Language Reactor vs Wordie: Learning Words From Video vs From Reading

Language Reactor and Wordie are both Chrome extensions for language learners, but they live in different parts of your day. Language Reactor is for watching: it adds dual subtitles, a click-to-translate dictionary and word saving to Netflix and YouTube. Wordie is for reading: select a word on any web page to see its English definition and synonyms, save it, and it is highlighted on every page where it appears again. If your input comes mostly from films, series and YouTube, Language Reactor is the better pick. If it comes from articles, papers and documentation, Wordie fits better. Many learners will want both.

Quick verdict: who should pick which?

• Choose Language Reactor if you want to improve listening, you already watch Netflix or YouTube in your target language, you need translations into your native language, or you are learning a language other than English.
• Choose Wordie if you are building English vocabulary for reading and writing, especially advanced, academic or technical words, and you want saved words to keep reappearing as you browse.
• Use both if you watch and read in English. They do not overlap much.

What is Language Reactor?

Language Reactor (formerly Language Learning with Netflix) is a popular Chrome extension that changes how Netflix and YouTube look. It shows the original subtitles and a translation at the same time, lets you hover or click any subtitle word for a dictionary pop-up, and lists the full transcript beside the video so you can jump back to a line. You can pause automatically after each subtitle, replay lines and save words or phrases. Saved items can be practiced in its PhrasePump exercise, and Pro users can export them to Anki. It supports many languages, and there is also a text mode for reading web pages and pasted text, though video is clearly its centre of gravity. Pro adds unlimited saving, machine-translated subtitles when no official translation exists, and an AI chat assistant.

What is Wordie?

Wordie is a small Chrome extension (it also installs in Edge, Brave and Arc) from an independent maker. Select a word on a page and a card shows its English definition, part of speech, synonyms and related words, with a Save button. Saved words are highlighted on every page you visit. Recall mode offers flashcards rated Forgot, Hard or Easy, updating a 0–100% mastery score per word. A dashboard shows your list, 7-day analytics, and exports to CSV or JSON. Words are stored locally in the browser; there is no account.

Language Reactor vs Wordie at a glance

Learning approach: listening input vs reading input

Both tools sit squarely in the comprehensible input camp: learn by understanding lots of real language, with support when you get stuck. They just draw on different input.

Video has strengths reading cannot match. You hear pronunciation, rhythm and intonation, you see situations that make meaning obvious, and spoken language is full of the informal phrases and phrasal verbs that textbooks underplay. Dual subtitles make native-speed content usable earlier than it would otherwise be. Nation (2006) estimated that following films and TV comfortably takes around 6,000–7,000 word families, so a tool that helps you fill gaps while watching is valuable.

Reading has its own strengths. Written English uses a richer vocabulary than speech, especially in news, academic writing and professional documents; reading novels and newspapers comfortably takes more like 8,000–9,000 families. Readers can also slow down and re-read. Wordie is built for this: when mitigate or heuristic stops you, you get a definition and synonyms in place, and the word stays highlighted across every site you visit. That repeated, spread-out exposure is what research on incidental learning (Webb 2007; Waring & Takaki 2003) suggests helps words stick.

Workflow

Language Reactor

Pick an episode or video, turn on dual subtitles, and watch with auto-pause on if you want to catch every line. Click unfamiliar words, save useful ones, and review them later in PhrasePump or Anki. Watching an episode this way is slow but rich; many learners alternate an "active" episode with relaxed viewing.

Wordie

No setup per page. Read as usual, select words that stop you, save the ones worth learning. Run Recall mode a few times a week. Highlights do the rest whenever saved words turn up again.

Privacy and data

Language Reactor uses an account for saving words and syncing them, and it naturally runs inside streaming services you are logged into. Wordie stores your vault only in your browser's local storage, with no sign-up and no Wordie server receiving your words. That makes Wordie simpler on privacy, but it also means no sync; export to CSV or JSON as a backup.

Price

Language Reactor has a capable free version (dual subtitles, dictionary, basic saving) and a Pro subscription that third-party reviews in 2026 list at a few dollars a month, with cheaper longer plans. We could not confirm current pricing on an official page, so check the extension's own site before subscribing. Remember that you also need your own Netflix subscription to use it there.

Wordie is free for up to 20 saved words, then $12.99 once for Pro, or $0.99 a month on the Student plan. Both are inexpensive; the better question is which kind of input you actually spend time on.

Where Language Reactor is clearly better

• Listening and pronunciation through real shows and videos.
• Dual subtitles that make native content usable earlier.
• Many languages with translation into your own.
• Phrase and sentence saving from dialogue, with Anki export on Pro.
• Spoken, informal English that rarely appears in articles.

Where Wordie fits better

• Reading vocabulary on any website, not only video platforms.
• English definitions and synonyms that build depth, not just a translation.
• Highlighting saved words across the web, for repeated encounters without extra effort.
• Local-first, no account, one-time price.

Can you use both?

Yes, and this is one of the easiest pairings in the series because the tools barely overlap.

1. Evenings: Language Reactor. Watch one episode or a few YouTube videos in English with dual subtitles, saving phrases you would use in conversation.
2. Daytime: Wordie. Read news, blogs and work documents in Chrome, saving written-English words worth learning.
3. Weekly: review. Run Language Reactor's practice for spoken phrases and Wordie's Recall mode for written vocabulary. Five to ten minutes each is enough.

A practical tip: some words you meet in a show will turn up later in an article. If you save them in Wordie too, the highlighting gives you a second, written encounter. Our guide to learning English vocabulary while browsing describes a full routine.

The bottom line

Language Reactor is the stronger tool for learning from video: dual subtitles, translations and saved phrases on Netflix and YouTube, in many languages. Wordie is a focused English reading tool that defines words in place and keeps saved words visible across the web, with no account and a one-time price. Choose by where your input comes from, or use both and cover listening and reading. For more browser tools, see Readlang vs Wordie and the best Chrome extensions for learning English.

Sources: Nation, I.S.P. (2006), "How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening?", Canadian Modern Language Review; Webb, S. (2007), Applied Linguistics; Waring, R. & Takaki, M. (2003), Reading in a Foreign Language; Krashen, S. (1982), Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.