Japanese Reading Guide
Japanese stories with furigana for beginners
Story Languages is an iPhone and iPad app with graded Japanese stories from A1 to C1, with furigana over every kanji word. Tap any phrase for its meaning and romaji, listen to the story read aloud, and save the words you want to keep as flashcards.
Kanji is the wall most beginners hit: you can know the word for school and still not read 学校. Furigana puts the reading right above the kanji, so you can read real sentences while the characters become familiar, then turn it off when you no longer need it.
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What furigana is
Furigana are small kana written above or beside a kanji to show how it is read. Japanese books for children use them, and so do adult texts for rare or unusual kanji. In print the technique is called ruby, after the small type size it was once set in.
Furigana matters because most kanji have more than one reading: 生 is sei in 先生 (teacher) and nama in 生ビール (draft beer). With the reading shown, every sentence teaches which one a word uses.
What to look for in Japanese reading practice
Furigana on every kanji word, not only the first time it appears
A way to turn the furigana off once you know the kanji
Kanji graded by level, so a beginner story stays within beginner kanji
Audio for every story, so you hear what the readings sound like
Tap for meaning on a whole phrase, since Japanese has no spaces
Review for the words you save, so the kanji come back before you forget them
How Story Languages does it
Furigana you control
Every kanji word carries its reading in small kana above it. The reader shows furigana by default from A1 to B1; switch it to always or off in the text settings.
Kanji graded to the JLPT
Each level keeps to its kanji band, from N5 at A1 to N2 at B2, with any jōyō kanji at C1. Polite です and ます forms carry A1 and A2, and plain style arrives from B1.
Tap a phrase, see its romaji
A tap takes the whole phrase, such as 学校へ (to school), and shows its meaning and its romaji, gakkou e. Save it and it comes back as a flashcard on a spaced-repetition schedule.
A simple daily routine
- 1
If kana is new, practice the hiragana deck for ten minutes before your first story.
- 2
Read one story at your level with furigana on. If you tap more than a phrase every few lines, try the level below.
- 3
Turn on listen mode and follow the text while the story is read aloud.
- 4
Save five phrases worth keeping.
- 5
The next day, review them, then reread the story with furigana off and see which kanji you can read.
FAQ
Where can I read Japanese graded stories with furigana?
In Story Languages, an app for iPhone and iPad. Its Japanese stories run from A1 to C1, every kanji word carries furigana, and the app adds tap-to-translate, audio and flashcards.
Can I turn the furigana off?
Yes. The reader's text settings show furigana automatically for A1 to B1, always, or never.
How are the Japanese stories graded?
By CEFR level from A1 to C1, with kanji kept to the JLPT bands: N5 at A1 up to N2 at B2, and any jōyō kanji at C1.
Do I need to know hiragana and katakana?
Kana is enough to start. The app has a hiragana deck and a katakana deck with a short primer, and furigana covers the kanji.
Can I hear the stories read aloud?
Yes. Listen mode reads each story aloud sentence by sentence, and you can hold any phrase to hear it on its own.
Do saved phrases become flashcards?
Yes. A phrase you save from a story becomes a flashcard on a spaced-repetition schedule, so it comes back just before you would forget it.
Is Story Languages free?
Story Languages is free to start. Premium opens the full library of Japanese stories and removes the limits.
Related pages
Learn Japanese with stories
What makes Japanese hard to read, and how reading with the app helps.
Chinese stories with pinyin for beginners
The same idea for Chinese: graded stories with the reading over every character.