Short quizzes look like entertainment, but they solve a real problem: the cold start. The first five minutes of any study session are the least productive — the brain is still switching languages. A two-minute quiz video is a switch-flipper: low stakes, fast feedback, and suddenly Japanese words are "loaded". This page turns that into a repeatable routine with a mixed warm-up set.
How to use this page: take the video quiz first, pausing before each reveal to commit to an answer. Then work through the lesson below, and finish with the fresh quiz at the bottom — different questions, same skill. If the bottom quiz feels easy, the lesson worked.
Warm-up set — high-frequency mixed items
| Japanese | Reading | English |
|---|---|---|
| おはようございます | — | good morning (polite) |
| こんばんは | — | good evening |
| ありがとうございます | — | thank you (polite) |
| すみません | — | excuse me / sorry / thanks-for-trouble |
| お願いします | おねがいします | please (requesting) |
| 大丈夫 | だいじょうぶ | OK, fine, no problem |
| 何 | なに／なん | what |
| どこ | — | where |
| いつ | — | when |
| だれ | — | who |
| いくら | — | how much |
| ちょっと | — | a little; (softener for refusals) |
| たぶん | — | probably |
| もちろん | — | of course |
What to actually take away
Two minutes daily beats twenty weekly. Vocabulary retrieval strengthens with frequency, not duration. The short quiz format exists for the days when a full session will not happen — which is most days.
Warm up with easy, not new. The warm-up's job is momentum. Old, half-fast words are the right difficulty; brand-new words belong in the main session after it.
Question words are the ultimate warm-up set — なに, どこ, いつ, だれ, いくら appear in literally every conversation and every exam section. If any of them takes you a beat too long, that beat costs you in listening tests.
すみません is five words in one: excuse me (getting attention), sorry (light apology), thanks (for trouble taken), and the opener for every question to a stranger. When in doubt in Japan, すみません.
Fresh quiz — same skill, new questions
1. You want to ask a station worker a question. You start with:
すみません is the universal attention-getter — polite, expected, and impossible to overuse. Then ask the actual question.
2. 「えいがは ＿＿ はじまりますか」— you're asking about time. Fill the blank:
いつ = when. どこ where, だれ who, いくら how much — the four horsemen of the question-word warm-up.
3. Someone bumps into you and says すみません. A natural reply:
大丈夫です = "it's fine / no problem" — the standard gracious response to a small apology.
4. 「あした、パーティーに きますか」—「＿＿！」 (Of course!)
もちろん = of course. ちょっと would politely signal refusal, たぶん (probably) sounds half-hearted — three one-word answers with three very different social meanings.
Go deeper
- All practice tests — pick one as your main session after the warm-up
- A realistic daily routine — where the two-minute warm-up fits in a busy day
- How to start Japanese — the complete beginner's path
More video lessons
- Video Lesson: Script & Vocabulary Practice
- Video Lesson: Everyday Vocabulary Under Pressure
- Video Lesson: Turning Recognition into Recall
- Video Lesson: The N5 Particle System
Video and companion lesson by Rahul Kumar Singh. Published 17 July 2026. The lesson content on this page is original study material written to accompany the video — it extends the quiz, it is not a transcript. Spotted an error? Report it.