Kanji Quiz

How it works

Kanji Quiz shows you a Japanese kanji on a card and four emoji underneath. Only one of them means the same thing: 山 is ⛰️, 火 is 🔥, 魚 is 🐟. Tap the right one, and after every answer the card shows the Japanese reading and the meaning, so even a mistake teaches you something.

There is no time limit. You have three lives, and every wrong answer costs one.

The levels

You start with the kanji Japanese children learn in their first school year, such as 日, 月, 木 and 人. Eight right answers take you up a grade and give back a life. The first six levels follow the grades of the Japanese elementary school, from the ministry's official list; after them come the middle-school kanji and, last, a few outside everyday use, such as the names of many animals.

The wrong answers on offer always come from the same level as the kanji, so you cannot get there by elimination. And a kanji you missed comes back a few questions later, while the right answer is still fresh.

Scoring

A right answer is worth 10 points per level: 10 in the first grade, 20 in the second, and so on. Right answers in a row add a bonus that grows by 2 points each time, up to 10. Your best score is saved in your browser.

Controls

• Touch or mouse: tap the right emoji. After the answer, tap to move straight on to the next question.
• Keyboard: 1, 2, 3 and 4 to answer, Space to continue, P to pause, N for a new game.

The emoji

Every emoji is a picture that travels with the game: Google's Noto Emoji, the same on every device. Version 1.0.0 used your device's own emoji instead, with a button to switch, and that was the wrong way round — older systems such as Windows 10 do not know the recent emoji and draw them as empty boxes, and a question whose answer is an empty box is not a question. A setting could not fix it either, because the player who needs it is the one who does not know to go looking for it.

How long an answer stays

The reading and the meaning appear the moment you answer, and they stay on screen for as long as they take to read: a kanji with a short reading and one meaning goes by in about a second and a half, a crowded one takes nearly five. Tap if you have already read it and the next question comes at once.

Tips for really learning them

Look at the shape. Many of the first kanji began as drawings: 山 has three peaks, 木 is a tree with branches and roots, 口 is an open mouth. Finding the drawing helps you remember.

Read the card after every answer, even when you got it right. The reading is the one you would hear in a Japanese word, and there is often more than one meaning.

Take your time. With no clock, the right move is to think. A mistake costs a life; an extra second costs nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free? Yes. It plays in your browser, with no signup and nothing to download.

Do I need to know Japanese? No. You can play the first level without ever having seen a kanji: many of them look like what they mean, and the card teaches you the answer every time.

Does it work on a phone? Yes, upright and sideways.

What language is it in? The game's text is in English and Italian and follows the language you chose on the site. The kanji meanings are in English.

Where does the data come from? Readings, meanings and school grades come from KANJIDIC2, the kanji dictionary of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, used under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 licence.