Learning with Texts

Learn languages by reading texts you love

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Learning with Texts (LWT) is a self-hosted web application for language learning through reading. Import any text, click unknown words to see translations, and build vocabulary with spaced repetition.

Important

This is a community-maintained fork with significant improvements over the official version: modern PHP support (8.1-8.4), smaller database footprint, mobile support, and active development.

Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• How It Works
• Features
• Installation
• Requirements
• Documentation
• Contributing
• Alternatives
• License

Quick Start

The fastest way to get started is with Docker:

git clone https://github.com/HugoFara/lwt.git
cd lwt
docker compose up

Then open http://localhost:8010/lwt/ in your browser.

How It Works

1. Import a text — Paste any content you want to read, or import from RSS feeds.

2. Read and learn — Unknown words are highlighted. Click any word to see its translation and save it to your vocabulary.

3. Review with context — Practice vocabulary with spaced repetition, always seeing words in their original context.

Unlike flashcard apps like Anki, LWT keeps words connected to the texts where you found them. We also include an Anki exporter if you want both.

Features

Core Features

• 40+ languages supported — Roman, right-to-left, and East-Asian writing systems
• Click-to-translate — Instant dictionary lookups while reading
• Audio integration — Sync audio tracks with your texts
• Spaced repetition — Review words at optimal intervals
• Progress tracking — Statistics to monitor your learning

Community Additions

This fork adds features not in the official LWT:

Feature	Description
Mobile support	Responsive design for phones and tablets
RSS feeds	Automatically import texts from feeds
Themes	Customizable appearance
Multi-word selection	Click and drag to select phrases
Bulk translation	Translate multiple new words at once
Text-to-speech	Hear pronunciation of words
Keyboard shortcuts	Navigate efficiently while reading
Video embedding	Include videos from YouTube and other platforms
MeCab integration	Japanese word-by-word translation

Technical Improvements

• Smaller database — Optimized schema reduces storage significantly
• Long expressions — Save phrases up to 250 characters (was limited to 9)
• Better search — Improved querying for words and texts
• Position memory — Resume reading where you left off
• Modern PHP — Supports PHP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4

Installation

Docker (Recommended)

Works on any OS with Docker installed.

Option A: Quick installer

# Use the lightweight installer
git clone https://github.com/HugoFara/lwt-docker-installer.git
cd lwt-docker-installer
docker compose up

Option B: Build from source

git clone https://github.com/HugoFara/lwt.git
cd lwt
docker compose up

Access at http://localhost:8010/lwt/

Linux

# Download and extract the latest release
wget https://github.com/HugoFara/lwt/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
unzip main.zip && cd lwt-main

# Run the installer
chmod +x ./INSTALL.sh
./INSTALL.sh

Manual Installation (Windows/macOS/Linux)

1. Install prerequisites: PHP 8.1+, MySQL/MariaDB, a web server (Apache/Nginx)

2. Clone or download the repository

3. Configure the database:

   cp .env.example .env
   # Edit .env with your database credentials

4. Install dependencies:

   composer install
   npm install && npm run build:all

See the Installation Guide for detailed instructions.

Requirements

Component	Version
PHP	8.1, 8.2, 8.3, or 8.4
MySQL/MariaDB	5.7+ / 10.3+
PHP Extensions	mysqli, mbstring, dom

For development, you'll also need Composer and Node.js 18+.

Documentation

• User Guide — Getting started and usage
• API Reference — Features and REST API documentation
• Developer Docs — Architecture and contribution guide

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how to set up a development environment:

git clone https://github.com/HugoFara/lwt.git
cd lwt
composer install --dev
npm install

Development Commands

# Run tests
composer test              # PHP tests with coverage
npm test                   # Frontend tests

# Code quality
./vendor/bin/psalm         # Static analysis
npm run lint               # ESLint
npm run typecheck          # TypeScript checking

# Build assets
npm run dev                # Development server with HMR
npm run build:all          # Production build

Branch Strategy

Branch	Purpose
main	Stable releases
dev	Development and testing
official	Tracks official LWT releases

Alternatives

If LWT doesn't fit your needs, consider these projects:

• LUTE v3 — Modern rewrite using Python/Flask, actively developed
• LinguaCafe — Beautiful Vue.js/PHP implementation
• FLTR — Java desktop app by LWT's original author

License

This project is released into the public domain under the Unlicense. You're free to use, modify, and distribute it however you like.

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Happy reading, happy learning!