Learn Spanish with YouTube Subtitles: PinSpanish Extension

Learn Spanish on YouTube with interactive subtitles. Translate words or full lines on demand and save vocabulary locally.

LEARN SPANISH WITH THE YOUTUBE VIDEOS YOU ALREADY ENJOY PinSpanish is a Chrome extension for learning Spanish with interactive YouTube subtitles. It helps English-speaking learners understand unfamiliar words, follow difficult sentences, and build useful vocabulary without leaving the video or replacing the original Spanish with a constant translation. The idea is simple: Spanish stays visible and English appears only when you ask for help. Instead of automatically translating every subtitle line, PinSpanish turns Spanish captions into an interactive learning surface. Click a word to see its English meaning, request a translation for the complete line when you need more context, and save useful words or phrases so you can revisit them later. WHY INSTALL PINSPANISH? Spanish-only subtitles can leave you stuck when one important word is unfamiliar. Permanent English subtitles create the opposite problem: it becomes easy to ignore the Spanish and simply read the translation. PinSpanish offers a middle ground. You keep the original Spanish subtitle in a clear, readable overlay. When you understand the line, you continue watching without interruption. When you need help, support is one click away. Use PinSpanish to: - Learn Spanish while watching YouTube. - Turn Spanish captions into clickable, interactive subtitles. - Translate individual Spanish words into English. - Translate selected multi-word expressions. - Request an English translation for the complete subtitle line. - Save useful words and phrases with their original context. - Recognize saved vocabulary when it appears again. - Return to a source video near the moment where a word was saved. - Study without creating an account or opening another translation website. INTERACTIVE SPANISH SUBTITLES When PinSpanish is enabled, it displays Spanish captions in a focused overlay over the YouTube video. Each word is interactive. Click an unfamiliar word and a compact popover appears above the subtitle. It shows the selected Spanish word and its English meaning while the original sentence remains visible. This lets you resolve a vocabulary gap without losing the scene or switching tabs. Want to understand an expression instead of a single word? Select a word, then Shift-click another word to extend the selection across a phrase. PinSpanish translates the selected expression and lets you save it as a phrase. The overlay is centered by default, uses a dark background for reliable contrast, and can be moved inside the player. You can also choose a small, medium, or large Spanish text size. ENGLISH SUPPORT ONLY WHEN YOU NEED IT PinSpanish follows a “Spanish first, English when needed” approach. It does not automatically translate every new subtitle line. The learner decides when English support is useful. If a single word is blocking your understanding, click that word. If you know the words but still do not understand the sentence, choose “Translate line” to reveal an English translation of the complete subtitle. If you prefer a cleaner Spanish-only experience, hide line translations from the popup. Individual word meanings remain available. English is treated as support, not as the main subtitle. SAVE VOCABULARY WITH REAL CONTEXT A translation is easier to revisit when it remains connected to the moment where you encountered it. Choose “Save word” for a single word or “Save phrase” for a longer selection. A saved vocabulary item can include: - The Spanish word or phrase. - Its English meaning. - The complete original Spanish subtitle. - The optional English translation of that subtitle. - The YouTube video title and URL. - The timestamp where the subtitle appeared. - The date the item was saved. Open “Saved Spanish” from the PinSpanish popup to review your vocabulary. Entries preserve their Spanish and English context, and each source link returns you to the relevant YouTube video near the saved moment. You can remove individual items or clear the complete local vocabulary list whenever you choose. Nothing is saved automatically. RECOGNIZE SAVED WORDS WHILE WATCHING When a saved Spanish word appears in a subtitle, PinSpanish highlights it in yellow. This makes previously difficult vocabulary easier to notice during normal viewing and creates a lightweight review loop inside new contexts. Clicking a highlighted saved word reuses the English meaning already stored in your vocabulary. PinSpanish does not translate the same saved word again just to show information you already have. PRIVATE AND LOCAL-FIRST PinSpanish is built for learners who want language support without sending every subtitle to an external translation website. Spanish-to-English translation uses Chrome’s built-in Translator API. PinSpanish does not send subtitle text to a third-party translation provider and does not require an external translation API key. Saved words, phrases, subtitle context, video references, and timestamps are stored in PinSpanish’s extension-owned IndexedDB database on the current Chrome browser profile. Preferences are stored in local extension storage. PinSpanish has: - No user account. - No cloud vocabulary database. - No analytics. - No advertising. - No trackers. - No remote translation provider. - No API keys. - No automatic vocabulary uploads. - No cloud synchronization. Your vocabulary remains in the browser profile where it was saved. Removing the extension or clearing its extension data also removes that vocabulary. Export and cross-device synchronization are not currently available. DESIGNED TO SUPPORT THE VIDEO PinSpanish remains inactive outside YouTube watch pages. When enabled on a supported video, it presents one clear Spanish subtitle overlay and hides the competing native caption presentation. Disabling PinSpanish restores YouTube’s caption appearance. Translation errors, missing captions, or unavailable language support are shown as understandable status messages and should not interrupt playback. SPANISH CAPTION SUPPORT PinSpanish works with YouTube videos that already provide a Spanish caption track. It prefers authored Spanish captions and can fall back to Spanish auto-generated captions supplied by YouTube. It recognizes common Spanish language variants, including regional Spanish tracks. You do not need to keep YouTube’s CC display visible when PinSpanish can access the video’s Spanish timed-text track. PinSpanish does not create subtitles through speech recognition. If YouTube does not provide Spanish captions for a video, PinSpanish cannot generate them. Auto-generated captions may contain recognition errors inherited from YouTube. BUILT-IN TRANSLATION REQUIREMENTS PinSpanish requires desktop Google Chrome 138 or newer because it uses Chrome’s built-in Translator API for Spanish-to-English support. The first time translation is enabled, Chrome may need to download its Spanish-English language package. PinSpanish displays a “Start translation” action inside the video when this download is required. The initial download needs an internet connection, sufficient local storage, and a direct user action. Once support is available, translation uses Chrome’s built-in capability. The Translator API is not currently available in mobile Chrome. It may also be unavailable when built-in AI features are disabled by an organization or browser policy. WHO IS PINSPANISH FOR? PinSpanish is designed for English-speaking Spanish learners who use YouTube for listening practice, immersion, comprehensible input, or vocabulary discovery. It can be especially useful if you: - Watch Spanish-speaking creators, interviews, tutorials, or documentaries. - Understand the general meaning but regularly miss individual words. - Want English help without permanent bilingual subtitles. - Prefer to learn vocabulary in authentic sentence context. - Want a simple YouTube vocabulary builder without an account. - Care about local storage and minimal data collection. - Are moving from beginner material toward native Spanish content. - Want to notice and reinforce words that were difficult before. PinSpanish is a support tool, not a complete language course. Its purpose is to make real Spanish videos more approachable while helping learners remain engaged with the original language. OPEN SOURCE AND FOCUSED PinSpanish is an open-source project under the PinSpanish.org brand. Its focus is deliberately narrow: help people learn Spanish from YouTube through interactive subtitles, on-demand English translation, and contextual vocabulary. The extension requests access only to YouTube and local storage. Its architecture, privacy decisions, tests, and known limitations are documented publicly so contributors can inspect how it works and help improve it. CORE FEATURES AT A GLANCE - Interactive Spanish subtitles for YouTube. - Click-to-translate Spanish words. - Shift-click phrase selection. - On-demand full-line English translation. - Movable dark subtitle overlay. - Adjustable Spanish subtitle size. - Save word and save phrase actions. - Original Spanish and optional English context. - Saved-word highlighting in later subtitles. - Reuse of stored meanings for saved words. - Timestamped links back to source videos. - Local vocabulary storage. - Chrome built-in Spanish-to-English translation. - Authored and auto-generated Spanish caption support. - No account, analytics, ads, or third-party translation service. WATCH IN SPANISH. ASK FOR ENGLISH ONLY WHEN YOU NEED IT. PinSpanish turns everyday YouTube viewing into active Spanish practice. Keep your attention on the original subtitle, get help at the exact level you need, and collect useful vocabulary from real moments in real videos. Install PinSpanish if you want a focused way to learn Spanish with YouTube subtitles while keeping translation intentional, contextual, and private.