Learn Kanji Readings While You Listen — Furigana and Karaoke Highlighting in Yomite

Ever been listening to a Japanese audiobook and thought, “wait, how is that written?” You heard the reading clearly, but without seeing the kanji, you can’t be sure which character it maps to — a character name, a place name, an uncommon compound word.

Yomite has a display feature built specifically to close that gap between what you hear and what you see.

Furigana display — readings printed above the kanji

Yomite’s reader can display furigana (ruby text) above kanji characters. Glance at the screen while listening, and you can confirm exactly how the kanji currently being read is pronounced. This is available in the free tier, alongside 10+ fonts, adjustable kerning, line spacing, margins, and an amber night mode — all tunable to whatever’s easiest on your eyes. The reader also supports switching between vertical and horizontal layouts, so you can read Aozora Bunko classics vertically and web articles horizontally, however suits the text.

Karaoke highlight — following playback with your eyes

The other half of this is “karaoke display”: the sentence currently being read is highlighted and tracks along in real time, like a lyrics display syncing to a song. Tap any sentence to jump straight to it — so if you catch an unfamiliar reading and want to hear it again, you can tap back and replay that exact line.

You don’t need to watch the screen the whole time — most listening can happen hands-free from the lock screen or Dynamic Island. But when an unfamiliar name or kanji comes up, glancing at the highlighted line gives you an instant visual confirmation without breaking your listening flow.

When the reading still looks wrong, register it

Furigana display simply shows you what the app is actually reading aloud. If that reading doesn’t match what you expect for a given book, you can register the correct one in the pronunciation dictionary. Dictionaries are per-book, so once registered, that reading takes priority every time you play that title. The free tier includes a built-in dictionary of 5,000+ entries (read-only), while an advanced dictionary — one you can edit, create entries in, and import/export as JSON — is a premium feature.

Premium: ruby auto-register pulls existing furigana straight into the dictionary

Aozora Bunko-formatted text and some web novels already carry inline ruby, like 黒猫《くろねこ》. Yomite recognizes this notation automatically during playback. Premium takes it one step further with ruby auto-register: it scans a chapter’s existing kanji+furigana pairs and registers them into the pronunciation dictionary in bulk, so you don’t have to type each one in by hand.

Where this is useful

• Stories with unfamiliar character names, place names, or invented terms you want to confirm as you listen
• Learning kanji readings by ear and by eye at the same time
• Reading along with a child, following the furigana display together
• News articles or business documents full of uncommon compound words you want to double-check while listening

The takeaway

Yomite’s furigana display and karaoke highlight sit in the space between “just listening” and “just reading.” Listen hands-free most of the time, then glance at the screen the moment an unfamiliar kanji comes up. If a reading doesn’t match what you expect, register the correct one in the pronunciation dictionary — or, for text that already carries ruby, let premium’s ruby auto-register pull it in for you in bulk. Since all synthesis runs on-device, this works just as well on personal study material as it does on published fiction.

The less confident you are about a book’s readings going in, the more this combination pays off.

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Related: Fixing TTS mispronunciations with the pronunciation dictionary · Reading by Ear — a Guide for Visual Fatigue and Dyslexia

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— Yomite Team