Questions, answered.

Míngbai is a desktop Chrome extension for Netflix, YouTube, iQIYI and Viki. Understand Chinese phrases while you watch, explore an optional Episode lesson, and remember saved language with Study, short reviews on the Míngbai website.

Most subtitle extensions are dictionaries: they split a line into single characters and words and dump the whole dictionary at you. Míngbai reads the line intelligently, and keeps together the phrases people actually say. Our intelligence allows us to use the episode itself to teach you, adapted to your level.

Míngbai is for Mandarin learners, from beginners to those reconnecting with a heritage language. Start with English subtitles and a few accessible expressions, or explore more of the dialogue. Episode learning helps you explore useful material at your level.

Míngbai works best once you know some basic words. Until then, keep English subtitles on and let Míngbai mark a few phrases as you watch. When you create your account, choose “Just starting” so Episode lessons start at your level.

Yes. If you understand spoken Chinese but read less, choose “Heritage speaker” when you set your starting level as you create your account; you can change it later in your account. Pinyin stays on, and your Lessons start with grammar pitched higher than your reading. The Script setting lets you show Simplified or Traditional characters, whichever you grew up with. And intelligent phrase parsing groups each line into whole phrases, which helps you read lines you can already half-hear.

Míngbai is for people aged 13 and over.

Yes. Míngbai works on Netflix, YouTube, iQIYI and Viki in desktop Chrome, on any show with Chinese text subtitles or a Chinese transcript track.

Check these, in order:

1. The show needs Chinese subtitles. Not every title has them.
2. Choose Chinese in the player’s subtitle menu: Audio & Subtitles on Netflix, the CC or settings menu on YouTube, and the subtitle menu on iQIYI and Viki.
3. Make sure Míngbai subtitles are switched on: in the Míngbai panel, open the ⋯ menu, choose Settings, and set Míngbai subtitles to On.
4. Míngbai works in desktop Chrome on Netflix, YouTube, iQIYI and Viki.

Míngbai includes a Simplified/Traditional script control, plus optional pinyin and English subtitles. You can show only the layers that help you and keep the original video in view.

Instead of treating every character as an isolated lookup, Míngbai groups a subtitle into chunks that carry meaning together—such as grammar patterns, verb complements and common expressions. That keeps the sentence structure visible while you inspect a useful word or phrase. Read why phrase-first matters.

The teaching comes from Míngbai’s own intelligent phrase parsing and dictionaries. AI comes in when you ask for it: Context Explanation explains a phrase in its line, and Scene Q&A answers your questions about the scene. AI answers can be wrong.

The Privacy Policy explains who processes those requests.

Any tool can plug in a dictionary. Míngbai’s intelligence is built specifically for Chinese: where each phrase starts and ends, what it means, and what’s worth teaching you.

Keep it for other languages. Míngbai only does Chinese, and for Chinese it gives you what a general subtitle tool can’t.

Míngbai may process supported subtitle text and limited source information through its hosted services to provide phrase chunks, pinyin and learner cards. Extra context is sent for Context Explanation or Scene Q&A only when you deliberately request one of those features. For data categories, providers, local storage, retention and your rights, read the Privacy Policy.

They stay in that browser. Nothing is copied to an account automatically. After you sign in, Míngbai’s Saved view asks whether to add them to your account: choose Add to my account, or Not now to keep them on this browser for now. Your lookup history always stays on the browser.

Yes. On the Saved page of the Míngbai website, Export CSV downloads everything you’ve saved, with its pinyin, meaning and the line it came from. Anki and spreadsheets can import the file.

Free, for as long as you need:

• Unlimited word-by-word lookups: tap any word for its pinyin and meaningplus 20 minutes a day of intelligent phrase parsing
• Save words and phrases and keep them in sync on your account
• Study and review what you’ve saved
• 5 AI explanations a day: explain a line in context or ask about a scene

Pro: everything in Free, plus

• Unlimited intelligent phrase parsing
• Episode recap and lesson: when an episode ends, the words and phrases that came up, where they came up, and a short lesson built from them
• Unlimited AI explanations and scene questions*

Try Pro free for 7 days, no card needed. *Fair use restrictions apply; see below. The Pricing page has prices and billing choices.

Intelligent phrase parsing groups each line into the phrases people actually say, the phrase-first way of reading shown on the homepage. The 20 minutes count only while a video is playing on screen with Chinese subtitles and intelligent phrase parsing on, so pausing or switching to another tab stops the count. They reset every day at midnight UTC. After 20 minutes in a day, Míngbai switches to word-by-word lookups for the rest of that day. You can still tap any word for its pinyin and meaning, as much as you like. Pro keeps intelligent phrase parsing on all the time.

No. Once you subscribe, your price stays the same for as long as your subscription stays active.

Fair use. Pro is for one person’s own learning. We may limit or pause features if an account is used in ways far beyond normal personal use. That includes automated or scripted use, sharing an account between people, or unusually heavy daily use of AI features. We’ll tell you if we do, and help you get back to normal use.

An eligible signed-in Free user can choose to start one seven-day Pro trial. No card is required, and the trial does not automatically become a paid subscription or create a future charge. When it ends, you return to Free unless you separately choose to subscribe.

The Pricing page explains current plans and subscription choices. Your first paid subscription purchase is separately covered by the current 14-day money-back guarantee described in the Terms of Service. The Privacy Policy explains how data is handled. You can also email [email protected].

With Pro or the 7-day trial, Míngbai picks a few useful expressions at your level to listen for as an episode starts. When it ends, it shows you where they came up, in the episode’s own lines, and offers an optional short Episode lesson. On any plan, save what matters to you and review it in Study. What you study helps shape what Míngbai picks next. Follow the journey.

Yes. Keep English subtitles if they help you enjoy the story, and use pinyin and phrase meanings to notice some Chinese along the way. The content still needs an available Chinese text subtitle or transcript track; Míngbai does not read subtitles burned into the video image.

Míngbai runs in desktop Chrome. Add Míngbai from the Chrome Web StoreSend this page to your computer. Chinese text subtitles are required; English subtitles are welcome.