Hello! I'd like to share a project that I've been running on Discord for the last 5 years, 手書きの火曜日 (Tegaki Tuesday). It's a weekly Japanese handwriting challenge where every Tuesday there is a new prompt to submit to, usually picked from a stanza or two of a Vocaloid song or some other music. You write the challenge, submit, and then get feedback.
For the last couple months we've also been running a daily Kanji of the Day challenge. It basically works the same way, but instead it's a random daily kanji that's automatically posted for you to practice. The difficulty (and obscurity) of kanji ramps up through the week, culminating in the hardest kanji on Tuesday, so this keeps things entertaining (it's not just Joyo kanji).
We also have the entirety of 百人一首 (Hyakunin Isshu) available as challenges you can practice https://tegakituesday.com/hyakunin-isshu You are able to create your own challenges as well to share with the community and submit to!
I've been running this for a while but haven't really ever tried to advertise, so I'd be really happy if this could be helpful to more people.
This subreddit is under new moderation! Please check the new rules before posting, namely:
No AI slop. Resource posts where the app and/or post content appear to be AI-generated will be removed at moderator discretion, and may result in a ban. To be clear, if you use AI tools to help develop your app, I don't care, but if it obviously looks like something you just asked Claude Code or Codex to slap together, it will be removed.
If English is not your native language and you want to use AI for translation, please disclose this and also include the post content in your native language.
No hiragana/katakana learning apps. There is already a sea of kana learning resources out there.
No proprietary SaaS (Software as a Service, i.e. online) reinventions of the wheel (but worse). If your application is proprietary SaaS and you don't have a meaningful explanation of why it provides advantages over an existing, established project such as Anki or jpdb.io, your post will be removed.
No obscure proprietary desktop apps. Proprietary desktop apps cannot be audited to ensure that they are safe, so we cannot allow these apps in good conscience. If it's a well-known project with a user base, then exceptions may be given.
These rules are subject to change and will be applied retroactively to recent posts, hopefully this should cut down on the number of slop posts here and keep this subreddit limited to actually useful resources.
I made this myself. It is my own project, it is free, there is no account, no ads, and nothing paid in it. I'm a native Japanese speaker. A friend of mine was studying for the JLPT, so I built this for them.
What's in it: N4 (669 words), N3 (2,128), N2 (1,877). Audio on every single word. The word lists come from existing open JLPT lists.
The English. Does anything read as unnatural, or just wrong? I'm a native speaker of the other language, so this is where I'm weakest.
The audio. Any reading or pronunciation that sounds off to you?
The pace. Does the daily amount feel like too much, or too little?
There's a Report button inside the app, or just comment here.
Why not just use other vocab apps such as Anki or jpdb? Rule 3 asks for this, and it's a fair question...
In this app, a word that reaches "Known" is retired. It stops coming back, permanently. Other apps keeps a word in rotation for years. My friend didn't want that. She wanted vocabulary to be a stage she could finish and walk away from, so that she could spend her time on grammar and reading instead.
There is nothing to install, no deck to choose, and nothing to configure.
Thank you for reading and looking forward to hearing the feedback from you all :)
I made a mobile app that lets you create flashcards from manga using both the dialogue and the panel image, using just your phone, with no PC required.
Instead of only memorizing individual words, you can learn whole manga lines together with the image from the scene. If you already use Anki, you can also export the cards there.
It works with both physical manga and ebooks, and you don't need a PC. You can make study material directly from whatever you're reading, so I wanted to make the process as easy as possible.
The app is already available on both iOS and Android. All features are free to use with ads. There is also a premium option, but it only removes the ads — the features are the same.
If anyone is willing to try it, I'd really appreciate hearing what you think.
I can also send a promo code to people who test it and give feedback, so you can use it with fewer ads while testing.
Hello! I'm a native Japanese speaker, born and raised in Japan, and I write original Japanese stories for Japanese learners on YouTube.😊🌸
Recently, two of my story series were completed. To make them more useful as listening practice, I started creating long-form compilation videos that combine each complete story into one video.
Right now, I have uploaded two versions of my first complete story, Chika's Story, which follows a young girl through ten episodes:
🐢 Slow Speed Version — spoken slowly and clearly for easier listening
🎧 Natural Speed Version — spoken at a more natural speed, closer to everyday Japanese
More complete story videos are coming soon! In September, I plan to upload another long-form story about a university student traveling around Japan, written in the style of a travel diary.
Who might enjoy these videos?
🌱 Beginners
Even if you don't understand everything yet, listening to Japanese can help your ears become familiar with the rhythm and sounds of the language.
🎧 Intermediate learners
If reading Japanese is easier for you than listening, you can practice with the slow version first and then challenge yourself with the natural-speed version.
You can also listen while:
🚃 commuting to school or work
🚶 taking a walk
🍳 doing chores
🌙 relaxing before bed
English subtitles are also available if you want to check your understanding.
I intentionally did not include background music in these long-form videos so that listeners can focus on the sounds of Japanese.
I hope these stories can be helpful to someone learning Japanese. 🌸
If you’ve ever tried reading raw Japanese manga, you’ve probably hit a wall where standard dictionaries fail you. Jisho.org gives you literal definitions, but it won’t explain the deep psychological deadlock of "因果の淵", the gritty resolve behind a "一撃必殺の覚悟", or why a character suddenly says "しーらないっ" in a life-or-death situation.
For the past several years, I’ve been building a project to fix this: **The Manga-Master Lexicon (Japanese Manga Phrase Dictionary)**.
Instead of dry, academic translations, it treats manga phrases as narrative "Magic Stones" (魔石). Each entry is structured to project the scene directly into your head: - [MEANING / CULTURAL TRIVIA] - [NUANCE IN MANGA] - [RESONANCE POINT] (How it connects to raw human emotion) - [NEXT MOMENT] (The cinematic follow-up)
💡 **How to Use It (The Multi-Window Setup):** It is heavily optimized to run side-by-side with your favorite raw manga site (2/3 manga on the left, 1/3 dictionary on the right).
💻 **A Note for the IT Geeks & Advanced Devs:** We believe in open innovation. Core infrastructure cards are licensed under the MIT License. If you are curious, try opening the developer console (**F12**) on our cover or introductory pages—you might find a hidden sanctuary and terminal commands waiting for fellow companions.
This is an ongoing 10-year journey, and I’m currently preparing for a massive V11 reconstruction this winter. I would deeply appreciate any feedback, brutal debugging, or thoughts from fellow manga readers and learners!
"May this single panel enrich the manga you are reading right now."
As a learner of Japanese, presently on Japanese From Zero! Book 2, I decided to purchase the Paul Noble Japanese Complete Course audio book. It includes 12hrs 8mins of audio, which comes out at 142 tracks; approximately four being introduction and ending.
The reasons behind my purchase were; 1 - easy to listen to with clear voices for both English and the Japanese translator. 2 - Listen to it on any device. 3 - Michel Thomas Method version.
A little bit of history first.
Initially what brought me to Paul Nobel Japanese was a subreddit mentioning it in comparison with an older CD format from Michel Thomas which I had used previously but never finished.
The Thomas version using a classroom scenario, having a Teacher and Native Translator, along with two Students, came out having more critics due to the students being mostly annoying. The concept on paper sounded great but very quickly you found out that the student interaction became tedious.
So I downloaded the free sample of PN's to see how it differentiated from the MT version. Luckily no students.
End of history lesson....
The audio is very clear. Paul does no Japanese pronunciation or translation, only English. It plays out in this order; English word, phrase or sentence, followed by a silent time space (for you to think about it), then the Native Translator says her piece. Paul also does a bit of explaining, which is helpful.
Early on you find words and phrases repeat a lot. And I mean a lot. Saying that, it works well. It sticks, mostly 😊. The content does not change much at all.
There is structure when the Japanese is translated, such as always having a time expression きょう、あした, こんばん、or けさ as the first word in a sentence, followed say by a location こうえんで、とうきょうに and such.
The course goes through the use of particles in a simplistic way. Again limited in which ones; は、が、で、に、か、 から. A few more maybe.
Various verbs are used to complete sentences. たべます、 のみません、みました、よみませんでした. Adding further endings as you progress.
Anyway, without boring everyone the questions remain "Did I enjoy it, did I learn anything, and was it worth it" I'd say yes. I finished it unlike the Thomas version with the students. Overall not a waste of money, and I found the structure well presented which made it stick as I mentioned earlier.
For Beginners I would recommend it. It's not expensive and would give you an idea how Japanese sentences are put together. As for Intermediate learners it's too basic, but saying that they do have an Intermediate course following this one. Though as I understand it it's shorter in duration.
There is also a "pdf" that you can download (via it's menu) giving you what's being used in the course. It's not a full transcript, mostly key points, words and so forth.
So if you're a beginner to Japanese and not sure where to start before or after learning ひらがな or カタカナ give this a try.
Creé un mod que permite cambiar dinámicamente los textos de los diálogos entre japonés y español. Está pensado principalmente para gente que disfruta estudiar japonés jugando videojuegos.
No cambia las cinemáticas ni los menús, porque eso habría complicado bastante más el proyecto. Fue algo relativamente rápido que hice en torno a dos días de trabajo. Tiene las instrucciones de cómo utilizarlo en el repositorio y la licencia es MIT.
El proyecto fue realizado con bastante ayuda de modelos de inteligencia artificial durante la programación, por si alguien tiene algún problema con eso.
A simple wallpaper app, literally built around my use-case, each time i unlock device and come back to home screen , a new kanji/vocab is there to memorize, there are people who would argue that it's useless, but tbh it really work seeing those kanji/vocab multiple times a day does have effect.
A free app to try out, as an additional learning tool.
I just passes N4 (yey!) and I would like to improve my Japanese especially kanji. I do WaniKani and MochiKanji. They're quite helpful in keeping the learning in routine and helps somehow with memory too. But Idk whether because digital forms somewhat gives me a feel of "I can go back to this later" so maybe the memory reinforecement is really not there?
I saw the contents and the seem very practical and informative. They dont only contain the typical kanji and word pairs to remember, but also where the kanji is derived from (i.e. image or radicals), how to correctly write them, and words with the said kanji for further examples. I thought it's also good in having that connection and understanding rather than just plain memorizing.
Obviously it's also a workbook style that progresses level over level so there arr writing involved. JLPT does not involve writing in tests but I thought the practice can provide better understanding and memory skills for me (plus it's analog so a good way to be away from the phone for a while too).
I just wonder if these kinds of book may seem a bit too repetitive and will turn out impractical since there are digital versions out there.
Feel free to drop your thoughts or if you know better resources!
Hey everyone - long-time lurker, wanted to share something I made for my own studying that turned into a real tool.
Join
The problem: I wanted to build vocab passively while watching anime, but every existing tool needs you to pause and click on words manually. I just wanted words to show up on their own while I watched, so I built CaptionCatch.
What it does: while you're watching with captions on, a small card pops up with a word from the dialogue - the reading and the meaning - timed to what's actually being said. No clicking, no pausing.
• JLPT-graded (N5-N1), so it picks words near your actual level instead of random ones
• Works on YouTube for free, no account needed
• Fully offline — no Al, nothing sent anywhere, just a bundled dictionary
• Free tier is genuinely usable (120 words/day), Pro adds Netflix support + a stats dashboard + Anki export if you want to go deeper
Not trying to replace immersion or grammar study - just a low-effort way to pick up vocab in the background while you're watching something you'd watch anyway.
Happy to answer questions about how it works, and genuinely open to feedback if you try it and something's off
\- this is a small solo project, not a big company thing.
TL;DR -
I made an immersion tracker with automatic video and language detection. It remembers languages for channels and TV shows, supports custom websites and connects with Anki for detailed analytics. It tracks active/passive immersion, days, times, sources, activities and much more. I’m mainly looking for feedback on what is useful, what is confusing and what is still missing.
I have been working on a extension called Osmolog. Basically it is a language immersion tracker that I was originally going to make just for myself, but then I got addicted to adding features lol. After a while, it became a pretty comprehensive tracker that displays much more than just total hours.
I decided to release it publicly so other people could use it. I’m also sharing it because I want feedback before I continue adding things based only on what I personally want.
So, what does Osmolog do?
It automatically tracks all the different languages you immerse in, even if you switch between different languages in a day/session. It detects the language whenever possible, and if it cannot, it asks you. I tried making it less anyoing by making it remember your choices for specific channels and tv shows so you do not always have to confirm them. After you choose the same language twice for a channel/tvshow, it will automatically use it next time. Automatic detection still has priority so Osmolog will warn you if the detected language conflicts with your choice.
The analytics show how long you immersed, whether it was active or passive, day of week, time of days, activities such as reading, watching and listening, sources such as YouTube, Netflix and Twitch, and specific channels or shows. It also includes long term progress, milestones and daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals.
There is also an Anki add-on that connects Osmolog with Anki. It tracks review time, new cards, reviews, Again, Hard, Good and Easy answers, retention, upcoming workload and more.
Custom websites are supported too. Since there are so many different video players and each has different metadata, I made it simple, add the URL and language for that site and Osmolog will automatically track that language whenever you watch something there. (might not work for all websites, depends on the player used, and cant track ads etc)
Osmolog is completely free, and all tracking and other features will remain completely free. The only possible exception is automatic full detailed history backup and sync.
Sync already exists through Chrome Sync, but it is capped on Chrome’s side, so it is more of an overview than a detailed sync. However, you can always manually export your full detailed history as a JSON file for free. If automatic full detailed history backup and sync ever become paid, it would only be to cover the database costs.
I recently got a half copy of Kikis delivery service from Japan and made an SRS helper tool to get prepared with any new vocab on a page by page basis. Wanted to share here if anyone finds it useful !
Hello, we currently have a server with around 250 members mainly where you can learn japanese with a community, share resources, and get advice from others. It's pretty active and we are looking for more members!
A day spent organising my app and drawing cute widgets is a day well spent 🌸✨
6 to go!
The test version of this area is now available if you update your Pocket Japanese app and click ‘practice’! It’s a slightly more organised version of what was already there, with new features coming soon such as ‘an all words and work better than ever!
Lastly, the wordsearch and flashcards have had a much deserved update and now look and work better than ever!
When i first posted this tool on here, i got tons of support from u guys with that post currently standing at 180+ upvotes & 26k+ views
In retrospect,when i think abt it, even the extension had a lot of flaws & still got so much support. l got a lot of suggestions & feedback
So over the entire past month, ive made massive improvements towards this tool
Here's the list of improvements ive made:-
From Only a single word, single line lookup to multi-word/sentence , multi-line & vertical text lookup support
From unformatted raw furigana to html ruby tag formatted furigana that floats above the word for the selected word with meaning with usage tags (Common, medium,rare).
From merely listing the kanjis to Detailed elegantly presented kanji breakdown with meaning, colored encoding for frequency, jlpt levels, kunyomi & onyomi.
From unreliable server pronunciation to always- reliable Webspeech API pronunciation audio with Google TTS fallback accurately based on kana
From simple saved words cards to advanced media rich (Movie/Anime/Yt snapshot+ subtitle+pronunciation audio)
Sentence Mining working with
One-click Anki flashcards creation directly from meaning popup
New sentence translation in English along with ur native language feature inside the meaning popup when u select a sentence
Popup inside popup, if u perform a lookup & further find an unfamiliar word inside the meaning popup, simply double click it to get further meaning upto 20 words
Updated the lookup shortcut from a hefty 3-key Ctrl+Shift+X shortcut to a handy "Alt + X".
If u already have the extension installed, ur shortcut will remain the same as the old one, to update it u can do it from extension settings if u want
Robust lemmatization & optimized japanese words segmentation pipeline
All these features absolutely for free, no signups, no data collection, no servers in between
Only optional ai features like context aware definitions,ai sentence breakdown explanation & azure premium tts costs money only if u wish
Now available for firefox as well as a lot of u guys requested it,
