Everyday Spoken Japanese
Start speaking natural Japanese from your very first conversation. Learn the high-leverage phrases, social cues, and sentence patterns that get you understood immediately.
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Spoken Japanese. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through First Contact: Pointing, Asking, and Reacting and Out in the World: Getting What You Need. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Spoken Japanese
- 'Kore' refers to things close to the speaker
- 'Sore' refers to things close to the person being spoken to
- 'Are' refers to distant things away from both speaker and listener
- Adding 'wa nan desu ka' directly after a demonstrative like 'sore' asks 'what is [that]?'
- Japanese keeps statement order and adds question markers to the end rather than rearranging words
- Following an item or pointing word with 'kudasai' turns it into a polite request meaning 'please give me'
- Saying just the item name plus 'kudasai' is the standard, natural way to place an order at a cafe or shop
- Japanese speakers routinely drop subjects when context makes the topic clear
- Constantly inserting 'watashi wa' (I) or 'anata' (you) sounds repetitive, clunky, and unnatural to native speakers
- Saying 'chotto...' with a trailing hesitation politely conveys that something is inconvenient or a 'no'
- Directly saying 'iie' (no) to invitations often feels jarring and overly blunt in Japanese social interactions
- In Japanese conversation, complete silence while listening often feels cold or signals that you are not engaged
- Speakers expect frequent short vocal nods (aizuchi) like 'un' or 'hai' to confirm you are actively following along
- Drawing out 'sou desu ne' acknowledges the speaker's statement with agreement
- It functions as a conversational bridge that buys you thinking time without creating awkward dead air
- 'Sumimasen' covers 'excuse me' when calling out to staff or strangers
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Everyday Spoken Japanese the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Imagine your friend holds a shiny new camera. Which word points to it?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Everyday Spoken Japanese takes you
- 1
First Contact: Pointing, Asking, and Reacting
- Pointing and Inquiring with Zero Vocabulary
- Keeping the Rhythm with Conversational Reactions
- 2
Out in the World: Getting What You Need
- Navigating Places, Menus, and Stores
- The Everyday Politeness Standard
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Everyday Spoken Japanese is taught in the Storyteller style: every lesson is a story. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Everyday Spoken Japanese today.
Download Tomo, search Everyday Spoken Japanese, and play your first lesson in under a minute.