Learning guides
Understand readings and expressions, then put them into practice with review and mock tests.
探求 and 探究: Shared Inquiry Across Ecology, Happiness, and Phenomena
Compare ecological investigation, a theme of happiness, an attitude toward inquiry, and the origin of research. Read the actual subjects and relationships rather than assigning exclusive fields to the two spellings.
分析 and 考察: Analyzing Water or Story Structure and Considering Causes
Compare laboratory water analysis and scene-by-scene story analysis with considering causes and adding discussion to a report. Read the material examined and the interpretation offered without treating consideration as proven causation.
実験 and 試験: Testing a Hypothesis and a Material's Durability
Compare a simple experiment and the return of its equipment with preparing for tomorrow's exam and testing a new material. Follow the purpose and object without restricting tests to people or treating a test as a successful result.
検証 and 証明: A Time Error Revealed and a Fact Established by Records
Compare verification by another method and an error revealed in footage with proof of a triangle property or presence at a stated time. Distinguish the checking activity from the specific fact the evidence establishes.
参照 and 参考: Consulting a Manual and Using a Photograph or Opinions
Compare a request to consult instructions and a report organized from records with a photograph used for a model and opinions useful for planning. Follow the source and its use without assigning exclusive media or implied approval.
文献 and 資料: Research Literature and Materials for Presentations or Claims
Compare literature collected and accounts compared with materials gathered for a presentation and a statement attributed to data. Follow sources and reference use without treating collection or citation as independent verification.
目録 and 文献: Catalog Entries and Accounts in Research Sources
Compare viewing a museum catalog and creating an inventory of donated books with collecting literature and comparing accounts. Distinguish item listings from source content without equating a catalog with completed reading.
概要 and 要旨: One-Page Summaries of Plans and Reports
Compare a plan overview and a long report's main points summarized on one page. Follow reading an article summary before its full text and reading a presentation summary first, without inventing a mandatory length distinction.
調査 and 調べる: Bridge Safety, Historical Maps, and Train Times
Compare a bridge-safety investigation and survey results with maps collected to investigate history and train times checked before departure. Follow the activity name, verb, object, and action stage without imposing exclusive users.
発見 and 発明: A Nest Discovered and a Container Invented
Compare a nest discovered and a finding shared with a container that can be opened with one hand and tools addressing everyday inconveniences. Follow finding and creating without adding first-ever, patent, or sales claims.
世帯 and 世代: counting households and generations
Compare ten households and supplies distributed per household with a song enjoyed by parents and children and skills taught to a younger generation. Learn which unit 世帯 and 世代 identify.
主人 in context: a husband or an innkeeper
Read 主人 through two scenes: a husband leaving home earlier than the speaker and an innkeeper explaining a mountain trail. The surrounding relationship and action identify the person.
娘: a daughter or a lost young woman
Compare a daughter who will begin living alone in spring with a young woman guided to the station. Read the relationship in context, keeping the future move separate from the completed guidance.
見舞う: visiting the sick and a storm striking an island
Distinguish the purpose of a hospital trip from a storm that struck a small island. Read who acts and what is affected, without turning the intended visit into a completed visit or recovery.
長男, 次男, 長女 and 末っ子: which children are being ranked?
Read eldest and second sons within sons, eldest daughters within daughters, and 末っ子 across siblings. Family greetings, photographs and school plans do not supply a complete birth order.
嫁 in context: a daughter-in-law and a wife back home
Compare a mother cooking with her daughter-in-law with a man writing to the wife he left in his hometown. The relationships in each scene determine which meaning of 嫁 applies.
婚約, 結婚 and 新婚: engagement, marriage plans and newlyweds
Compare announcing an engagement, planning or deciding to marry, and living as newlyweds. Keep each stage and its timing, without turning a promise or decision into a completed marriage.
家庭 and 家計: home life and household finances
Contrast an experiment that can be done at home and family life valued alongside work with expense records and rising food prices. Learn how 家庭 and 家計 focus on different parts of household life.
親子, 兄弟 and 姉妹: parents, children and siblings
Compare a parent and child baking, ducks walking by a river, siblings sharing a room, and sisters performing together. Keep the relationship direction and sibling range with each Japanese word.
人生, 生涯 and 一生: life experiences and lifetime scope
Compare wanting a sea voyage and looking back on life with lifelong dedication, never leaving a town, and a prediction about remembering. Preserve the overlap between 生涯 and 一生.
寿命 and 長寿: a battery's service life and a grandmother's longevity
Compare a battery reaching the end of its life and an exhibit of animal lifespans with a family celebrating a grandmother's longevity. Keep the lifespan or long life with the object or person described.
老後: a workshop dream and a peaceful old age
Read a father's dream of a workshop in retirement alongside grandparents who spent a peaceful old age by the sea. Keep the dreamed activity separate from a completed opening and from past living.
義父, 義母 and 養父: in-laws, stepparents and an adoptive father
Compare support from a father-in-law, life with a new stepfather, cooking with a mother-in-law, and trust with a stepmother. Read these relationships separately from 養父, an adoptive father.
若い, 幼い and 幼稚: age and judgments of immaturity
Compare a young tree and a wish to visit places while young with a young child, a childhood scene, and childish behavior or excuses. Keep age descriptions separate from judgments about conduct.
成人 and 未成年: adult audiences and guardian consent
Read a course for adults, growth into adulthood, a protagonist still underage, and participants who needed guardian consent. Keep the audience and status separate from whether consent was obtained.
高齢者, 老人 and 年寄り: reading older people in context
Compare handrail users and teachers of old games with an elderly person offered a seat and a villager describing life in the past. A grandfather's dislike of being treated as old is a particular reaction.
双子 and 性格: similar faces, different tastes and personalities
Read twins who look alike but like different music alongside twins with different personalities. Distinguish the twin relationship, appearance, tastes and personality without merging separate scenes.
養子: an adopted son and a novel about an adopted child
Compare a couple adopting a relative's child as their son with a reader of a novel about an adoptive family. Keep the family relationship, gender scope and reader's action with each scene.
故郷 as ふるさと and こきょう, alongside 地元
Read two readings of 故郷 through year-end and spring-break returns, a song and a grandmother's cooking. Compare them with the local area in 地元の人々 at a festival and with a wish to work in one's hometown.
帰省 and 里帰り: a home visit, tickets and a decision before childbirth
Compare returning to a hometown, buying tickets for a later trip, visiting parents on vacation and deciding to stay with them before childbirth. Keep each visit, preparation and decision distinct.