Learn Japanese your own way

My Nihongo turns your everyday Japanese notes — things you jot down, look up, or copy from somewhere — into organized Vocabulary and Sentence notes, and then into quizzes built just for you. This guide walks through every part of the app.

I. Getting Started

The first time you open My Nihongo, a short setup walks you through:

1. Welcome — an introduction to the three kinds of study notes: Freeform, Vocabulary, and Sentences.

2. Install preset materials — you're asked whether you'd like sample Vocabulary and Sentence notes added for you, or whether you'd rather build your own collection from scratch.

3. Choose your level — if you say yes to presets, pick a JLPT level (N5 through N1) and matching sample words and sentences are imported for you.

4. How to use the app — a quick set of tips (also covered in "Getting the Most Out of It" below).

5. You're all set — tap through to start using the app.

Note: Quizzes need at least 10 Vocabulary or Sentence notes to generate questions. If you skip presets and start from zero, the quizzes stay locked until you've added enough notes of your own — the app will tell you this at the time.

You can always add or remove JLPT sample sets later from the Vocabulary and Sentences screens, so saying no here isn't permanent.

II. App Tour

My Nihongo is organized into three tabs at the bottom of the screen:

📖 Study
Your daily progress, the three quizzes, and Vocabulary Radio.

📝 Notes
Quick Notes, Vocabulary, and Sentences — where all your material lives.

⚙️Settings
Daily goal, quiz length, Vocabulary Radio playback, and optional features.

The general workflow the app is designed around: capture things quickly in Quick Notes, then turn the useful bits into structured Vocabulary or Sentence notes when you have a few spare minutes, and let the Study tab quiz you on what you've saved.

III. Quick Notes
[Notes] → [Quick Notes]

Quick Notes are freeform — a running scratchpad for anything in Japanese you want to remember: a line from a show, something a teacher said, a word you looked up. Speed matters more than structure here.

Creating a note

• Tap + on the Quick Notes list for a blank note, or choose Add from Clipboard to instantly create a note from whatever text you last copied.

• Each note has a date/time stamp, which you can edit, and notes are grouped by day in the list.

Turning a note into study material

While editing a note, select any text to reveal an action bar:

[Select text] → [✂️ Extractor]   or   [Create]  → [Segment]

• Extract moves the selected text out of the note and into a segment — a small, reusable snippet — leaving the rest of your note intact.

• Create copies the selection into a segment but leaves the original text in the note too.

• Auto Extract appears when your note has multiple lines: it turns every non-empty line into its own segment in one tap, clearing the note as it goes.

The Segments panel

Segments collect in a side (or bottom, on narrower screens) panel, sortable by date added or source note. Tap the sidebar icon in the Quick Notes list to show or hide this panel at any time. From here, tap Build to open the Build screen and turn your segments into real notes:

• Sentence mode — build one Sentence note (sentence, translation, comment, tags).

• Vocabulary mode — build one Vocabulary word, with a reading, meaning, part of speech, and any number of example sentences.

• Multiple mode — enter one shared example sentence once, then add several vocabulary words that all reference it — handy when one sentence introduces a handful of new words at once.

In any mode, drag a segment chip directly onto a field to fill it, or use the dictionary lookup (magnifying glass) next to the Word field to auto-fill reading, meaning, and part of speech from the built-in dictionary. The globe icon next to Translation fields can translate your sentence automatically. Saved segments are cleared from the pool as you use them.

IV. Vocabulary
[Notes] → [Vocabulary]

Every word you've saved lives here, each with a reading, meaning, part of speech, optional comment, tags, and example sentences.

Browsing your words

• Search by word using the field at the top of the list.

• Sort by date added or alphabetically, ascending or descending, from the sort icon.

• Filter by date range or by tag (including "no tag" and each JLPT level) from the filter icon.

• Tap a word to expand it in place and see its full details; tap the speaker icon to hear it read aloud, or the radio icon to send it straight to Vocabulary Radio.

• Swipe a word left to Edit or Delete it (on Mac, right-click for the same options).

Adding words

From the + menu you can:

• Add Word — open a blank entry with fields for reading, meaning, part of speech, comment, tags, and examples, plus the same dictionary lookup used in Build.

• Add Example — attach a new example sentence to an existing word.

• Add JLPT Samples — import a full preset word list for a given level (N5–N1). Duplicates are skipped automatically.

The − menu lets you remove an entire JLPT preset's words later if you decide you no longer want them.

Consolidate

If you've imported presets or added words more than once, you can end up with duplicate entries for the same word. The Consolidate option (⋯ menu) groups words that share the same spelling and reading, merges their examples, comments, and tags, and — when different copies disagree on the meaning or part of speech — asks you which version to keep, one conflict at a time.

V. Sentences
[Notes] → [Sentences]

Sentence notes are for memorizing whole, natural expressions rather than individual words — a great way to build conversational fluency. The Sentences screen mirrors Vocabulary closely:

• Search across the sentence, its translation, and its comment at once.

• Sort by date added or alphabetically; filter by date range or tag.

• Swipe (or right-click on Mac) a sentence to edit or delete it.

• Import or remove JLPT preset sentence sets from the + and − menus, same as Vocabulary.

• Each sentence can carry a translation, a comment, and any number of tags.

You can also create a Sentence note directly while extracting text in Quick Notes, or through the Build screen's Sentence mode described above.

VI. Progress & Quizzes
[Study]

Progress

The top of the Study tab tracks your study time: a ring for today's minutes against your daily goal, and a row of small rings for the last 7 days. Reach your goal and you'll get a small celebration alert. Study time is measured from the quizzes and Vocabulary Radio sessions you complete.

Quizzes

Quiz What it tests Unlocks with

Pronunciation Pick the correct reading for a word 10+ Vocabulary notes

Fill-in-Blank Complete a sentence with the right conjugated form 10+ Vocabulary notes

Translation Translate between Japanese and English 10+ Vocabulary orSentence notes

Each quiz is multiple choice, generated fresh from your own notes. After answering, you'll see whether you were right, the correct answer, and the original word or sentence for context — tap the speaker icon to hear it read aloud. The number of questions per run is set in Settings. A locked quiz card tells you exactly what's missing (e.g. "Enable with 10+ Vocabulary notes").

Activities

Below the quizzes, the Activities section currently holds Vocabulary Radio, covered next.

VII. Vocabulary Radio

[Study] → [Activities]

Vocabulary Radio reads your saved words aloud on shuffle, hands-free — good for listening practice while commuting or doing chores.

• Play / Stop and Skip control playback; the current word, reading, meaning, and any examples appear on a "Now Playing" card.

• Toggle JP Only vs JP + EN to have the English meaning read after the Japanese, and Repeat JP to hear the Japanese again after the translation.

• Filter which words play by date added, using the date-range summary row (an exact range, or a quick preset like "last 7 days").

• A sun icon keeps the screen awake while Radio plays in the background.

• Recently Played keeps a history you can clear at any time; long-press or use the context menu on the Now Playing card to jump straight to editing that word.

• An optional sleep timer stops playback automatically after a set duration — configured in Settings.

You can also start Radio playing a single word directly from the Vocabulary list by tapping its radio icon.

VIII. Settings
[Settings]

Progress Settings

• Daily Objective — how many minutes of study count toward your daily goal (3–30 min).

• Questions Per Quiz — how many questions each quiz run generates (5–20).

Vocabulary Radio

• Voice Speed — from 0.3× up to 1.2×.

• Interval Between Words and Pause Between Items — spacing around playback.

• Times Each Word Is Played — repeat each word 1–3 times before moving on.

• Sleep Timer — turn it on and choose a duration (10 min–2.5 hr) to auto-stop playback.

Optional features

Two toggles near the bottom of Settings turn on advanced, off-by-default features:

Support iCloud Sync off by default

Syncs your Vocabulary, Sentences, Quick Notes, and settings across your devices via iCloud. Once enabled, a Sync screen lets you trigger a manual sync, adjust how often it syncs automatically, and review recent changes.

Support Audiora Notes off by default

Adds Export and Import screens for moving Vocabulary and Sentence data to and from the Audiora Notes app, as a JSON file you can name, save, and share.

You can also leave an App Store rating from the Rate My Nihongo card at the bottom of Settings.

IX. Getting the Most Out of It

• Use Quick Notes to jot down Japanese quickly and often — don't worry about structure in the moment.

• Organize when you have time, using Extract and Build to turn those unorganized notes into proper Vocabulary or Sentence notes.

• Use Vocabulary notes to study pronunciation and how words are actually used, via their example sentences.

• Use Sentence notes to memorize whole expressions — one of the best ways to improve conversation skills.

• Use the quizzes, generated from your own notes, to test what's actually sticking.

X. FAQ

A quiz card is greyed out — why?

Each quiz needs a minimum amount of material to generate good questions: 10+ Vocabulary notes for Pronunciation and Fill-in-Blank, and 10+ Vocabulary or Sentence notes for Translation. Add more notes, or install a JLPT preset set, to unlock it.

Where is my data stored?

Everything is saved on your device by default. Turn on Support iCloud Sync in Settings if you want your notes to follow you across your other devices.

I imported presets I don't want anymore — can I remove just those?

Yes — use the − menu on the Vocabulary or Sentences screen and choose the JLPT level you want removed. Only words or sentences tagged with that level are deleted.

My Vocabulary list has duplicate words — what do I do?

Open the ⋯ menu on the Vocabulary screen and choose Consolidate. It merges duplicates automatically and only asks you to choose between conflicting details when they genuinely disagree.