Japanese Introduction to Japanese Language Syllabus

Introduction to Japanese Language syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Introduction to Japanese Language in Japanese, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Understanding the Japanese Writing Systems

   3 topics

   • Hiragana
   • Katakana
   • Kanji
2. 2

   Basic Japanese Grammar

   3 topics

   • Sentence Structure
   • Particles
   • Verb Conjugation
3. 3

   Basic Japanese Vocabulary

   3 topics

   • Greetings and Common Phrases
   • Numbers and Counters
   • Days of the Week and Time

Introduction to Japanese Language flashcards for Japanese

22 of 50 cards from the Introduction to Japanese Language deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the three writing systems used in modern Japanese, and what is each primarily used for?

   Hiragana (native Japanese words and grammar), Katakana (foreign loanwords, onomatopoeia, emphasis), and Kanji (Chinese-derived characters for content words like nouns and verb stems).

2. How many basic (gojūon) characters are in the Hiragana syllabary, and what does each represent?

   46 basic characters, each representing a single syllable (mora) — either a vowel (a, i, u, e, o) or a consonant + vowel combination.

3. What are the five basic vowel sounds of Japanese, in standard dictionary order?

   あ (a), い (i), う (u), え (e), お (o) — pronounced ah, ee, oo, eh, oh.

4. In Hiragana, how is the voiced sound formed from an unvoiced kana, and what is that diacritic called?

   By adding a dakuten (two small marks, ゛) — e.g., か (ka) → が (ga), さ (sa) → ざ (za), た (ta) → だ (da).

5. What is a handakuten, and to which Hiragana row does it apply?

   A handakuten is a small circle (゜) added only to the は-row (ha, hi, fu, he, ho) to make the p-sounds: ぱ (pa), ぴ (pi), ぷ (pu), ぺ (pe), ぽ (po).

6. How are contracted sounds (yōon) like 'kya', 'shu', 'cho' written in Hiragana?

   By writing an i-column kana (き, し, ち, etc.) followed by a small や, ゆ, or よ — e.g., き + ゃ = きゃ (kya), し + ゅ = しゅ (shu), ち + ょ = ちょ (cho).

7. What is the function of the small tsu (っ) in Hiragana?

   It marks a sokuon (geminate/double consonant), doubling the following consonant sound — e.g., きって (kitte, 'stamp'), がっこう (gakkō, 'school').

8. How is a long vowel typically written in Hiragana?

   By adding a vowel kana: あ-row lengthened with あ, い-row with い, う-row with う, え-row usually with い, and お-row usually with う — e.g., おかあさん (okāsan), がくせい (gakusei).

9. Write the Hiragana for the greeting 'konnichiwa' and note its spelling quirk.

   こんにちは — the final は is written with the particle 'ha' kana but pronounced 'wa'.

10. What is Katakana primarily used for in modern Japanese?

    Transcribing foreign loanwords (gairaigo), foreign names, onomatopoeia, scientific/technical terms, and for emphasis (similar to italics).

11. How is a long vowel written in Katakana, unlike in Hiragana?

    With a long dash/chōonpu (ー), regardless of the vowel — e.g., コーヒー (kōhī, 'coffee'), ラーメン (rāmen).

12. Give the Katakana transcription of 'terebi' (television) and 'konpyūtā' (computer).

    テレビ (terebi) and コンピューター (konpyūtā).

13. Katakana and Hiragana together are called what, and what type of scripts are they?

    Together they are called kana; both are moraic (syllabic) phonetic scripts, unlike Kanji which are logographic.

14. What is Kanji, and what does a single Kanji character represent?

    Kanji are logographic characters borrowed from Chinese; each character represents a meaning (morpheme) and can have multiple readings, rather than a single fixed sound.

15. What are the two main categories of Kanji readings, and what is each's origin?

    On'yomi (音読み), the Sino-Japanese reading derived from Chinese pronunciation, and kun'yomi (訓読み), the native Japanese reading.

16. When is on'yomi typically used versus kun'yomi?

    On'yomi is generally used in compound words (multiple kanji together, e.g., 学生 gakusei); kun'yomi is generally used when a kanji stands alone or with hiragana okurigana (e.g., 学ぶ manabu).

17. What are okurigana?

    Hiragana suffixes written after a kanji stem to indicate inflection/conjugation and disambiguate readings — e.g., the べる in 食べる (taberu, 'to eat').

18. Roughly how many kanji make up the jōyō (regular-use) list that literate adults are expected to know?

    2,136 jōyō kanji, designated by the Japanese Ministry of Education for everyday use.

19. What is the canonical word order of a basic Japanese sentence?

    Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) — the verb comes at the end of the clause.

20. Translate and give the structure of 'わたしはすしを食べます' (Watashi wa sushi o tabemasu).

    'I eat sushi.' Structure: topic (わたし + は) + object (すし + を) + verb (食べます) — SOV order with particles marking each role.

21. What is the basic pattern for the Japanese copula sentence 'A wa B desu'?

    'A is B' — topic A marked by は, followed by B, followed by the copula です (desu), e.g., これはペンです ('This is a pen').

22. Why can the subject often be omitted in Japanese sentences?

    Japanese is a pro-drop (context-dependent) language; when the subject/topic is clear from context, it is routinely omitted — e.g., 食べます alone can mean 'I/we/they eat.'

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