Educational Cinema EXPRESS

As a youngster, a neat method to learn a foreign language is to watch shows in their native language, preferably with subtitles for better understanding and word association. This is where specialized applications like Educational Cinema EXPRESS come in handy, letting you play movies with subtitles that are used as a means of learning, thanks to integrated dictionaries.

The application wants to get personal and before you get to take advantage of its features, you need to create your own use so that progress can be tracked and later on analyzed. Doing this enables you to reach the dashboard displaying statistics and giving you the possibility to manage a few settings before loading a video.

You can either use a CD/DVD as a source or import a decent variety of video files, such as WMV, AVI, DAT, VOB, MP4, MKV, OGM, 3GP, and FLV. There's also the possibility to simply drag files of interest over the main window, with the player automatically starting.

Playback controls are cleverly fitted in an upper toolbar that automatically hides shortly after you stop hovering your mouse cursor over it. Thus, it lets you start the video, pause or stop it, return to the dashboard, adjust volume, or skip through content via a progress slider.

What sets it apart from a common video player is the way in which subtitles are managed. The application uses built-in dictionaries, which are sadly just a couple, to examine words in the subtitle file and have definitions displayed so you can associate and identify them while the video plays.

Only after watching a video or two does the dashboard start to make some sense. A graph generates a visual representation of your progress, with a leitner box feature that displays words or phrases you can add, track and repeat until learned.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Educational Cinema EXPRESS mostly comes in handy for learning English. We're definitely hoping to see support for more languages since you can't add or create dictionaries. However, the overall experience is worth a try, being an extended and educational method of enjoying your favorite shows or movies.