StudyX Japanese Letters Table vs Other Ways to Learn the Kana Chart

The fifty-sound chart, あいうえお表, is the first map of written Japanese that most people see. The question for a parent of a small child, or for an adult starting Japanese, is not whether to learn it but how: a poster on the wall, books and songs, a workbook, or an app.

This post compares StudyX Japanese Letters Table (あいうえおのアプリ in Japan) with those alternatives, including where a poster or a book does the job better.

What StudyX Japanese Letters Table Does

Here is what the app offers:

• A hiragana and katakana chart where you tap any letter to hear its sound.
• Four display modes: hiragana, katakana, uppercase romaji and lowercase romaji.
• On iPad only, a blank writing space below the chart, for writing with a finger or Apple Pencil. There is no model letter to trace.
• A listening game, ききとりあそび, that plays a word one kana at a time and asks you to tap the kana you heard, in order.
• Dakuten, handakuten and yoon, such as が, ぱ and きゃ.
• No ads, no in-app purchases and no data collection. It is a paid app, 1,500 yen on the Japanese App Store.

It is not a Japanese course. It does not teach vocabulary lists, grammar, kanji or stroke order.

Option 1: A Kana Poster on the Wall

A printed あいうえお表 on the wall, or a waterproof one in the bath, is cheap and quietly effective. It is always there. A child walks past it a hundred times a day, and the grid becomes familiar without anyone planning a lesson. Nothing needs charging, and there is no screen time to manage.

Where it differs: a poster is silent. Someone has to read the letters aloud, and if that person is not confident in Japanese, the child learns the sounds from a guess. A poster also cannot switch to katakana or romaji; you would need a second or third poster for that.

A poster and an app can be used together. The poster gives constant, low-effort exposure. The app answers the question “what does this one say?” at the moment a child asks it.

Option 2: Picture Books, Songs and Videos

Kana picture books pair each letter with a word and an illustration, and there are many songs and videos built around the あいうえお sequence. These are good at something an interactive chart does less well: meaning and story. A picture of a cat next to ね ties the letter to a word a child already loves. A song gives the order of the rows a rhythm that is easy to remember.

The difference is who is in control. A book is read to the child, and a video plays at its own pace. With the chart, the child chooses which letter to hear next, and hears it as often as they want. Videos also bring their own questions about screen time and what plays next, which is a decision for each family.

Option 3: A Writing Workbook or a Tracing App

If the goal has moved from recognising kana to writing them, a paper workbook or a dedicated tracing app is the better tool. Paper trains the grip and pressure of a real pencil. A tracing app such as our StudyX Japanese Letters Tracer shows the stroke order of hiragana and katakana, with their dakuten and handakuten forms, as an animation you trace, with a size button and centerline guides.

The Letters Table has a writing space on iPad, and it is a pleasant way to write a letter right after hearing it. But there is no model to trace and no stroke order shown. But it is built around the chart and its sounds. For stroke-order practice as the main activity, the Letters Tracer is the more focused choice.

Option 4: A General Japanese Course App

Adults starting Japanese often begin with a broader course app, and many of those courses include a kana unit. Their advantage is obvious: they continue past kana into words, phrases and grammar, and some add reminders and progress tracking. Courses differ widely in how they handle kana, in whether they show ads, and in whether they need an account or a subscription, so check those points for any course you consider.

The Letters Table is narrower. What it offers an adult is the whole chart at once, in the traditional layout, with audio on every cell and romaji modes to lean on while the kana are still unfamiliar. One view is that the structure of the syllabary is easier to see in one grid than when you meet it a few letters at a time across lessons.

Side by Side

	Letters Table	Wall poster	Picture books, songs, videos	Workbook or tracing app	Course app
Audio for each letter	Yes	No	Varies	Varies	Varies
Whole chart in one view	Yes	Yes	Varies	Varies	Varies
Katakana and romaji views	Yes, four modes	Separate posters	Varies	Varies	Varies
Writing practice	Blank space, iPad only	No	No	Yes, the main focus	Varies
Learner chooses what to hear	Yes	No sound	No	Varies	Varies
Ads or tracking	None	None	Varies	Varies	Varies
Screen time	Yes	None	Books: none	Workbook: none	Yes
Cost	One-time purchase	Price of the poster	Varies	Varies	Varies

When Another Option Is the Better Choice

• If you want no screen at all, a poster and a picture book will do a great deal, especially if someone at home can read the letters aloud.
• If you want letters tied to words and stories, picture books are better at that than a chart.
• If the goal is correct stroke order, use a workbook or StudyX Japanese Letters Tracer. The writing space here is a companion to the chart, not a stroke-order course.
• If you are an adult who wants to go beyond kana, a course app, a class or a textbook will carry you further. The Letters Table covers the chart and stops there.
• If kana are already familiar, you do not need it.

Where the App Fits

The Letters Table is useful when you want each sound on demand, the whole chart in the traditional layout, and a safe app to hand to a small child. It sits comfortably next to a poster, a picture book or a workbook.

For a first session, see Getting Started with StudyX Japanese Letters Table. For ways to use it day to day, see everyday ideas for the app, and for the learners it suits, Who Is StudyX Japanese Letters Table For?. The app itself is described on the StudyX Japanese Letters Table page.