Turn Your Anki Deck Into Spoken Japanese: An Import-to-Conversation Guide

Stop recognizing Japanese and start speaking it. Import your Anki deck into Kaiwaflow and your due words show up in real conversation, so you actually say them instead of just flipping a card.

10,000 Anki cards you can't say out loud

You know the feeling. You've got a deck with thousands of cards. You open it, see 都合, and flip it right away. You've seen it a hundred times. You know it.

Then someone asks you something in Japanese and nothing comes out.

Recognizing a word and actually saying it are two different things. SRS is great at the first one. It moves a word from "never seen" to "oh, I know that one." But it was never built to get the word out of your head and into your mouth when you're in the middle of a conversation.

That's the gap. Kaiwaflow is built to close it.

What "import-to-conversation" actually means

Most apps that import Anki decks just treat them as flashcards. They show you a card, you flip it, they schedule the next one.

Kaiwaflow works differently. When you import your deck, Sensei picks up which words are due for you. Then, instead of drilling them, Sensei works them into normal conversation, dropped into whatever you're talking about rather than called out.

When you say the word back in context, that counts as a real recall, not a card flip. You can read more about how Kaiwa tracks recall across sessions.

Export your Anki deck (step by step)

The most common mistake is exporting as .apkg by default. That's the full deck package with media and formatting, and it's not what the Kaiwaflow importer reads. Export plain text instead.

Steps:

1. Open Anki on your desktop (the mobile app can't export decks)
2. Click the deck you want to export from the deck list
3. Go to File → Export (not the Sync button)
4. For "Export format," pick Notes in Plain Text (.txt)
5. Uncheck "Include HTML and media references." You just want the plain vocabulary.
6. Click Export and save the .txt file somewhere you can find it

You'll get a plain list of your notes, one per line, tab-separated. If your deck has several fields (front, back, reading, and so on), they all come through and the importer handles the parsing.

Import into Kaiwaflow (step by step)

1. Open Kaiwaflow and go to Settings → Vocabulary
2. Tap or click Import
3. Select Upload File and pick the .txt file you exported
4. Give it a moment to process. You'll see a word count when it's done.
5. Look over the imported list before your first conversation. If you spot junk rows (deck metadata, empty cards), delete them one by one.

If you imported a big deck (500+ words), you don't have to turn them all on at once. Start with a hundred or so and grow from there.

What your first conversation looks like

Sensei won't say "okay, now I'm going to test you on 都合." It'll just come up on its own, maybe in a story about your week, maybe in a question about your plans. You answer. If you use the word in context, the system logs a recall. If you miss it or use it wrong, Sensei might circle back to it later.

After the conversation, check your vocab stats to see which words got logged. After a few sessions you'll start to see the pattern of what you can actually produce versus what you still trip on.

When Kaiwaflow isn't the right fit

If you're a beginner (fewer than 300 words in your deck): Anki import probably isn't where to start. Practicing conversation with a thin vocabulary is just frustrating. Build your base first, then come back.

If your Anki deck is badly tagged or mixed-language: You'll get some noise in the import. It's not a dealbreaker, but expect to clean up a few rows by hand.

If you want gamification (streaks, XP, leaderboards): Duolingo is genuinely better at that, and that's fine. Kaiwaflow is about conversation, not game mechanics.

If you want a real person to practice with: Pairing iTalki with Kaiwa works well. Use Kaiwa to activate your vocabulary, and iTalki to practice with actual people.

Common questions

Can an AI tutor actually use my own Anki vocabulary, or does it use a preset curriculum?

Kaiwaflow uses your vocabulary, not a preset list. The words Sensei brings up come from what you imported. There's no built-in curriculum.

What's the difference between Anki's SRS and Kaiwaflow's recall system?

Anki tracks whether you recognized a card. Kaiwaflow tracks whether you actually said the word in conversation. You can keep using both.

Does Kaiwaflow replace Anki?

No. Anki is great for recognition and building vocabulary. Kaiwaflow is for production and speaking practice. Most people run both.

How many cards should I import first?

Start with 100-200 words from a deck you've been studying lately. Importing your whole 10,000-word lifetime deck at once is overwhelming, for you and for Sensei.

What if my Anki deck has English definitions mixed in?

That's fine. The importer reads every field. During conversation, Sensei only uses the Japanese. The English definitions just sit in the background for context.

Next steps

Import your first deck and start a conversation. If you use WaniKani instead of Anki, the WaniKani import guide walks through connecting your API key and pulling your current level's vocabulary.