Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Read Bean
Learn Chinese with real-world content, at your level
Read Bean is a Chinese language learning platform designed for heritage speakers and intermediate-advanced learners seeking to improve their literacy. The app uses real-world content organized into bite-sized lessons… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
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Toku Reader▲111Read & listen to native Japanese and Chinese, tap any word
Jul 2026 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
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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 · its alternatives →
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- 4IB
Hey HN! I’m Alex, and one of my favorite ways to learn languages is by reading novels. Currently I’m reading 三体 (3 body problem), but one problem I've always had is it takes ages to look up words, and add them to Anki flashcards so I can remember them. 三体 is especially brutal with so much sci-fi vocab. That’s why I built Readly. I snap a pic of the page I’m reading, it loads the text in-app and lets me lookup words, add to Anki-style flashcards, or ask AI questions about the text, all in a single tap. It's a huge time saver. My specific learning strategy, if anyone wants to replicate it: 1.…
2025 · readly.ink · its alternatives →
- 5LC
2014 · getchicory.com · its alternatives →
- 6AA
2018 · play.google.com · its alternatives →
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LangRead▲127Read books, learn languages one word at a time
2025 · langread.online · its alternatives →
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- 10IM
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 · its alternatives →
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Actually, it is yet another tool to learn a language through immersion (classic set of features, watch on youtube/netflix, read a website or book). It has a popup dictionary so you can click on a word and it will show the definition. Nothing new in that regard, except that it has been made with only Korean in mind and does not plan to extends to other languages. I was learning and still am learning Korean (now using my own tool to learn!). I initially made the tool for myself because none of the tools out there could correctly figure out what a word was in the text. And that's where the…
2023 · kimchi-reader.app · its alternatives →
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Hi HN! I have been working on a webapp to keep learning German and today I want to share the first version. In the past, I have used books with "Short stories" to learn the language and I always wanted more stories so I thought I could put that into an app. Short stories are nice because the learner can attempt to understand words from the context of the text and it feels like less effort than a traditional language app. Additionally, the app format allows for practice questions at the end and you can use LLMs to check whether the answers are correct; so the users can check themselves. So…
2023 · webbu.app · its alternatives →
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Hi! Wanted to share the project I really wanted to have. TLDR; this app lets you create your own list of words and you get a Duolingo-like experience (kind of, still needs a lot of features) practicing those words in their context. My English is not the best but not the worst either. But I realized I can't boost it up after a certain level! In my belief, in order to truly learn a language, you need to be exposed to that language often. Vocabulary is the key factor here if you really want to improve in any language. My experience is that when I read a book to improve my English vocabulary, I…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
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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 · its alternatives →
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An Android AR app for improving English literacy
2019 · microsoft.com · its alternatives →
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CantoCards▲68Learn Cantonese characters & readings with spaced repetition
2023 · cantocards.com · its alternatives →
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Barney▲87Improve your reading skills in English and learn new words
2018 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
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ReadingDojo▲86Generate questions to check for reading comprehension easily
2024 · readingdojo.framer.ai · its alternatives →
- 21

Learn English or Chinese inside pages you already read
Jul 2026 · lingualayer.wqndy.com · its alternatives →
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LingoTime▲76Language learning anywhere: from Apple Watch to the Mac
2020 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
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Hi HN, I’m Pablo, I built this application to learn languages using podcasts: https://www.langturbo.com (No signup required) There are a lot of tools to learn languages, but most of them focus on beginners (understandably so, that’s where the money is) but not many exist that target intermediate or advanced learners. The ones that exist make you find content on your own and then import that into their apps, which can be tricky when you don’t know where to look. LangTurbo has a unique curated database of podcasts by language (some even have dialect labels) that you can browse by…
2025 · langturbo.com · its alternatives →
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Lingbe 2▲72Free real-time conversations with native speakers ⚡
2020 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →