Learn a language by reading books you actually want to read.
Pick a book you'd read anyway. StoryFluent slips in words from the language you're learning, a few at a time, until you're reading in it. Nothing to memorize, and nothing you'll delete in a week.
Your first book is free when you download the app, and you can unlock every other one without paying a penny.
Alice grew rather fatiguée of sitting by her sœur on the riverbank, when a white lapin came hurrying by.
Available in 12 languages
- English
- 中文
- हिन्दी
- Español
- العربية
- Français
- Português
- Русский
- Deutsch
- 日本語
- 한국어
- Italiano
- 3,800+books and short stories
- 12languages, any pair
- 7games made from your reading
Tap any word. Any language.
Double-tap a word and its dictionary entry opens right there on the page. Not only the words StoryFluent swapped in: any word in the book, in any of the 12 languages. It keeps working with no signal.
- Every meaning, each with its part of speech in your own language
- Hear it spoken, see a noun's gender, read how a verb changes
- Tap one character in Japanese or Chinese and it finds the whole word for you
The rain had not stopped since morning, and the streets below glimmered like rivers of glass. She pulled her coat tighter and hurried past the shuttered shops, her footsteps echoing in the empty square. Somewhere ahead, a bell began to ring. She quickened her pace, counting the doorways as she passed, until a familiar window came into view, glowing warm against the gray evening. Whatever waited on the other side of that door, it could not be worse than the cold. The old door groaned as she pushed it open, and for a moment the warmth of the room wrapped around her like a blanket. A fire crackled in the hearth, and the smell of coffee and old paper filled the air. He looked up from his book the moment she stepped inside, as though he had known exactly when she would arrive. Neither of them spoke. There was no need to, not yet. She simply crossed the room, sat down across from him, and let the silence settle comfortably between them, the rain still tapping softly against the window glass.
- a building where trains stop
- a place something operates from
Everything a language app does, without the language app
Reader, dictionary, review, games, handwriting and a daily news feed. All of it fed by the book you're actually reading.
The book does the teaching
No invented dialogues, no stock phrases. A word here and there at first, then more of your new language the deeper you get into the story.
Tap any word, in any language
Double-tap any word, not only the swapped ones, and its dictionary entry opens on the page. Every meaning, how it sounds, and how the word changes.
Hear it in both languages
The book read aloud in your language, with every swapped word spoken in the one you're learning. The page keeps pace with the audio.
The news, in your new language
Full stories and headlines from around the world, in your own language with the same gentle word swaps. Fresh every morning.
Practice built from your books
Supplement your learning with word games and writing exercises. Seven games built from your own reading, each with ten levels, plus a chalkboard that teaches every script from Hangul to kanji to Arabic.
Reasons to come back tomorrow
A streak worth protecting, levels to climb, and badges that only move when you actually read.
From your first word to your last novel
You tell StoryFluent where you are and a short placement check does the rest. The same app carries you from your first word in a new language to reading that language without help.
-
1
Beginner
A few of the commonest words per page, and only a handful of new ones to learn each day.
-
2
Intermediate
The basics are yours, so the page reaches past them and the vocabulary widens.
-
3
Advanced
Comfortable reading, with the rarer words a textbook never gets to.
-
4
Expert
The ramp comes off. Every eligible word switches from the first page, as dense as you can take it.
Questions, answered
Bub gets asked these a lot.
Can you really learn a language just by reading?
Reading is one of the best ways to build vocabulary, and StoryFluent makes it work from day one. It swaps in only a few words per page at first, so the story stays readable, and increases the mix as you progress. Review sessions and games then make sure the words stick.
Do I need to already know some of the language?
No, and you won't outgrow it either. You tell the app where you are, from complete beginner to expert, and a short placement check tunes the rest. Beginners get a handful of the commonest words per page. Experts can have the whole page switch over from the very first page.
Which languages can I learn?
Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Russian, Hindi and Arabic, plus English if it isn't your native language. You can read in any of the 12 and learn any of the others.
Can I use my own books?
Yes. Import any EPUB, PDF or plain-text file you own. It's processed on your phone, and the content of the books you import never leaves your device.
Is StoryFluent free?
The app is free to download and your first book is included. Everything else in the Store runs on credits, which you earn by levelling up, practising daily, or watching an optional ad. You can buy credits if you'd rather not wait, and StoryFluent Pro is optional. No subscription is required.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Once a book is on your phone, reading, word lookups, reviews and games all work with no signal. Downloading books, fetching your language pack and the news reader need a connection.
When does it launch?
StoryFluent is coming soon to the App Store and Google Play. Join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment it's live.
Is there actually science behind this?
The method has a name, the diglot weave, and it goes back to a 1968 paper by the linguist Robbins Burling.3 You read in your own language while words from the new one are woven in at a rising rate. Researchers have studied it ever since, and the two things StoryFluent builds around it are well evidenced in their own right: seeing what a word means while you read,1 and spacing your reviews out over time.2 What Burling could not do in 1968 was build those texts by hand for every book in every language. That part is what StoryFluent automates.
Sources
Be first in line when it lands
StoryFluent reaches the App Store and Google Play soon. Join the waitlist and we'll tell you the day it goes live, first book included.
