Phrases and listening

Origa includes a corpus of phrases pulled from native Japanese content. This page covers where the phrases come from, how they are selected for you, and how listening practice works.

The phrase corpus

The corpus contains native Japanese sentences drawn from content made by Japanese speakers, for Japanese speakers. Sources include visual novels and anime. Each phrase comes with its original voice acting — recorded by the original performers, not synthesized.

This is real, conversational Japanese. The phrasing, intonation, and vocabulary reflect how the language is actually used.

N+1 selection

When phrases enter your lessons, Origa selects ones that sit slightly above your current level. The principle is N+1: each new phrase should contain mostly words you already know, with one or two new ones. This keeps the cognitive load manageable while still pushing you forward.

Selection is driven by your known-vocabulary index. As you learn more words, the pool of phrases Origa can offer widens.

Listening practice

During a lesson, a listening card plays the audio for a phrase and asks you to recognize or transcribe it. The audio is the original recording; you hear it at natural speed.

You can replay the audio as many times as you need. There is no slowdown or pitch shift — the goal is to train your ear on real speech.

Where phrases enter your collection

Phrases do not need to be added manually. They enter your review cycle automatically as your vocabulary grows. The pace depends on the daily load you set and how many phrases Origa can match to your level.

If a specific source appeals to you — for example, vocabulary from a particular anime — you can import it as a set from the Sets page. Imported phrases behave like any other phrase card: scheduled by FSRS, eligible for listening cards.

What phrases are not

Phrases are not full dialogue tracks or subtitled episodes. They are individual sentences pulled out of longer content. Origa does not include the source video or audio in full — only the sentence-level audio needed for study.