Practical Japanese for Travelers: A 444-Card Phrasebook, Food Glossary and Number Guide

Practical Japanese (deck code RY2873) is really three resources in one 444-card stack: a traveler's phrasebook (cards 1-199), a food and dining glossary (cards 200-386), and a block of numbers, colors and "why" questions (cards 387-444). Knowing that structure is the key to studying it efficiently, because the blocks were clearly built separately and overlap in places.

Cards from the deck

What you'll cover: greetings (konnichiwa, hajimemashite, ogenki desu ka), directions (migi, hidari, massugu), trains (ōfuku, katamichi, nanban-sen), hotels (chekkuin, yoyaku), shopping (shichaku, fukuro, menzei), emergencies (tasukete, kyūkyūsha, yakkyoku), days and months (getsuyōbi, shigatsu), signs (iriguchi, deguchi, kin'en, osu/hiku), dishes (donburi, oyakodon, okonomiyaki, chawanmushi), cooking methods (yaki, age, mushi, nimono), sweets (wagashi, dorayaki, taiyaki), drinks (mugicha, hōjicha, haibōru, umeshu), and both native and Sino-Japanese counting (hitotsu, futatsu… ichi, ni…).

Study the blocks, skip the repeats

The deck repeats itself across blocks: Sake (51 and 237), Delicious (41 and 320), food allergy (38 and 368), near/far (27-28 and 180-181), and the numbers 1-10,000 appear twice (156-168 and 387-417). I'll have this (34) and I'll take this (90) share the same answer, これをください. Suspend the first copy of each and keep the richer one. The second number block is better: it gives both readings (ichi/hitotsu) and explains why yon, nana and kyū are preferred.

A practical order: cards 1-122 first (survival phrases), then the food block if you're traveling to eat, then 387-444.

Two corrections to make in your copy

1. 迷子になりました (card 98) is for lost children. An adult who is lost says 道に迷いました (michi ni mayoimashita, "I lost my way"). Rewrite the back or add a hint.
2. The "rendaku" label is only half right (cards 432-436). Sanbyaku (300) and sanzen (3000) are true rendaku: the sound voices after "n". But roppyaku (600), happyaku (800) and hassen (8000) are a different change: the first sound doubles and h becomes p. Learn them as their own group: 6 and 8 double, 3 voices.

Also note small inconsistencies: card 159 still gives shi / yon for four, while card 391 explains shi is avoided. Card 65, Can you wait here?, is phrased as a request (please wait here), which is in fact how you'd say it to a taxi driver.

Where to go next

Once the phrasebook is solid, move to structured vocabulary with our guide to JLPT N5 vocabulary: the everyday words you need to move beyond set phrases.

Open Practical Japanese (RY2873) in the Flip It library to start.