Write to a pen pal in the language you're learning

Writing to someone is a good test of a language. You have to say what you mean, and nobody finishes your sentences for you. Write gives you someone to write to and marks what went wrong, so each letter teaches you something.

Who you write to

The pen pals are characters written by AI. There's a retired lighthouse keeper who opens every letter with the weather, a sixteen-year-old skateboarder who paints walls, a retired schoolteacher who plays detective, a harbour diver and an apprentice clockmaker. Each one remembers what you've told them and asks about it, and sometimes they send a picture.

Letters take time

A letter takes between 12 and 72 hours to arrive, like post. Your pen pal writes back about six hours after yours lands. With an account, you get an email when a reply is waiting.

You fix your own mistakes

Mistakes stay hidden until you want to see them. Then you get a hint first and the answer last, so you do the fixing. Stuck for a word? Write it in your own language in [brackets] and it's translated for you.

A mistake you keep making turns into a card and a two-minute lesson built from your own sentences.

Not a letter person?

You can also write anything else, a message to a friend, a note for work, a diary entry, and have it corrected the same way.