About 10ten Japanese Reader
10ten Japanese Reader, formerly called Rikaichamp, is a pop-up dictionary for Japanese. Hover over text on any page, or tap on a phone, and it shows the word, its reading and its meaning. It is made by Birchill, Inc., it is free and open source under the GPL, and it is the only pick here with a Safari version.
Its depth is in Japanese. The App Store description lists pitch accent, recognition of many grammatical forms, vertical text, conversion of Japanese-era years and yen amounts, and automatic previews of names. Dictionaries update automatically, at least weekly, fetching only the changed entries. Beyond Chrome and Firefox it has an Edge listing and a Safari app, which the developer says works on a phone. In the Chrome listing the developer declares that it does not collect or use your data.
The trade-off is scope. It looks words up and does little else: no subtitles, courses or study plan, and only Japanese. Like any pop-up dictionary it needs access to the pages you read. If you learn Japanese and want one tool across Chrome, Firefox and Safari, choose this.
Pros and cons
- Free and open source, with a Safari app for iPhone and Mac
- Shows pitch accent and recognises conjugated forms
- Dictionaries update automatically at least weekly
- Declares that it collects no data
- Japanese only
- No video subtitles, courses or study plan of its own
Permissions
It asks for access to websites and local files so it can read the text under your cursor, plus storage for its dictionaries and a background timer for updates.
