Language learning journal

A language learning journal, with a cat who reads

Write about your own day in the language you're learning. Stickers, tapes and photos on the page. A quiet translation and one small correction when you ask for it. And a cat who reads every line you leave for her.

Why a journal, not a textbook

A textbook is about somebody else's day: the fictional family, the airport, the restaurant you'll never visit. Your journal is about yours. The tea you made this morning, the bus you missed, the word you finally remembered on the way home.

Writing your own life in a new language is the oldest method that still works, and it works for a plain reason. The sentences you write tonight are the ones you will need again, because they come from your life, and your life is where you'll be speaking this language. That is what we mean by live it, don't just learn it.

What a page looks like

LingoMeow is a journal first. Open the book and you get a real page: paper, a margin, room for a photo, and space to write.

• Write in the language you're learning. When a word won't come, write that line in your own language instead. Ask the page to translate it, and it appears beside your words rather than replacing them. The page stays yours.
• Ask the cat to take a look. When you want a second pair of eyes, she reads a line and suggests a more natural way to say it. She doesn't mark everything red. She points at one thing, and you decide.
• Decorate it. 235 stickers and 46 washi tapes on the free plan, a photo studio for cutouts and outlines, and pages that follow the season: old letters pressed with dried flowers, or blue-and-white porcelain.

The cat who reads

Her name is LingoMeow. She is a cat who reads, which is different from a teacher who grades. She notices what you wrote, sometimes hands you a word that fits the mood of your page, and otherwise keeps you company. She never counts the days you were away. When you come back, the page is where you left it.

A small routine that doesn't feel like one

Most people who keep a language learning journal write a few lines in the evening, or one line with their coffee. It takes five minutes and it doesn't need a plan. Over a month you end up with something a course can't give you: a record of your own life, in your own words, in the language you're growing into.

Look back at the first page after a few weeks. You'll see a word you didn't know then. That is the whole measure.

Languages you can write in

English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Chinese. Many people keep two languages in the same book, one page each. The translation and the cat follow whichever language the page is in.

Also in the same book

The journal is the centre, but the same book holds a few other rooms. You can chat with the cat in your language when you want to talk rather than write. You can shadow a sentence aloud and hear it read back. And you can turn a page you're proud of into a card to keep or share.