Language Learn Plugin

AI-powered language learning in Obsidian. Select text → get explanations → structured notes with relationships.

Quick Start

1. Install — npm install, then npm run build, copy main.js, data.json, style.css, manifest.json to Obsidian plugins folder
2. Configure — open Settings → Language Learn, paste your API key, choose model
3. Select text → click "Analyze" floating button → AI explains and saves a note

Features

Word Analysis

Select a word or phrase → click Analyze → AI writes a structured note with:

• Part of speech + meaning
• Pronunciation (IPA / pinyin / kana)
• Morphology (word roots)
• Derived meanings with evolution paths
• Example sentences in context

Hover Preview

Hover over any known word → popup shows meaning, etymology, examples. Click to open full note.

Reinterpret in Context

Click Reinterpret on a note → AI compares existing explanations with current context:

• If applicable → cites note content, guides thinking
• If not → explains new meaning, optionally updates note

AI Chat Panel (right sidebar)

Free-form chat with the AI assistant. Supports streaming, conversation history (auto-saved to _chat_histories/), and file browsing (read directory, search files).

Vocabulary Highlighting

Known words are automatically highlighted in all notes. Click highlighted words to view notes.

Relation Graph

Generate synonym / antonym / cognate relationships between words.

How it works:

1. Flag system — each word has 3 flags in data.json: synonym / antonym / cognate, each 0 (unprocessed), 1 (matched), or -1 (no match found). Only words with flag=0 enter the queue.

2. Per-word query — for each unprocessed word (focus), AI evaluates all other words (candidates):

   System: "Analyze which words share a {cognate} relationship with {focus}…"
   User: list of all other words
   

3. Chain-of-Thought — AI reasons step by step: identify word roots → compare → decide. If unsure, returns [].

4. Checker model — a second AI pass reviews each match for fabricated etymology, false cognates, or far-fetched connections. Entries the checker rejects get check: false and are skipped.

5. Three parallel queues — synonym, antonym, and cognate run simultaneously via Promise.all(). Progress shown in the right panel.

6. Wiki links — confirmed matches write [[wiki links]] with reasoning into both word notes:

   ## 同义词
   - [[unchanged]] — both mean "not changed", interchangeable
   

7. Idempotent — words marked 1 or -1 never re-enter the queue. Click Reset to clear all flags and links, then regenerate.

Performance note: This feature makes one AI call per word per relation type. For 100 words, that's ~300 calls. Best used with deepseek-v4-flash (budget) or deepseek-v4-pro (accuracy).

Settings

Category	Options
Provider	OpenAI, DeepSeek, Gemini
Model	Dropdown with presets per provider, or custom
Language	Native language + target language (dropdown)
Storage	Custom folders for word/phrase notes

All settings apply on Save & Apply — no restart needed.

Supported Languages

Interface: English, 中文 (extensible via src/i18n/)

Analysis: works with any language the AI model supports. The plugin auto-detects text language and adapts pronunciation format (IPA for English, pinyin for Chinese, kana for Japanese).

File Structure

vault/
├── _word_notes/          # Word analysis notes
├── _phrase_notes/        # Phrase analysis notes
├── _chat_histories/      # Chat conversation history
└── _relations/           # Relation graph debug logs

Adding New Languages

1. Copy src/i18n/en.ts → translate all strings
2. Register in src/i18n/index.ts maps
3. Add to LANGUAGE_OPTIONS in src/types/index.ts

Commands

Command	Action
Analyze selected text	Analyze word/phrase or translate sentence
Force store selected text	Force word-level analysis
Reanalyze current word	Re-run analysis on word under cursor
Generate relation graph	Run synonym/antonym/cognate analysis
Refresh index	Clear all relation marks + rescan folders