LelaAI
Learn languages by reading real articles
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Worathiti Pung

LelaAI - Learn languages by reading real articles

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LaterAI
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I built Lela because Duolingo didn't work for me. 400+ days of streaks and I still couldn't read a news article. Lela takes a different approach: learn by reading real content. 1. Browse articles from top news sources or share any webpage 2. Every word shows its translation inline — just read naturally 3. Tap words you know to build your vocabulary 4. Quiz yourself with flashcards made from your words No streaks. No cartoon owls. Just reading — the way languages were always meant to be learned.

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Worathiti Pung
Maker
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Hey PH! 👋 I'm Pung, the solo dev behind LelaAI. Quick backstory: I had a 400+ day Duolingo streak and still couldn't read a German newspaper. That bugged me. Research backs this up, extensive reading is one of the most effective ways to acquire a language, yet most apps ignore it completely. So I built LelaAI. The idea is dead simple: read things you actually care about, in the language you're learning, with translations right there when you need them. Over time, you tap fewer and fewer words. That's real progress not XP points. A few things I'm proud of: - Explore tab — fresh articles daily from real news sources (Tagesschau, BBC Mundo, Le Monde, and more) so you always have something to read - Flashcard quizzes — test yourself on words you've actually learned from reading, not random vocabulary lists - Zero cloud dependency for translations — everything runs through Apple's on-device Translation framework, so it's fast and private - Share extension — see an interesting article in Safari? Share it to Lela and start reading with translations instantly - No engagement tricks — no streaks, no lives, no ads. Just reading. Would love your feedback. What languages are you learning? What kind of content would you want to read?
Olia Nemirovski

@pungme Love the design! The "no cartoon owls" philosophy really shows in the UI. As someone learning Portuguese through real articles and news, this approach makes so much more sense than gamified apps. Congrats on the launch!

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@olia_nemirovski Thank you! 😊

Nika

My level of learning is the same. Using DuoLingo for 1100+ days and not able to create some reasonable sentence :D

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@busmark_w_nika oh wow, 1100+ days in impressive non-the-less! 😅

But yeah… that’s exactly the problem we’re trying to solve. Many apps optimize for streaks, not real language output.

Nika

@pungme yes, but my learning is shallow, and I bought workbooks for practicing :D

Denis Yaremenko

@pungme love the real-content approach, but how does it handle difficulty levels? Can beginners jump straight to news articles, or do you recommend starting with simpler sources? And does it suggest articles based on vocabulary level? Thanks)

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@denious Thanks for the feedback! Right now, you can tap the word you know, and that word will never show up again in any future article. So, in the beginning, you might need to tap a few words until you reach the point where you don’t understand those words anymore.

In the future, I will let users decide the level of vocab. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Yusuf Abdelfattah

I am nearly 500 days on duolingo and I started to really feel that i am using it just to keep the streak going.
The articles based approach seems pretty interesting.
Good Luck!

Worathiti Pung
Maker
Jihwan Kim

Hello Pung, this app is great! I always wanted to learn Germany and Spanish.

However, free users can only download a 1 article a day, it's locked. Maybe 3 articles will be best for free users to try more.

Furthermore, if there is a AI speaker that speaks Germany, English, or etc. It would be more better to learn the pronunciation because Germany is different from pronunciation words by words.

In addition, there were some of vocabs or like title there is no translation in english in title, and in the context of paragraph some of words are missing as well!

I am korean, so if later in future if you add language in korean in options as well, it would be more super app because korean not even me super love for education like language.

Great work Pung!

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@jihwankim55 

Hey! That's a great feedback. The new version (2.0.3) will contains 3 free read per day and Korean language support.

happy reading!

Viktoriia

Another owl victim here 🦉 Had 200+ days streak and realized I was opening the app for the streak, not for English. The moment I missed one day - zero motivation to come back.

Learning through real articles is double useful - you actually learn the language AND stay informed. That's smart.

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@virtualviki “Another owl victim” should be an official support group at this point 🦉😂

Totally agree though once the streak breaks, the illusion kind of breaks with it too.

Real-world content just works better imo. You’re learning and getting something genuinely interesting out of it.

Nafis Amiri

Congrats, everything is so cute, i love it.

Worathiti Pung
Maker
@nafis_amiri thanks! 🙇🏻‍♂️🙏🏻
Alina Anitei

I totally relate to this because I started learning German with Duolingo and it didn't work for me. Learning through real articles is definitely the better way to go.

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@alina_anitei I'm glad you agree!

Kevin McDonagh

This is great fun, if you could choose preferred content like techmeme. I'd look through this app in that case.

Worathiti Pung
Maker
@kevin_mcdonagh1 will add this!!
Emiliia Khasanova

love this. this would solve the problem of me having to open the translator each time i see an unfamiliar word in a book i’m reading :) simple and powerful!

Worathiti Pung
Maker

@emiliia_khasanova Thank you! looking forward to your feedback :-D

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