Learning Japanese: read the original next to the translation
Graded readers run out; the Japanese you actually want to read doesn’t. With the translation one glance away under each paragraph, you can read real Japanese first and check only what you don’t understand.
Why read side by side
- Read the Japanese first and check the English only for the paragraphs you didn’t get.
- Compare phrasing: see how a Japanese sentence maps onto natural English.
- Learn from news, blogs and videos you care about, which makes it easier to keep going.
Hide the English with study mode
With the display style set to Study mode, translations stay blurred until you hover over them.
- Open a Japanese article. In the 訳 toolbar panel, set the display style to “Study”.
- Click the ribbon at the right edge to translate the page into English.
- Read each Japanese paragraph; hover over the blurred English only when you want to check.
Readings for names
Japanese names are hard to read even for advanced learners. Knowledge cards underline people, places, organizations and works; hover to see the name with its reading in kana and a short explanation. On the free plan, select a name and press the 訳 stamp to look it up (30 lookups a month).
Practice reading with furigana
Furigana (Basic and above) adds readings above difficult kanji in text translated into Japanese. Translate something you already know in English into Japanese — an article, your notes — and read the Japanese version with furigana.
- Turn on “Furigana” in the text translator or under Settings › Translation › Features in the extension.
- Set the target language to Japanese and translate.
Furigana are added to Japanese translations, not to Japanese originals.
Listen with bilingual subtitles
On YouTube, show the Japanese subtitles with an English translation under them. Follow the Japanese and glance at the English only when you miss something. See YouTube subtitles in Japanese and English.
Take one sentence apart
Select a sentence and press the 訳 stamp to translate just that sentence. Switch between Natural, Formal and Casual to see how the same Japanese can be rendered, and copy the translation for your notes.
Start free
Study mode, bilingual subtitles and knowledge-card lookups (30 a month) all work on the free plan, with 30,000 characters of translation a month.