Solaread

A reader for your second language

Let reading be reading.
Let learning be lighter.

Solaread translates the words you do not know, right inside the line, and leaves the rest alone. No copy, no paste, no switching tabs. Just the book, the paper or the article, with the help you actually need.

Sign up now See how it works
  • Sign up now, and it runs in your browser
  • EPUB, TXT and PDF
  • A 30-second vocabulary test tunes it to you

Inline · predicted wordsA neural network learns a representation(表征) of its input by adjusting millions of parameters(参数) through gradient descent(梯度下降), one small step at a time.

Interlinear · words you savedOverfitting过拟合 happens when a model memorizes记住 the training data instead of generalizing泛化 to unseen未见过的 examples.

Select an underlined word or hover a gloss.Tap an underlined word.Tab to a word and press Enter. Escape closes the popover.

The problem

Reading in another language should not feel like work

Most of the effort is not the language. It is the interruptions.

  • Every lookup breaks the flow

    Copy the word, switch to a translator, paste, read the meaning, switch back, find your line. Two clicks and a keyboard trip, dozens of times per chapter.

  • Translated editions depend on the translator

    A translated book is someone else's reading of it. When the translation is uneven, the author disappears behind it. The original is where the voice is.

  • Memorized terms do not stick

    Course vocabulary crammed for one exam is gone by the next. Words you meet in context, in the paper you are actually reading, stay.

  • Attention does not come back for free

    Once the flow breaks, the phone wins. For some readers one interruption costs the whole session, and the chapter never gets finished.

How it works

Help that appears inside the line, only where you need it

Solaread reads with you. It predicts which words you do not know, translates those, and gets out of the way.

Personalized prediction

A model that knows which words you need

After you sign up, a vocabulary test that takes about 30 seconds tells Solaread where you stand. From then on, every book is scanned against your level: the model predicts the words you probably do not know and translates only those.

As you read and react, it adjusts. As your vocabulary grows, it translates less. The help shrinks as you do not need it.

  • About 30 seconds to calibrate, refine any time
  • Separate levels for general and professional vocabulary: economics, finance, law, medicine, computer science
  • Adapts to your feedback book by book
The Solaread vocabulary test showing a word card with Don't know and Know it actions
The vocabulary test: one word at a time, two answers, done in about 30 seconds.

Inline and interlinear

Translations in the line, not in a side panel

Two kinds of help, both inside the text. Inline glosses are what the model predicts you need: a short translation in parentheses right after the word. Interlinear glosses sit underneath the line for the words you chose to save, so they stay with the sentence when you come back to it.

Either way the translation is inserted with a smooth animation. Your eyes never leave the page.

Solaread reader showing inline glosses in parentheses after predicted words
Inline: the model's predicted words get a gloss after the word.
Solaread reader showing an interlinear gloss beneath a saved word
Interlinear: a word you saved keeps its gloss under the line.

Hover for context

Move the mouse, get the explanation

When a one-word gloss is not enough, hover it. A small popover explains the term in the context of the sentence you are reading. Move away and it is gone. No click, no selection, no modal.

If the model missed a word, double-click it, or select even one letter of it, and the same popover appears with the translation and the option to save it.

Recorded in the reader: hover a gloss, read the explanation, move on.

Word list

Save a word, and the line keeps its gloss

Double-click a word the model left alone, choose Add to vocabulary, and an interlinear gloss appears under it on the spot, so the meaning is still there when you reread the passage next week. Your choice also flows back into the model, which learns what you tend to save and what you already know.

Saved words live in your vocabulary book, each with the sentence it came from, one click away from its place in the book.

Recorded in the reader: double-click, add to vocabulary, then find the word in your vocabulary book.

Languages

One reader, any language under the line

The annotation language is a setting, not an edition. Pick English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Vietnamese, Spanish or Portuguese, or search for any other language, and change it any time; the open book is re-translated in place.

Books can be in English, French or Spanish today, and more source languages are on the way. The interface is available in nine languages.

Close-up of the Solaread reader: English book · Chinese glosses
English book · Chinese glosses
Close-up of the Solaread reader: French book · Chinese glosses
French book · Chinese glosses
Close-up of the Solaread reader: Spanish book · Chinese glosses
Spanish book · Chinese glosses
Close-up of the Solaread reader: English book · Japanese glosses
English book · Japanese glosses

Chrome extensionAvailable now

One click in Chrome, and the article is on your shelf

See a web page or article you’re interested in? Click the Solaread extension and it appears on your bookshelf, with the same pre-translation as an imported book.

  • Saves the article text and its source link
  • The same article can’t be saved twice
  • Reads a page only when you click Save

Add to Chrome

Your library

All your documents, synced across your devices

Import the books and papers you already have. Your library, reading position, highlights and notes follow your account, so the page you stopped at on your laptop is waiting on your next device. PDF papers are turned into readable text, scanned pages included.

  • Books, progress, highlights and notes sync automatically
  • Your reading position restored on every device
  • PDFs turned into readable text, scanned pages included
The Solaread bookshelf listing imported books with format and progress
The bookshelf: one row per book, with format and progress. Account details are blurred.

Scholar Plus

A notes panel that reads along with you

For study, research and writing. Scholar mode opens a panel beside the reader so the notes live next to the text they came from.

Available today

  • A notes panel beside the reader, one note per book, saved as you write, with Markdown import and export
  • Jump from an excerpt back to its place in the book; words from the book that appear in your note get their glosses added after you pause
  • Everything in the free reader, plus PDF and PowerPoint import and 7 times the free plan’s translation allowance. The allowance is larger, not unlimited

Coming next Coming

  • Completion that knows what you are reading: the note suggests the next phrase from the paper or book in front of you
  • A profile that steers it, such as "graduate student, writing my first paper", so suggestions and note organization fit your work
Rendering of the Solaread reader with the notes panel beside it: a note about the paper, with a faded AI completion of the next sentence waiting for Tab
The notes panel beside the reader, with a completion drawn from the page you are on: the faded text is the suggestion, Tab accepts it.

This is a rendering of the panel in development, not a screenshot.

Who it is for

Built for the reading you have to do, and the reading you want to do

Studying abroad

Papers, lecture notes and textbooks, without the lookup loop

Course readings are dense with terms you have to understand, not just recognize. Solaread translates the ones you do not know inside the line, explains them in context on hover, and keeps the ones you save. By exam week the vocabulary is familiar because you met it where it lives.

Reading for pleasure

Read the original and meet the author

A translated edition is only as good as its translator, and some are hard to bear. With Solaread you can read the book as it was written. The gloss appears for the words you would have stumbled on and stays out of the sentences you already own. The insertion is designed not to break your reading, and the more you read, the less of it you see.

I have ADHD, and what I fear most when reading is being interrupted. Reading an English novel used to mean copying a word, pasting it into a translator, reading the meaning, switching back and finding my line again. Somewhere in that round trip my attention would slip: a few short videos, a walk to get water, and the book was put down.

With Solaread the gloss is already next to the word, so I never leave the line I am reading and the story keeps going. Now I read one chapter after another.

— Sibo Wang, first-round beta tester

Roadmap

Where Solaread runs today, and where it is going

Honest statuses. Nothing below is a promise of a date.

  • Available now

    Web

    Solaread runs in your browser today. Nothing to install.

  • Coming soon

    Windows

    A desktop app for Windows is in the works.

  • Coming soon

    macOS

    A native Mac app is on the way.

  • Coming soon

    iPhone and iPad

    A native app for iPhone and iPad, including the new iPhone Duo, is coming to the App Store.

  • Available now

    Chrome extension

    Save web articles to your bookshelf.

  • Planned

    E-ink devices

    Dedicated support for e-ink readers, tuned for slow refresh and high contrast.

  • Planned

    Podcast import

    Bring podcast episodes into your bookshelf as text.

  • Available now

    Languages

    The interface is available in nine languages. Read books in English, French or Spanish, with glosses in any language. More source languages are on the way.

  • Planned

    Original books from publishers

    A library of original-language books inside Reader Plus. We are in discussion with publishers.

Pricing

Start free. Upgrade anytime.

Here is what each plan includes.

Scholar Plus

$9.99USD / month

Everything in Solaread.

Scholar Pro

$14.99USD / month

More usage, so you can read freely.

Reader Plus

Coming soon

Coming soon

Everyday reading with personalized translation, plus original books from publishers.

Compare plans

FAQ

Good to know

What is Solaread?

Solaread is a reader for books, papers and articles written in a language you are still learning. You import what you want to read, and Solaread translates only the words it predicts you do not know, right inside the line. Everything else is left as the author wrote it.

It runs in your browser today; sign up to start.

How does Solaread decide which words to translate?

A personalized prediction model. After a vocabulary test of about 30 seconds, Solaread has an estimate of your general level and, if you choose, your level in professional fields such as law, medicine or computer science.

Every book is then scanned against that estimate. The words you probably do not know get a gloss; the rest do not. As you read and react, by saving words or marking them known, the model adjusts. As your vocabulary grows, it translates less.

Which file formats can I read?

EPUB, TXT and PDF. PDF papers are turned into readable text, scanned pages included. PDF import is part of Scholar Plus.

With the Chrome extension, web articles can be saved to your bookshelf too.

All questions

Let reading be reading.

Sign up, take the 30-second vocabulary test, and start the book you have been putting off.

Sign up now See all platforms