Hello everyone,
And welcome to a little resource special.
A few weeks ago, Paras reached out to me to tell me about his language learning app project called Sensonym.
Which is nothing special. We’re in the age of vibe coding now, and literally every day someone is launching a flashcard app or something like that. And it’s all kind of the same and kind of boring.
This one is special for two reasons though.
- Paras is an actual developer who has worked in the language learning app space before.
- He’s is actually trying something REALLY new with Sensonym.
I think the space is starved for true innovation. Everyone keeps building the same boring flashcard app, and Duolingo spends most of its time working optimizing the conversion to premium rather than actually innovating.
Paras’ project is still in the Findungsphase, as we’d say in German. So the period where you try out things to see what works and what doesn’t and how things work best.
But I really really love that he is thinking out of the box and actually BUILDS there, so I wanted to give him the space to share his idea with you and get some feedback.
You know… because your feedback is actually really really useful and insightful, at least that’s my experience :)
Anyway, today, Paras is going to introduce his project to you and I’m REALLY curious what you think.
So if you’re ready, I’ll pass the “mic” over to him.
Viel Spaß.
***
Why I Built a Language App That Makes You Shake Your Phone
I’m Paras, a solo developer based in Berlin, originally from India. I’ve been a language learner most of my life, and like many of you, I’ve spent countless hours with flashcard apps and spaced repetition systems. They work. But after a while, they started to feel like homework: mechanical, forgettable, and disconnected from anything real.
A couple of years ago, I co-founded Sylby, a pronunciation training app that partnered with the Goethe Institute and Berlitz. That experience taught me a lot about what works in language learning and what doesn’t. But it also left me wanting to try something I hadn’t seen anyone attempt.
The idea of Sensonym
After moving to Germany, I once got locked out of my apartment and had to call a locksmith. I learned the word “Schlüsseldienst” that night and never forgot it. You’ve probably had moments like that too: a word you picked up during a trip, a conversation, or a situation that stuck with you because something was happening when you learned it. That’s not a coincidence. In cognitive science, this is called embodied cognition: memory is stronger when you are an active part of the experience, not just passively reading.
I wanted to build on that idea on a phone. What if instead of tapping a button to reveal a translation, you shook your phone to learn “earthquake,” blew into the mic to learn “wind,” tilted the screen to learn “pour,” or smiled at the camera to learn “happy”?
That’s Sensonym. It maps every vocabulary word to one of over 40 physical interactions, so that learning a word involves doing something with your body, not just reading it.
What’s in the app
Sensonym has two modes. The first is story mode, where vocabulary is woven into a narrative. In “First Words,” you’re shipwrecked on an uncharted island and have to learn a language no outsider has ever spoken to survive. As you progress through the story, you encounter words naturally, and the physical interactions are part of how you engage with the world around you. A second story, “The Courier,” is set in Cold War Berlin. You’re a courier who stumbles onto Nazi gold certificates that could ignite a Fourth Reich, and you need the language to navigate what follows.
The second mode is training: standalone lessons on topics like greetings, emotions, daily actions, and numbers, each built around the same physical interactions.
The app supports 10 languages: Spanish, French, German, Turkish, Indonesian, Malay, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English. It runs on both iOS and Android, though for now it’s only available in the German App Store and Play Store as a first launch market.
Why I’m writing this
I built Sensonym because I was bored with every language app feeling the same, and I wanted to find out what happens when you make vocabulary learning physical. The app is young, and I’m at the stage where feedback from real learners matters more than anything else.
Emanuel was kind enough to let me introduce the app to his readers, and what I’m after is your honest experience. What did you think of the concept? How did the stories feel? Did the interactions help, distract, or something in between? I’d love to hear any of it.
Try Sensonym
You can download Sensonym for free:
- Sensonym on the App Store
- Sensonym on Google Play (Germany only for now)
If you’re outside Germany, you can sign up here to get notified when it launches in your region.
EDIT:
The APP is NOT availble in App stores outside Germany but if you want to try it, you can send me an email and I’ll send you a test version directly.
If you have feedback, you can reach me at [email protected] or find me on LinkedIn.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to Emanuel for giving me the space to share this with you.
— Paras
***
So that’s Sensonym :)
It’s a bit hard to tell just based on the description, so if you have the time and curiosity, do get the app and really try it and see if you like it and if it works for you.
And then please share your feedback here, I’d love to hear it and I’m sure Paras will read the comments as well.
Any feedback is welcome so if you have ideas, do not hold back (I did share my feedback with Paras too of course).
Thanks in advance, I hope you enjoyed this and I’ll see you very soon :)
Bis dann!
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
I tried it with learning Chinese with the interface text in German. I like the idea of using stories and motions to learn but the ratio of words that I’m supposed to learn to text in the that language I mostly know feels way too low. By the time the next new word was introduced, I kind of forgot what I was here for. And almost none of the new words were repeated in the story.
Of the words I “learned” in the first story with Lani on the island, only half of them are things I found useful to know as a beginner, so it felt very random. I would prefer a simpler story but with more new words for me. I learned a lot of my early German from books like “simple stories in German”, and stories of that complexity could fit well in the app.
Also the AI pronunciation for the (Mandarin) Chinese isn’t great. I’m not fluent, but my wife is and she says the words very differently.
To the core idea of the app, the motions probably need to be adjusted. I only got to smiling, drinking and stepping, but for drinking I’m supposed to tip my phone but then I can’t see the text telling me to hold it there for awhile because I tipped my phone … And smiling just isn’t a thing I do.
Anyway I hope I don’t sound too critical. I do like the basic principle of an interactive story, and I would be happy to use it if the learning content were more concentrated.
I had the same impression with story-mode that there wasn’t enough happening in terms of new words. Maybe a “density” choice would be good, so you can adjust how much “newness” you’re able to handle.
Jeffrey, this is very useful, thank you.
The vocab density and repetition points are very important points. You’re right that the current stories introduce words and don’t bring them back enough. That’s a structural issue, not a small fix, so it’ll take a bit of time. Emanuel’s idea of a density setting is interesting too. I’ll think about both.
The drinking interaction issue is a real one. I’ll remove the check for holding the phone in position. And you’re right that not every interaction will fit every user, so there should be ways around interactions that don’t suit you. I did add a skip button that appears at the bottom automatically after around 15 seconds but perhaps the delay is too long.
Using better TTS is already on my list. Emanuel also pointed this out.
Thank you again for trying out the app and sharing such detailed feedback. I will be addressing your and all the other feedback that I have been receiving via this blog post in upcoming app updates. Please feel free to share more feedback here or via email to [email protected]
The app is not available in Oregon USA. I tried to download it and it said app not available.
Hey hey, Paras actually mentioned to me yesterday that he can send you a test version if you’re interested in trying it. I forgot to add that to the article, but here’s his email address
[email protected]
Just contact him :)
For Emanuel – the English expression is “Thinking, acting, doing…outside OF the box,” not “outside the box.”
For English speakers in Australia, the reverse is true.
“outside the box” is the expression that sounds correct. “Outside of the box” sounds like something we would hear in an American sitcomm!
Ha, I guess I picked up my first Aussie-ism after all :)
I think you might have been led astray a little here, as a third form has drifted into play.
Just to be clear: the idiomatic form you’re seeking is “outside the box” (not “out the box” or even “outside of the box”). The first form dominates by a factor of about 10 over the others according to ngram, no matter which “brand” of English you choose to purchase! And that gap continues to widen.
So while I’d love to help celebrate your first piece of *strine*, that might have to wait a little longer! You could always head down the path of Australian swearing: there’s probably no better source than watching dash-cam footage on youtube. The bonus is that you get a perfect pronunciation-under-stress guide, but the downside is that you’ll probably never want to drive when visiting the country. Just mastering the delicate art of “fuckin *ell*” (which sounds a lot like a drawn out “far canal”) or “what the actual *fark*” would add a solid 23% to your native OzEnglish rating.
Here in Michigan, we also say… thinking “outside the box”, not “outside of the box”
Not so. “Outside the box” is correct in British English.
I think it looks fascinating, though unfortunately am outside Germany so can’t try it out yet. I’ll look forward to updates on a worldwide release.
Paras mentioned in another comment here that he can send you a test version if you’re interested in trying it. I forgot to add that to the article, but here’s his email address
[email protected]
Just contact him :)
I’m not able to access the app on the App Store. It says it’s “currently not available in your country or region.” I’m in the US, using an iPhone—not sure what’s going wrong. I would love to be able to try this app!
Hmm, weird.
Paras mentioned that Android is region locked to Germany, but he didn’t say anything about it not being available on Apple. I’ll ask him about that.
Thanks for your interest! Right now it’s only available in Germany on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. I plan on launching it in more regions in the future. I can invite you to test the app as a beta tester via Testflight if you send me your Apple ID via email to [email protected]. I would love to hear your feedback.
Can I add that to the article, actually?
Yes please, that would be really helpful, thank you! I’m happy to onboard anyone outside Germany as testers. For iOS I can send TestFlight invites (I’ll need the email tied to their Apple ID), and for Android I can add them to the Google Play Beta (I’ll need the primary Google account email set up on their device). They can reach me at [email protected].
Looks to me as a language teacher not too dissimilar from the Rassias Method which was once piloted for French.,
The instructor would take an object and actually throw it at his students, screaming “LA CHAISE, LA CHAISE!” in order for them to grasp physically what the object in question is.
Probably ruined a lot of (cheap) furniture, but students never forgot what they learned.
Thanks Harald! I looked up the Rassias Method after your comment. The chair-throwing approach is definitely more dramatic than anything my app can do. From what I read, his method is really about intensive oral drilling and theatrical energy to lower inhibitions, and the physical moments are part of that. Sensonym takes a narrower piece of that idea: can a physical moment anchor a word in memory, and can you do that through phone sensors? Good to know it has worked in a classroom, even if it cost some furniture.
Thanks so much responding with such allacrity!
Will discuss later in more detail.
Wow, so this really is a thing? I thought that was meant as a joke :D
Doch!
Die Wiederholungsmethode ist es. Ich habe Sie selber im Unterricht benutzt.
Hoppla, hab’ mich schon vertippt!
Well-polished app, but ultimately a gimmick in my opinion.
Time is at premium, so lying in the bed and trying to use this app was a distraction because of fidgeting that the new layer of interaction requires. When I want to cram new words I’ll make sure I’m in a good headspace and use Anki.
There will be a user base who might find this app useful. I believe those users will appreciate the original and translations being closer together, and the hint moved to the bottom.
Thank you. This is exactly the kind of feedback I need. I agree that the physical interaction layer is a different mode of use than Anki-style learning.
Your UI points are really useful. I will think about them carefully. I am in the process of refining the UX to ensure the right balance between immersion, learning, and interactiveness.
If you ever feel like sharing more feedback, please do write to me at [email protected].
It sounds like a great idea. I can’t get it yet, but I would definitely try it when I can. I used to like the Goethe classes in person where they’d have us get out of our desks, move around, talk, sing, and interact with each other.
Thanks! I would love to hear your thoughts once you give it a try. If you are not in Germany, I can send you a TestFlight or Google Play Beta invite if you drop me a line at [email protected]
Sounds interesting! I’m in the US and look forward to when it’s available here!
Oh is it not?! I wasn’t really aware of that, actually. Or maybe he mentioned it but I forgot.
Germany only for anyone on Android (as per the description above). So, well, umm, aah….
Yeah, I’ve got nothing. Except that it sounds a lot like a brand of toothpaste.
LOL, I thought the same! I was even gonna say that in the intro but then didn’t because I found it unfair :D.
Interesting, there seems to be a toothpaste name archetype that is spans from Europe all the way to Australia.
Update: So Paras mentioned to me yesterday that he can send you a test version if you’re interested in trying it. I forgot to add that to the article, but here’s his email address
[email protected]
Just contact him :). No pressure though.