How Tangoya works

Each set mixes the questions you have on: Read, Listen and Recall. A word is asked one way at a time.

See a word, pick its meaning

• Pick its meaning from four.
• Some words first ask how they're read (読み): pick the kana, then the meaning.
• Miss it, and you see the word in a sentence and get a second try.
• Show reading is there if you need it, but counts as a miss.

Hear a word, pick its meaning

• Replay it as often as you like.
• Many words then ask how the word you heard is written: pick its kanji. This is the kanji step, and it moves your Write number.
• Somewhere you can't play sound? Can't listen now — show kana. It still counts as a Listen answer.

Type the missing word

• Type the word that fills the gap. Romaji turns into kana as you type, kanji works too, and any form of the word counts.
• By default, when many words could fill the gap, the word's meaning is shown under the sentence. Where the sentence points to one word, it waits behind Show word meaning.
• You choose when the word's meaning shows: Always, When the sentence isn't enough (the usual) or Never. Change it with the link under the meaning, or in Settings › Questions.
• Show word meaning and Show sentence meaning are free: they don't change your numbers.
• Typed a different word that also fits? Tap Was my word also correct? A judge checks it, and if it fits, the answer doesn't count against you.

Fewer of one kind, or none? Settings › Questions ›

What's in today's set?

One kind of word a day, asked in the questions you have on. New words at your level, mixed with words coming back.

Quick · the first 10 questions. Finish Quick and today counts.

Full · the whole set: today's new words, and on a usual day up to 21 coming back (more on a catch-up day). When Full is done, the set is done.

Extra · more new words, if you have time. After it, More new words anyway is always there. If you often keep going past Extra, it grows; if you often stop before its end, it shrinks.

The minutes on each button come from how fast you answer each kind of question.

How many new words?

Enough to meet about three you don't know yet. A day of words you know holds more; a hard day holds fewer. Never more than 30.

Why this kind of word today?

1. A kind still finding your level comes first: the one with the fewest answers.
2. Then a kind whose number has grown unsure, usually one you haven't played for a while.
3. Otherwise, the kind with the most room to grow.

It skips yesterday's kind when it can. Not today? Tap ⋯ on today's card to skip it.

Read, Listen or Recall?

New words are split evenly between the questions that are on, half a share for one on Less. Two more go to whichever of your numbers is lowest, so it catches up.

A word coming back is asked the way you missed it.

Fewer of one, or none: Settings › Questions ›

Which words come back?

Only the ones you miss. Get a new word right the first time, and it doesn't come back: Tangoya takes your word for it.

A wrong answer, I don't know or Show reading each bring a word back.

When?

First a minute later, then ten minutes later, in the same set if it's still going. After that, each time you remember it, it waits longer: days, then weeks, then months. Miss it again, and the gaps start shorter.

Each word is timed to come back when you'd still remember it about 3 times in 4: soon enough to stick, late enough not to waste your time. The schedule is FSRS, the method many flashcard apps use.

Asked how?

The way you missed it. Missed on Listen, it comes back as Listen; missed the kanji step, it comes back as a kanji question. If that question is off, it comes as the next one that's on.

Does practice change my numbers?

No. Only the first time you meet a word moves your numbers. Second tries and practice are for learning.

Will reviews pile up?

They're kept in check four ways:

• A fixed share. On a usual day, words coming back take up to 21 places in a set, mixed in with the new ones. More can come back in Extra; the rest waits.
• New words match. A set holds only about three new words you'd miss, so a day adds about three to practice.
• Catch-up days. If a lot builds up, say after a break, the next set is mostly practice: up to 40 words coming back and 4 new ones, the most recent misses first.
• Guesses dropped. When a kind finds your level, words you missed far above it leave practice: they were guesses, not gaps.

Extra is the one place that adds more: what you miss there adds practice to the coming days.

What do the percentages mean?

On the whole list, out of the 10,000 words most used in everyday conversation:

You understand · the share you'd know when you see or hear it.

You can produce · the share you could bring to mind yourself, from Recall.

Most people understand far more words than they can produce. Both are estimates from your level, so they cover words you've never been asked. Home can also show one kind of word, or the kinds measured so far; then the share is of those words.

How is my level found?

Each of the six kinds of word has its own level. Its first 30 answers find it (a Listen question with its kanji step gives two): words get harder when you're right and easier when you miss. Until then it shows Still being measured, and borrows a guess from your other kinds.

Four numbers, four skills

Read — Knowing a word when you see it.

Listen — Knowing it when you hear it.

Recall — Bringing it to mind yourself.

Write — Knowing which kanji it's written with, from Listen's kanji step.

Each shows “?” until it has 12 answers.

How hard is a word?

It goes by how often the word is said in everyday Japanese. Common words are easy, rare ones hard.

How are new words picked?

Mostly a little below your level, so you get about 3 in 4 right. About 1 in 12 is a stretch, well above it. Among words that fit, more common ones are likelier.

Why did my number move?

Only new words move it, the first time you meet them. A word you get right adds a little; a miss takes off a bit more. Practice, second tries and other sentences never move it.

Change any of these whenever you like. Your numbers still count every kind of word.

SETTINGS › QUESTIONS

Fewer of one kind of question?

Set Read, Listen or Recall to Less for about half as many, or Off for none. Listen's kanji step has its own switch. One question always stays on.

A word you missed comes back as the question you missed it in, or the next one that's on.

⋯ ON TODAY'S CARD › ALL KINDS OF WORD

More of one kind of word, or less?

Turn a kind off and its days stop coming. Words from it you missed wait, still due, until it's back on.

There's no “more” switch, but with fewer kinds on, the rest come round more often. At least one stays on.

To skip just today's kind, turn it off from ⋯ on today's card, then back on tomorrow.

SETTINGS › WORD STYLES

More casual, or more formal?

Some words only suit some company. Each style has three settings:

Off · never comes up. Your progress is kept.

Read & listen · you learn to understand these words, but Recall won't ask you to produce them, except ones you've moved to Recall yourself. Every style starts here.

On · asked every way, Recall too.

A word with two labels follows the stricter one: with Casual On, a slang word stays Read & listen until Slang is On too.

Want to speak casually with friends? Set Casual to On, and Slang too if you want it. Words mostly seen in writing, or old-fashioned, never come up.

⋯ ON A QUESTION, OR THE WORD PAGE

Don't want a word?

Remove it because you already know it, it isn't useful to you, or something's wrong with it. It stops coming up, and your level stays as it is. Settings › Removed words puts it back.

⋯ › REPLACE SENTENCE

Don't like a sentence?

Tangoya writes you a new one, just for you. Free, with an account.

LOOK UP WORDS › MAKE IT MY CARD

A word Tangoya doesn't ask?

Make it a custom card, asked the ways you choose. Up to 3 new questions from your cards start a day, each in a new word's place. 5 cards are free once your email is confirmed; packs of more are paid once and never expire.