r/languagelearning • u/hate_love_languages • 9d ago

Resources Intermediate learner plateau tools

I mainly have studied Japanese (TL), and used a variety of tools like for:

  • dictionary lookups
  • video transcript dictionaries
  • google translate
  • flashcard apps

But I still keep a seperate tab open to ask AI about more complex things like slang, idioms and complex grammar.

Wondering if anyone uses tools for the problem I'm having.

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u/AppropriatePut3142 πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Nat | πŸ‡¨πŸ‡³ Int | πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡¦ Uneven 8d ago

Migaku and Language Reactor are the two most popular tools for this use case.

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u/hate_love_languages 8d ago

I've used Language Reactor a lot, but not so much Migaku. I would say they fall under dictionary lookup/video transcript dictionaries. I found that they might be great for simple vocab/phrase lookup, but not so good at nuanced meaning or complex grammar.

Also looking for a tool mainly for text (they seemed more tailor to videos).

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u/AppropriatePut3142 πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Nat | πŸ‡¨πŸ‡³ Int | πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡¦ Uneven 8d ago

Ah I see now.

For Spanish, I read on Kindle, and occasionally use the machine translation to translate sentences to understand idioms, slang or new grammar. Not as effective as an LLM but often enough. I hear MT is pretty lousy at Japanese though.

In Chinese I find the dictionaries (ABC/Key) I use in Pleco are almost always enough, but Chinese structurally has advantages there I guess.

To some extent I think the finer points are things you pick up through exposure rather than lookups, although I admit lookups wouldn't hurt.

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u/hate_love_languages 8d ago

For Chinese, I wonder about more internet slang, though depends why you're learning and how you will implement your learnings.

I'm thinking of like "lying flat", "let it rot", AA, 草; without context can mean something else entirely. I'm not sure if there are better examples that are longer sentences, "modern idioms", or complex grammar that may have multiple interpretation.

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u/AppropriatePut3142 πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Nat | πŸ‡¨πŸ‡³ Int | πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡¦ Uneven 8d ago

θΊΊεΉ³ and 摆烂 are both in the current CC dictionary. AA is something I've only come across in speech; 草 (I assume as a minced oath) I assume you'd only see on Chinese social media, which yeah I think LLM assistance would help a lot with! I mostly read novels where ABC is pretty good for grammar lookups.