We’ve just launched v1 of Respeakable, an AI-enhanced language tutor. We have two German lessons (Level A2, beginner to complete beginner) designed by a language-teacher friend of ours – feel free to try it out and give any feedback.

We (lschneider and I) have been experimenting with learning languages (specifically French) using different vocabulary apps and tools. The issue is that apps like Duolingo are after your attention (their motto is “test everything”) rather than teaching you a language and are therefore hyper gamified and too easy – all about hijacking your dopamine system. The only viable solution seems to be to attend real-life courses.

We always thought language learning is the perfect use-case for LLMs but we’ve been astounded at how bad all AI language tutors out there are, so we’ve decided to make a better one that we would actually use.

Respeakable uses structured lessons that are much like real-life lessons and only use LLMs for certain exercises, where it makes sense. We also use FSRS (free spaced repetition scheduler) and word frequency lists for practicing vocabulary on flashcards efficiently. FSRS has been shown to increase speed of memorization by ~30%. As a by-the-by: FSRS is also just being rolled out in Anki for those that know it.

We will be adding more lessons and features in the next few days so stay tuned.

Have a great day!

[1] FSRS: https://github.com/open-spaced-repetition/fsrs4anki/wiki/ABC...