Memento Project Description

What is the project about?

Memento is a free and open-source video player built on top of mpv, specifically designed for Japanese language learners.

What problem does it solve?

It provides tools to make studying Japanese through video content more effective and efficient, bridging the gap between passive viewing and active learning. It helps learners understand and learn vocabulary, grammar, and kanji within the context of real-world video.

What are the features of the project?

• Grammar-aware subtitle search: Allows users to search subtitles not just for specific words, but also for grammatical patterns.
• Yomichan-style Kanji cards: Displays detailed information about Kanji characters on hover, similar to the popular Yomichan browser extension.
• Support for Yomichan dictionaries: Integrates with various Yomichan dictionaries (JMdict, JMnedict, KireiCake, KANJIDIC, Innocent Corpus, Kanjium) for comprehensive definitions, examples, and frequency data.
• Anki card creation: Facilitates the creation of Anki flashcards directly from the video player using AnkiConnect, enabling spaced repetition learning.
• mpv compatibility: Leverages the power and flexibility of mpv, supporting its upscalers, plugins, and configuration files for a customized viewing experience.
• OCR Support: Optical Character Recognition.

What are the technologies used in the project?

• Qt: (Base and SVG) - A cross-platform application framework used for the user interface.
• mpv: A powerful and versatile media player used as the core video playback engine.
• sqlite3: A lightweight, embedded SQL database engine.
• Json-C: A JSON library for C.
• libzip: A C library for reading, creating, and modifying zip archives.
• youtube-dl/yt-dlp (optional): For streaming video from online sources.
• MeCab (optional): A Japanese morphological analyzer (for parsing Japanese text). Requires ipadic or NAIST-jdic on Linux/macOS for self-compiled versions.
• Python (optional): Used for OCR support and potentially other scripting.
• Manga-OCR: Used for OCR.

What are the benefits of the project?

• Enhanced language learning: Provides a focused and interactive environment for learning Japanese through video.
• Efficient vocabulary acquisition: Makes it easy to look up words, kanji, and grammar points while watching.
• Seamless Anki integration: Streamlines the process of creating flashcards for spaced repetition.
• Customizable viewing experience: Benefits from mpv's extensive configuration options.
• Open-source and free: Accessible to everyone and allows for community contributions.

What are the use cases of the project?

• Japanese language learners: The primary target audience, providing a tool to improve comprehension and vocabulary.
• Anyone watching Japanese media with subtitles: Even those not actively studying can benefit from the quick dictionary lookup features.
• Creating language learning materials: Users can easily create Anki decks from video content.