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🌍 Japanese · subject
Japanese Reading and Writing in Japanese Syllabus
Every chapter and topic of Reading and Writing in Japanese examined in Japanese — 2 chapters, 4 topics, plus 50 flashcards written against it.
Reading and Writing in Japanese syllabus — full chapter and topic list
Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Reading and Writing in Japanese in Japanese, not a summary of it.
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Reading Practice
2 topics- Reading Simple Texts
- Reading News and Articles
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Writing Practice
2 topics- Writing Short Sentences
- Writing Essays and Reports
Reading and Writing in Japanese flashcards for Japanese
24 of 50 cards from the Reading and Writing in Japanese deck — real questions with worked answers.
What are the three scripts used in written Japanese?
Hiragana (phonetic, native words/grammar), Katakana (phonetic, loanwords/emphasis), and Kanji (logographic characters borrowed from Chinese).
What is hiragana primarily used for when reading simple texts?
Native Japanese words, grammatical particles, verb/adjective endings (okurigana), and words for which the kanji is uncommon or not yet learned.
What is katakana primarily used for?
Foreign loanwords (gairaigo), foreign names, onomatopoeia, scientific/technical terms, and words written for emphasis.
What is furigana and why is it helpful for reading simple texts?
Furigana are small hiragana printed above or beside kanji to show their reading, helping learners read kanji they don't yet know.
What are the three main particles that mark grammatical roles, and what does each mark?
は (wa) marks the topic, が (ga) marks the subject, and を (o) marks the direct object.
What is the basic word order of a Japanese sentence?
Subject–Object–Verb (SOV); the verb almost always comes at the end of the clause.
Which particle indicates location of existence, and which indicates direction/goal of movement?
に (ni) marks location of existence and goal/direction; へ (e) marks direction. で (de) marks the location where an action takes place.
How is a polite present/future affirmative verb typically ended in simple texts?
With the ~ます (masu) form, e.g. 食べます (tabemasu, 'eat/will eat').
How do you form the polite negative of a ~ます verb?
Replace ~ます with ~ません (masen), e.g. 食べません (tabemasen, 'do not eat').
What is the difference between です and である as sentence-ending copulas?
です is the polite spoken/written copula ('is/am/are'); である is the formal written copula used in essays, reports, and news articles.
When reading, how can you tell a question in plain Japanese text?
The sentence ends with the question particle か (ka), or in casual writing with a rising か-less form marked by ？.
What does the particle と mean when connecting two nouns?
It means 'and' (exhaustive listing), e.g. 犬と猫 = 'a dog and a cat'.
What is the reading strategy called 'scanning' as applied to simple Japanese texts?
Quickly moving the eyes over the text to locate specific information (numbers, dates, names) without reading every word.
What is 'skimming' when reading Japanese?
Reading rapidly to grasp the general gist or main idea of a passage without focusing on every detail.
In simple texts, what does the ~ている form express?
An ongoing action (progressive) or a resulting continuous state, e.g. 食べている ('is eating').
What punctuation mark is the Japanese full stop (period), and what is the comma?
The full stop is 。(kuten) and the comma is 、(tōten).
Why does written Japanese generally not use spaces between words?
The mix of kanji, hiragana, and katakana provides visual boundaries, so word separation is inferred from script changes and context rather than spaces.
What is 'on'yomi' versus 'kun'yomi' for a kanji?
On'yomi is the Chinese-derived reading (often used in compounds); kun'yomi is the native Japanese reading (often used when a kanji stands alone).
In news and articles, what register/style of Japanese is standard?
The formal written style using the plain/dictionary form with the である or だ・である copula (常体), producing concise, objective sentences.
What is a 見出し (midashi) in a Japanese newspaper?
A headline; it is a condensed, often verb-final or noun-ending phrase summarizing the article's main point.
How are numbers and dates commonly written in Japanese news articles?
With Arabic numerals plus kanji counters/units, e.g. 2026年7月1日 for a date and 5人 for '5 people'.
What does the grammatical pattern ～によると mean, and where is it common?
It means 'according to ~' and is very common in news articles to cite a source, e.g. 警察によると ('according to the police').
What is the passive voice pattern in Japanese, common in news writing?
Verb changes to the ～れる/～られる form, e.g. 逮捕される ('to be arrested'); it emphasizes the affected party or an objective tone.
What does the pattern ～という mean when reading articles?
It means 'that (something is the case)' or 'it is said that', reporting information, e.g. 中止になったという ('it is reported that it was cancelled').
Planning Reading and Writing in Japanese for Japanese
Reading and Writing in Japanese is about 14% of the Japanese syllabus by topic count — 4 of 29 topics, spread over 2 chapters. At roughly 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic, a first pass runs to about 3 hours.
Work top-down: read the chapter, then tick topics off individually rather than marking the whole chapter done. Sub-topics are where silent gaps hide.
Reading and Writing in Japanese (Japanese) FAQ
What is in the Japanese Reading and Writing in Japanese syllabus?
Reading and Writing in Japanese is split into 2 chapters — Reading Practice and Writing Practice, containing 4 topics and 0 sub-topics in total.
How many chapters are there in Reading and Writing in Japanese for Japanese?
2 chapters. Reading and Writing in Japanese accounts for about 14% of the topics in the whole Japanese syllabus (4 of 29).
How long should I spend on Reading and Writing in Japanese for Japanese?
Budget around 3 hours for a first pass through Reading and Writing in Japanese — about 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic across its 4 topics. Add revision cycles on top.
Are there flashcards for Japanese Reading and Writing in Japanese?
Yes — a 50-card Reading and Writing in Japanese deck. Sample cards are printed on this page, and the full deck is free in the Examius app with spaced repetition scheduling.