Japanese listening, one sentence at a time
Train your ears on real Japanese, not word lists.
Kikitori Lab pairs plain-language study guides with a free browser drill that plays a sentence, translates it, then walks it word by word — on shuffle, from N5 to N1.
Free · no account · runs entirely in your browser
私は学生です。
“I am a student.”
Word-by-word drill
The idea
Listening is a separate skill. Practise it like one.
Reading kanji and memorising words won’t automatically teach your ears to catch speech in real time. That takes its own kind of practice — short, repeated, and built around whole sentences you actually understand.
01 · Ears first
Hear it before you read it
Every sentence starts as sound. You listen first, then confirm the meaning — the same order your ears will face in a real conversation or on test day.
02 · Sentence-sized
One sentence, fully unpacked
Each line is short enough to hold in your head and is broken into its parts, so a new particle or ending is learned in context instead of on a flashcard.
03 · On shuffle
Repetition without the boredom
The drill runs hands-free and reshuffles, so you meet the same patterns in a new order each session. Spaced, varied exposure is what makes them stick.
Inside the drill
A four-step loop, on repeat
Pick a level and press play. Each sentence runs the same loop, then the next one begins — no clicking, no decks to manage.
Try a sessionStep 1 · Listen
The full sentence plays in Japanese. Try to catch it before anything appears on screen.
Step 2 · Translate
The English (or Spanish) meaning appears and is read aloud, so you can check what you understood.
Step 3 · Break down
Each word is highlighted and spoken in turn with its meaning — the grammar, in context.
Step 4 · Recap
The whole sentence returns one last time, so it lands as a unit before the next begins.
Study guides
Read a little, then go drill
Plain-language, no-fluff guides to the part of Japanese most courses rush past: understanding speech. Start with the cornerstone, or jump to your JLPT level.