About Leyener
Leyener (Yiddish for “reader”) teaches languages the way most fluent speakers learned them: by reading and listening to a lot of things you understand, a little at a time.
How it works
- Read graded stories and lessons. Every language has 10 stories that grow from a few sentences to literary short fiction, 10 beginner lessons and 10 grammar lessons, each with an English translation.
- Tap any word to see what it means and mark how well you know it. Leyener remembers every word, so the next text shows you only what's new.
- Review on a schedule. Words you're learning come back after a day, a few days, a week and longer, each time in the sentence where you met them.
- Follow the core path. 600 of the most common words in each language, in 12 units, reused on purpose across the lessons so they stick.
- Bring your own texts. Import books, articles, song lyrics, subtitles and transcripts, and read them the same way.
Languages
Arabic (Modern Standard, Levantine and Egyptian), French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese and Yiddish.
The built-in stories and lessons were written with the help of AI and checked for format and completeness. Not every language has been reviewed by a native speaker yet, so if you spot a mistake, please email hello@leyener.com.
Install it on your phone
- iPhone or iPad: open leyener.com in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
- Android: open leyener.com in Chrome, tap the menu, then Install app.
- Computer: in Chrome or Edge, click the install icon in the address bar.
After the first visit, Leyener opens and works without an internet connection.
Your privacy in brief
Leyener has no accounts, ads or analytics, and your progress stays on your own device. The Privacy Policy has the details, and the Terms of Use explain the rules for using the site.
Credits and licenses
| Component | Used for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Literata, Figtree, Frank Ruhl Libre, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Serif JP, Noto Serif Thai, Noto Serif KR | Typefaces, served by Google Fonts | SIL Open Font License 1.1 |
| PDF.js (Mozilla) | Reading imported PDF files | Apache License 2.0 |
| JSZip | Reading imported EPUB books | MIT License (dual-licensed with GPLv3) |
| Mammoth | Reading imported Word files | BSD 2-Clause License |
| Chrome built-in translator, MyMemory | Optional free machine translation of imported texts | Provided by Google and Translated under their own terms |