sounds (the small や, ゆ, よ set). This is where people mix じ and ぢ. Slow down.

Day 7. No new rows. Mix the whole hiragana set. Write a few words from a beginner list you already have, or copy a Genki or Irodori line in hiragana.

If you already own Genki, follow its official order: hiragana with Lesson 1. If you are on Irodori Starter, Lesson 1 is the hiragana lesson. Do not also run a third chart.

Week 2: katakana, with a hiragana check

Katakana is the same sounds in a second costume. That is why it feels harder even though you already know the readings.

Days 8 to 10. Katakana base rows, matching the same groups you used for hiragana.

Days 11 and 12. Voiced and contracted katakana, plus the extended characters you actually meet in loanwords.

Day 13. Mixed hiragana and katakana. Short words only.

Day 14. Read without romaji: a Genki Lesson 2 line, an Irodori Starter line, or any short kana-only menu. If you stall on more than a few characters, keep this same plan for another week. Do not buy a kanji app as a consolation prize.

Practice, then park the drill

Use the kana quiz for short recognition rounds in the browser. No account. Use Real Kana when you want a typed prompt with your own row selection on their site. Use Inku when you want those characters to return tomorrow on iPhone. Tae Kim is the free explanation if a row still looks like noise.

When both scripts are readable, stop treating kana as the main event. Pick one course on the beginner hub. The drill can stay as a five-minute warmup. It should not remain the whole study session.