Canary is a language learning app powered by music. Pick a song, see real-time translations, save words to your vocabulary list, sing karaoke to practice pronunciation, take quizzes on songs, and practice with others!
After a small exit, I decided to do some content creation ( reached 800k+ followers mostly because of my French accent 🫠)
Six months ago, I posted a simple video of me singing in French with English translations. Nothing fancy, just lyrics and subtitles. The response was incredible. Engagement was super high.
I launched a separate page dedicated to this idea, and it grew to 100k followers in just 5 months. That’s when I realized people love learning languages through the songs they already love.
That’s why I am building Canary.
With this beta version you can:
🐥 Pick a song and see real-time translations 🐥 Save words to your personal vocabulary list 🐥 Sing karaoke to practice pronunciation 🐥 Take quizzes on songs 🐥 Connect with others who are learning the same way
It’s still in the early MVP stages, but I would love to get your input on it.
And of course, any feedback or ideas for cool features you’d want to see would be incredibly valuable! 🙏
I tried two songs to learn French. The text was very easy to follow and I totally believe in the power of learning with music. I did think the quiz was a bit hard so maybe an extra feature to have the quiz based on a level you decide or gets decided on with a quiz when you register would be a great. Keep up the good work and please keep it free for early adopters like me! ;)
The idea is interesting, but I think it makes learning English harder. Songs often have slightly altered words or incorrect sentence structures. How is this addressed?
800k followers is insane validation! You clearly found a gap in the market. 📈 Since you started with French content, is the app currently optimized best for French learners, or is the experience equally good for other languages like Spanish or Japanese right now?
Does the app use AI to give real-time feedback on pronunciation and pitch, or is it more of a self-practice tool right now?
That's a really nice idea 🙌🏻 Mixing 2 things that language learners motivate the most: music and connecting with foreigners.
When I was a student, before the Duolingo era, there was a site called "Babbel". It was like a social media for tandems.
In that site I learned German B1 in 6 months. Moved to Germany, met those tandems in real life. +10 years later we are still in touch.
I shared this story only to highlight the importance of the feature you have above: connecting with foreign speakers. That feature can change lives.
Congratulations on the launch 👏🏻 🎉 It's an awesome product! Wish it was there when I was a student :)
Does it score my singing? A daily community Singing King/Queen (PH-style 😆) would be hilarious and fun.
Whoa whoa whoa, this is amazing.. I’ve heard people say that watching where they call them Tele Novella to learn Spanish, but this is next level.
You got my support, good luck on this launch
Love the concept. Using the 'earworm' effect for language retention is a brilliant niche. Do you use AI to categorize the lyrics by difficulty levels (A1-C2), or is the content manually curated?
can you import any song from YouTube or is there a limited selection? Also, will the app eventually give feedback on grammar in addition to pronunciation?
Music was how I picked up half my Spanish (shoutout to old Shakira). Real-time lyrics + quizzes sounds fun. Curious how you handle song rights and accents in karaoke? I’ll give the beta a spin tonight. Could be great for my rusty French.
The karaoke feature is a genius hook. Singing forces you to mimic the native cadence. 🎤 Regarding the pronunciation practice: does the app just play the lyrics, or is there an AI scoring layer that listens to my voice and tells me if my accent is off?
Canary frontend developer here 👋🏻
I’ll be honest - when I first joined the team as a developer, I didn’t fully understand this product. I was there to do the work.
Over time, though, it grew on me. My wife immediately connected with the idea though, saying how she could easily learn anything through music - and that’s when it clicked for me too.
I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish, and through Canary I’ve already picked up real words and phrases just by engaging with songs I actually enjoy.
That being said, I think Canary makes language learning fit into something people already do every day: listening to music.
I'm excited to see how Canary evolves
I like that this didn’t start as a startup idea, but as something people genuinely enjoyed. Those usually turn into the best products.
Very cool @bengue_z . I am hoping to become fluent in Spanish this year and also play guitar and love music, so this seems like a great and super fun way to learn. I am going to sign up today. Will let you know my thoughts! =).
Love the concept! Singing has really helped my English and Cantonese, but I found traditional French learning a bit too serious. This cute app is exactly what I needed!
Just gave it a try—French songs are tough (I'm still stuck on 'Hélène' haha 🤣), but the karaoke mode with subtitles is super fun. Can't wait to master a song and record a video!
One small piece of feedback: The pronunciation for individual words doesn't sound fully native yet. I noticed this specifically with 'rêve' and 'histoire'. Hope this helps!
That's a really great idea @bengue_z. I always thought learning another language the traditional way with textbooks was so boring. I honestly learned english through music + watching tv series with subtitles. I was wondering what is your source for the tunes? Is it pulling it from something like a Spotify API or others? Congrats on the product!
Hey PH Family! 👋
I’m Ben, and Canary started almost by accident.
After a small exit, I decided to do some content creation ( reached 800k+ followers mostly because of my French accent 🫠)
Six months ago, I posted a simple video of me singing in French with English translations. Nothing fancy, just lyrics and subtitles. The response was incredible. Engagement was super high.
I launched a separate page dedicated to this idea, and it grew to 100k followers in just 5 months.
That’s when I realized people love learning languages through the songs they already love.
That’s why I am building Canary.
With this beta version you can:
🐥 Pick a song and see real-time translations
🐥 Save words to your personal vocabulary list
🐥 Sing karaoke to practice pronunciation
🐥 Take quizzes on songs
🐥 Connect with others who are learning the same way
It’s still in the early MVP stages, but I would love to get your input on it.
And of course, any feedback or ideas for cool features you’d want to see would be incredibly valuable! 🙏