The First Desktop Reader with Audio Sync (Coming Soon)

~786hours

of reading to reach N2

Based on your settings below. Adjust the calculator to customize.

N3
Yearly Journey67% Complete

By Dec 31, 2026, you'll have immersed for 525 hrs at this pace.

Language & Levels

N3

N3 (Intermediate)

N2

N2 (Pre-Advanced)

Study Parameters

How closely related is this to languages you already know?

1.5 hrs
0.5 hr8 hrs

Method & Goals

Reading-While-Listening boosts input efficiency (1.4x speed).

Expert NoteKanji acquisition is a marathon. Grammar is distinct (SOV) and highly agglutinative.
Reading/Books: 786 hours786HOURS
Est. CompletionJune 2027

Media Breakdown

~0 videos
~0 episodes
~0 episodes
~0 movies
~158 books
Efficiency Savings
-314 hrs

* Average Lengths: YT (10m) • TV (24m) • Podcast (45m) • Film (100m) • Book (300m)

The First Desktop Reader with Audio Sync (Coming Soon)

Stop choosing between the book and the audiobook. SubSmith's roadmap includes a dedicated Reader Mode that syncs your EPUB with your MP3.

💡 Key Insight: Text-only is tedious. Audio-only is vague. Synced Text + Audio is the future of N3-N2 reading immersion.

Key Numbers

Unbroken
Flow State

Audio cues help you skip dictionary lookups for known words.

Source: Synced Playback
Text + Audio
Card Creation

Create Anki cards with the sentence text AND the narrator's voice.

Source: Roadmap Feature
EPUB + MP3
Format

Bring your own books. We handle the syncing.

Source: Local files

The Feature You Have Been Waiting For

Reading your first novel is painful. You stop every 30 seconds to look up a kanji, breaking your immersion. You want to listen to the audiobook to help with flow, but managing two separate windows (PDF reader + Music player) is clumsy.

The Vision: Integrated Reader Mode. Imagine dragging an EPUB file and its corresponding audiobook MP3 into SubSmith. The app analyzes the audio waveform, aligns it with the text sentences, and creates a Karaoke-style read-along experience.

Why Audio-Text Sync Change Everything: When you hear the word pronounced, you often understand it even if you didn't recognize the kanji. This allows you to keep reading without pausing. If you do get stuck, one click on the text pauses the audio and pops up the dictionary.

Status: In Development. This is a core roadmap feature for SubSmith. We are building the engine to handle fuzzy-matching between text and audio now. Start a 7-day trial to be the first to test it when it launches.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will Reader Mode be available?

It is a high-priority item on our roadmap. We are currently perfecting the video-based features before finalizing the text engine.

Will it work with any book?

The goal is to support standard EPUB files and MP3s. Sync accuracy depends on how closely the audio matches the text.

Learn more: The Math of Fluency · Science of Subtitles · Comprehensible Input

The Science Behind the Math

This calculator isn't a random guess. It's built on 70+ years of linguistic research from the U.S. FSI, academic studies on vocabulary acquisition, and modern immersion efficiency data. Read the full deep dive.

Base Hours: FSI Standard

We use the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) difficulty rankings as our baseline. The FSI has trained US diplomats for decades, gathering precise data on class hours required for proficiency.

  • Category I (e.g. Spanish): ~600-750 hours
  • Category V (e.g. Japanese): ~2200 hours
Note: FSI figures assume "classroom hours" + equal self-study. We adjust this base to reflect total immersion time required for an independent learner.

Efficiency: Reading-While-Listening

Dr. Paul Nation's research (Victoria University of Wellington) on the "Four Strands" of language learning highlights the power of bi-modal input.

Combining audio with matching text (RWL) creates a 1.4x efficiency boost in vocabulary retention compared to listening alone. It bridges the gap between the high retention of reading and the natural flow of listening.

Why the "Active Fluency" Penalty?

The "Silent Period" Reality

Linguistic research consistently shows that receptive fluency (understanding) always precedes active fluency (speaking). Children understand language months before they speak.

Our Calculation (+25%)

Bridging the gap from "Input Only" to "Active Fluency" requires output drills (speaking/writing). We add a conservative 25% time surcharge to account for this necessary activation energy.

Key Research Sources:

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