Longyan

About

Longyan (龙眼) is a passive Chinese reading assistant for learners who want to understand what a text actually means, not just what a dictionary says.

How it works:
Highlight any Chinese text on any webpage. Longyan instantly surfaces:

Word-by-word pinyin with per-syllable tone coloring
Contextual English translations
Semantic gap explanations- flagging when the English loses cultural weight, register, or implied meaning that exists in the Chinese

Why it's different:
Most translation tools give you the 80% match. Longyan exists for the other 20%: the cultural context, the weight of a word, the nuance that doesn't survive a dictionary lookup. 

Features:
Highlight-to-translate on any page, any Chinese text
Tone coloring (tones 1–4 + neutral, color-coded per syllable)
In-page highlights cached for session review
CSV export of your session vocabulary
Powered by the Anthropic Claude API (bring your own key)

Built for: heritage learners, intermediate-to-advanced students, researchers, and anyone reading Chinese content who wants depth over speed.