About Kerokero Reader

A dual-language reading app for learners who want to read real Japanese and Chinese text — news, stories, wiki articles — with instant translations and vocab help along the way.

What is Kerokero Reader?

Kerokero Reader is a free Japanese and Chinese reading tool for language learners who want to read real text — novels, news, Wikipedia articles — instead of textbook sentences. Paste text, upload a PDF/EPUB/DOC/TXT file, or import an article from a link, and the app turns it into a side-by-side reading experience: the original text with an instant translation, word-level readings, and vocabulary help on every page.

It was built to remove the two things that stop learners from reading real material: the friction of looking up every unknown word, and losing track of what you have already learned. Both are handled automatically as you read.

How it works

1. Add your text. Paste any text, drag in a file (PDF, EPUB, DOC, TXT), or import a Wikipedia or Aozora Bunko article from a link.
2. Read with instant help. The original text and its translation appear side by side, page by page. Click any word for its reading, definition, and JLPT or HSK level; select a sentence for a grammar explanation.
3. Review what you learned. Every word you read is saved to your personal vocabulary list, linked to the paragraph where you first encountered it, ready to review and export.

Language support

Japanese: furigana readings over kanji, JLPT vocabulary tags (N5–N1), grammar explanations, and a dedicated Japanese reading pipeline using the Sudachi tokenizer and JLPT-leveled dictionaries.
Chinese: pinyin readings over characters, HSK 3.0 vocabulary tags (levels 1–9), instant translations, and a parallel Chinese pipeline with the CC-CEDICT dictionary — one tool covers both languages.

Plans

Kerokero Reader has a free plan (monthly reading credits, vocabulary tracking, grammar explanations) and Premium and Enterprise plans with higher limits and more storage. See the pricing page for details.

Resources

Kerokero Reader works with publicly available Japanese and Chinese sources — here are some of the resources you can read with it:

  • Aozora Bunko — public-domain Japanese literature (importable by link)
  • NHK News Web Easy — simplified Japanese news
  • JLPT — the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test levels (N5–N1) used for vocabulary tags
  • jisho.org — the Japanese-English dictionary the reader links out to
  • Japanese Wikipedia — importable by link

Contact

Email: [email protected]
Feedback, bug reports, and feature ideas are welcome.

Details

Version 0.10.6
Changelog — every release, with dates
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