⏱️ Reading Time Estimator
Estimates how long it takes to read your text. Words are timed in words per minute (WPM), and Japanese kana and kanji in characters per minute, so it works for Japanese and mixed text as well as English. Useful for the "X min read" labels shown on blog posts.
How to use
- Type or paste your text.
- Adjust the English reading speed (WPM) and the Japanese reading speed (characters per minute) with the sliders.
- The estimated reading time, word count, Japanese character count, total character count and sentence count update automatically.
How the calculation works
This tool splits the text into two kinds of content to estimate reading time. Hiragana, katakana and kanji (including the long-vowel mark ー and 々) are counted one character at a time and timed with the Japanese reading speed (characters per minute). Everything else is split into words at whitespace and timed with the reading speed in words per minute (WPM). Chunks made only of punctuation or symbols are not counted as words. Reading time (seconds) = words ÷ WPM × 60 + Japanese characters ÷ characters per minute × 60 The defaults are 200 WPM for English and 500 characters per minute for Japanese; silent reading of Japanese is commonly put at around 400–600 characters per minute. The total is rounded to the nearest second and shown in minutes and seconds. The sentence count is the number of chunks ending in ".", "!", "?", "。", "！" or "？".
Worked example
Japanese example Input: 吾輩は猫である。名前はまだ無い。どこで生れたかとんと見当がつかぬ Japanese characters: 30 Time: 30 ÷ 500 × 60 = 3.6 s → 4s Mixed example Input: 今日はiPhone 16を買いました！ 3万円でした。 Words: 3 (iPhone, 16, 3) Japanese characters: 14 Time: 3 ÷ 200 × 60 + 14 ÷ 500 × 60 = 0.9 + 1.68 ≈ 2.6 s → 3s
Things to be aware of
- Reading speed varies a lot between people and texts. For technical content, lower the speed.
- Time spent on images, tables or code is not included.
- For "X min read" labels on blog posts, rounding up to whole minutes is the usual convention.
FAQ
Where does the default 200 WPM come from?
It's a commonly cited rough estimate for average adult reading speed (actual speed varies widely by person and text difficulty).
Does this work for Japanese text?
Yes. Hiragana, katakana and kanji are counted one character at a time and timed with the Japanese reading speed (characters per minute). English words and numbers are counted as space-separated words and timed with WPM. For mixed text, the two times are added together.
How is the sentence count calculated?
It is a rough count of chunks ending in ".", "!" or "?", or the Japanese "。", "！" or "？". A final sentence without closing punctuation still counts as one.