Alternatives
Products that do what My cousin in Morocco almost quit coding because of English does
Hey HN, I’ve spent the last 2 years watching my cousin in Morocco struggle to learn Python. Not because he lacked the brains, but because every tutorial assumed fluency in English. Every new term meant 10 tabs of Google Translate. Turns out, he’s not alone. 75% of the world’s population doesn’t speak English, yet 95% of coding resources are English. So we built FIKR: coding courses taught natively in French, Dutch and German (with more languages coming). Yeah, you can find a random YouTube video explaining Python in French or Arabic. But stitching those into a learning path? It doesn't get…
- 1CC
I've been a longtime member @ HN, but I haven't been a developer. In fact, my only HN submission has been one asking how to learn to code (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=820741). My cofounder and I decided to solve the problem by making a simple, interactive way to get started with Codecademy. We'd love your feedback. If you're interested in helping us to get more courses up (on any topic!), please send us an email at [email protected].
2011 · codecademy.com
- 2LA
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
- 3
- 4
Learn English, Spanish, German, French & more by talking
2024
- 5IM
Recently moved to Egypt, and in dire need to get the numbers down. Great excuse to explore learning software some more. Possibly very niche, but maybe it is useful for someone else out there. Feedback is always welcome.
2023 · arabic-numbers.koljapluemer.com
- 6SB
2015 · spacy.io
- 7IM
Hey! I’m JC. I’m 17 and part of Hack Club, a nonprofit where we help teenagers ship programming projects with their friends while growing technically. A while ago, I asked myself the question, “How exactly do programming languages work behind the scenes?” It seemed really daunting until I went to a half hour workshop at a high school hackathon about writing a tree-walk interpreter and realized that getting started was actually super fun. This guide is designed in the vein of that - to get people, especially teenagers, started on learning how to build a programming language in a literal…
2024 · easel.hackclub.com
- 8LP
Hi! I am doing a learning project, attempting to build an imperative language (and interpreter). The end product will be useless for others, I just want to learn and better understand how to build imperative languages. :) If someone else shares this interest and want to give some good hints on good resources I would be grateful. Currently I am looking at an awesome text by Bob Nystrom. All suggestions and tips on resources are most welcome. I am very much a beginner in this, but I find this topic very fascinating. Mail me or post links here! Cheers! You can try a beta version Online at…
2020
- 9AN
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
- 10PI
2015 · thesage21.github.io
- 11
- 12TN
Here is a tool I built initially for myself to help with my German and Greek language studies. It started as a hack for creating Anki cards from native language audio. It extracts the words, finds their base forms (lemmas) and groups the examples by the lemma. At some point I realised that I have a transcription with word level timestamps that opens a lot of other opportunities. So I added a mode to click the first and last word in the transcript and it starts looping with the right gap and repeat count. Another feature I use a lot is selecting an audio fragment, sending a predefined prompt…
Jun 2026 · lingochunk.com
- 13IW
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
- 14IB
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
- 15PP
Hi everyone! I just released the Practical Python Projects book! (https://practicalpython.yasoob.me) I am happy to announce the first version as a release candidate. I have poured a lot of love into writing this book and would love to hear what you guys think. (A limited 100% off and discount coupons at the end) This is not a pure beginner book. The book does assume some background Python knowledge. You need to know the basics like methods, functions, classes, and such. If I use something that is not typically covered in beginner Python books, I will explain it before I use it.…
2021 · practicalpython.yasoob.me
- 16LL
Hi! I'm living as an expat in France and I had a hard time following the news. So I've been working on Fluentsubs that turns YouTube content into a language learning experience. YouTube videos up to 20 minutes can be transcribed and listened to. At the same time I made it easy to lookup certain words and automatically add spaced repetition cards using the given context. This means that you can also rehearse with a real voice and not with AI dubs. This works especially well for the somewhat smaller languages that have a small track on Duolingo, and now are desperately looking for content…
2025 · fluentsubs.com
- 17IM
2023 · languageworldmap.com
- 18IM
Mar 2026 · github.com
- 19IS
I'm Tim. I speak German, English, French, Turkish, and Chinese. I learned Turkish with lairner itself -- after I built it. That's the best proof I can give you that this thing actually works. The other four I learned the hard way: talking to people, making mistakes, reading things I actually cared about, and being surrounded by the language until my brain gave in. Every language app I tried got the same thing wrong: they teach you to pass exercises, not to speak. You finish a lesson, you get your dopamine hit, you maintain your streak, and six months later you still can't order food in the…
Feb 2026 · lairner.com
- 20CL
2018 · code4all.org
- 21LA
2014 · github.com
- 22ET
As we have all seen LLMs are pretty damn good at turning natural language to code, so why are we not writing programs in English? This an experiment in compiling english "programs" to python. It is half a meme and half serious.
2024 · github.com
- 23TO
Throughout my career, while exploring different programming languages, I realized that having a quick reference was essential for refreshing my memory on the fly. So I developed a habit: for every new language I learned, I’d build a reference file (like python_reference.py) that documented everything from basic syntax to advanced features. Now, a decade later, these files have become my go-to resource. They’ve helped me study for interviews, revisit old projects after years, and now, in the AI era where generating code in unfamiliar languages is more common than ever, I think they’re more…
2025 · referencecollection.com
- 24IM
English is my second language. From my experience, I learnt that developing your vocabulary is a long and arduous process. Traditionally, learners used flashcards (or their digital incarnations). I wanted to build something more engaging and more effective in building your vocabulary. DictionaryGames is aimed mostly at ESL (English as a Second Language) students, but I am hoping it might be fun for any English language lovers. The project is in BETA, it is free, and no registration is required. I am looking for feedback to improve it. If you comment, please indicate if you are a native…
2025 · dictionarygames.io
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Refine with a description →