I built a language learning app from movie clips, won $30K at Hungary's biggest startup competition, and now have 300K+ users

It started because I kept pausing Netflix to look up words and forgetting them five minutes later.

So I built an iOS app for myself. Tap any word in a subtitle while streaming, get an instant translation, save it, review it later with spaced repetition. Simple.

Then I realized streaming subtitles alone weren't enough.

I started curating short movie clips as standalone lessons: watch a 30-second scene, quiz yourself on the vocabulary, repeat. That's when it clicked. Passive watching became active learning.

From there it kept growing. What was a personal subtitle tool turned into a full language learning app: think Duolingo, but built around real movie clips instead of cartoon exercises. Curated lessons, quizzes, spaced repetition flashcards, pronunciation practice, all from real native content.

Along the way I entered Hungary's biggest business competition and won the $30K grand prize.

That gave me the push to go all in: Android, Chrome extension, 20+ languages.

Where it's at now:

• iOS, Android, and Chrome
• 20+ languages
• Curated movie clip lessons with quizzes
• Spaced repetition so words actually stick
• Interactive subtitles for streaming

The hardest part was deciding what NOT to build. Language apps try to do everything. I wanted Wordy to do one thing well: help you learn from content you actually enjoy.

Anyone else tried learning a language from movies or TV? Curious what worked for you and what didn't.