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Look-alikes

Kana that look alike and get swapped all the time, grouped in pairs.

Why drill them separately?

  • In order they are easy, but shuffled at random the look-alikes start trading places.
  • Spot the difference side by side once, then drill just the pair shuffled — they separate quickly.
  • In listening practice the partner always shows up as a choice, so you pick by shape after hearing the sound.

Hiragana

  • ぬ (nu) · め (me) — ぬ ends in a small loop; め ends without one.
  • わ (wa) · れ (re) · ね (ne) — on the right, わ curls closed, れ kicks outward and ね ends in a loop.
  • る (ru) · ろ (ro) — る has a loop at the end; ろ stays open.
  • さ (sa) · ち (chi) — mirror images. ち opens to the left at the bottom, like the number 5.
  • は (ha) · ほ (ho) — ほ has one extra horizontal stroke at the top right.
  • い (i) · り (ri) — the right stroke of り runs much further down.

Katakana

  • シ (shi) · ツ (tsu) — シ has its two dots stacked on the left, ツ has them side by side on top. The long stroke goes up in シ and down in ツ.
  • ソ (so) · ン (n) — ソ has its dot on top and the long stroke falls; ン has its dot on the left and the long stroke rises.
  • ク (ku) · ケ (ke) · タ (ta) — ケ has a horizontal stroke that runs far right; タ is ク with one more short stroke inside.
  • ス (su) · ヌ (nu) — ヌ has an extra short stroke crossing the middle.
  • コ (ko) · ユ (yu) — the bottom line of ユ sticks out to the right.
  • チ (chi) · テ (te) — the top stroke of チ slants down; in テ it is a flat line.

How the drill works

  • Pick a pair and its kana come up shuffled, always in the script shown on the chip.
  • They are the same kana as in the basic rows, so your records add up together.
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