2026-04-15
languages
Hey guys!
I wanted to share the tools I use to learn languages for a long time.
I think that I will eventually make a dedicated section for language learning on this website, but in the mean time I thought I should do a blog post.
This guide will cover tools I use to learn languages.
I've personally tested these with Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. They may also work with other languages.
This is mostly for :
However, beware that trying to optimize everything is usually counter productive.
If you already have a good workflow that works for you, don't spend too much time here and study more!
Anki is a no brainer. It's the best SRS tool and it's free.
The iOS app is the only paid one, but if you're on a budget you can still use the web version of your iPhone.
Every other flashcard software is less capable than anki.
It has a learning curve, especially how to navigate in the GUI and how to make your own card types, but it's worth it in my opinion.
I recommend to turn on the FSRS option for a better algorithm.
Here's a selection of my favorite plugins. Just paste the code in you Anki (in the Add-on menu).
To create cards with Migaku. (I talk about this tool down below)
Used to export my anki known words in Migaku (or other similar softwares, like Kimchi reader, etc.).
It works well and you can make presets for a certain deck to go faster next time.
See how much kanji you know. It works with Chinese as well, and has lists for both simplified and traditional characters.
It's also possible to make your own list (custom exams, korean hanja...).
I'll talk about Migaku in depth later, but basically, if you're using Migaku and don't want to spend time tweaking anki or if you're not tech savvy, Migaku Memory is OK.
This website has a selection of premade decks for different media (anime, visual novels...)
It's Japanese only.
I don't really recommend it for cards, because you won't get real audio or anything, but it's a great source to find new content and see how much you know.
Pleco has a paid SRS add-on. I've never used it, but if you use Pleco and don't like anki.
Migaku is a tool that allows you to make cards from text, but also from videos (with a local player but also with Netflix, YouTube, etc.).
I really like it and it's the one I use on a daily basis with Mandarin Chinese.
(This isn't sponsored btw, I just like the product!)
Pros :
Cons :
Yomitan is used to make cards from text.
It's a fork from an older program called Yomichan. Things that worked for yomichan work with yomitan.
It's free and it works great. The main downside is that is doesn't work with videos out of the box, but there are other softwares for that.
Lexirise also supports manga. This one is fairly new but it looks promising.
This one is kinda like Migaku in terms of capabilities, but it's made especially for Korean.
As a result, the parser (the thing that recognizes what is a word in a sentence) works better, it gives you Hanja and everything.
However, it can't generate subtitles on videos like Migaku, and it doesn't have a lifetime subscription afaik.
Here are some good premade decks.
Execellent decks, but they're only available in the Migaku Memory software, no anki version.
Refold have a lot of very good decks.
I've tried the Japanese and Korean 1K deck, and the old version of the Mandarin 1K deck.
They are very good quality, but a bit pricey.
This deck is free and it's a very good start for Japanese.
Available here : https://github.com/donkuri/kaishi
Make cards from games using hooks or OCR.
If you just need OCR, Owocr is a good tool.
Before Game Sentence Miner, I've used Agent (on Steins;Gate) and it worked pretty well.
An ebook reader in you web browser with good support for asian languages (reading vertically) and allows you to look up words and mine sentences with tools like yomitan or migaku.
If was recently forked. Here's the new one : https://kamperemu.github.io/ebook-reader/
There's also a version made especially for Korean : https://peldas.github.io/ebook-reader-korean/
This one https://opencc.js.org/converter is pretty solid and can flag regional differences (e.g. words that are specific to Taiwan).
This one is very good https://imperialexam.com/zhuyin-tool
I use clockify because it works well in my case, it's free and it has a good API.
I know some people use the Refold Tracker app, which is specifically tailored for language learning but I haven't used it.