What It Is
The extension replaces YouTube's standard captions with its own interactive subtitle bar. Every word in it is clickable: click to see the translation, save the word to a collection, and keep watching. The sentence you clicked in is saved along with the word as a usage example.
Turning It On
There are two ways:
- Click the WordByWord button in the YouTube player's control bar (next to the settings gear). Orange means on, grey means off.
- Or open the extension popup and switch on the YouTube subtitles toggle.
You need to be signed in — if you are not, clicking the player button opens the sign-in screen instead.
How the Subtitles Work
The extension loads the video's transcript and shows it in its own bar at the bottom of the player, hiding the native captions. Subtitles are shown in the original caption language — they are not translated as a whole. Translation happens per word or phrase, when you click. If the video has several caption tracks, the extension prefers human-created ones over auto-generated.
Translating Words
- Click a word — the translation popup opens right above it. Choose a translation and save the word; the current subtitle line is stored as its example.
- Select several words with the mouse to translate a whole phrase.
- Hover over the subtitles — the video pauses automatically so the line doesn't run away while you read it. Move the cursor away and playback resumes.
With Spotlight mode enabled, subtitle words are highlighted by your knowledge level, just like on regular pages — you see unknown words the moment they appear.
Playback Controls
Two keyboard tricks make video study much smoother (see Keyboard Shortcuts for details):
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
← / → | Jump to the previous / next subtitle line — perfect for replaying a sentence you didn't catch |
Shift + + / Shift + _ | Nudge subtitle timing by 0.1 s if it drifts out of sync |
Tips
- Pick videos with human-made subtitles when you can — auto-generated captions contain recognition errors that end up in your saved examples.
- Replay one line with
←several times and repeat it aloud — shadowing with clickable subtitles is one of the most effective listening exercises.