Patrick Killeen

Projects Linglow

BuildPre-launch2026

Linglow

A language app for reading real books (Dracula, Alice in Wonderland) in nine languages including Irish. Every word is tappable, grammar shows as colour, the audio stays in sync.

Links
linglow.ie
Stack
TypeScript · Bun · Hono · Expo · React Native · SQLite · OpenAI · Azure TTS
Two Linglow phone screens. On the left, a sentence from Alice in Wonderland shown in English and then in French, every word inside a coloured pill for its grammatical role, with the audio player at the bottom reading 2 / 249. On the right, the card that opens when you tap a word: FRENCH, verb, commençait, then ENGLISH, began, then the definition 'The starting point or the early part.'

The short version

Linglow lets you read real books in the language you’re learning. Dracula and Alice in Wonderland are the two I’ve used most while building it. The text sits in both languages at once. Tap any word for its meaning and its part of speech. Grammar shows up as colour. You can see a verb or a particle before you know its name. The audio is synced to the words, and you can follow along or just listen.

It covers nine target languages, with English as the language you already know: Irish, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Welsh, Korean and Russian. Irish is there on purpose. It’s my home language market and the one commercial apps tend to skip.

The website is at linglow.ie.

It is pre-launch. The app runs as a TestFlight beta against a staging environment, and it is not on the App Store.

What it looks like

You pick a book and the language you want alongside English. After that the whole app works from that book: reading it, listening to it, saving from it and practising what you saved.

The Linglow book picker: a black and white illustration of Alice under a tree with the Cheshire Cat, titled “Alice Chapter 1”, three mode buttons labelled Reader, Book and Story, and a bar at the bottom reading “Read · Alice Chapter 1”, English to French, 2%.

Pick a book. Alice in Wonderland, English with French. Reader, Book and Story are the three ways to read it.

The Linglow reader: “Alice was beginning to feel very tired.” with each word in its own coloured pill, the French “Alice commençait à se sentir très” underneath in the same colours, and the audio player at the bottom, playing, at 1 / 249.

Read and listen. Each sentence in both languages, one coloured pill per word, with the audio playing along.

The Linglow library on the Words tab: saved words including 突然, el, shorthand, 日記, caía, commençait, sténographie, kept and Kurzschrift, each tagged with its language and the chapter of Alice or Dracula it came from.

Save what you want to keep. Words and sentences land in a library, tagged with their language and the chapter they came from.

The Linglow practise setup: mode buttons for Swipe, Typing and Match, source buttons for Level, Saved and Book with Book selected, “Book · Alice Chapter 1” in a dropdown, grid sizes from 2x3 to 4x4, and a Start button.

Practise from your book. Swipe, type or match, drawing on your level, your saved words, or a chapter you have read.

A Linglow match game in progress: a timer at 0:05, 0 of 8 pairs found, and a grid of tiles mixing Japanese words such as フォーク, 少し, 部屋 and 飲む with English ones such as fork, to drink, a room and to walk.

Match. Eight pairs, Japanese against English, on a timer.

The Linglow activity screen: a 28 7-day glow, five daily goals (login, read, save, goal and memory) with 4 of 5 earned today, and a calendar grid of active days reading 83 active days.

Keep going. Five small daily goals earn a glow, and the calendar fills in on the days you used it.

Alice in Wonderland in three of the nine languages: Irish, Japanese and Chinese.

Linglow reading Alice in Wonderland in Irish. “She wondered if making a daisy chain was worth it.” sits in coloured grammar pills, with the Irish “Bhí sí ag smaoineamh an raibh sé fiú slabhra daisí a dhéanamh.” underneath in matching colours, and the rest of the page below in English and Irish.

Irish.

Linglow reading Alice in Wonderland in Japanese. “She had nothing to do.” sits in coloured grammar pills, with the Japanese underneath in matching colours, and the rest of the page below with small reading guides above the Japanese.

Japanese.

Linglow reading Alice in Wonderland in Chinese. “The hot day made her feel sleepy and stupid.” sits in coloured grammar pills, with the Chinese underneath in matching colours and pinyin above each word, and the rest of the page below.

Chinese.

How it works

You open a book in one of three modes: Reader, Book or Story. Each sentence sits in English with the translation right under it.

Tap any word and a card slides in with that word in both languages and a short definition. One more tap saves it.

Grammar colour puts every word in a coloured pill for the job it does in the sentence. The matching word in the other language gets the same colour, which lets you see how the two sentences line up.

Audio reads each sentence aloud. You can follow the words as they are spoken or just listen. Focus mode lets you stop on a single sentence and look at it properly.

Saving and practice. Words and sentences you save go into a library. Practice draws on your level, your saved words or a chapter you have read, and you can swipe through cards, type the answer or play a match game.

Glow. Five small goals a day: log in, read, save, reach your daily goal and play a memory game. The calendar fills in on every day you use it.

The long version

This section is being written.