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Learn Japanese — three writing systems, one beautiful logic
日本語
Japanese has 125M native speakers, almost entirely in Japan + Japanese diaspora. The grammar is unrelated to most other languages you'll have studied; the writing system uses three scripts (hiragana, katakana, kanji); the politeness register (keigo) is its own dimension. Koydo's Japanese tutors include natives of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Yokohama. JLPT prep at every level N5-N1.
You learn Japanese on Koydo with a native tutor you choose yourself, drawn from Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Yokohama, with JLPT prep at every level from N5 to N1. The rhythm is two 30-minute lessons a week plus a 5-minute daily ritual through a CEFR-graded curriculum. You start with hiragana in the first weeks, add katakana, then begin kanji around month four and keep adding it for years. Japanese rewards consistency over intensity, so expect A1 (JLPT N5) by six months and A2 (N4) by twelve months, with sustained 30-minute conversations on familiar topics arriving around month 10 to 14. Choose a Tokyo-accent tutor unless you specifically plan to live in Kansai. Keigo, the elaborate politeness register, enters as you reach the intermediate levels. First lesson is a trial, Koydo takes no commission from your tutor, and you can cancel anytime.
Why Japanese
Japanese pop culture (anime, manga, video games, J-pop) is the second-largest cultural export industry in the world. Reading manga in the original, watching anime without subtitles, playing games not released in English — these are real rewards that keep adult learners committed past month 12.
Japan is the world's third-largest economy. Working at Toyota, Sony, SoftBank, Mizuho, or any of hundreds of Japanese multinationals — Japanese is the working language even when international staff use English on top. B2 Japanese opens jobs that B1 doesn't.
Japanese has SOV word order (subject-object-verb), particles that mark grammatical role, and aspectual particles instead of tense. There's no future tense; you use the present + adverbs. There's no plural marking. There's no grammatical gender. Once you internalize the particle system, it's actually less ambiguous than English.
Hiragana (46 phonetic characters) = native Japanese words + grammar. Katakana (46) = foreign loanwords + emphasis. Kanji (3,000+ in common use) = content words. The right order: hiragana first month, katakana month 2-3, kanji starting month 4 — and you keep adding kanji for years.
Realistic timeline
Two lessons per week + 5 daily minutes ritual. CEFR targets assume consistent attendance and committed practice between sessions.
First 3 lessons
Week 1-2
Hiragana introduction. Pronunciation (Japanese vowel + consonant system is more limited than English — actually easier). Greetings + introductions. Pitch-accent awareness.
JLPT N5 / A1
Month 4-6
Full hiragana + katakana + 100 kanji. 800 vocab. Polite present + past tense. Particles (は, を, に, で). Can introduce yourself, navigate a Japanese train station, order at a restaurant.
JLPT N4 / A2
Month 10-14
300 kanji. 1,500 vocab. Te-form (used for compound verbs). Plain/polite distinction. Can sustain 20-min conversations on familiar topics; reads basic signs + menus.
JLPT N3 / B1
Month 20-30
650 kanji. 3,000 vocab. Casual + formal registers. Keigo (extreme politeness) introduced. Reads simple news articles + basic manga. Can describe past experiences in detail.
JLPT N2 / B2
Month 40-60
1,000 kanji. 6,000 vocab. Reads novels (with effort). Holds professional conversations. Required for many Japan-based job applications.
CEFR at 6 months
A1 (JLPT N5)
CEFR at 12 months
A2 (JLPT N4)
Regional note
Japanese has mild regional variation in spoken language. Tokyo Japanese is the standard taught everywhere; media + business use it. Osaka/Kansai dialect has distinct intonation + some vocabulary differences (substitute words for 'no' and 'is' especially). Kyoto Japanese has its own historical politeness conventions. Pick a Tokyo-accent tutor unless you specifically plan to live in Kansai. Hokkaido + Tohoku dialects are heavier but uncommon among Koydo tutors.
FAQ
Two 30-min lessons + daily 5-min ritual gets you sustained 5-min Japanese conversations by month 4-5. Sustained 30-min conversations on familiar topics by month 10-14. JLPT N4 (real travel Japanese) at month 10-14. N3 at month 20-30. N2 (job-application threshold) at month 40-60. Japanese rewards consistency over intensity — sprints don't beat slow steady progress.
If you want to be functionally literate in Japan: yes. Japanese street signs, menus, and most printed text mix hiragana + katakana + kanji. You can speak Japanese without kanji — JLPT N5 only requires 100 kanji. But for reading newspapers or working in a Japanese office, plan on a 2-year + kanji literacy ramp. Most learners hit a 'kanji wall' around month 18; the right tutor uses spaced-repetition + radical-based learning to break through.
Keigo (敬語) is Japanese's elaborate honorific/humble politeness system. Three registers (sonkeigo for elevating others, kenjogo for humbling yourself, teineigo for general politeness). It's required in any professional Japanese context — customer service, business meetings, formal writing. Beginners can avoid it for first 6-12 months; intermediate learners aiming for N3+ start integrating it.
Less than tones in Chinese, more than stress in English. Japanese has pitch accent (high-low patterns) that differs by word + region. Tokyo Japanese has standardized patterns; Osaka Japanese has different ones. Native speakers notice when learners get it wrong; mistakes don't usually block comprehension but they mark you as foreign. Worth practicing from month 1.
Hiragana first (1-2 weeks). 50 high-frequency vocab + the 5 most common particles (は, が, を, に, で). Three core sentence patterns (X は Y です / X が Y です / X は Y を します). That gets you to A0.5 fast — enough to feel like you're making progress, which is the motivation needed for the long kanji journey.
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