Turn Subtitle Files Into Anki Decks

A card that says "Zusammenhang → context" tests recall of a translation pair. A card that shows "In diesem Zusammenhang ist es wichtig, …" with the target word highlighted tests whether you can understand the word as it is actually used: with its typical preposition, in a realistic sentence, in a register you have heard. Sentence cards take slightly longer to review but transfer far better to listening and reading, because that is what listening and reading are.

Subtitle lines are ideal card sentences: they are short, they are genuine speech rather than textbook examples, and you have already heard them spoken. The timestamp turns the card into a pointer back to the audio, which is the single most useful thing a language card can have.

Nativra's export includes one row per saved word with these fields: the word as it appeared, its dictionary (base) form, the full subtitle line, a meaning, the CEFR level tag, the video title, and the timestamp. You do not need all of them on every card, but having them in separate fields lets you build the note type you want in Anki (a cloze on the sentence, a word-front/sentence-back card, or a listening card if you attach audio yourself).

Anki imports tab-separated text natively. Open Anki Desktop, choose File → Import, select the TSV, and Anki will detect the tab delimiter. Choose the deck and note type, then map each column to a field. If you use a custom note type, create it first with fields matching the columns above; if you want to get started immediately, the built-in "Basic" type works with Word → Front and Sentence + Meaning → Back. Set the tag field so cards from one video are grouped.

Anki's importer will update existing notes if the first field matches, so re-exporting the same video after adding more words does not create duplicates as long as you keep the same first field.

• File → Import, select the .tsv file.
• Confirm "Fields separated by: Tab".
• Choose a note type and map columns to fields.
• Set "Allow HTML in fields" if you want the target word bolded.
• Pick a deck per language, and tag by video.

You do not have to export at all. Nativra has its own spaced-repetition scheduler using the SM-2 algorithm (the same family Anki's default scheduler descends from), so you can review inside the app. Export to Anki when you want everything in one place, want Anki's add-ons or custom note types, or want reviews offline on a phone without a browser.