PrepMyFrench
PrepMyFrench
PrepMyFrench Immersion
GuideDual captions on YouTube, saved words, and TEF/TCF practice. This page covers install, the panel, and what to do when a video has no captions.
Back to the extensionAfter you add the extension, pin it from the puzzle-piece menu in Chrome so the popup stays one click away.
Open the popup and choose Sign in to PrepMyFrench. Dual captions work before you sign in.
Signing in unlocks Save word, Save line, Explain, TEF/TCF practice, and Review. Those stay on your PrepMyFrench account.
The video needs a caption track. French is best. Human captions and YouTube's auto captions both work, and a track in another language works too.
On the player, open CC. Choose Français when it is in the list. If French is missing and another language is there, the extension still reads that track and builds the French line. The panel title then says Immersion · FR (machine).
Trailers, music videos, and clips with no speech often have no captions. Pick a video where people are talking.
On a watch page the study panel sits beside the video. Each part does one job.
1Vous êtes en retard.
2You are late.
French line — the caption you hear, or French generated from another language.
English line — the translation under the French. It updates when the line stops changing.
Transcript — the caption file. Click a line to jump there. The current line is highlighted.
Save word — keeps the word you clicked, with the video and the timestamp.
Save line — keeps the whole French line.
Explain — a short note on the line or the word you selected.
TEF/TCF — a practice question from the line. The answer stays hidden until you reveal it.
Review now — opens the cards that are due.
A — previous line
D — next line
S — repeat the current line
Q — pause at the end of each line. Press Q again to turn it off.
These keys do nothing while you are typing in a field, and they do nothing until a caption file has loaded.
Pause on hover stops the video while your pointer is on a French word.
Speed is 0.75×, 1×, or 1.25×. The buttons follow the video. A change in YouTube's own speed menu updates the highlight.
Saved words and lines show up in the extension popup, under Saved and Review, and on the Immersion page. Review spaces the cards out: you grade one and it comes back later.
Open the Immersion review pageThis message means the video has no captions at all, in any language. Open CC and check the list. Music, trailers, and some short clips often have none. Choose another video.
A caption track is there, but the file has not arrived yet. Turn CC on, wait a few seconds, or reload the page. On a slow connection the file can land after the video starts.
Reload the YouTube tab after the extension updates. Chrome keeps the previous copy of the panel until the page loads again.
Tools that also rewrite captions or the YouTube page can block the caption file. Turn those off on youtube.com and reload.
Each caption line is its own request to Google Translate (translate.googleapis.com), up to four at a time, including before you sign in. When a video loads, and again when you jump ahead, the extension queues up to 400 lines from the current line. Those Google requests do not use your PrepMyFrench allowance.
If Google starts refusing requests, the line you are watching can be sent to PrepMyFrench while you are signed in, and that fallback does use the allowance. Translations are cached on this device. Hovering or selecting a word sends just that word.
Phrases you save are stored on your PrepMyFrench account with the video and timestamp. Explain and TEF/TCF practice send the caption you choose. You can revoke access from the extension or your profile.