When I started learning Spanish, I wanted a way to be able to learn vocabulary that I would encounter watching YouTube and TV shows. I had previously used Anki, a free and open-source flashcard app, for studying for college, and it seemed like a good fit for learning vocabulary. I started by creating a deck for Spanish vocabulary and adding words and phrases that I wanted to learn.

The road block I encountered was that it would take so long to add words to Anki that I would get discouraged and stop using it. I found that I was spending more time adding words to Anki than actually studying them. I also found that normally I lost the context of the word when I added it to Anki, which made it harder to understand.

I created a simple browser extension to add words to Anki directly from the browser. This sped up the process, but eventually I found that I was still losing the context of the word when I added it to Anki. I wanted a way to add words to Anki while keeping the context of the word.

Eventually, I discovered the super combo of asbplayer and Yomitan to automatically add words to Anki while preserving their context — asbplayer quickly adds phrases to Anki along with the audio and a snapshot of the video. Yomitan allows me to quickly look up words and add them to Anki without losing the context of the word. This has been a game changer for me, and I have been able to learn and retain vocabulary much more effectively.