submerse Get it

Learn a language from what you already love to watch.

You pick up a language by hearing lots of it, the way people really speak, while still following along. submerse makes any show or video that kind of practice: the line in the language you're learning on top, a translation underneath, and the meaning of any word right where you see it.

On YouTube, Netflix and Disney+, in Safari on Mac and iPad.

Get submerse
Ich habe den Hund Hundder Hund noundog Apple · on this device Look up LEOWiktionaryDeepL heute im Park gesehen.
I saw the dog in the park today.

Pick the language you want to learn

  • EspañolSpanish
  • FrançaisFrench
  • DeutschGerman
  • ItalianoItalian
  • PortuguêsPortuguese
  • NederlandsDutch
  • РусскийRussian
  • 日本語Japanese
  • 한국어Korean
  • 简体中文Chinese (Simplified)
  • 繁體中文Chinese (Traditional)
  • العربيةArabic
  • हिन्दीHindi
  • TürkçeTurkish
  • PolskiPolish
  • SvenskaSwedish
  • Tiếng ViệtVietnamese
  • Bahasa IndonesiaIndonesian

Why it works

“The one thing we all have in common is that we simply found ways to enjoy the language-learning process.”
Lýdia Machová, polyglot, in The secrets of learning a new language (TED)

Understanding is how you learn

Linguist Stephen Krashen argued that we pick up a language by understanding messages in it, a little beyond what we already know, not by drilling rules. A show you can follow, with help where you need it, is exactly that.

Krashen, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition (1982)

Read the language you hear

In one study, viewers who watched with subtitles in the language being spoken got better at understanding an unfamiliar accent. Subtitles in their own language made them worse. So the line you're learning goes on top, and yours can stay blurred.

Mitterer & McQueen, Foreign subtitles help but native-language subtitles harm foreign speech perception, PLoS ONE (2009)

Pick up words just by watching

Learners who watched a single full-length TV programme learned the meanings of new words from it, and how often a word came up affected whether it stuck. Shows keep using the words people really say, and you can look any of them up the moment it appears.

Peters & Webb, Incidental vocabulary acquisition through viewing L2 television and factors that affect learning, Studies in Second Language Acquisition (2018)

Try first, then check

Recalling something makes it stick far better than reading it again. Reading the line yourself before you uncover the translation turns every line into a moment of recall.

Roediger & Karpicke, Test-enhanced learning, Psychological Science (2006)

Read new scripts as you listen

Learning Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Hindi means learning to read too. submerse can put how each word is said above it, in pinyin or bopomofo, romaji, romaja or Latin letters, and a German noun's popup shows its article, so the sounds you hear match the words on screen.

我wǒ 今jīn天tiān 在zài 公gōng园yuán 看kàn到dào 一yì只zhī 狗gǒu。 I saw a dog in the park today. Point at a word, or at the English to uncover it.Tap a word, or the English to uncover it.

Coming to the App Store

For Safari on Mac and iPad. Translation happens on your device, so what you watch stays private. Needs macOS 26 or iPadOS 26.

Questions? Write to submerse.support@gmail.com.