This is a “fork” of the excellent deck “Japanese Course Based on Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide & Anime”, but with additional AI translations and corrections. You can find the original deck here:

🔗 https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782

The only modifications I made were adding two new fields: AI-translation (LLM-generated translation with Sonnet 4) and AI-correction (notes on translation errors or nuances). A reviewer of the original deck pointed out that some translations were inaccurate, and after checking with several top-tier LLMs, I found that some cards (5-10% of them) indeed seem to miss nuances or have mistakes. For those interested in more precise interpretations, these added fields may be useful. Some examples of corrected translations can be found further below.

Please consider supporting the original creator on Patreon, as they’ve provided invaluable learning resources for the community. The original author has all the credit for this deck and is free to use it to make any corrections to their deck without my permission.

🔗 https://www.patreon.com/c/jlabjapanese/

Examples of corrected translations

💬 どうしていいのか分からない

⚠️ Original translation: I don't understand why [that] is ok.
✅ Corrected translation: I don't know what to do.
🧠 Explanation: The original translation misunderstood the grammar.
どうしていいのか分からない means "I don't know what to do" or "I don't know what I should do."
The どうして here means "how" (what method/way), not "why."
The structure is どうして(how) + いい(good/should) + のか(nominalizer) + 分からない(don't know).

💬 簡単なのでいいよ

⚠️ Original translation: Ok, I do it, but only because it's easy.
✅ Corrected translation: Something simple is fine.
🧠 Explanation: The original translation misunderstands the structure.
This isn't "because it's easy, it's ok" but rather "a simple one is fine."
The の nominalizes the adjective 簡単, making it "simple thing/one."

💬 あなたが好きなの

⚠️ Original translation: [He] likes you?!
✅ Corrected translation: I like you.
🧠 Explanation: The original translation has the wrong subject.
あなたが好きなの means "I like you" (the speaker confessing feelings), not "[He] likes you."
The が marks あなた as the object of 好き, and the explanatory の suggests the speaker is explaining their own feelings.

💬 さっさと食べろ置いていくぞ

⚠️ Original translation: Eat quickly! [I] leave [it, food] here. ✅ Corrected translation: Hurry up and eat or I'm leaving you behind! 🧠 Explanation: The original translation misunderstood 置いていく. In this context, it means "leave [someone] behind" (abandon), not "leave [food] here." The threat is about abandoning the person, not the food.

💬 逃げられた

⚠️ Original translation: [We] were able to escape.
✅ Corrected translation: They got away.
🧠 Explanation: The original translation misunderstood the subject.
逃げられた is passive voice meaning "they escaped (from us)" or "we were escaped from,"
not "we were able to escape." The potential form explanation doesn’t apply here.

Adding AI translations yourself

If you’d like to batch translate the deck yourself, you can do so by following these instructions:

1. Install add-on 643253121 (Anki AI).
2. Buy credits from your preferred LLM provider. I used Claude Sonnet 4 for this deck, which cost me $10. Opus will cost you about $0.03 per card, so about ~$60 to review the entire deck. With a good prompt (see below), Sonnet 4 performed well after comparing manually its translations with higher end LLMs. In fact, Opus worked pretty bad when I provided a bad prompt. I found that Gemini Flash 2.5 wasn't accurate. Gemini Pro 2.5 was extremely slow and hit rate limits quick, so I can't recommend it. I didn't try OpenAI's LLMs for batch translating, although I found that GPT-5 was very accurate when I tested it manually. I would recommend trying it if you would like to test a different AI translation.
3. Add two new fields: AI-1 and AI-2.
4. Select all cards → click Anki AI → run the translation setup with the following settings.

System prompt

You are an expert Japanese-to-English translator specializing in anime and media subtitles. Your primary goal is to capture the natural, concise, and context-aware meaning of the original Japanese, avoiding common pitfalls. You are assisting with translating Anki cards mined from Japanese anime. For each card I will provide:

• Jlab-Kanji: the original Japanese subtitle text
• RemarksBack: a translation/notes by a non-native (may contain errors)

Key Translation Principles Before you translate, always consider these common anime-specific challenges:

1. Context Over Dictionary: Do not default to the most common dictionary definition. The context (anime) is key.

• Example: 迷う (mayou) in a serious or dangerous context (like 迷えば死ぬ) almost always means "hesitate" or "falter," not "get lost."

2. Grammar Nuance: Pay close attention to grammatical structures and compound verbs. Their specific nuance is critical and often missed.

• Example: V-て行く (V-te iku), as in 傘買って行くか, often means "do V in preparation for going" or "do V and take it with you." It doesn't just mean "go and do V." A good translation would be "Should I buy an umbrella (to take with me)?" or "Guess I'll buy an umbrella..."

3. Natural Subtitles: The final English must sound like a real, concise subtitle, not a stilted, literal translation.

Rules

1. Use only Jlab-Kanji to produce the translation. Do not rely on RemarksBack for the translation itself.
2. Output exactly two fields and nothing else:

• AI-1: One concise, natural subtitle-style English sentence that best captures the true meaning, register (casual/polite), and speaker intent (suggestion, rhetorical, self-talk, etc.). If the Japanese is ambiguous, choose the most likely subtitle reading based on the principles above. Do not include notes or alternatives in this field.
• AI-2: Compare the original RemarksBack to Jlab-Kanji. If the RemarksBack has major errors or missed nuances (like choosing the wrong word sense or misinterpreting grammar), briefly (1–2 short sentences) say what’s wrong and why. If RemarksBack is accurate, leave this field blank. You may mention alternative plausible readings only in this field when ambiguity affects meaning.
• Style: When you need to refer to the RemarksBack, call it “the original translation” or “the original comments.” (e.g., "The original translation mistook 'hesitate' for 'get lost.'") Focus on natural, accurate subtitle translations and concise, targeted corrections. Keep everything brief.

User prompt

Jlab-Kanji: {Jlab-Kanji} RemarksBack: {RemarksBack}

Save output settings

AI-1 → AI-1 AI-2 → AI-2