A mobile video player, reader assistant, image mining workflow and card creation toolkit

October 20, 2021 Video, video player

About

A mobile video player, reader assistant, image mining workflow and card creation toolkit tailored for language learners. Allows text selection of subtitles for quick lookups and export to Anki with snapshot and audio for uninterrupted language immersion.

jidoujisho

A mobile video player, reader assistant, image mining workflow and card creation toolkit tailored for language learners.

Uninterrupted language immersion at your fingertips

jidoujisho is an Android video player, reader assistant, image mining workflow and card creation toolkit with features specifically helpful for language learners.

Text selection of subtitles allows for quick dictionary lookups within the application
Export cards to AnkiDroid, complete with a snapshot and audio of the current context
Selecting a word allows export to AnkiDroid with the sentence, answer, meaning and reading
Morphological analysis of subtitles allows either tap selection or drag selection of subtitles
Repeat the current subtitle from the beginning by flicking horizontally
Swipe vertically to open the transcript to jump to time and review subtitles
Open the app to trending videos in Japan, import and export a channel list and search with suggestions
YouTube playback support for videos with Japanese closed captions and automatically generated subtitles
Use card creator mode to quickly search images and definitions with imported photos and text
Dictionary tab remembers words queried for review between sessions and allows resuming back to context
Import Yomichan archive dictionaries and export cards with pitch accent information from Kanjium
Frictionless sentence mining workflow for readers via ッツ Ebook Reader
Mine manga with an image mining workflow designed for symbiosis with Tachiyomi and Kaku
Playback support for network streams including Chromecast and Plex external player support

Current state of the project

jidoujisho is still in development, and is currently in hiatus. The project will receive fixes to critical bugs and issues. Rollout of new features will resume in time.

Built for the Japanese language learning community, the application is free and open source software, and is available to download here on GitHub. Current features planned on the roadmap are listed below, but as of now there is no estimate on any updates.

Please note that the development of the app switches between changes being implemented and being left alone for daily use. Update frequency may depend on the gravity of any issues that arise. Hiatuses provide practical insight on usage and where development should go next.

Next Up

Fixes for slow video loading due to scoped storage and H.265 video playback
Use of the AnkiDroid API instead of share intent to streamline card export and Anki output customisation
Morphological analysis of subtitles for better text selection
Improved monolingual dictionary support
Various immersion modes for oral practice
Include pitch accent information in dictionary and exported cards
Reader enhancements for manga and novel sentence mining
Instant queries and offline use via support of Yomichan archive format dictionaries
Improve text segmentation and custom dictionaries query results
Dedicated Android TV experience with a remote control
HTML summary tags for dual query mode

Stretch Goals

Extensive language support with text segmentation for other languages
Tinker around with releasing the app on other platforms if possible

A glimpse of jidoujisho in action

Using the application

Supported Formats

jidoujisho will take video and audio formats as supported by VLC. Subtitles may be embedded within the video being played and selected during playback.

If you wish to use external subtitles, they may be in SRT, ASS or SSA format and you may import them during playback through the menu. You may switch between different audio and subtitle tracks. Image-based subtitles such as PGS are not currently supported.

YouTube closed captions are taken from TimedText XML, which is only publicly exposed to videos that have user-generated Japanese subtitles. Here is a fair sample of YouTube videos with such subtitles showcasing some very practical application use cases. If unavailable, Japanese automatic captions can be queried from videos. Please be aware that critical inaccuracies are to be expected in such cases.

Important Links

Below are some links that some users might find useful.

Getting Started

A primer on the basics of the application is as follows.

Download and install the latest beta onto your Android device
Watch a video with the Player selecting from your local media library or picking a YouTube video
Start a novel with the Reader to launch ッツ Ebook Reader to read an EPUB or HTMLZ file
Read manga from your Tachiyomi library with the Viewer and launch Kaku to pass text to the app
Select text with tap to select or drag to select
When the dictionary definition for the text shows up, the text is the current context
Closing the dictionary prompt will clear the clipboard
Switch between dictionaries by holding on the headword or swiping vertically in the pop-up dictionary
You may swipe vertically to open the transcript in the player, and pick a time or read subtitles
Swipe horizontally in the player to repeat the current subtitle audio
Swipe left or right on dictionary results to scroll through multiple definitions
In the Viewer, users can pass text to the app by holding onto Kaku‘s results box

Exporting to AnkiDroid

You may also export the current context to an AnkiDroid card, including the current frame and audio
Having a word in the clipboard will include the sentence, word, meaning and reading in the export
You may edit the sentence, word, meaning and reading text fields before exporting to AnkiDroid
The front of the card will include only the sentence
The back of the card will include the audio, image, reading, word and meaning
You may apply text formatting to the card with the AnkiDroid editor once exported
Customisation of the Anki export is possible by changing the default template in AnkiDroid

Advanced User Tips

Can’t find Japanese subtitles for your media? Try finding what you need at kitsunekko
Users may import their own Yomichan custom dictionaries for offline use and instant lookups, some can be found here
Hold onto the headword or swipe vertically in the pop-up dictionary to quickly switch between dictionaries
External subtitles with the same name as the selected video file will be loaded by default
If your subtitles are off, you can set the delay or pad the exported audio time with an allowance
A resume button is at the top of the main menu, and returns to last video or book
Users may select Context from a dictionary result to go back to the exact duration in video or scroll position in book
Channels may also be added by pasting a link of any video by the channel in List new channel
You may also watch videos from your Plex server and cast the current video to a Chromecast
Users that prefer to stream rather than download can open the app with a direct link to video
Export a range of multiple subtitles by holding onto a subtitle aside from the current one in the transcript
If AnkiDroid is not running in the background, tap on the export message to open it
The AnkiDroid deck you last export to will be remembered for your next export
The quality closest to the last selected quality will be selected by default for YouTube videos
Automatic captions are more excellent in podcasts and news programs with clear speakers
Crop manga panels before exporting them within the Creator to have better context for your cards

Licensing

Kanjium: The pitch accent notation, verb particle data, phonetics, homonyms and other additions or modifications to EDICT, KANJIDIC or KRADFILE were provided by Uros O. through his free database.