Lookup and Anki

Every Amatsubame app uses the same dictionary lookup and the same popup, so a word looks the same in a manga, a subtitle, a podcast transcript or a web page. Cards go to your own Anki through AnkiConnect.

Looking up a word

Tap a word to open the popup:

• Yomu: a word in a book, or a speech bubble on a manga page once text recognition is set up.
• Miru: a word in the Japanese subtitles.
• Kiku: a word in the transcript.
• Hiku: Japanese text on any web page in Safari.

The lookup finds the longest word that starts where you tapped, including conjugated forms, so 食べられなかった finds 食べる. Yomu also has a Dictionary tab where you can type a search (romaji works too).

What the popup shows

For each result, top to bottom:

• The word with furigana over its kanji.
• How it was conjugated, when the tapped text was an inflected form.
• Frequency: how common the word is, from each frequency dictionary you have.
• Pitch accent: a graph of the reading with the downstep number, from your pitch accent dictionary.
• Definitions, grouped under each dictionary’s name, in your dictionary order.

Two buttons sit beside the word: the speaker plays word audio, and + (Add to Anki) makes a card. It turns into a check mark for words you’ve already mined.

Tap a word inside a definition to look that up too; Back returns to the word before.

Word audio

Word audio comes from the sources in Settings ▸ Lookup and Mining ▸ Audio Sources. JapanesePod101 is built in. You can add your own, of two types:

• Audio file URL: an address that returns an audio file, with {term} and {reading} filled in for each word.
• Audio list (JSON): an address that returns Yomitan’s audio list, such as a local audio server, for example http://audio.example.com:5050/?term={term}&reading={reading}.

Sources are tried in order and the first one with audio plays. Test with 食べる checks them. If a source’s address contains a key, the key is hidden on screen and kept in the Keychain.

Dictionaries

Dictionaries are stored on your device and work offline. The apps use the Yomitan dictionary format, so most dictionaries made for Yomitan can be imported.

The recommended set

Setup downloads these for you (about 60 MB in all):

Dictionary	What it’s for
Jitendex	English definitions
JMnedict	Names of people and places
KANJIDIC	Kanji meanings and readings
Jiten Frequency	How common each word is in anime, novels and games
Kanjium	Pitch accent

Each keeps its own licence; they’re listed in Settings ▸ About.

Managing dictionaries

Open Settings ▸ Lookup and Mining ▸ Dictionaries:

• Installed lists each dictionary with what it holds (Terms, Frequency, Pitch, Kanji), its size, and a switch to turn it off without deleting it. Results follow this order: on iPhone and iPad tap Edit and drag; on the Mac drag a row by its handle or right-click it. On iPhone and iPad, swipe a dictionary to delete it.
• Sort Results By picks which frequency dictionary orders the results. Automatic is the default.
• Add Recommended… installs any of the recommended set you don’t have.
• Import from Files… imports Yomitan dictionary zips: term dictionaries, frequency lists and pitch accent dictionaries.
• Import from URL… downloads a zip from an address you type and imports it.

Updates

The recommended dictionaries keep themselves up to date while Keep Recommended Up to Date is on (in the Updates section; setup calls it Keep Them Up to Date). Dictionaries that update themselves show Auto.

• The apps check once a week, and only on Wi-Fi outside Low Data Mode. Check Now checks straight away.
• A new version downloads in the background and replaces the old one when it’s ready, keeping its place in your order and whether it’s on.
• Imported dictionaries don’t update unless their own files say they can and where from.
• If you delete a recommended dictionary, the apps remember and don’t pick it again by themselves.

Word marks

With Mark Words by Anki State on (in Settings ▸ Lookup and Mining), the apps underline words by where they stand in your Anki mining deck: words you haven’t mined, and words you’re still learning, are underlined; words you know stay plain. A word counts as known once its card’s interval is 21 days or more. Cards waiting to be sent count as learning.

Marks show in Yomu’s books (not on manga pages), Miru’s subtitles, Kiku’s transcripts and web pages in Hiku. The apps refresh them from Anki when they open and every 30 minutes after that.

If you also study from other decks (a premade vocabulary deck, say), add them in the Anki settings under Word Marks ▸ Also Mark Words From. Words you’ve started studying in those decks show as known.

Anki

Connecting AnkiConnect

Cards go to Anki through AnkiConnect, an add-on that runs inside Anki on a computer or server. Your iPhone, iPad or Mac needs to reach it over the network, for example at home or through a VPN.

Note

By default AnkiConnect only accepts connections from the computer it runs on. Its webBindAddress setting (in the add-on’s config in Anki) controls which addresses it listens on.

Open Settings ▸ Lookup and Mining ▸ Anki (or the Connect Anki step in setup):

1. Enter the Server URL, for example http://anki.example.com:8765.
2. If you set an apiKey in AnkiConnect’s config, enter the same key. Otherwise leave it blank.
3. Tap Test Connection.

Deck, note type and fields

Once connected, the same page has the Cards section:

• Deck and Note Type, from your Anki. The default deck is 日本語::Mining.
• Fields: what goes into each field of the note type. Each field can hold nothing, one of the pieces below, or fixed text. Reset to Default puts the preset back.
• Tags, separated by spaces. The default is amatsubame.
• Picture size, the longest side of the card’s picture (not in Miru, which has its own Card Picture setting).

The pieces a field can hold are: Word, Word with furigana, Reading, Word audio, Main definition, Short definition, All definitions, Sentence, Picture, Sentence audio, Pitch accent, Pitch category, Frequencies, Frequency sort value and Source.

The Lapis preset. With the Lapis note type every field is filled in the way Yomitan’s Lapis setup does, and each card is a word and sentence card (the “x” in IsWordAndSentenceCard):

Lapis field	Gets
Expression	Word
ExpressionFurigana	Word with furigana
ExpressionReading	Reading
ExpressionAudio	Word audio
SelectionText	Short definition
MainDefinition	Main definition
Glossary	All definitions
Sentence	Sentence
SentenceAudio	Sentence audio
Picture	Picture
PitchPosition	Pitch accent
PitchCategories	Pitch category
Frequency	Frequencies
FreqSort	Frequency sort value
MiscInfo	Source

For another note type, the apps fill in any Lapis field names it has; otherwise the word goes in the first field and the sentence in a field called Sentence. Check Fields and adjust the rest.

What a card contains

In every app a card can carry the word, its reading, definitions, pitch and frequency, and the sentence it came from. The rest depends on the app:

App	Sentence	Picture	Sentence audio	Source
Yomu, manga	The recognised text	The page		Series, chapter and page
Yomu, books	The sentence	The book’s cover	With read-along: the spoken sentence	Series, volume and section
Miru	The subtitle line	A screenshot, or the line as an animated GIF (Card Picture)	The line	Show, episode and time
Kiku	The transcript line	The episode’s cover	The line	Show, episode and time
Hiku	The sentence			The page’s title and address

Word audio is added when a field takes it and one of your audio sources has the word.

Sending, undo and offline

After you tap +, the card waits five seconds so you can tap Undo, then goes to AnkiConnect. If a word is already in Anki (or waiting to be sent), you’re asked first and can choose Add Another Card.

When AnkiConnect can’t be reached (you’re away from home, or the computer is asleep) cards wait on the device and send themselves when it’s back. The top of Settings shows what’s waiting, with Sync Now; Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Waiting to Sync lists them by kind.

Syncing to AnkiWeb

In the Anki settings, Sync to AnkiWeb After Adding asks Anki to sync about 10 seconds after new cards arrive (once for a batch), so they reach AnkiMobile and your other devices. Sync Anki Now syncs straight away.

Sharing the setup between apps

Dictionaries, word audio sources, AnkiConnect (with its card settings) and word marks can be shared by Yomu, Miru, Kiku and Hiku on the same device, so you set them up once and a change in one app shows in all of them. Servers, reading and watching progress, downloads, waiting cards and lookup history always stay with each app.

When sharing is available:

• Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Share Setup with My Other Apps turns it on or off. It’s on by default.
• A newly installed app offers to reuse the shared setup during its first launch.
• Turning sharing off gives the app its own copy. A switch takes effect the next time the app opens.

Sharing uses an App Group, which on an iPhone, iPad or Mac needs a team in the paid Apple Developer Program; a free account can’t sign it. Builds for the Simulator share without it. Turning it on for your devices takes a small change to the project, described in docs/shared.md in the repository. Without it every app keeps its own setup, and Hiku’s extension uses dictionaries built into it (see Hiku).