Flashcards · Spaced repetition
The words you read today, remembered tomorrow.
Karuta shows you every word just before you would forget it. You study, it handles the rest.
Don't study more. Remember for longer.
Every word comes back just before you lose it.
The better you remember it, the longer the gap grows. Until you no longer need to ask.
Why it works
Three things, done well.
It asks at the right moment
Karuta uses FSRS, the most accurate spaced-repetition algorithm around. No schedule to manage: you only say how easy it felt.
Not just flipping cards
Matching, listening, multiple choice, reverse. When plain cards get dull, the same word comes back in another shape.
Works with no signal
Everything lives on the phone and syncs when it can. On the underground, on a plane, up a mountain: the only thing you need is you.
From the community
Ready-made decks, built by people who study.
Import one and start tonight, or build your own from scratch.
Japanese Essentials (A1) — Top 40 Words & Phrases
The 40 most useful Japanese words and phrases for absolute beginners, with readings (romaji) in the notes: greetings, core nouns and verbs, key adjectives, and survival expressions.
French Essentials (A1) — Top 40 Words & Phrases
The 40 most useful French words and phrases for absolute beginners: greetings, core nouns and verbs, key adjectives, and survival expressions.
Korean Essentials (A1) — Top 40 Words & Phrases
The 40 most useful Korean words and phrases for absolute beginners, with romanization in the notes: greetings, core nouns and verbs, key adjectives, and survival expressions.
Spanish Essentials (A1) — Top 40 Words & Phrases
The 40 most useful Spanish words and phrases for absolute beginners: greetings, core nouns and verbs, key adjectives, and survival expressions.
Portuguese Essentials (A1) — Top 40 Words & Phrases
The 40 most useful Portuguese words and phrases for absolute beginners (Brazilian Portuguese, with European variants noted): greetings, core nouns and verbs, key adjectives, and survival expressions.
Italian Essentials (A1) — Top 40 Words & Phrases
The 40 most useful Italian words and phrases for absolute beginners: greetings, core nouns and verbs, key adjectives, and survival expressions.
かるた
In the sixteenth century the Portuguese landed in Japan with arquebuses, missionaries and a pack of playing cards. Of everything they left behind, the word Japanese kept was the one for cards.
Five hundred years on, it is still karuta. Some words you meet often enough never to lose them.
Android
Karuta was born on the phone.
Because you study in a queue, on the sofa, five minutes before sleep. Home-screen widgets, reminders when your streak is at risk, and everything available offline.
Scan with your phone, or open the listing here.
Open on Google Play