Why literal rather than polished
Under every word is what it literally means. Not polished English, but exact. Where the new language puts the verb at the end or leaves out the article, the English line does the same. It reads awkwardly, and that is exactly the point: you see the construction of the sentence instead of losing it behind a smooth translation.
A third line says the sentence the way you would say it in English. It is the safety net, not the core. Whoever reads only that line learns the content, not the language.
The three layers and how they disappear
Every episode has three text layers: the literal English under the words, the new language itself, and the plain-English line. Each can be switched off with a switch.
At first, all three stay on. Later you take the help away, first the whole sentence, then word for word. In the end, the new language and the audio remain, and that is exactly where this is going. The switches are not a test. You turn them back on whenever you want.
What it looks like
An Italian sentence as the app shows it. At the top, the word you hear. Underneath, what it literally means — not polished English, but exact. That way you see how the sentence is built instead of translating it for yourself. The third line says it the way you would say it in English.
Every morning the market opens very early.
Tapping means: I know this one
You decide what you know. One tap on a word, and the help underneath disappears. No quizzing, no flashcards, no right or wrong.
From what you have tapped, the app knows how much of an episode you already know, and when you can move on to the next one.
Repetition is the core
Repetition rather than testing. You listen to an episode again and again, until the English underneath is no longer needed. The first time, you read everything along. After a few passes you know the sentences before the voice says them. At some point you listen to the episode on the side, walking or on the train, and understand it without the text.
For that there is playback speed from half to one and a half, a loop, and playback in the background. The episodes are short so that repeating them costs no effort of will.
This is not a quick way. It is the one after which something stays.
Real places first, then a story
Every course begins with real places: a building, a market, a path. After that, the episodes follow one character through daily life, from arriving in a strange city to a year on the coast. The characters return, and the words return with them. A text where you want to know what happens next can bear being repeated.
Words in sentences, not on flashcards. You hear them where they belong, along with what surrounds them. A vocabulary for the start, built up episode by episode.
Who this is not for
Anyone who wants to move ahead quickly will grow impatient here: listening to the same episode many times is the core of the matter, not an extra. Anyone looking for a game or a conversation with an AI will find neither here.
Anyone who already reads fluently and is looking for advanced texts will find too little here. Riima is built for beginners.