For Japanese learners on Windows
Learn Japanese by true immersion.
Langmerse adds live Japanese subtitles to any video, stream, game or conversation on your PC, with furigana over the kanji and the English right underneath. Click a word you don't know and it's saved as a flashcard, with the sentence you heard it in.
30 minutes free, nothing charged unless you choose a planWorks with any video, stream, game or conversationWindows 10 and 11
Langmerse runs on Windows. Create your free account on your phone now, then download it on your PC.
Japanese subtitles appear as people speak, with furigana over the kanji and English underneath. No subtitle files needed.
Hover over a word to see what it means. Click it and it's saved as a flashcard, with the line you heard it in.
Go deeper
Understand every line, word by word.
Langmerse keeps every line you hear, with each Japanese word colour-matched to its English. Click any word to look it up, or get the grammar explained in plain English.
Each Japanese word takes the colour of its English, so you can follow along even when the word order flips.
Click any word for its reading, meaning and JLPT level, then save it to your flashcards.
Stuck on a sentence? One click breaks down its grammar in plain English.
After you watch
Everything you need to keep improving.
Reread past sessions, review your words as flashcards, keep a daily streak, and set the app up just the way you like it.
Every session is saved, ready to revisit anytime.
Every word you save keeps the sentence it came from. Export your decks to Anki anytime.
Flashcards come back right before you'd forget them, so the words stick.
Set a daily goal, keep your streak going and see your progress add up week by week.
Customize your experience. Pick from nine themes, plus colour-blind palettes and reading fonts.
Privacy
What leaves your computer, and what doesn't.
Sound
Streamed to be transcribed
While you listen, your PC's sound goes straight to Soniox, our speech-recognition provider, which sends back the Japanese and its English.
Never recorded or stored
Line text
Read by our AI provider
Each line's text passes through our server to match words to their English, explain grammar when you ask, and give a saved word the meaning it had.
Not kept by our server
Your PC
Stays on your computer
Your chats and transcripts, the dictionary and your settings. They never leave your computer unless you send them to us.
Your account
Your email, and synced words
Your email. With a subscription, your saved words, decks and progress too, so they survive a reinstall and follow you to another computer. You can turn sync off.
The details are in the privacy policy.
Pricing
Try it free for 30 minutes, then $15 a month.
The free trial includes every feature except sync. A card starts it, and it's never charged unless you choose a plan. No contract, cancel anytime.
Free trial
$0
30 minutes of video over 14 days
- Live subtitles, furigana and translation
- Word cards, grammar, decks and review
- Nothing charged unless you choose a plan
Monthly
$15 / month
30 hours of video every month
- Everything in the trial
- Your words synced across up to five computers
- Cancel any time
Yearly 1 month free
$165 / year
12 months for the price of 11
- Everything in Monthly
- 30 hours of video every month
- One payment a year
Prices in US dollars before tax; in Canada C$20 a month or C$220 a year. Hours are counted as you listen; the allowance is sized for the fastest talkers, so ordinary watching counts as the time it takes. Payments are handled by Paddle, our merchant of record; see the refund policy.
FAQ
Common questions
What can it listen to?
Anything your PC plays through the speakers or headphones you choose: streaming sites, video players, YouTube, games, visual novels, podcasts. It takes the sound of one playback device as Windows shares it, so a player that takes the device for itself (exclusive mode) and a few Bluetooth and USB headsets can't be heard. It never uses your microphone.
Is it only for Japanese?
Yes. Everything is built around Japanese: how lines split into words, the readings, the JMdict dictionary and the JLPT levels. The translation is into English.
Do I need subtitle files?
No. Langmerse transcribes the speech as it plays, so if you can hear it, you can read it.
Can I move the overlay, or change how it looks?
Yes. Drag it to where it doesn't cover anything and it remembers the spot. Give each line its own colour or one colour you pick, and choose its text size and how see-through it is. Click-through lets clicks pass to the player underneath; with it off, Ctrl and the wheel change the text size.
Shortcuts: Ctrl Shift F7 listens on and off, Ctrl Shift F8 shows or hides the overlay, and Ctrl Shift F11 turns click-through on and off.
Does it work on a Mac or a phone?
Langmerse is a Windows app, for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11. You can create and manage your account from any device, then sign in on your PC.
Windows says “Windows protected your PC”. Is that safe?
That's Microsoft SmartScreen. It appears for new programs that aren't signed with a code-signing certificate yet, and Langmerse isn't yet. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
The installer sets Langmerse up for your Windows account only and doesn't ask for administrator rights.
What counts as an hour?
Time spent listening. The monthly plan includes 30 hours of video, about an hour a day; the trial includes 30 minutes over its 14 days. The allowance is sized for the fastest talkers, so ordinary watching counts as the time it takes.
Can I use my words in Anki?
Yes. Export one deck or all of them as an .apkg file. Each card keeps the word, reading, meaning, the sentence and its translation, and exporting again updates the cards instead of duplicating them.
Can I use it on more than one computer?
Yes, on up to five, one listening at a time. With a subscription your saved words, decks and progress sync between them; on the trial, each computer keeps its own.
Does it need the internet?
Yes. Transcription and translation happen in the cloud while you listen.
Why does the free trial need a card?
So that each person gets one: a card can start one free trial, and so can an email address. The card is checked, not charged, and nothing is charged when your trial ends either. The trial is over once you've used its minutes or its 14 days are up; then we ask whether you'd like Monthly or Yearly, and your card is charged only if you choose one.
How do I cancel?
Whenever you like, from your account page: choose Manage billing. There's no contract and no minimum term, and you keep access until the end of the period you've paid for.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, within 14 days of any payment, if you haven't used live transcription since that payment. Ask Paddle at paddle.net. The free trial is there so you can try Langmerse first. The refund policy has the details.
Make your next episode a Japanese lesson.
Your first 30 minutes are free. Nothing is charged unless you choose a plan.