Alternatives
Products that do what A retention mechanic for learning that isn't Duolingo manipulation? does
i've spent the last few years shipping learning products at scale - Andrew Ng's AI upskilling platform, my MIT Media Lab spinoff focused on AI coaching. the retention problem was the same everywhere. people would engage with content once and not return. not because the content was bad - rather because there was no mechanism/motivation to make it a habit. the standard industry answer is gamification — streaks, points, badges. Duolingo has shown this works for language. but I'm skeptical it generalizes. duolingo's retention is built on a very specific anxiety loop that feels increasingly…
- 1AD
Hi HN, I watch A LOT of educational YouTube videos but wasn't forgetting a good chunk of the details because I was only really passively watching. So I made a tool that generates quiz questions/flashcards from YouTube videos, and uses spaced repetition like Anki or Duolingo to keep it in memory. Let me know if you find it cool/useful (or terrible ) or if you want to know a bit about the details!
2024 · platoedu.org
- 2DS
I've been working on a little side project that combines Duolingo-like listening comprehension exercises with real content . Every video is transcribed to get much better transcripts than the closed captions. I filter on high quality transcripts, and afterwards a LLM selects only plausible segments for the exercises. This seems to work well for quality control and seems to be reliable enough for these short exercises. Would love your thoughts!
2025 · app.fluentsubs.com
- 3
- 4PD
Hi! Wanted to share the project I really wanted to have. TLDR; this app lets you create your own list of words and you get a Duolingo-like experience (kind of, still needs a lot of features) practicing those words in their context. My English is not the best but not the worst either. But I realized I can't boost it up after a certain level! In my belief, in order to truly learn a language, you need to be exposed to that language often. Vocabulary is the key factor here if you really want to improve in any language. My experience is that when I read a book to improve my English vocabulary, I…
2025 · github.com
- 5LA
Hi guys, Hope everyone is well. This app was borne out of my own frustration. I thought that I was terrible at learning languages at school, since I didn't become conversational in French after 5 years of study. However, I later traveled with some French friends and, in just under 3 weeks, I was able to hold a reasonable conversation. I realized that there's no substitute for speaking to native speakers. I tried to adopt this approach for other languages, but it's much harder to find people to practise with when you aren't travelling. I started using iTalki to meet people from different…
2023 · prettypolly.app
- 6LC
Hey folks! I'm Callum, and I'm working on a way to practice a new language with an AI powered tutor. I've always found that the hardest part of learning a new language is finding someone to actually converse with. Even if a partner can be found, the pressure can mean that you are more focused on not making mistakes than on actually learning new grammar or vocabulary. The service that I have been working on allows you to practice with a language tutor via online chat messages, or you can have a turn-based voice conversation. I'm working on a number of other features that will be coming out…
2023 · learnlingo.dev
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
slowly inch your way to mastery: try, fail, learn, get good
Mar 2026 · neuralingo.academy
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14IS
Sep 2025 · three-cells.com
- 15IB
Hello Hacker News, When learning foreign languages, I made the most progress by speaking them throughout the day, every day. So I made a site where you can *speak* to an AI language teacher to practice both listening and speaking. # The product *What I have now:* * Multilingual speech recognition: You can ask a question in English and get an answer in your target language. * Feedback on your grammar. * Suggestions: See examples of what to say next to keep the conversation flowing. * Speed: Choose a lower speed for beginners or a faster one for advanced levels. * Translations: Click to see a…
2023 · gliglish.com
- 16RC
Hi HN, 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.…
2024 · respeakable.com
- 17AN
Hi HN, I’m Pablo, I built this application to learn languages using podcasts: https://www.langturbo.com (No signup required) There are a lot of tools to learn languages, but most of them focus on beginners (understandably so, that’s where the money is) but not many exist that target intermediate or advanced learners. The ones that exist make you find content on your own and then import that into their apps, which can be tricky when you don’t know where to look. LangTurbo has a unique curated database of podcasts by language (some even have dialect labels) that you can browse by…
2025 · langturbo.com
- 18RL
I’ve been tinkering with Ricotta for about a year now and I'm happy to announce it’s ready to for others to use officially. Largely the time has been spent making the project a framework to spin up newer projects quickly which I can share details around if anyone is interested. The app was born out of my frustration with Duolingo drilling me on words I knew. I moved on to creating custom Anki cards and found myself spending ages creating decks. It’s free, uses spaced repetition under the hood, and focuses on helping you learn what you want to without a course structure. I'd love to hear your…
2025 · ricotta.affineur.io
- 19OS
I built an open-source tool for learning anything using AI: - Type what you want to learn - It creates a full interactive course for you Move from beginner to mastery of any subject, even complex things like Quantum Physics It has three formats: - Explanation: bite-sized lessons that you swipe like TikTok/Instagram - Practice: solve problems in real-world situations - Quiz: test your knowledge in Duolingo-like lessons - Language courses have a different format covering vocabulary, reading, and listening skills It's more hands-on than reading a long textbook or watching a video Plus, it…
May 2026 · zoonk.com
- 20LB
Hello everyone. I built an AI-based toolset to help me with language learning. I wanted to be able to easily generate very specific study content and get rapid feedback on my writing. Unlike most language apps, it doesn’t actually try to teach you a language. Instead, it’s a collection of tools for people at an intermediate level who already have a learning process It’s particularly great for Anki users. There a demo video on the login page, and I set up anonymous auth for people who want to test it without creating an account. Feedback and bug reports welcome.
2025 · drillapp.xyz
- 21IB
Hi Everyone, I recently wanted to learn Japanese with duolingo but it kept giving me repetitive lessons. So I built an app that gives a variety of lessons from anime. You can try it out here:https://kanjieight.vercel.app/ Thanks everyone.
Nov 2025 · kanjieight.vercel.app
- 22IW
As hard as I tried, I didn't find a modern language learning book that's either very academic, or like "master a language with my super-magic great method in 3 months". So I dug into the academic research, tried many techniques myself, saw what worked, wrote a book for learners of any language and any level, and made it free without ads. Today, finally, a 2 years-long project ends. I hope it helps anyone. Book's here: https://thehardway.guide/ Cheers
2023
- 23
Chinese vocab, drilled into long-term memory. Free, offline.
May 2026 · wordbrushchinese.com
- 24
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Refine with a description →