NoaLingua Recommended
How to read a book in another language, with NoaLingua
The first foreign book is the hardest thing most learners ever attempt. It does not have to be attempted unaided.
Open the PDF in NoaLingua and choose one of two modes: a bilingual reader with the paragraphs aligned side by side, or the original layout preserved — columns, tables and figures — with every word still clickable. Either way a click gives you meaning in context without leaving the page.
Free, and every feature works on the free plan. No account, no sign-up — the extension installs and works. What the paid plans change.
Why this one
Why we put NoaLingua first here
We make it, so read this as the argument it is — and then check it against what it cannot do, which is on the site for the same reason.
- Two PDF modes, not one. Side-by-side when you want a safety net, original layout when the book's design matters — and both keep every word clickable.
- It opens local files from your own machine, so a book you already own is a book you can read this way.
- A click gives the sense the word carries in that sentence plus the dictionary form, so looking up an inflected word does not mean guessing at its stem first.
- Set expressions get their own card alongside the word you clicked, which is what stops an idiom being read as a very strange literal sentence.
How to actually do it
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Choose a book you have already read in your own language
Knowing the plot is the single biggest advantage you can give yourself. You are reading for the language, not the story.
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Start with the bilingual mode
Paragraphs aligned side by side. Read the original first, glance across only when you are stuck, and stop glancing as soon as you can.
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Switch to original layout once you can hold a page
The safety net becomes a crutch surprisingly fast. Original layout keeps the clickable words and takes the translation away.
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Save sparingly
A novel will hand you two hundred unknown words a chapter. Save the ones that recur; let the rest go past. Reading volume beats lookup completeness.
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Export what you kept
Anki packages, Anki-compatible CSV, an editable spreadsheet, or the whole profile as JSON. Export is free on every plan.
The shortlist
What to use
Every entry carries a reason not to pick it, including ours. Descriptions of other tools come from those tools' own pages, dated below each one.
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NoaLingua Our pick
A Chrome extension that turns YouTube, Netflix, any web page and PDFs into study material: dual subtitles, click any word for its meaning in that sentence, and a spaced schedule that brings it back.
Best for. Reading a PDF or a book you already own, in the original layout or side by side, with lookup that does not break your line.
Not for. It is a 0.2 release with a very small user base, and it is built by one person. If you want something mature and widely used, that is a real reason to pick something else. Where it does and does not run is below.
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Readlang
A web reader and extension built around click-to-translate, with support for importing your own texts.
Best for. Readers who want a plain, proven reader and do not need the original page design preserved.
Not for. It is built for the web rather than for PDFs with columns, tables and figures.
Readlang website · Described from Readlang, official features page, read 2026-08-10
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LingQ
A platform for learning from books and other long-form content, with importing, a known-word count and mobile apps. It describes a free tier with premium on subscription.
Best for. Long-form readers who want progress tracking and to read on a phone as well as a laptop.
Not for. Content is imported into its own reader, and the full feature set is a subscription.
LingQ website · Described from LingQ, official site, read 2026-09-10
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Anki
The open-source spaced-repetition program, free on desktop and Android.
Best for. Keeping the words you mined out of the book, once something else has collected them.
Not for. It does not collect anything for you. Anki reviews the cards you make; making them from what you watch and read is the part it leaves to you and to whatever tool you pair it with.
Anki website · Described from Anki, official site, read 2026-09-10
Where this recommendation stops
Scanned books. NoaLingua reads the text a PDF actually contains and does not run OCR, so a photographed page is a picture to it. It also does not open DRM-protected e-book formats. Desktop Chrome only.
The full list is on what NoaLingua cannot do, and the per-language detail is on supported languages.
Questions about how to read a book in a foreign language
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
No. It reads the text layer a PDF carries. A scan is an image, and there is no OCR step, so a scanned book will not become clickable.
Can I read EPUB files?
The PDF modes are for PDFs. An EPUB converted to PDF will work; a DRM-protected e-book will not, and NoaLingua does not remove DRM.
What should my first book be?
Something you have already read, and something written this century. Translated children's and young-adult fiction is the standard advice because it is good advice — the sentences are short and the vocabulary is concrete.
Is the PDF reader free?
Both PDF modes work on the free plan, as does every export format.
Read next
Install it and try this on the next thing you watch
Free, with every feature. No account, nothing to cancel, and your deck stays on your machine.
Add to Chrome — Free Add to Chrome Opens the Chrome Web Store listing NoaLingua — beyond dual subs: video, web, PDF — free, no account, Chrome 138 or newer.- Free, and not a trial Every feature on the free plan — both PDF modes, shadowing, all 30 practice formats.
- No account, no email Nothing to sign up for and nothing to cancel. There is no login screen at all.
- Two dropdowns to set up Pick what you are learning and what you want translations in. That is the whole setup.
- Your words stay yours Export to Anki, CSV, a spreadsheet or a full JSON profile — free on every plan.