Superfluent: Language Learning

For me, this is a great app. I’ve been studying Spanish for a long time and have been developing vocabulary and have had opportunities to speak. This app works well for me because it’s just so incredible to be able to have a conversation and it’s as though you’re really talking to somebody —somebody perhaps you know or somebody you’ve just met. It changes with each conversation, but it gives you a lot of chances to reminisce and really makes you think. Then, they critique your conversation with just super suggestions. This is going to help me become more conversant with Spanish and to understand where I tend to make mistakes and correct them. I’m really impressed. I had the opportunity to use the app several times and then I decided very quickly to buy the use of the app for a year. I’m trying to have at least one conversation a day and I’m trying not to miss any days. You can have a short conversation and then review for a while. Super job , SuperFluent!

First, I just have to say that this is the app I have been looking for (and even considered building as a SWE myself). Speaking practice is so hard to come by for certain languages, and this does a great job at simulating real conversations. I wish it had two more features, though: 1. A vocabulary builder. Maybe I haven’t explored the app long enough, but I haven’t seen anywhere that stores unfamiliar words so I can go back and learn them later. I’d love to be able to review the transcript and just click on or say (see #2) the words/phrases that were new to me in the conversation, and have the app compile them for later review. Maybe at the end of a conversation, it can ask which words/phrases were new to me? Maybe those new words/phrases can have their own conversations created around them that help me to learn them by using them? 2. Practice without any buttons. I’d like to be able to have my conversations without having to touch my phone at all. I want to use it while driving, but pressing buttons while doing so isn’t safe. If there was a speech mode where all I had to do was open the app and then I could control it with my voice, that would be incredible. Thanks again for building such a needed app! It’s on the TIME innovation list for a reason!

My Duolingo Italian streak is nearly 800, but I’ve been struggling because I have no one to actually speak Italian with. Superfluent has been great so far. The tutor is SO helpful. I love that it doesn’t tell you how to respond and that the AI adapts so well to your responses. It feels so natural. I do wish that I could review scenarios I’ve already done. I like to take screenshots of lessons so I can take notes to study later, but when the app ends a conversation, the “let’s end here” message hides the final response. If there IS a way for me to review scenarios, I haven’t been able to find it. Also, the scenario where you make a restaurant reservation asks if you want the confirmation emailed to you, and I said “[name] [4-digit number] @ [domain]” but the AI only picked up the name. When I had to repeat what it said in Italian, it kept saying I was pronouncing it wrong even when I used another app to translate the number. So the voice recognition could use a bit of fine-tuning. All that being said, for a newer app with a solo developer, Superfluent already has a lot going for it, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it improves over time.