I learn a language just by playing

Which languages ​​does this work for? Thanks to Google Translate, it works with every language imaginable. But the program is especially useful if you are learning Japanese, Chinese or Korean.

Not only are the words in the first two languages ​​particularly difficult to find by hand due to the large number of characters if you don’t know them yet, there are also pop-up dictionaries for these languages ​​that give you a complete dictionary entry instead of an automatic translation.

This approach is also much more effective than using special learning apps. I have already explained why this is the case in the following article:

The establishment of Yomininja

When you start Yomininja for the first time, you have to configure it. If you want to use Google Translate, you don’t have to do anything else. The same applies to Japanese if you want English dictionary entries. For German entries, however, you have to set up the integrated Yomitan extension. For Korean and Chinese, you also have to install the Chrome extension Inkah. Here’s how it works:

Setting up Japanese-German:

• Download a Yomitan file from Wadoku, the Wadoku license allows private use
• Opens the menu Extensions (1) in Yomininja on the left edge of the screen
• Disable the extensions you don’t want to use (2)
• Click here at the entry Yomitan on Options (3)
• Click on Configuring installed and activated dictionaries (4)
• Click on import (5) and then select the Wadoku file

Setting up Chinese/Korean-English:

• Installs the CRX Extractor/Downloader
• Opens the Inkah page in the Chrome Web Store
• Click on the CRX Extractor icon at the top right (1)
• Download Inkah as a zip file (2)
• Opens the menu Extensions (3) in Yomininja on the left edge of the screen
• Click on Install (Zip) (4) and select the previously downloaded zip file
• Now click on the small Inkah symbol at the top right (5) and select your target language (6)
• Disable the extensions you don’t want to use

Creates a template

• Go to the menu Template (1)
• Select New template from (2)
• Press ALT+S and give the template a name.
• Then click on Save (3)
• Now use the mouse to drag the frame around the areas in the preview where you expect text to appear. If you are unsure, simply drag a frame over the entire screen section.

Next, open the main menu of Yomininja and set the following options

• Recording source: Full screen
• Primary OCR engine: Google Lens
• OCR language: The language you want to learn. Latin if your target language simply uses Latin letters.
• Template: Your newly created template

Yomininja in action

Now start the game of your choice in the language you want to learn. Yomininja works best when the text is constantly displayed on the screen. It is also less useful outside of the menu for cutscenes that cannot be paused, such as in Black Myth: Wukong. However, it is even better for a game like Persona, where you constantly have to click on the text yourself.

Translation at the touch of a button: If you see a word you don’t know, press either Print Screen or ALT+S and wait a few seconds. You will now see an overlay in which the recognized text is marked with red boxes. If you move the mouse over it, you will see either a dictionary entry for the word or the Google Translate symbol, depending on Yomininja’s settings. If you click on the latter, you will see a translation from Google Translate.

It doesn’t always have to be games: Yomininja recognizes all text on your screen. Even burned-in subtitles, like here in a Noh performance of the Tale of Genji on YouTube.