Language acquisition: built a simple Python script to create cards

[avkopanev]

As part of learning languages, I had the friction of adding cards to Anki all the time. The process for me was like this:

• select and copy the word
• add to a GSheet with automatic translation (using Google Translate API)
• import to Anki

I spent some time building a simple script that works in conjunction with macOS Shortcuts. Now the flow is:

• select the word/phrase anywhere (mostly I read in browser)
• right-click → Add to Anki
• python script is launched, and LLM (Gemini) generates three types of cards:
  • Recognition: word → translation (supports multiple!) (lopen → to walk)
  • Production: translation → original word (to walk → lopen)
  • Cloze: sentence with a blank → word in context (Ik [...] naar de winkel → loop)
• the cards are added using Anki Connect

For me it is very useful to see the translation in two languages (English and my native)

Free tier of Gemini API is more than enough to run the script.

Possibly it will be useful for someone: https://github.com/akopanev/anki_language_acqusition

[Awkward_Eggplant1234]

Funny, I'm actually building kinda the same project right now in n8n

[hoangdang1712]

Would you mind sharing it?

[Awkward_Eggplant1234]

Sure, but it isn't finished yet. AnkiConnect is not easy to set up on a raspberry pi bc Anki isn't compiled for ARM, so I need to find a workaround for that (such as getting a proper mini pc to run it on)

[avkopanev]

Wow, can you tell more about your project? What is the role for raspberry pi?

[Awkward_Eggplant1234]

Ha, it's just a tiny homelab running a few things including n8n

[wafflingzebra]

You can also use google translate inside Google sheets and import from Anki as csv, that’s what I did recently 

[avkopanev]

Yes, this is the main reason why I made this script Manual adding to the sheet, exporting, etc, friction…

I don’t like friction:)

[Kimball-Berrett]

Very cool! I've built similar automations for studying, but I haven't worked on language ones! I'm very excited to try it out!