RainbowSay Guide
Everything the app can do, in plain words.
Set up in two minutes, then go as deep as you like: three ways to learn, teach and create — ears, mouth, eyes — and the settings that make each one yours. Written for macOS 14.2 and later.
- Listening
Listening · ears
Your show pauses at the end of each sentence and a card explains it.
- Translation, vocabulary with readings, grammar
- Replay with word-by-word highlight
- Chat about any sentence
- Speaking
Speaking · mouth
Say a sentence in the language you’re learning: see what it meant, every word you used, and one correction.
- Push-to-talk or hands-free
- Corrections on what you said
- Routines for practicing alone
- Subtitles
Subtitles · eyes + ears
Live translated captions in a transparent window, over any video or call — or over your own voice.
- Original line plus your languages
- Never pauses what you watch
- Saved transcript, audio and SRT
All articles
Start here
Install, sign in, grant permissions and run a first session.
- Getting startedInstall RainbowSay on macOS, sign in with Google, grant audio access and run your first Listening session on a video you like. About two minutes.
- PermissionsThe three macOS permissions RainbowSay uses — System Audio Recording Only, Microphone, Accessibility — what each is for, its macOS 27 name, how to fix it.
- LanguagesSet the input and output language in RainbowSay: auto-detect, 57 languages for Listening and Speaking, and the 13 languages live Subtitles translate into.
Listening
Turn what you watch into sentence-by-sentence lessons.
- ListeningHow a Listening session works in RainbowSay: it hears your video, pauses at each sentence and shows the translation, vocabulary and grammar. Then Continue.
- The cardRead a RainbowSay translation card: original sentence, translation, vocabulary with readings you can pronounce, a grammar note and word links.
- Replay and redoReplay the original sentence and its spoken translation side by side in RainbowSay, follow the word-by-word highlight, and redo a take that came out wrong.
- Chat about a sentenceUse the sentence chat in RainbowSay to ask why a verb form was used, whether a phrase is polite, or for more examples. Answers are saved with the sentence.
- Choose what to listen toPoint RainbowSay at all of your Mac's audio or at a single app, so notifications, music and other tabs don't end up in your language lesson.
- Sentence detectionControl where RainbowSay cuts sentences: semantic or silence-based detection, eagerness, a sentence length limit for fast talkers, auto-pause and spacebar.
- Spoken translationPick the voice that reads translations in RainbowSay, slow it down or speed it up, or switch to text-only cards to make your allowance last longer.
- Skip ads and musicUse Suspend in RainbowSay to stop translating during ads, songs or intros without ending your session — and see how silence is handled for free.
Speaking
Say it out loud in the language you’re learning — and get one correction at a time.
- SpeakingPractice speaking a language on your Mac with RainbowSay: hold space, say a sentence, and see it written out, translated and glossed, with one correction.
- Microphone setupPick a built-in, USB, Bluetooth or iPhone microphone in RainbowSay, check the live input level, and set noise reduction for a headset or a laptop mic.
- Practice routinesThree ways to practice speaking a language alone with RainbowSay: shadow native speakers, check yourself by translating back, and role-play with chat.
Subtitles
Live translated captions over any video or call — or of your own voice, for an audience.
- SubtitlesLive translated subtitles on your Mac with RainbowSay: a transparent caption window over any video or call — or captions of your own voice for an audience.
- Several languagesRun live subtitles in two or three languages at once with RainbowSay: add a language mid-session, hide or end one, or pop it out into its own window.
- AppearanceMake RainbowSay subtitles easy to read: text size, window width, text and background colors per language, a transparent look or a darker backdrop.
- Silence and auto-endWhat RainbowSay Subtitles do when the audio goes quiet: standby after 10 seconds, disconnect after 5 minutes, end after silence, and Keep waiting.
- Review saved sessionsRe-read and replay a RainbowSay Subtitles session: time-marked transcript with translations, audio in either language, copy the text or export SRT.
Study history
Everything you studied, saved on your Mac.
Account & help
Plans, credit, shortcuts and fixes.
- Plans and creditHow RainbowSay measures usage: free starter credit, a monthly allowance shown as a percentage, what happens at zero, upgrading in the app and add-on credit.
- TroubleshootingFixes for RainbowSay on macOS: no audio captured, the video doesn't pause or the wrong player pauses, the spacebar, microphones, sign-in and updates.
- Keyboard shortcutsEvery keyboard shortcut in RainbowSay: the spacebar for translate-now, continue and push-to-talk, plus Enter and Esc in the chat and the overlay.
Ways to use it
Workflows for students, teachers and creators.
- For studentsA study routine with RainbowSay: learn Japanese from anime, Spanish from series or Korean from dramas, sentence by sentence, then practice speaking.
- For teachersTeach a language with RainbowSay: pause real video on any sentence, caption your own voice in several languages, and unpack sentences said out loud.
- For creatorsCreate language content with RainbowSay: word-by-word breakdowns to screen-record, live two-language captions over your video or voice, transcripts and SRT.
Can’t find it?
Email support@rainbowsay.ai. A person reads every message — and your question probably becomes the next article.