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Alternatives

Products that do what nazoru does

Master hard-to-read Japanese kanji & proverbs

  1. 1MR

    I quit my job last year and worked mostly on this full SwiftUI rewrite of my Japanese reading app, Manabi Reader. The rewrite gave me the opportunity to expand to macOS (and without Catalyst so it feels extra native) and redo the data layer to be offline-first via Realm with iCloud sync. The biggest differentiators compared with other language study apps are that it tracks every word/kanji you read so that you can see how much of a given webpage/article you're already familiar with and other features/analytics built on that foundation; it automatically builds a personal corpus…

    2023 · reader.manabi.io

  2. 2AJ

    Hey HN, it’s been 8 years since I posted on here about the launch of my Japanese dictionary app Nihongo [0] and I’m finally back with a new app: Nihongo Lessons! Think of Nihongo Lessons as the textbook to Nihongo’s dictionary. It’s an app for learning Japanese, specifically made for learners who are serious about becoming fluent, and want a guided set of content that will help them efficiently acquire vocabulary and grammar. The project came about when Adam Shapiro of Japanese Level Up (Jalup) [1] announced last April that he was shutting Jalup down. As a fan of Adam’s work I was bummed to…

    2022 · lessons.nihongo-app.com

  3. 3IM

    The idea is actually quite simple. As a Japanese learner and a coder, I've always wanted there to be an open-source, 100% free for learning Japanese, similar to Monkeytype in the typing community. Unfortunately, pretty much all language learning apps are closed-sourced and paid these days, and the ones that are free have unfortunately been abandoned. But of course, just creating yet another language learning app was not enough - there has to be a unique selling point. And then I thought to myself: why not make it crazy and do what no other language learning app ever did by adding a gazillion…

    2025 · kanadojo.com

  4. 4LJ

    Hi HN, Just wanted to share a tool i've been working on to help with my own study routine. It’s a browser extension called Lingoku. The idea is simple: we spend hours browsing the web in English every day. This tool replaces some of the english words with Japanese vocabulary based on your japanese level (Similar to Toucan, but with a better user experience). It’s basically an attempt to make the "i+1" method actually passive, you understand the sentence because it's mostly english, but you pick up Japanese words naturally from the context. It uses an LLM in the backend to make sure the…

    Dec 2025 · lingoku.ai

  5. 5

    Read Japanese kana in two weeks

    15d ago · kanasensei.dev

  6. 6

    Learn Japanese with clarity, context, and confidence

    2025

  7. 7
    Douzo127

    Free Japanese typing practice organized by JLPT level

    Mar 2026 · typingdouzo.com

  8. 8NS
  9. 9

    Read & listen to native Japanese and Chinese, tap any word

    Jul 2026 · apps.apple.com

  10. 10
    Mainichi133

    Learn Japanese, one prefecture at a time.

    Jul 2026 · mainichiapp.com

  11. 11
    Kann173

    Master Japanese vocabulary you care about!

    2024

  12. 12
    KanjiLens120

    Kanji Lens is a Japanese manga translator and learning tool.

    Jan 2026 · kanjilens.com

  13. 13
    Taptaro130

    Tap. Learn. Repeat. 450+ free Japanese words and phrases

    2017

  14. 14

    Learn Japanese with Anime

    2025

  15. 15
    Kanaji95

    Learn Japanese Kanji

    Nov 2025

  16. 16
    Ziyo112

    A powerful Japanese Kanji dictionary & search engine

    Oct 2025

  17. 17
    Dozo8

    Learn Japanese N5 to N1 with a real teacher in your corner

    Aug 2026 · nihongodozo.com

  18. 18
    Learnji181

    Learn a new language using emoji 😊

    2017

  19. 19GA

    I've been fascinated by the Japanese language and culture for a while now, and I wanted to create a simple, no-fuss way for beginners to get started. So, I built *[Nihongo](https://nihongo.site/)*, a free and open-source web app designed to help you learn the fundamentals of Japanese in about a month. The name of the app, Nihongo (日本語), is the Japanese word for the "Japanese language." You can check it out here: *[https://nihongo.site/](https://nihongo.site/)* And for those who like to tinker, the code is available on GitHub:…

    2025 · nihongo.site

  20. 20

    Language learning anywhere: from Apple Watch to the Mac

    2020

  21. 21AF

    I'm a long time lurker that recently quit my job to work on my own projects, a lot due to the inspiration from Hacker News. Now I have published my first serious project, an app for learning how to write Japanese characters. It's the app I always wanted but couldn't find when I was studying. It tries to be simple to use, you just start the quiz and go with the flow. There's no need to plan and manage your studies, and it uses spaced repetition for better retention. There's a promo page with more details up at http://www.kanjibyhand.com. It's only for Android so far. The free version includes…

    2012

  22. 22
    Vocabi84

    Translate, save & memorize words while you read

    May 2026

  23. 23

    Learn Kanji from the ground up

    May 2026 · mojimori.app

  24. 24CA

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