I found a shortcut for reading in another language

Happy Tuesday everybody!

Quick question.

When you hit a word you don't know in another language…

do you actually look it up?

Or do you just guess and keep reading?

Most people guess. Not because they're lazy, but because the alternative is annoying.

Highlight. New tab. Google Translate. Paste. Read. Switch back. Forget where you were.

Five words in and you've lost the flow of whatever you were reading.

Readlang is a Chrome extension that turns any webpage into a language learning tool.

You visit a site in the language you're learning, click a word, and get an instant translation, without leaving the page.

No new tab. No copy-pasting. No losing your place.

For example, say you're reading a news article in Spanish.

Before:

You hit an unknown word. You highlight it. You open Google Translate. You get a definition. You switch back. You've lost the sentence. You move on and forget the word by tomorrow.

With Readlang:

You click the word. The translation appears inline. You keep reading. The word gets saved automatically. Later, it shows up as a flashcard with the exact sentence you found it in.

Same article.

You just actually learned something from it.

👉 Try Readlang

The key difference is context.

Most vocabulary tools teach words in isolation.

Readlang saves every word with the sentence you found it in.

So when you review it later, you're not staring at a random word on a blank card. You're seeing the sentence, the situation, the meaning you actually encountered.

That's closer to how memory works.

You remember where you learned something, not just what it means.

Readlang runs inside your browser. When you open a page:

→ click any word for an instant translation
→ drag across a phrase to translate the whole thing
→ every lookup gets saved automatically
→ saved words become flashcards with context
→ spaced repetition brings them back before you forget

It also has a built-in library if you want pre-loaded texts at different levels.

But the real value is using it on whatever you already want to read — news, blogs, Wikipedia, recipes, Reddit threads.

Without Readlang: one unknown word = 15–30 seconds of tab-switching and pasting.

With Readlang: one unknown word = one click, maybe two seconds.

Over a 10-minute reading session, that difference adds up fast.

For things like:

Readlang was built by Steve Ridout, who previously worked as a staff engineer at Duolingo and created Duolingo Stories.

He built Readlang because he couldn't find a simple tool to learn Spanish by reading novels.

That shows in the design. It's minimal. No gamification, no streaks, no clutter. Just reading and learning.

There's a reason most polyglots say reading is the fastest way to improve.

But reading in another language has always had this friction tax, the constant pausing, translating, losing your place.

Readlang doesn't make reading easy. It makes the hard parts invisible.

You stay in the content. You learn from what you actually read. And the review system means you don't forget it a week later.

If you've ever given up on reading in another language because the workflow was too annoying, this fixes that specific problem.

👉 Try Readlang

Some people improve language skills by solving adjacent problems instead:

Different tools, different gaps.

Catch you next week,
Max