Learn languages through reading

Reading in a language you're not completely fluent in can be tiring when you frequently need to look up words or get distracted by other things from the webpages that you're on. I made Readpoly for this exact purpose: read things without a distraction and with tools that help you understand the text content better and quicker.

What is Readpoly?

Readpoly is a language learning web app that helps users learn languages through reading. The core concept is simple: read content in your target language and click on any word to instantly see its translation, hear its pronunciation, and save it to your personal vocabulary collection.

As someone who has been learning German for a long time and finding it a challenge to do so, I develop and improve Readpoly to cater to my needs first and foremost. And I'm sure there are people who have just the exact learning style and expectations that I do.

The Reading Experience

At the core of Readpoly is an interactive reading experience with the following features:

• Click-to-Translate: Click any word to instantly see its translation in your native language
• Automatic Vocabulary Saving: Every word you translate is automatically saved to your vocabulary collection
• Context Preservation: Each saved word includes the sentence or phrase where it appeared, helping you understand how it's actually used
• Pronunciation: Listen to how words are pronounced in the original language with one click
• Focus Mode: A distraction-free reading mode that hides the header and navigation elements so you can concentrate on the content
• Pagination: Long texts are split into 400-word pages for comfortable, manageable reading sessions
• Bookmarking: Save content to your personal collection for easy access later, so you can continue where you left off or revisit them

Shadow Reading Mode

One of Readpoly's main features is Text-to-Speech Shadow Reading. This mode reads the content aloud to you, word by word, with visual highlighting:

• Word-by-Word Playback: Follow along as each word is highlighted and pronounced
• Multi-Language Support: Native pronunciation for all of the supported languages
• Play/Pause Controls: Resume from where you left off at any time

Your Personal Vocabulary Library

Smart Vocabulary Management

Readpoly automatically builds your personal vocabulary library as you read:

• Automatic Saving: Every word you click is saved with its translation and original context
• Context Snippets: See the exact sentence where you encountered each word
• Content Linking: Track which article or story each word came from

Add Context

When you expand a word in your vocabulary, Readpoly can help you add more context to help you better understand a word:

• Example Sentences: See how the word is used in different contexts
• Synonyms with Translations: Expand your vocabulary with related words

Reading Content

Readpoly offers flexibility in what you read:

• Public Content Library: Browse articles, stories, and texts created by other users
• Create Your Own: Add your own texts to practice with content that interests you
• Public or Private: Choose whether to share your content with others
• Language Categorization: Content is organized by language for easy browsing
• Reading Metrics: See word counts and estimated reading time before you start

Languages

Readpoly currently supports six languages:

• 🇬🇧 English
• 🇩🇪 German
• 🇹🇷 Turkish
• 🇪🇸 Spanish
• 🇫🇷 French
• 🇮🇹 Italian

With support for more languages coming soon!

Ending Words

My goal for Readpoly is to create an accessible platform where anyone can learn languages through reading. That's why the free tier will always include unlimited access to browse and read all content, along with unlimited single-word translations. These core features provide everything you need to make reading a regular part of your language learning safari (I thought the word "journey" would be too cliché).

For those who want to dive deeper, there will be a paid tier for more advanced features. Things are in active development, and I will be constantly improving the platform as I also use it for reading stuff and see what's missing and how it could get better.

Readpoly

Ahmet Ömer