LingoStories

Free interactive stories for language learners.

What's New

  • 2025-09-02
    New Story Editor
    Use the new editor to create your own stories. Read more about how to collaborate and get the stories published on the website.
  • 2025-01-19
    AI-Powered Explanations
    Get sentence explanations powered by AI, helping you understand complex grammar. In the stories, click on the question mark next to selected sentences.

    • Other Updates
  • 2025-01-17Support for microphone (see settings), for you to repeat the sentences out loud
  • 2024-10-26Park: Added Dutch and Swedish translations
  • 2024-09-03Published a user guide
  • 2024-09-01New story added ('The Grocery List') for French and English, using a better game engine
  • 2024-07-27Add dialogue bubbles to better recognize the characters
  • 2024-07-16Support for direct speech, with avatars and matching voice (depending on the language)
  • 2024-07-03Added/fixed translations in Swedish, Dutch, German, Portuguese, and Polish
  • 2024-06-22Blog post: Building LingoStories: An Experimental Project for Language Learners
  • 2024-06-22Added a minigame (reorder words) + image collections
  • 2024-06-05New story 'A Day in the Park'
  • 2024-03-29Added support for autoplay in the settings
  • 2024-03-05Published the proof of concept

    • What is LingoStories?

    LingoStories is a free platform that offers interactive stories for language learners. Read interactive, graded readers stories in your target language and get some practice. The stories use simple vocabulary and grammar to help you practice your language skills in a fun and engaging way. You can listen to the audio, read the text in your target language, and check the translation when needed. The stories are available in a dozen languages, and you can customize the settings to match your learning style.

    For more information, see the user guide.

    How do interactive stories work?

    While reading the story in your target language, you'll make choices, similar to the format of Choose Your Own Adventure books. This makes the experience more engaging, encourages you to replay stories with different outcomes, and adds variety to the learning process.

    Is this website really free?

    Yes. LingoStories is 100% free. There are no ads, no account to create, no arbitrary limitations. The texts are published under a Creative Commons license. The source code is available.

    How many stories are there?

    Currently, there are only two stories:

    • A Day in the Park: A simple story created as a proof-of-concept for the website.
    • The Grocery List: A more interactive story that remembers the choices and includes an inventory of items.
    More stories will be added over time, and we aim to create more complex and engaging stories in the future.

    How can stories help me learn a language?

    Stories provide natural, engaging context for language learning. By reading or listening to stories in your target language, you encounter new vocabulary and grammar in meaningful situations. Stories also make learning enjoyable and help improve your comprehension and listening skills.

    For language learning tips, check out the the user guide.

    How can I contribute to the project?

    We welcome contributions! Our goal is to create a community of contributors to write and translate stories in many languages. The list of languages is still limited now, but you can request a new language and assist with translations.

    You may discuss the project and give feedback on Discord (or reach out to laurentlb@gmail.com).

    Connect with LingoStories