lang-tutor

lang-tutor

Turn every Claude Code session into a language lesson.

You're already spending hours in Claude Code — why not learn a language while you work? lang-tutor gives you real-time grammar corrections, idiomatic suggestions, and vocabulary breakdowns on every message, without interrupting your coding flow.

What it does

Write in your target language and get instant feedback:

You: "Eu quero fazer um commit das mudancas"

> 🗣️ Language Feedback
> 💡 A native speaker might say: "Eu quero commitar as alteracoes"
> Natural and idiomatic — keep it up!

Write in your native language and get translations with vocabulary breakdowns:

You: "Show me the git log"

> 🗣️ Translation & Breakdown
> Translation: Mostra o historico do git.
>
> Key Vocabulary:
> - mostrar — to show · command form: "mostra"
> - historico — history/log · used for any kind of record

Then Claude Code handles your actual request as usual. The language feedback is an addition, never a replacement.

Features

• Automatic language detection — no need to toggle modes. Write in either language and get the right feedback
• Three proficiency levels — beginner, intermediate, and advanced, each with calibrated feedback depth
• Preference persistence — your language, level, and native language are saved across sessions
• Works with any language — dedicated guides for the most popular languages, plus a generic guide for everything else. If Claude speaks it, you can learn it
• Non-intrusive — feedback appears in a compact block before the normal response. Your coding workflow stays intact

Supported languages

Each supported language has a dedicated tutor guide with language-specific error categories, deep-dives, and pitfall coverage:

Language	Guide highlights
Chinese (Mandarin)	Character/radical breakdowns, compound words, pinyin, measure words, 了 usage
Japanese	Kanji breakdowns, politeness registers, particles, counters
Spanish	ser/estar, preterite vs. imperfect, subjunctive triggers, false friends
French	Gender agreement, passé composé vs. imparfait, tu/vous register
Italian	essere/avere auxiliaries, preposition contractions, congiuntivo
Portuguese	Brazilian/European variants, contractions, ser/estar/ficar
German	Case system, word order, separable verbs, compound-noun breakdowns

Any other language (Korean, Arabic, Hindi, ...) works through the generic guide, which provides the same feedback modes without language-specific tailoring.

How it works

The skill is split for token efficiency: a slim SKILL.md handles your language status (target language, native language, level) and routing, then loads only your target language's guide from skills/lang-tutor/languages/ on demand. Your status is stored in Claude's auto-memory, so it persists across sessions and plugin updates.

Install

Via Plugin Marketplace

/plugin marketplace add hamsamilton/lang-tutor
/plugin install lang-tutor@hamsamilton-lang-tutor

Direct Install from GitHub

Clone the repo anywhere, then symlink the skill directory (it must be the skills/lang-tutor subdirectory, so the languages/ guides come along):

git clone https://github.com/hamsamilton/lang-tutor ~/lang-tutor
ln -s ~/lang-tutor/skills/lang-tutor ~/.claude/skills/lang-tutor

Then activate in any Claude Code session:

/lang-tutor

Usage

# Start with explicit settings
/lang-tutor Portuguese English Advanced

# Or just the language (defaults to English native, auto-detects level)
/lang-tutor Japanese

# After first use, just activate — it remembers your preferences
/lang-tutor

Proficiency levels

	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced
Corrections	All errors with full explanations	Grammar precision focus	Subtle nuance only
Translations	Provided liberally	Only uncommon words	Rarely, specialized terms
Feedback language	Mix of target + native	Mostly target language	Entirely in target language
Focus	Core grammar, vocabulary building	Idioms, common patterns	Register, formality, style

Examples

Translation & Breakdown (Chinese, Beginner)

Write in English and get a full translation with vocabulary and grammar concepts tailored to your level.

Language Feedback (Portuguese, Beginner)

Write in your target language and get detailed grammar corrections with explanations.

Coding Workflow Integration (Chinese, Advanced)

Language feedback appears alongside your normal coding tasks — it never gets in the way.