YouTube English Caption Learning Support

A Chrome extension (Manifest V3) that fetches YouTube English captions from timedtext and displays them in a custom overlay. Native captions are hidden in favor of the learning display.

CEFR difficulty coloring, dictionary popups, known-word tracking, level-based word lists, learner level estimation, and caption read-aloud — all designed for vocabulary study while watching videos.

Learning flow (overview)

  1. Open a YouTube video with English captions.
  2. The extension overlays captions. Words are color-coded by CEFR band (A1–C1+).
  3. Hover pauses playback. Click a word for English-English plus Japanese definitions (bundled dictionary first; online API for missing entries).
  4. Mark words as “known.” Seek to occurrences from the side panel. Estimate your level from the known rate of encountered words.
  5. Read aloud the on-screen caption independently (adjust speed, voice, and gap between words).

Features

  • Pause on caption hover, resume when the pointer leaves
  • Word color bands by CEFR (A1–C1+)
  • English-English plus Japanese on hover / click (bundled dictionary preferred)
  • Phrase and grammar pattern highlights (~1,800 entries)
  • Register “known” words and seek to their occurrences
  • Estimate learner level from the known rate of encountered words
  • Read aloud on-screen captions (speed, voice, word gap)

Scope and notes

Targets YouTube English captions only. Japanese captions, Shorts, and cross-video learning history are out of scope. Word level data comes from CEFR-J / Octanove (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Install by loading an unpacked folder from Chrome’s extensions page, or use the store link once published — this page will be updated. Developer contact: conexsoft@fujigoma.com.

Chrome Web Store

The store listing URL is being prepared. An add button will appear here after publication.