I built the language app I wanted when I was learning Portuguese
When I was learning languages, one thing kept bothering me: why was I supposed to learn so much before I was allowed to say anything?
Then I watched people arrive in a country where they did not know the language. Within days they had a small vocabulary. Crooked phrases, bad grammar, mistakes everywhere. Still, they could ask for food, find an address, explain what they needed. The words stayed because the words had work to do.
Children learn in a similar way. They listen for a long time, try to repeat, get half of it wrong and watch the adult understand anyway. Then the adult corrects them. The sentence becomes cleaner after it has already been useful.
That order always made more sense to me.
What basic meant to me
I was not trying to pass an exam. I wanted to walk into any Portuguese-speaking country, explain what I needed and understand the answer.
If I could catch half of a sentence, I could usually pull the rest from the situation. A waiter points at the menu. A driver looks at the address. Someone repeats one word more slowly. Context carries more weight than a textbook admits.
So I built my own system around useful vocabulary, listening, repetition and real situations. Grammar still matters. It arrives after you have something to attach it to.
Then I turned it into an app
I recently vibe-coded a web app based on that system. You choose the language you already know. English speakers learn Brazilian Portuguese, and Portuguese speakers learn American English.
Version 0.91 has 2,774 learning items, 5,954 audio clips and 1,110 visual vocabulary cards. There are words, everyday situations, short grammar explanations, review modes and an optional tutor. The course works without an account or an API key.
I made it quickly because I wanted to use it, not spend six months describing it in a document. Now it is public.
If it helps you, use it. If something is awkward, broken or simply useless, tell me. I will improve it when I can.
That is the whole idea. Start speaking. Clean it up later.