User guide

Mille-Mots teaches French, Spanish, German and (for Chinese speakers) English by writing short readings at your level from words you are learning, then practising those words until they stick.

• Pick the language you want to learn the first time you open the app. Switch any time from the language card at the top of the sidebar (on a phone: More → language), or in Settings.
• Set your level (A1–B2) in Settings. Readings, drills and the vocabulary they use follow it.
• Nothing to set up: the shared free AI tier works straight away, with a daily limit. If you have your own API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq…), add it in Settings — it stays on this device.
• No account needed. Everything is saved on this device and works offline. Sign in to back it up and sync it across your devices.

Every screen shares the same navigation.

• On a computer, the sidebar on the left holds the language card, every section of the app, and at the bottom Settings, this guide and your account.
• On a phone, the bar at the bottom holds the main sections; More opens the rest, the language switcher, Settings and your account.
• Each tab also shows its name in the language you are learning — “Lire”, “Leer”, “Lesen” — so you pick up the words just by using the app.
• The number on Study is how many flashcards are due today.

A course of units and lessons built around everyday situations. Each lesson writes a fresh passage with its key words and one grammar point.

• Open the next lesson, read the passage, then mark it done. “New passage” writes another one on the same lesson.
• “Practise this grammar” takes you straight to the matching drills.
• Paths exist for some languages so far (German for English speakers, English for Chinese speakers). Free reading works for every language.

The heart of the app: readings that are mostly words you know, plus a few new ones.

• Generate writes a reading at your level. Type a topic, or leave it empty and press “Surprise me — start reading” for a random one — nothing to decide.
• Or Import any text you paste: an article, song lyrics, a chapter (up to 4000 characters).
• Tap any word to see its meaning, grammar and pronunciation, and add it to your vocabulary. “+ all to vocab” saves every content word at once.
• Show translation reveals the passage sentence by sentence; 🔊 reads it aloud.
• The Grammar toggle highlights the grammar used in the passage (needs your own API key for now).
• Star ★ a reading to pin it under Favorites in the sidebar. Search finds old readings by title, topic or text.

Every word you have saved, with its meaning and where you met it.

• Search by word or translation, open a word for its full dictionary entry, hear it, or delete it.
• Little words (articles, pronouns) and names crowd your flashcards — the app suggests ones to remove.

Spaced repetition: each word comes back just before you would forget it.

• Reveal the card (Space), then grade yourself from Again to Easy. Words you know well come back less often.
• Recall mode asks you to type the word from its meaning; dictation mode from its sound.
• A few minutes a day keeps the due count low.

Three more ways to use the words you saved.

• Dictation: listen and type what you hear. Press 1 to replay. A missing accent counts as “almost”, not wrong.
• Write: fill the blanks in a sentence from one of your readings. Choose Easy, Medium or Hard; Enter checks and moves on.
• Pronounce: click a word to hear it, shift-click to select a phrase, then record yourself and compare with the original. Your browser will ask for the microphone.

Short exercises, one grammar pattern at a time, each with an explanation.

• Pick a pattern in the sidebar and read “How this pattern works” first.
• Each pattern is split into sub-skills. Five exact answers in a row masters a sub-skill; a wrong answer starts the count again.
• “Generate from vocab” writes six new drills using words from your own vocabulary, so nothing unfamiliar trips you up.
• Buttons under the answer box type accented letters (é, ñ, ß…) if your keyboard can't.

How far you've come: progress towards the next level, how many words are mature, your activity over the last 30 days, and your accuracy in each kind of practice.

Your preferences, your AI provider and your data.

• Change the language you learn, your level, and the language of menus and translations.
• Choose the AI provider and model. API keys never leave this device.
• Signed in, your progress syncs in the background. Signing out uploads your changes first, then clears this device.
• Export a backup file any time (⌘⇧E on a computer), and restore it — or an automatic backup — from Settings.
• “Refresh dictionary metadata” updates translations in readings you already have, for example after changing the translation language.