About JapaneseVocab
JapaneseVocab is a website for learning Japanese vocabulary through spaced repetition. It covers more than 10,000 words across 100 levels, from JLPT N5 to N1, ordered by how often each word actually appears in Japanese. Every word comes with its readings, its meanings, and an example sentence.
Why the order you learn words in matters
Most vocabulary tools leave the hardest decision to you: what to learn, and in what order. You either inherit a deck someone else built and abandoned halfway, or you face a raw word list with no sense of what matters. JapaneseVocab sequences its entire word list by real-world frequency, so the useful words come first and the rare ones wait. There is one path, and the ordering decision has already been made for you.
How the reviews work
Lessons introduce a handful of new words at a time. Once you have met a word, JapaneseVocab schedules it to come back at widening intervals - a few hours after you first see it, then days, then weeks, then months. Recall it correctly and the gap grows. Miss it and the gap shrinks, and the word returns sooner. This is spaced repetition, and the point of it is that you meet each word close to the moment you would otherwise have forgotten it, instead of re-reading everything every day. The scheduling runs on its own, so there is nothing to configure and no deck to maintain - your only job is to complete whatever is due.
How the vocabulary is built
The word list is drawn from established Japanese dictionary and example-sentence databases, then ordered using frequency data from major Japanese-language corpora alongside JLPT level. Every entry is then checked and edited by hand, so that each word carries a definition teaching the meaning you will genuinely encounter, with distinct secondary senses kept separate rather than piled on. Entries that turned out to be rare variants, duplicates, or archaic spellings have been removed, so your time goes on words that are actually worth knowing.
Who it is for
JapaneseVocab is built for learners working up from the start. Everyone begins at level 1 and moves forward in order, so it suits complete beginners, and anyone who has picked up Japanese in scattered pieces and wants to rebuild on a foundation that is actually sequenced. You do not need any kanji to begin - words are taught with their kana readings, the characters accumulate through the words that contain them, and once you are ready, kanji mode hides the kana so you have to read the word from its characters alone.
If you are preparing for a particular exam, there are free vocabulary lists for every level on the JLPT vocabulary pages, or you can start from the beginning with JLPT N5 vocabulary.
Frequently asked questions
What is JapaneseVocab?
A website for learning Japanese vocabulary. It includes more than 10,000 words arranged across 100 levels, from JLPT N5 up to N1, and uses spaced repetition to schedule your reviews so words move into long-term memory instead of falling straight back out. Each word is taught with its readings, its meanings, and an example sentence showing it in use.
What order should I learn Japanese in?
Start with hiragana and katakana. They take a week or two and everything after them depends on them. From there, build vocabulary and basic grammar side by side, and let kanji come through the words that use them rather than studying characters in isolation. Within vocabulary, learn the most common words first - a few thousand words carry a large share of everyday Japanese, so frequency order gets you reading and understanding far sooner than working alphabetically or one textbook chapter at a time.
How long does it take to learn Japanese?
Longer than most languages, if you are starting from English. The US Foreign Service Institute places Japanese in its hardest category, at roughly 2,200 hours of study to reach professional working proficiency, and most people learning independently take a few years rather than a few months. However, a focused year still gets you a long way. At 2 or 3 hours a day across vocabulary, grammar, kanji and listening, a solid N3 is a realistic target, and N2 is within reach if you are studying full time. That is enough to follow ordinary conversation, read a lot, and stop feeling like a beginner.
How many Japanese words do you need to know?
Around 2,000 to 3,000 words will carry you through most everyday situations - ordering food, making plans, holding a conversation with a friend, following the general shape of a film or a TV show. Handling the full range of natural Japanese, including work, study, news and books, takes closer to 10,000 words, which is roughly what JLPT N1 covers. There is no single point where it all suddenly clicks, but that gap is where most of the difference lies between piecing a sentence together and simply understanding it.
How many new Japanese words should I learn a day?
20 to 30 words a day is a realistic pace if you are studying full time, and 10 to 15 works well when you are fitting Japanese around a job or school. Whichever you pick, a pace you can keep up for months is worth far more than a fast start you cannot sustain.
Should I learn kanji or vocabulary first?
Learn kana first, then take vocabulary and kanji together rather than separating them. Studying kanji in isolation gives you characters and a list of readings without much sense of which reading applies where, because that depends on the word the character appears in. Learning words teaches those readings in the context that decides them, and the characters accumulate as a side effect. If you want to study kanji deliberately alongside that, a few new characters a day is a pace most people can keep up.
Is JapaneseVocab useful for JLPT preparation?
Yes, JapaneseVocab is built around the JLPT. Every word carries a JLPT level, and the 100 levels run from N5 material through to N1, so the entire path is organised around the vocabulary the exam expects. It does not yet teach grammar or listening, so pair studying with material for those too. There are free vocabulary lists for every level on the JLPT pages.
Spotted a mistake in a definition, or want to suggest a feature? Send it through the contact page - corrections are genuinely welcome.