A hiragana and katakana quiz that times your reading

Kana Dash shows you a kana, a word or a whole sentence, and you type how it reads in romaji. The moment your answer is right, the next card appears. You never press Enter on a correct answer, so the only thing setting your pace is how fast you can read.

What you can practice

Pick hiragana or katakana row by row: the main rows (あ to ん), the dakuten rows (が, ざ, ぱ and the rest) and combination kana (きゃ, しゅ, ちょ). Katakana's combination kana include the sounds used for foreign words, like ティ, ファ and ヴァ.

Once you can read single kana, move on to words and sentences from みんなの日本語 初級 I (Minna no Nihongo), lesson by lesson. Kanji can show with furigana, without it, or be swapped for kana.

Round and infinite practice

A round asks each item once, then shows your accuracy, average time, best streak and the kana you got wrong. "Practice mistakes" starts a new round with just those. Infinite practice never ends and counts the sets you finish: a set is done once you read every kana cleanly. Kana you miss come back more often until you read them right three times in a row, or one more for each extra miss.

Honest grading

Typing the wrong syllable counts as a mistake even if you fix it before the answer is right. Type mu on も and the card shakes, your streak resets and も goes on your review list. Unfinished letters are treated as typos and ignored. Press Enter to give up and see the answer.

Questions

Is it free? Yes. No ads, and it works offline once you install it as an app.

Which romaji spellings work? All the common ones. shi and si, tsu and tu, n and nn all pass. Particles are strict: は has to be wa and へ has to be e.

Can I type in Japanese? Yes. You can type kana with a Japanese keyboard instead of romaji.

Can I link to a specific quiz? Yes. The address bar follows what you pick, so copy it to share that exact quiz. You can also write links by hand: kanadash.com/?katakana opens the main katakana rows, ?hiragana=dakuten or ?hiragana=all picks whole groups, ?hiragana=ka,sa picks single rows and ?sentences=1-3 picks lessons.

How long does it take to learn hiragana? Most people can read all 46 basic hiragana within a week or two of daily practice. After that, practice until reading them is fast, then do the same for katakana.

Is there a kana chart? Yes: the hiragana chart and the katakana chart list every kana with its romaji, and each row opens a quiz on it.