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Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

matetranslate.com

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Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does detract you from the scenes a bit though, so I prefer to keep them off if I can

Yeah, I often read the subtitles before the words are spoken, which sometimes ruins the surprise when they say it.

Subs kill any comedic timing for me. Something about reading the punchline when the joke is still being setup is a bit jarring.

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#82
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subs also add a lot of the plot sometimes. Certain quiet sounds you wouldn't otherwise hear are mentioned in the subs that can set a scene, foreshadow, or explain motives.

So, are those sounds really that quiet? I noticed this before, that sometimes subtitles mention a sound I haven't heard, but I always assumed it's due to my slightly impaired hearing. I wonder if this happens to people with good hearing as well.

Never came across this myself and have above average hearing...

One explanation might be if you're watching a 5.1 surround sound movie and playing it through your monitor's built-in speakers which can't handle the extra channels.

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#83
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Watching TV and movies with subtitles is a great way for intermediate language learners (B1 and above) to progress. If they have patience, it's good for anyone. My children have been able to learn many languages this way from scratch to a very high level of fluency that I only minimally speak. I look for children's tv network apps for their iPad from countries with the target language.

How do you do this? Target language audio with English subs?

Belgian here. Growing up, most of the stuff I watched on TV was either French or English (Belgian TV had little to offer at the time). There were no subtitles. I mamaged to pick up a good deal of French and a great deal of English in this way.

I think watching things in their original language is key. You pick up on things using context, some of which is lost in translation.

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#85
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That works with Siri on Apple TV. Say "what did he say", and it'll jump back a bit and temporarily engage subtitles.

How did you discover this?

It was in the presentation when Apple TV was announced: https://youtu.be/0qwALOOvUik?t=3731

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#86

Watching TV and movies with subtitles is a great way for intermediate language learners (B1 and above) to progress. Kudos to Mate for thinking of capturing this in Netflix with a browser add-on. However, creating a flash card with a translation to your native language is not the best way to master vocabulary. A translation (or, "gloss") can be helpful initially, but it's more important to see the word in context. It…

I think you are underestimating how effective flashcards can be, particularly as part of a larger system. I'm starting a 4-year PhD in September to develop a system that will gloss words (in text/subtitles in a variety of clients, like FF, ebook readers, media players, etc.) that aren't in your (Anki-compatible) flashcards. That means you get to read "normal" text, enriched with glosses only for words you don't know. The idea is basically to provide automated scaffolding at exactly the level the learner is currently at vocab-wise.

There is an extension to Anki that does what you suggest with the video frames (at least for Japanese?), and I want to integrate that (or similar) at some stage. But there are heaps of cool ideas to implement if you take the flashcard database as a first approximation of a representation of the learner's (lexical) knowledge of a language and then enrich real-world texts that the learner is interested in with enough help to appreciate the real-world content. The beauty with having a representation of the learner's knowledge is that you can take a number of different approaches (say depending on the % of unknown words) or even just let the learner decide how much help they want/need on a given content consumption session. With even a small number of users the data generated will also be pretty awesome for research purposes.

It's pretty clunky still (I haven't started the thesis yet) but it is all going to be completely open-source and I definitely hope I'm not the only one to contribute to it, so hopefully it will get some momentum at some stage, and there will be heaps of clients that can talk to the server part. https://transcrob.es

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#87

https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com is a similar tool. Allows side-by-side subtitles in two languages. It also lets you skip back one whole sentence at a time to re-hear a line. I used it to start trying to hear and parse Japanese (only about a month in of learning, so brand new, and just hearing the words and sounds of the language is still tricky).

Just tried both, and LLN is amazing wow. Resubscribed to Netflix just to use this. :)

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#88
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Watching TV and movies with subtitles is a great way for intermediate language learners (B1 and above) to progress. If they have patience, it's good for anyone. My children have been able to learn many languages this way from scratch to a very high level of fluency that I only minimally speak. I look for children's tv network apps for their iPad from countries with the target language.

How do you do this? Target language audio with English subs?

No subtitles, just lots of patience and repetition. The visual context is the key. It wouldn't work with audio only.

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That works with Siri on Apple TV. Say "what did he say", and it'll jump back a bit and temporarily engage subtitles.

This is super awesome but also super frustrating. I never knew this. So makes me wonder how many other cool ‘hidden’ features like this exist.

I think this is a big issue with voice-controlled UIs generally. People will certainly not try to say anything that comes to mind because they know the "assistant" is a machine with limited understanding of the world. But how do you allow them to discover what's possible, then? (I've never used one of these, so I don't know how this is being done today, if at all.)

Re: Mate: Netflix browser extension for learning words via subtitles

#90
post #74

I did something similar for myself using mpv's scripting interface (for Japanese immersion). I can press a button and have the current subtitle analyzed for words with mecab, or press another button and have audio + screenshot + text sent to Anki for review. mpv allows to seek previous/next subtitle, so even relistening a particular phrase is really convenient. It makes language learning really fun.

The audio + screenshot + text sent to Anki for review script sounds awesome as well as the current subtitle analysis. Can you share these?

Indeed, you get high quality in context cards, something that is still missing from most Anki decks.

The code is here https://github.com/pigoz/mpv-nihongo, keep in mind that a lot of stuff is hardcoded, poorly documented, and it requires an mpv patch to work.

If there's enough interest, I can try and make it simple for someone that's not me to use.

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