For English learners who watch TV
Learn the lines people actually say.
SpeakLines reads every line of a TV series, scores each one for how useful it is, and gives you the few hundred worth saying out loud.
Type any English line into the script page. The score uses word counts from all 236 episodes of a ten-season sitcom.
You rehearse a line before saying it for real. Type it below and see what it's worth.
Keeper. Put it on your list.
I just need to know what you're going to do.
everyday wordless commonrarefiller, not scored
Score = 100 × commonness × learning load × length fit × recurrence × stands alone
The numbers
500 lines take you from 61% to 93% of the words.
We ran SpeakLines on every episode of a ten-season sitcom. Words like the, you and oh already make up 61% of everything said. Each line on the study list adds words you haven't met yet, so the first few hundred do most of the work.
- Episodes read
- 236
- Lines of dialogue
- 105,087
- Distinct lines scored
- 59,946
- Set phrases found
- 643
- Words learned in the first 500 lines
- 785
Set phrases are word groups that keep turning up together, like wait a minute and break up with. They count as things to learn alongside single words.
How it works
From a full series to a study list in three passes.
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Count every word
Each word is counted in its dictionary form, along with how many episodes it shows up in. A word said forty times in a single episode won't outrank tomorrow.
went, going, gone → go
don't → do not -
Score every line
Five checks, multiplied together. One rare word, or a line that only makes sense in its scene, pulls the whole score down.
commonness × learning load × length × recurrence × stands alone -
Put them in order
The list is built one line at a time. Each pick has to bring words or phrases you haven't met. After you've seen a word three times, it stops counting.
line 1 adds: know, think, believe, get back together
line 2 adds: want, say, sorry, I’m sorry
What we check
What makes a line worth learning.
Click any example to load it into the script page and see its score.
Commonness0 to 1
Every word in it is one you'll hear again. One rare word drags the whole line down.
Learning load0.25 to 1
It has real words to learn, beyond you, is and the. Set phrases add to it.
Length fitbest at 5 to 12 words
Long enough to teach something, short enough to say in one breath. Fillers like all right and you know don't count toward length.
Recurrence×1 and up
A line said word for word in episode after episode is a set expression. It earns a bonus.
Said word for word in 41 of 236 episodes.
Stands alone0.5 to 1
You can understand it without the scene around it. Lines that start with And or He, or trail off, lose points.
Out of 236 episodes
Lines you'll hear in almost every episode.
Short, fixed and everywhere. SpeakLines puts these at the front of your list.
Coming soon
Score your own show.
Upload the subtitles of any series you watch. SpeakLines gives you its study list: the lines worth saying, in the order worth learning them.