About Gensho

How does Gensho work?

Gensho the ultimate reading tool for foreign language-learners by allowing you to build your vocabulary from real content that’s relevant to you.

To get started, think about what you’d like to study from. Some great choices for studying material include:

• News articles
• Tweets
• Children’s stories
• Subtitle files

Any digital text will do. Then you’ll copy and paste it as a new article in Gensho and you’re ready to start reading!

From there simply highlight the words you don’t know. Gensho will look up the words for you and save them. You can later download them to use in your favorite flashcard program.

Who is Gensho for?

Gensho is great for beginners and advanced students of a foreign language alike, but it's not so great for absolute beginners.

You should at least know how to string together a few sentences beforehand. Gensho is meant to help you build your vocabulary, but it won't teach you things like grammar or conjugation.

HOWEVER, COMMA: We're HUGE advocates of diving into a language before you think you're ready. Do not let your inexperience deter you from getting started.

Does Gensho use Google Translate? Where do the translations come from?

Nope, no Google Translate. Translations are sourced from the following dictionaries:

• Japanse: Jisho.org
• Spanish, French, German, Italian: Collins Dictionary

Can I just highlight a BUNCH of text and get all the definitions that way?

If you try this, you'll only get one of two things: A big fat “Nothing found” message, or the translation details for just the first word in your highlighted section.

As of right now, Gensho can only look up one word at time. Sowwy!

Is there a way I can use Gensho without copying and pasting everything? Do you have a Chrome extension available?

As of right now, you do have to copy and paste anything you’d like to translate with Gensho. However, I’m working on building a Chrome extension that lets you highlight and look up words directly on a webpage. YAY! Believe me, I’m as excited about this feature as you are. If you have questions or suggestions about this upcoming feature, shoot me an email at [email protected]!

I have ideas to make Gensho better! Who can I talk to?

Me! Talk to me! I would love love LOVE to hear your ideas – or complaints! – about how I can make this product serve your needs better. I read every single email myself, and promise to reply to yours within 24-48 hours of receiving it. Shoot me an email at [email protected].

Who made Gensho?

My story:

Language is fascinating and fluency is like having super powers.

I fell in love with language and travel during the two and a half years I spent in Japan as student, teacher and web developer.

In 2017 I traveled full-time as a digital nomad, and now reside in sunny Austin, Texas working for a kick-ass cloud platform company. Gensho is a project I originally built for myself, but has bloomed into something bigger and brighter than I ever imagined was possible.