Most language apps are good at getting words into your head. Fewer help with the next step: putting those words into a sentence of your own and finding out whether a native speaker would say it that way.
GogaQ is an iPhone and iPad app that my company, Washitsu, makes for that step. You learn sentences grouped by situation, answer in your own words, and get a correction that shows what to delete, what to add and why.
What a correction looks like
Here is a Quick Composition round, with English as the native language and French as the language being learned.
The prompt is "Please send me the documents by tomorrow." Suppose you write Envoie-moi les documents jusqu'à demain, s'il te plaît. It is close, and a French colleague would probably understand it.
In this example, GogaQ scores it 78 out of 100 and marks the one word to change: jusqu'à becomes d'ici. Then it explains why, in English. Jusqu'à demain means "until tomorrow", so the sentence sounds as if they should keep sending documents until then. A deadline ("by tomorrow") needs d'ici demain. A second note covers politeness: Envoie-moi (tu) is fine with a close colleague, while Pourriez-vous m'envoyer (vous) suits a client or your manager. You can listen to the corrected sentence and a more natural alternative, and save it to your review cards.
The correction screen, split into two columns. The app screens in this post were rendered from the app with sample data.
The score measures how far your answer is from the corrected version, so a natural alternative can still lose a few points. What helps more than the number is seeing which word made the difference and why.
The same kind of help runs through free conversation. When you reply to the AI in French, it suggests a more natural way to say what you meant, highlights useful expressions in its own reply, and lets you listen to or translate any line.
Free talk. The shaded line under your message is the suggested rephrasing.
How a session goes
- Open the app. Today's plan is waiting on the first screen (more on that below).
- Learn sentences by situation. The French sentence book has 2,705 sentences, sorted by situation and CEFR level. You can listen to every sentence.
- Answer in your own words, then compare with the corrected sentence and the explanation.
- Drill the grammar that tripped you up by arranging words or filling in blanks.
- Use it. Free conversation with AI, short compositions with corrections, listening practice, and news articles written at your level with five comprehension questions at the end.
The wordbook is built from those sentences. The French wordbook has 3,611 words, each with its part of speech, meaning and level, and you can save any of them as flashcards.
Keeping track of your study
The Today screen keeps you on schedule. It shows today's phrase, which days you studied this week, your progress toward your daily goal, and today's plan: a round of sentences, a Quick Composition and a syntax drill. Your streak and remaining points sit at the top. The Library shows a "Today's review" count for the cards that are due, so you know when you're caught up.
Left: the Today screen with the weekly record and daily goal. Right: the Library with today's review.
Ten languages, eight native languages
French is one of ten languages you can learn: English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Spanish, French, German, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thai. The app itself, including translations and grammar notes, is available in eight native languages: English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, German and Thai. Any combination works except learning your own language.
- English (CEFR): 2,552 sentences, 6,780 words
- Japanese (JLPT): 3,230 sentences, 5,702 words
- Chinese, Simplified (HSK): 1,991 sentences, 2,280 words
- Korean (TOPIK): 2,011 sentences, 2,448 words
- Spanish (CEFR): 2,093 sentences, 2,725 words
- French (CEFR): 2,705 sentences, 3,611 words
- German (CEFR): 2,100 sentences, 3,053 words
- Indonesian (CEFR): 2,111 sentences, 2,617 words
- Vietnamese (CEFR): 2,102 sentences, 2,596 words
- Thai (CEFR): 2,110 sentences, 2,607 words
English and Japanese come with pre-recorded AI voices, and English learners can choose British, American or Australian accents. The other languages are read aloud by your device's built-in text-to-speech.
What's free
The sentence books and wordbooks don't use points, and they are free with no time limit. The AI features (corrections, conversation, news) run on points. A new account gets 20 points to use within 30 days, which is roughly six AI conversations or ten composition corrections. After that you can subscribe or buy points as you need them. Purchased points don't expire.
Try it
GogaQ runs on iPhone (iOS 18 or later) and iPad (iPadOS 18 or later), and it's free to download:
- App Store: apps.apple.com/app/id6762157603
- Website (8 languages): gogaq.washitsu-lab.com
If there's a sentence you've never been sure how to say, in French or any of the other nine languages, that's a good one to try first.
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