NoaLingua Glossary
Comprehensible input
Comprehensible input is language you can mostly understand but not entirely — the level at which exposure teaches you something new.
The term comes from Stephen Krashen's input hypothesis, which argues that acquisition happens when you understand messages slightly beyond your current level rather than when you study rules about them.
The practical problem is finding it. Material at your exact level is rare, and the honest test is not whether a video feels hard but what proportion of its words you actually know. Below roughly 90 per cent you are decoding rather than acquiring; above 98 per cent you are enjoying yourself and learning very little.
Related terms
Try it on the next video you were going to watch anyway.
Free, with every feature. No account, nothing to cancel, and your deck stays on your machine.
Add to Chrome — Free Add to Chrome The Chrome Web Store still lists this as LinguaCue — same extension, rename in progress.- 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.