Listening — Language Reactor, asbplayer, Subtitle Tools

The 2020s revolution: native video with both target-language and native-language subtitles side-by-side, plus one-click vocabulary capture. The free / OSS tools here are competitive with the paid Migaku stack. See Sentence Mining for the full mining pipeline.

Cross-links: Comprehensible Input / Refold · Anki Deep · Yomitan · Transcription / Whisper · Subtitle Tools for Learners.

★ ★ Language Reactor

• ★ ★ Language Reactor (formerly Language Learning with Netflix) — free Chrome extension + optional Pro (~$5/mo).
  • Netflix + YouTube + Disney+ dual-subtitles overlay.
  • Click any word for instant translation + dictionary panel.
  • "Auto-pause at end of subtitle" for shadowing.
  • Save phrases to a built-in deck or export to Anki.
  • Free tier is genuinely usable; Pro adds saved-phrase quotas, machine-translated subs for languages with no official subs, faster lookup.
  • 50+ languages.
  • Honest weakness: closed-source; depends on Netflix UI not breaking.
• The default Chrome ext for casual learners; the asbplayer + Yomitan stack is more powerful but steeper to set up.

★ ★ asbplayer — the OSS sentence-mining champion

• ★ ★ asbplayer — free OSS; https://github.com/killergerbah/asbplayer.
  • Browser-based subtitle player; loads a video (Netflix tab, YouTube, local file) plus an external subtitle file.
  • One-click captures word + sentence + audio + screenshot to Anki via AnkiConnect.
  • Pairs with Yomitan for instant lookup → mining.
  • The modern free alternative to paid Migaku for sentence-mining workflows.
  • 2024-26 status: actively developed, the Refold/r/learnjapanese-recommended OSS choice.
  • Honest weakness: setup curve (Chrome ext + AnkiConnect + Yomitan + asbplayer); fiddly first time.

Subadub

• ★ Subadub — free Chrome extension; https://github.com/rsimmons/subadub.
  • Older Netflix subtitle exposer; pre-Language-Reactor era.
  • Simpler; just shows subtitles you can copy / save.
  • Useful as fallback when LR breaks.

Migaku — paid all-in-one

• Migaku Browser Extension — paid (~$8/mo); the most-loved paid immersion tool.
  • Browser ext for Netflix / YouTube / web.
  • Auto-generates Anki cards with audio + screenshots + dictionary lookup + pitch accent (JP).
  • Multi-language (was JP-only originally).
  • Free trial; some free-tier features.
  • Honest weakness: paid + closed; asbplayer + Yomitan is the OSS-equivalent stack for free.

★ YouGlish — pronunciation in context

• ★ YouGlish — free; https://youglish.com.
  • Search a word; see real YouTube clips with that word spoken naturally in context.
  • 20+ languages.
  • The single best tool for "how is this actually pronounced by natives in real life?".
• PlayPhrase.me — similar idea, smaller corpus.

Forvo — pronunciation database

• ★ Forvo — free + paid; https://forvo.com.
  • User-contributed pronunciations of any word, multiple voices per word.
  • Useful for proper nouns + dialect comparisons.
  • Forvo API is paid; free web/app use.

Native podcasts (the underused free resource)

• Spotify / Apple Podcasts — search "[language] for beginners" / "[language] news slow".
• News in Slow [Spanish/French/German/Italian] — paid + free; the canonical slow-paced news.
• Coffee Break [Language] — Radio Lingua Network; free + paid Premium.
• InnerFrench (French), News in Slow (multiple), Easy Languages podcasts.
• Native podcasts at C1+: NHK Radio (JP), Radio Ambulante (Spanish), France Inter (French), Tagesschau in 100 Sekunden (German).

Whisper for native-content transcripts

If a native YouTube channel / podcast lacks subtitles in your target language, generate them:

• ★ Whisper.cpp / WhisperX — free OSS; transcribe audio to subtitle .srt; multilingual. See Transcription.
• Pair with asbplayer or Language Reactor to feed your generated subtitles.
• 2024-26: Whisper Turbo + diarisation is good enough for most languages; weaker for tonal / low-resource languages.

Subtitle hunting

• OpenSubtitles.org — free; user-uploaded subtitle catalogue across languages.
• Kitsunekko — JP-focused subtitle archive (anime + drama).
• Animelon — anime with built-in JP subs (free, technically grey-zone).
• Subscene — multi-language subtitles archive.

TV / shows by language

• Spanish: Money Heist, Narcos, Élite (Netflix); ITV / RTVE catch-up (free).
• Japanese: Terrace House, dramas on Netflix; anime via Crunchyroll; NHK World free app.
• Korean: any K-drama on Netflix / Viki; KBS World free.
• French: Lupin, Call My Agent (Netflix); France 2 / TF1 free.
• German: Dark, Babylon Berlin (Netflix); ARD Mediathek free.
• Mandarin: iQIYI, Viki Pass, YouTube Mandarin channels.
• Italian: Suburra, My Brilliant Friend; RAI Play free.

Pick this if…

• Casual, just want dual subs on Netflix: Language Reactor (free, 5 minutes to set up).
• Serious sentence-mining with Anki: asbplayer + Yomitan + AnkiConnect (free, 30 minutes).
• Paid all-in-one with audio cards: Migaku.
• Pronunciation in real context: YouGlish.
• Word pronounced multiple ways: Forvo.
• Native content has no subtitles: Whisper to generate them.