Hiragana generator and checker

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1

I’m learning Japanese and was getting frustrated about having to alt-tab between different tools and references, so I built a little tool

It has:

  • formulas built in for all hiragana, so you can generate hiragana text without switching language and keyboard
  • Google translate lookups for entered text, plus generated Google Translate audio urls that link directly to audio of your entered text

Because I’m still learning the characters I wanted to see them big and color coded, so I played around a little with the hidden _color formula, and using format() to force header-sized text in formula outputs. It makes for a fun looking doc (esp in dark mode).

Would love feedback and suggestions for improvements!

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8 Likes
2

That is very impressive, :clap:t2: but honestly I don’t see it being faster than just switching the keyboard to Japanese (single keypress on some devices, a two-key combo at most) and typing directly…

I didn’t know Google Translate let’s you make it pronounce things via a custom URL! Good to know.

I don’t think it’s so on Windows, but on Mac you can click alt+esc to have the system pronounce any text in any language. You can also download high quality “Siri” voices.

3

Really interesting!

And good luck with learning Japanese. I recently spent 4 years in the country, and loved it. Except that work was so all consuming I never got to learn the language.

The best I can do is konitciwha, and ichi ni san yong go… :wink:

Have you been to Japan?

Regards
Piet