Pay once. Keep it.
The visual dictionary is free and always will be — all 5,000 concepts. What you pay for is the study machinery around it: saving words as you read, and being reminded of them at the right moment.
No account needed to browse. No card, ever.
Not a trial. It doesn't expire.
- All 5,000 illustrated concepts, in Japanese, English, Hindi and French
- A Grammar category for the function words a picture can't carry, and Situations — thirty illustrated dialogue scenarios
- Offline access — download any topic to study without a connection
- Unlimited search and dictionary look-up across every script — kanji, kana and romaji
- Audio for every word and meaning
- Your first 200 words unlocked, per direction — shared across flashcards, review, notes, categories, hover lookup and browser-extension favourites
- Once a word is unlocked it's yours to keep — not a rolling trial
For people who want the whole library working while they read.
One payment includes both directions — Japanese → English and English → Japanese.
- Everything in Free, with the 200-word limit removed
- All 5,000 concepts as flashcards, synced between site and extension
- Spaced-repetition review with no cap
- Hover lookup on any page, including inflected and conjugated forms, and words outside the 5,000 illustrated concepts
- Unlimited browser-extension favourites
- Every future improvement to both directions, at no extra cost
What each one includes
The dictionary is identical in both. The difference is how much of it you can put to work.
| Feature | Free | Founding Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Visual dictionary — all 5,000 concepts | Included | Included |
| Works offline | Included | Included |
| Situations — illustrated dialogue scenarios | Included | Included |
| Search inside example sentences | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Lookup on phones and tablets | Included | Included |
| Dictionary beyond the 5,000 concepts | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Search / look up a word on the website | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Illustrations | Included | Included |
| Audio for word and meaning | Included | Included |
| Number of custom categories you can create | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Words with a saved flashcard | 200 shared | All 5,000 |
| Words in spaced-repetition review | 200 shared | Unlimited |
| Words with a personal note | 200 shared | Unlimited |
| Words filed into a category | 200 shared | Unlimited |
| Browser-extension hover lookup | 200 shared | Unlimited |
| Browser-extension favourites | 200 shared | Unlimited |
| Inflected and conjugated forms | 200 shared | Unlimited |
| Future updates to your pair | Not included | Included, forever |
Hover lookup and flashcards on the free tier cover words outside the 5,000 illustrated concepts too — any word you look up in Japanese, English, Hindi or French on a page counts toward the same 200, whether or not it has an illustration yet.
What you are buying
This release covers twelve directions across four languages — Japanese, English, Hindi and French, each one studiable from any of the others, with no language forced to route through English. One payment unlocks every direction — there is a single Founding Edition, not a set of products to choose between. You are not asked to pick a direction, and you will never be asked to pay a second time to use another one.
Your Founding Edition unlocks the full library in every direction as it exists today, plus every concept, illustration and feature added to it from here on. The 4,000 concepts promised when this edition first went on sale have since been delivered.
Further language pairs will follow as they ship; see What’s included for where everything stands.
What a direction looks like
All twelve are included in your one payment — switch between them any time from the Studying selector. A direction decides which language the card asks in and which it answers in, and each one shows the reading aids that language needs.
- Japanese → English — for English speakers learning Japanese. Cards show the Japanese word, its reading in kana and romaji, and the English meaning.
- English → Japanese — for Japanese speakers learning English. Cards show the English word with a katakana pronunciation guide, and the Japanese meaning.
- Hindi and French, in every combination — Hindi cards carry a romanised reading the same way Japanese cards carry romaji, and every pairing works both ways round. Hindi → French and French → Hindi are real directions here; nothing is routed through English on the way.
If you want your money back
Use the contact form within 14 days of buying. Include the email address you bought with so the purchase can be found. You do not need to give a reason. Refunds go back to the card or account you paid with, and are processed by Paddle, who handle payments for Picture the Words.
Please ask here rather than raising a dispute with your bank — a refund reaches you faster that way, and it is the same money either way.
Prices by region
A fair price in Mumbai is not a fair price in Melbourne. Founding Edition prices are set per region so the product costs roughly the same effort wherever you are. Your region is confirmed at checkout by your payment method.
| Region | Founding Edition |
|---|
Why this price will go up
This is the founding price for an early product. It rises as the library does — the plan is to raise it when Picture the Words reaches 5,000 concepts, when it covers more language pairs, and when the extension works properly on phones and tablets.
If you buy now, none of that costs you anything more. That is the whole point of a one-time price: you are paying today's price for a product that keeps growing.
What doesn't work yet
You should know exactly what you are buying into before you pay, so here is the honest list.
- The browser extension is desktop only. It runs on Chrome and Edge on laptops and desktops. On phones and tablets, lookups work through Reader Mode and the mobile bookmarklet instead.
- Offline access is available. Download any topic from the Offline panel to study it without a connection. Storage limits vary by device, and iOS browsers can clear cached data on their own.
- The library is 5,000 concepts. Illustrations, audio and translations are complete across all four languages.
- Twelve directions are available, all included in one payment — Japanese, English, Hindi and French in every combination. Additional languages will be added in future releases.
Everything here is covered by the 14-day refund. If the gaps matter more than you expected, ask for your money back and you will get it.
Questions
Is this a subscription?
No. You pay once for the Founding Edition — both directions included — and it stays yours. There is no renewal, no expiry, and no card kept on file.
What happens to my saved cards if I never pay?
Nothing. The free tier is permanent, and the 200 words you've unlocked — along with their flashcards, review progress, notes and category filing — stay exactly where they are.
Will my price change later?
Not for what you have bought. When the Founding Edition price rises, it rises for new purchases. Yours is settled at the moment you pay.
Does the extension work on my phone or tablet?
Not yet. Browser extensions of this kind only run on desktop browsers, so hover lookup is laptop and desktop only for now.
The website itself works on phones and tablets — you can install it to your home screen and review your cards there. Mobile lookup is on the roadmap, but it will work by selecting text rather than hovering, because hovering does not exist on a touchscreen.
Does Picture The Words work offline?
Yes. Open Offline from the account menu and download whichever categories you want — or the whole library at once. Illustrations and audio are stored in your browser, so downloaded categories work with no connection at all.
How much a device keeps is decided by the browser rather than by us. iOS applies stricter storage limits than desktop and may clear cached data after a stretch of inactivity, so on an iPhone or iPad it is worth downloading the categories you are actually studying rather than everything, and opening the app now and then.
How do I activate my purchase?
Log into the extension's Settings tab with the same account you used at checkout. Your licence activates immediately and syncs with this website.
Why is the price different in my country?
Because a language-learning tool should cost about the same effort wherever you live. Prices are set per region and confirmed at checkout by your payment method's country.
Can I get a refund?
Within 14 days, for any reason, without explaining yourself. Write to us from the contact page and the payment is returned. See the Terms of Use for the full wording.
Picture the Words is built and maintained by a small team of language nerds. Buying the Founding Edition pays for illustration, recording and translation work on the next 4,000 concepts — and gets you every one of them.