Study new languages with our Chrome extension!
We have built a Chrome Extension for language learning. It is a great tool for brushing up on your skills and becoming fluent in another language.
The extension gives you quick access to the top news from around the world, so you can read current events and stay up-to-date while also learning a new language.
Chrome Extension For Language Learning
We spend more and more time on the internet, and browser add-ons give us a unique opportunity to immerse ourself in foreign languages without getting up from the computer.
Below is our selection of the best Chrome extensions that let you learn languages as you browse.
Language Immersion for Chrome
Language Immersion for Chrome replaces random words (novice mode) and phrases (fluent mode) in pages you visit with Google translations in your target language. The translations aren’t always accurate (for example, they might use the wrong gender or register), but if you make sure to double-check what you learn, the tool is a great way to build up your vocabulary.
Learn Japanese with LinguaLift
Readlang
Once you get a grasp of the basics, you should consider graduating to content written in your target language. To get get the full educational benefit of native material, use Readlang to mark down new words as you proceed through the texts. Readlang makes it super easy to create your own library of texts you come across around the internet, lookup translations, highlights words based on how well you know them, review them through spaced repetition, and track your progress. Read our full review of Readlang.
Flewent
Looking for some unpredictability in language learning? Flewent is an extension that will translate a specified percentage of words on any site into a language of your choice. Set the parameters once and watch how your regular trips to Wikipedia change into a language learning experience. The dictionary function will remember the translated words from each page, so you can always refer to the list to remind yourself what you have learned.
And if you want to give back to the community you can also edit the translations when you spot inaccuracies.
Speed Learning
This simple idea for a tool will save you a surprising amount of time. If you ever tried to create vocab lists or reference sheets you know how much time and copy-pasting it can take. Speed Learning allows you to accelerate the process and automatically add the vocabulary treasures of the web straight to a Google spreadsheet. The words can be saved with the sentence they appear in so you will never lose the context they appeared in.
A reference spreadsheet is handy for a review on the go or, for example, if you preparing foreign language classes.
Google Dictionary
You thought you hated pop-ups? Google Dictionary may change your mind! This extension provides translations and definitions of the words you highlight. If you feel your language proficiency reached a higher level why not skip the translation and rely on the foreign language definition? The dictionary supports 12 languages including Japanese, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese and will store the history of your lookups for future studying and revision.
Google Input
When you start learning a language using a different writing system, typing on a new keyboard layout can be an unnecessary challenge which can really discourage and slow you down. Although you should master a native layout eventually, Google Input tools can be a great tool to get you going using the standard QWERTY layout.
Lingua.ly
Do you remember Lingua.ly from our list of top language earning resources? They also have a browser extension which allows you to read the web similarly to Readlang making every page a source of new vocabulary. Clicking on a word will not only provide you with the definition, but also grammatical information and audio. If you fear you’ll forget the words, worry not as Lingua.ly also automatically creates flashcards with images and audio—you can later revise them on the web app.
The extension is integrated with the web app where you can revise your flashcard and read native content that includes the words you have looked up most recently. You can also opt in to reminders to make sure you regularly review the vocab you’ve accumulated.
Learn Russian with LinguaLift
myVocabu
Bored of flashcards? MyVocabu is another translation add on, supporting over 20 languages and allowing to store a list of translated items. You can add your own pictures to represent the words you have learned and edit the appearance of the pop up and the language pairs. Apart from simply storing the vocabulary the extension also offers different exercises to practice the words—having a bit of a variation in the flashcard theme is very refreshing and makes revision much less monotonous! Out of more exciting workouts there is a word-builder and pronunciation practice.
You can also translate longer fragments of the text by pasting it in a little window that opens upon clicking the extension symbol on the Chrome toolbar.
Foreign Language Pad
Thats an extension equivalent of a superfood smoothie with all the features included in one window. Foreign Language Pad is designed to help users write native sounding sentences whether on chat, emailing with native speakers or commenting on blog posts.
A pop up window of FLP includes the basics: a dictionary to look up single words and machine translation service to help with creating full sentences. However, that’s not the end. How often is it that the machine translated sentence ends up sounding not entirely “native”? despite Google’s efforts, still quite often. Foreign Language Pad allows you to search the internet for the frequency of usage of the phrase you have written or translated so you can make sure it is used by others. On top of that, you can also listen to the sentences you have written.
The system of abbreviations and keyboard shortcuts in this takes a few moments to get used to and may be tricky to figure for Mac users. Nevertheless, after overcoming these little obstacles, it’s a nice tool.
Facebook Translate
What it says on the tin! We all have the automatic Bing translate into the browser’s language on Facebook. The “translate” button pops up by the statuses of our foreign (or foreign language practicing) friends and tempts us with a one click solution to deciphering their night musings. Facebook Translate allows you to chose a different language into which you may want to translate the Facebook posts. If you’re learning Japanese why not set it to Japanese and see how that joke of your friend Joe would sound in Japanese? Of course, the translations are created by Google translate so don’t expect poetic results, but this is yet another way to turn your social media feed into a learning experience.
Verbs Trainer
Helps you train the conjugation of English and German verbs. The verbs with their three grammatical forms will randomly pop up on the chosen part of the screen while you’re browsing the web. It can be pretty surprising and distracting, but at the same time will prepare you for the fast pace of a real life conversation where you have to recall the past participle to complete your masterfully created sentence.
It’s an interesting idea for verbs’ learning, although it could probably be expanded by adding verbs in more languages—currently there are only two with translations into five— and improved upon by making it a bit less… annoying? Any developers here up for the challenge?
best chrome extensions for language learning
You might have used the Google Chrome web browser before. But did you know Chrome is actually a powerful tool for foreign language immersion?
You can chose from the thousands of “browser extensions” available, all of which can be installed at the click of a button.
Many of them are specifically designed to help you with language immersion, whether it’s…
Checking your grammar
Providing instant translations
Helping you read or pronounce a difficult Chinese character
You’ll discover 12 of the best Chrome extensions for language learning in this post, but first, let’s do a quick rundown on how you can install Chrome extensions on your computer.
By the way, the best way to get immersion in your target language is to read stories. In my courses, which teach you through StoryLearning®, you get fluent fast thanks to stories, not rules. Find out more and claim your free 7-day trial of the course of your choice.
How To Install Chrome Extensions
1: Start your Google Chrome browser
2: In the upper right-hand corner of the window, click on the menu icon
3: Click on “Settings” inside the menu
4: In the menu bar on the left, click on “Extensions”
5: Click on the “Open Chrome Web Store” link
6: Click on the desired extension inside the Chrome Web Store, and then click on “Add to Chrome”
The extension will be inside the list, installed and ready to use.
Now that you know how to install extensions, let’s check out some of the most useful ones for language learning.
Specific Language Extensions
- Japanese Kanji Quizzer
They say Japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn, especially when it comes to writing. It’s not hard to believe such a claim, because there are four different writing systems in Japanese: Hiragana, Katakana, Romaji, and Kanji.
Japanese Kanji Quizzer Chrome extension will help you learn all of the Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji ideograms, so that you can get more language immersion and become fluent in Japanese. It will also present you with multiple choice questions shown in a random sequence.
- QuizCards: German
If you are keen to expand your vocabulary in German, you may want to check out this Chrome extension. All you have to do is click on the app’s button inside your browser, after which you will be presented with an interactive flash card.
The clever part about this extension is that it keeps score of how well you have done, and focuses on testing you more on the words which give you the most trouble. You can also choose between three different ways of interaction:
multiple choice question
filling in the text box with autocomplete
filling in the text box without autocomplete.
- Zhongwen (Chinese)
If you are interested in learning Mandarin Chinese, check out Zhongwen, which is the most popular Chinese dictionary for Chrome. Every time you hover your mouse over a Chinese word, it will display a translation. It is able to translate over 100,000 words.
- Rikaikun (Japanese)
Rikaikun is a similar extension, but with one key difference: it is meant to help you learn Japanese. The principle is the same: you hover your mouse over the Japanese word in order to see the translation, along with info on the first Kanji.
- French Conjugation
One of the best Chrome extensions for learning French. It allows you to conjugate every single verb properly, regardless of the tense, mode, and form.
In addition to that, you can look up synonyms and antonyms of the verb, and quiz yourself. There is also a feature which teaches you how to pronounce each verb.
- Linguistic Spanish
Linguistic Spanish extension is able to help you learn around 150 Spanish words by simply replacing them in the text of the webpages you are currently browsing, which will help you memorise them. It is completely free. What better language immersion tool could there be?
Multiple Language Web Translators
- Readlang
Readlang replaces the foreign word with its translation after you swipe or click on it. You can also create flashcards in order to refresh your memory and check how much you have learned. It’s an effective way to learn over 40 languages.
Grammar Checkers & Pronunciation
- Grammarly
One of the most famous grammar apps is also available as a Chrome extension. You can easily check your work for grammar and spelling, and you can rest assured you won’t repeat the same grammar mistakes again, because Grammarly will spot them, and provide the correct solution.
- Spell checker and Grammar checker by Ginger
If you are not too fond of Grammarly, but would still like an equally powerful grammar and spell-checking app, perhaps you should check out the Ginger extension for your Chrome, which will allow you to access its features with a simple click of a button.
- Pronunciation Checker
If you are keen on developing the verbal aspect of your foreign language studies, you should check out Pronunciation Checker, because it has a voice recognition feature built into the extension.
In addition to that, you can also add whichever audio files you like in order to practice on them. Available in multiple languages.
Compelling Foreign Language Content
- LingQ
LingQ was my go-to resource for compelling input and progress tracking during the first month of my learn Italian project.
Their Chrome extension lets you import whatever you’re working with on the web directly into LingQ. So you can use LingQ’s study tools with that material.
- Language Learning with Netflix
Who doesn’t love sitting down with a good Netflix series of an evening? And if you watch a series or a movie in your target language, then it’s a double win.
That said, understanding TV and foreign language movies can be tricky. That’s where Language Learning with Netflix comes in. It allows you to add subtitles in 2 languages, slow down playback speed, and look up words in the pop up dictionary.
Foreign Language Immersion With Chrome
Learning a new language doesn’t have to be a boring and exhausting process if you rely on some of these apps for help!
If you use the computer all day, why not turn Chrome into a language immersion tool, so you can learn that little bit faster!
There are many more extensions besides the ones we’ve highlighted here. So take a bit of time to browse the Chrome Web Store, enter the language you’re learning, and see what pops up!
Conclusion
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