· 8 lists · 321 words
Technology, science and energy
The phone, the machine, the laboratory and the power station.
What holds these lists together
Technology is the area where Japanese borrows most freely, and the borrowed words are written in katakana and reshaped to fit Japanese syllables: ダウンロード, パスワード. Many are also shortened past recognition — スマホ is a smartphone, アプリ an app — and some were put together in Japan from English parts, such as ノートパソコン, a laptop, so an English speaker recognises the pieces and not the word. Science goes the other way: its terms are kanji compounds that can be read from their parts, such as 酸素, oxygen, from the characters for acid and element. The lists move from the phone in your pocket to the laboratory and the power station.
The eight lists
Spread across the levels
The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.
| Level | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| N5 | 1 | 0 % |
| N4 | 23 | 7 % |
| N3 | 96 | 30 % |
| N2 | 201 | 63 % |
Practise this category
Multiple choice and gaps, across all eight lists and all 321 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.