UPDATE: (September 2021) Now LLY is not beta anymore, and was merged with LLN. The new name of the extension is Language Reactor (published by Dioco)
This thread is about LLY (Language Learning with Yotube), a sister extension to LLN.
It’s a beta (test) version, so you are all guinea pigs (test users).
(that’s you)
Youtube has videos on any topic, in practically any language.
Russian + owls? Ok: Снег дали! Сова в бешенстве от того, что ей не дают под ним сидеть - YouTube
German + diy? Ok: Magnet bauen | sowas wie ne Anleitung | Kliemannsland - YouTube
Cartoons in Hungarian? Ok: Megrázó halálok a rajzfilmekben | A gyerekkor vége - YouTube
French travel documentaries? Ok: SEB EN PAPOUASIE (documentaire) - YouTube
The thing is, Youtube tries to hide foreign content from you. Here’s what you do. We made these extra buttons near the search bar on Youtube. The one one the left makes the search only show results with ‘proper’ captions (not auto-captions or no captions), and the one on the right translates the search text to the language you select.
Here, we translated to French:
And here are the results, mostly in French:
Some searches will be a bit language-ambiguous still (like, if you search for ‘Brazil’). In that case, you can change your Youtube UI language to the language you are studying. Instructions here: http://languagelearningwithnetflix.com/youtube_language_instructions.html
When you open a video, it should be a mostly familiar interface, it’s like LLN.
Some notes:
- Maybe half the videos on Youtube have no captions at all (no ‘proper’ and no ‘autocaptions’). LLY can’t do much with these videos.
- A̶u̶t̶o̶c̶a̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶O̶K̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶m̶a̶l̶l̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶u̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶c̶a̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶.̶ ̶I̶’̶l̶l̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶m̶p̶r̶o̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶i̶t̶u̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶s̶o̶o̶n̶.̶
- T̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶d̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶e̶s̶’̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶e̶w̶ ̶l̶a̶n̶g̶u̶a̶g̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶I̶’̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶i̶x̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶o̶n̶.̶ Also you can’t save entire captions currently.
- T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶o̶p̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶g̶g̶l̶e̶.̶ ̶O̶g̶n̶j̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶(̶?̶)̶.̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶’̶Q̶’̶ ̶k̶e̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶.̶
- T̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶s̶l̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶m̶e̶n̶t̶.̶ ̶W̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶x̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶.̶
- Hit the ‘t’ key when watching a video to go to ‘theatre mode’. It’s prettier.
- L̶o̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶u̶b̶t̶i̶t̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶.̶
- S̶u̶b̶t̶i̶t̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶5̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶l̶o̶a̶d̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶i̶n̶d̶i̶c̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶o̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶.̶
UPDATE: The extension is now available on the Chrome Webstore.
UPDATE: (March 1st) It’s my birthday! Another day coding!
UPDATE: (March 5th) New version (v1.0.0) uploaded to webstore.
UPDATE: (September 2021) Now LLY is not beta anymore, and was merged with LLN. The new name of the extension is Language Reactor (published by Dioco)
Anyway, LLN is not trying to force a paradigm… it’s a tool that can be used by learners with different habits. I guess we could add some stats like you mention in the settings panel, it would be easy. I would like to encourage users to focus their attention on the audio as much as possible. I just implemented the ‘hide primary subs’ function… we could maybe offer stats about how many subs, and how many translations, the user had to reveal… although it’s a question of practical UI for that functionality. hm.