I started learning Japanese more seriously during COVID. I had more free time now that uni classes were online, and I dedicated a lot of it to learning Japanese so I could one day travel to Japan and be able to really interact with people and appreciate the culture.
One alphabet isn't enough, make it three!
For anyone who doesn't know: Japanese uses three writing systems. Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic alphabets, about 46 characters each, and easier to learn than it seems. Kanji is the third one, and it's entirely more complex — thousands of characters borrowed from Chinese, each one a small "drawing" representing a word or concept rather than a sound. The part that is usually confusing isn't memorizing what a kanji means, it's that a single kanji can have completely different readings depending on context and surrounding characters, the word it's part of, and whether it's being read the Japanese way or the borrowed-from-Chinese way. Knowing a kanji's meaning and knowing how to actually pronounce it in a given word are two completely separate skills.
I picked up Hiragana and Katakana fast, and early grammar came without much of a fight either. I had a solid Duolingo streak going, and I even knew the initial kanji that children learn in their first years of school (it seemed more impressive than it sounds).
Grammar vs Vocabulary
Grammar was (and still is) much easier for me to study than vocabulary. Grammar has fixed rules that I can understand, but vocab is just memorization, so it's harder to retain in large quantities. So, the main recommendation for this is to get a spaced-repetition flashcard system, like Anki. My issue with every flashcard app I tried was, however, that it was a generic flashcard app, not built for Japanese learners specifically.
Of course, part of the problem may be seen as an excuse. After all, so many learners use Anki to learn, so it's clearly not an impediment. But to me, it felt like it. So here's my problem with it: I wanted to be tested on the Kanji words, both their meaning and their reading. But by only looking at complex characters, many times I don't know their reading, even if I know their meaning. I wanted a way to be able to flip a card to see its meaning, but also show me the reading before I had to flip the card.
The creation of Japanese Core
So, after a while of learning a lot of grammar and too few vocab, I took on a quick side project and build Japanese Core. This was a very simple flashcard app that worked perfectly for me. Just choose a set in the left menu, and start studying. Click the necessary button for reading or meaning. Then move on to the next card. This was my second ever frontend project, and also in Vue.js. Looking at it now, it leaves so much to be desired, and yet at the time, I was so proud of it, and it had exactly what I needed.
Life got busy
Eventually, after some time, life got a little more busy, my patience or motivation for learning Japanese started decreasing little by little. Duolingo started becoming frustratingly repetitive and not helpful. I didn't practice enough (output), only studied (input). Input-only study plateaus. And so I did.
Starting again in 2026
This year I made it a real goal to pick it back up. In my first run at this, I reached JLPT N5 — the first level of the test. The next target is N4, and this time, the timing lined up with something else I wanted: an interesting project to build with React, past the tutorial stage, with something that is actually relevant for me personally, and that I could even share with other learners who may be interested.
That project is what turned into Hiyori — the flashcard feature from Japanese Core, rebuilt properly, plus everything I wished I'd had the first time around.