SelfStudyHebrew

Learn Hebrew through comprehensible input

A browser extension that connects to Anki and highlights Hebrew words across the web based on your learning progress.

View on GitHub Firefox Extension Chrome Extension

What is SelfStudyHebrew?

SelfStudyHebrew is a browser extension that helps you learn Hebrew through comprehensible input. It highlights Hebrew words on any webpage based on your Anki progress, detects optimal learning sentences (i+1), and provides instant dictionary lookups. It also provides sentence mining functionality through video subtitles or AI generated sentences.

שלום
Mature words (≥21 days)
טוב
Learning words (<21 days)
לשלום
Potentially-known (Preposition detected)
חדש
Unknown words
i+1 sentence
Optimal learning zone
potentially-i+1
Almost optimal (1 prefix + 0-1 unknown)

Preposition Recognition

The extension detects Hebrew prepositions to help you recognize more words. When a word starts with common prepositions like ל , ב or ש, the extension checks if you know the word without the preposition.

How It Works

  • ו (and) - Words starting with ו are treated as fully known if you know the base word. Example: אני → ואני
  • ל/ב/ש - Words with these prepositions are marked as "potentially-known" (purple underline) if you know the base word
  • Potentially-i+1 sentences - Sentences with 1 potentially-known word and 0-1 unknown words (light purple background)

This helps you understand more content by recognizing words, even if you haven't seen that exact preposition+word combination before.

Key Features

🎯

Smart Highlighting

Automatic color-coding of Hebrew words based on your Anki progress
🎬

Video Subtitles

Highlighted Hebrew subtitles on YouTube, Netflix, and StreamIsrael
📖

Dictionary Lookup

Shift+hover for instant definitions, frequency, and potential verb identification
🃏

Anki Integration

Create flashcards directly from sentences with optional AI translations
🤖

Sentence Generator

Generate personalized i+1 sentences using your known vocabulary
📚

i+1 Detection

Find sentences with exactly one unknown word—perfect for learning

Prerequisites

1

Anki Desktop

Install Anki on your computer and make sure it's running when using the extension.

Download Anki
2

AnkiConnect Add-on

This add-on allows the extension to communicate with Anki.

  1. Open Anki → Tools → Add-ons → Get Add-ons
  2. Enter code: 2055492159
  3. Restart Anki
More Info
3

Browser Extension

Install the Firefox extension

Install the Chrome extension

Initial Setup

1

Configure Anki Settings

  1. Click the Extension button in your toolbar, then on the popup screen click "Settings"
  2. Scroll down and click the "Setup Anki for SelfStudyHebrew" button.
  3. Under "Card Creation Defaults" set which deck you want to save your sentences to, and the default note type to use. If using SelfStudyHebrew defaults, these values will be "SelfStudyHebrew" and "Hebrew"
  4. Under "Highlighting Options", set Anki Field Name to match your Hebrew field (default: "Hebrew")
  5. Click "Save Settings"
2

Load Your Vocabulary

  1. Make sure Anki is running
  2. Check that AnkiConnect shows "Connected" in the popup
  3. Click "Refresh Words"
  4. Your word counts should appear if you have studied any Hebrew words already.
  • If you have a list of known words from another source you can use the "Bulk Import to Already Known Deck" feature in the extension settings
  • This will import them into the "Already Known" deck in Anki and the extension will then treat them as known.
3

Test It Out

  1. Visit any Hebrew website
  2. Hebrew words should be highlighted based on their status in Anki
  3. Shift+hover any word for definitions
  4. Look for light blue i+1 sentences, or light purple potential i+1 sentences

Optional: AI Features

Enable Claude AI for enhanced translations, definitions, and sentence generation. This is entirely optional and will cost money should you choose to use it.

Setting Up Claude API

  1. Get an API key from console.anthropic.com
  2. Open extension settings
  3. Enter your API key in "Claude API Key"
  4. Save settings
⚠️ Warning: Your API key is going to be stored in your browser which means that theoretically it can be stolen if you install malware on your machine, however if you apply the following guidance then you can minimize risk to an acceptable level.

⚠️ Strongly recommended: Set API spend limits at console.anthropic.com/settings/limits and ensure "Auto reload credits" is disabled at console.anthropic.com/settings/billing to avoid unexpected charges.

Troubleshooting

AnkiConnect shows "Disconnected"

  • Make sure Anki is running
  • Verify AnkiConnect is installed (code: 2055492159)
  • Try restarting Anki

Words not highlighting

  • Check "Enable Highlighting" is on in the popup
  • Verify "Anki Field Name" matches your cards
  • Click "Refresh Words"

YouTube subtitles not working

  • Make sure the video has Hebrew subtitles
  • Try refreshing the page
  • Disable VPN if you get anti-bot warnings

Support & Contribute

SelfStudyHebrew is open-source. Found a bug? Have a feature request? Visit the GitHub repository.

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