Entertainment
This Chrome extension helps you learn a new language while you watch Netflix
Use two subtitles while watching Netflix.
Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.
Learning another language is hard work, especially if you’ve started late in life. It’s bad enough learning vocabulary but to put it into coherent sentences? Oy vey. Thankfully, there’s a whole host of technological learning aids, like this nifty Chrome extension that runs when you’re on Netflix.
Language Learning with Netflix works through immersion, letting you see two sets of subtitles on your chosen shows, so you can pair translations with spoken words. That all combines to help you learn through immersion, which is one of the most successful ways to learn a new language. It’s a pretty clever system and makes use of the languages that Netflix already has subtitles for, such as Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
While it’s a handy tool for any language learner of any level, it works best if you have a basic understanding of the language you’re trying to learn. There’s a nifty vocabulary-highlighting feature that grays out less common words. This can be tweaked for your comprehension level as well. There’s also a built-in dictionary if you hover the mouse cursor over a word, and clicking on that word lets you hear the pronunciation.
More about the extension
There’s also a bunch of learning-focused tweaks to the Netflix experience, like setting playback to automatically pause after each subtitle so you can absorb what you’re learning. The developers behind the extension have also created a catalog of recommendations that are good to use for studying, so you don’t have to search through Netflix before you find something suitable.
While the extension is free to use, there are some premium features in the works that will be paid. Those include additional subtitles for dubbed dialogue. That would let you use the tool to learn from the well-known series that have mismatching subtitles to the audio track.
It only works on Google Chrome though, so you’re out of luck if you use a streaming box or console to watch your Netflix. It’d be cool to see it come to mobile devices, where the commute would be a great time to zone out to learning another language.
What do you think? Would you use this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
Editors’ Recommendations:
- Netflix’s popular Smart Downloads feature is now available on iOS
- Russia is planning to disconnect itself from the World Wide Web
- Walgreens is considering using targeted ads… on their freezers
- Everyone you know is purchasing (or has already purchased) a license-scanning camera
- Survey explores ghosting phenomenon and common Tinder lies that lead to, well, ghosting
Follow us on Flipboard, Google News, or Apple News
