Imagine learning a new language while watching your favorite movies and TV shows. This is exactly what Wordy, a new iOS app, offers—a groundbreaking, immersive way to improve your English skills without interrupting your entertainment. By automatically translating and defining unfamiliar words in real-time, Wordy transforms your movie night into an engaging and educational experience. With over 500,000 titles available, including popular series like HBO’s The Penguin and Disney+’s Agatha All Along, the app is poised to become an essential tool for English learners of all levels.
From Frustration to Innovation: The Story Behind Wordy
The brain behind this innovative app is 23-year-old indie developer Sándor Bogyó from Budapest. Bogyó, like many non-native English speakers, found himself constantly pausing shows to look up unfamiliar words—a frustrating experience that often broke his immersion. Inspired by his positive experience with Language Reactor, a Chrome extension offering similar features, Bogyó set out to create a mobile app that would deliver an even more seamless and accessible way to learn vocabulary while watching TV.
“I wanted something that would fit easily into my daily routine, something that didn’t require me to stop the show every few minutes to figure out what a word meant,” Bogyó explained. This personal need, paired with his drive for innovation, resulted in the creation of Wordy—a mobile app that brings language learning to life without compromising your viewing experience.
How Wordy Works: AI-Powered Learning in Real-Time
Wordy leverages advanced AI technology to make language learning intuitive and effortless. When a user selects an episode from Wordy’s extensive library, the app analyzes the subtitles, extracting and lemmatizing each word to determine its root form. The app’s custom speech recognition model—triggered by your phone’s microphone—then identifies the audio playing on your TV or computer, pinpointing the exact spot in the episode. From there, it scrolls through the transcript in real-time, highlighting words that might challenge non-native speakers. With a simple glance at your phone, you can see instant translations of difficult words without missing a beat of the show.
Wordy’s robust features don’t stop at instant translations. After watching an episode, you can view a summary page displaying all the words you encountered, categorized by difficulty level—ranging from Proficiency English to Beginner. This allows you to review and reinforce your vocabulary at your own pace. Moreover, the app lets you save challenging words to your Library for future practice, which can be reviewed later through interactive flashcards.
A Blend of Proprietary and Best-in-Class Technology
Wordy stands apart by combining its proprietary technology with powerful third-party tools to deliver a flawless user experience. Bogyó partnered with TMDB, the largest open movie database, to ensure the app offers comprehensive film and series data. For subtitles, Wordy taps into OpenSubtitles.com via their API, which Bogyó found to provide the most reliable and accurate subtitle options on the market.
During a test run of the app, we fired up Netflix’s hit show Wednesday on a laptop while using Wordy on our phone. Almost instantly, the app flagged sophisticated vocabulary like “plagued,” “nefarious,” and “séance”—terms that may trip up beginner learners. The app’s translations were precise, and the interface made it easy to follow along without pausing the show.
More Languages on the Horizon
Currently, Wordy supports English, but Bogyó is already hard at work expanding the app’s language capabilities. Rival apps like Language Reactor offer support for major languages, but Bogyó is determined to maintain Wordy’s high standards of accuracy and usability as it grows. He plans to introduce Spanish to the platform by November, with French and German following shortly after.
“I prefer quality over speed,” Bogyó noted, “so I’m taking the time to ensure each language integration meets my standards for accuracy and user experience.”
Affordable and Accessible for All
Wordy is available for just $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, making it an affordable option for language learners looking to integrate vocabulary practice into their daily lives. For those on Android devices, there’s no need to worry—an Android version is set to launch in November, broadening the app’s reach and making it accessible to even more users.
Conclusion
Wordy is redefining how we learn languages by turning entertainment into an educational tool. Whether you’re an advanced learner brushing up on nuanced terms or a beginner expanding your basic vocabulary, Wordy makes learning effortless, engaging, and fun. With a growing library of films and shows, advanced AI technology, and plans for expanding language support, Wordy is on its way to becoming the go-to app for anyone looking to learn English—or any language—in a whole new way.
Why interrupt your favorite show to search for translations? With Wordy, you can immerse yourself in entertainment while mastering new vocabulary—right from the comfort of your couch.
