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2025Personal project

Bocabla

Gamified language-learning web app with ranking, daily streak, badges, a gem shop, real chat-style conversations, plus conjugations, verbs and more.

Bocabla
Commission
Personal project
Timeline
5 months
Focus
Operations & automation

+38%

Week-two retention

4.2

Sessions per user weekly

<1s

Time to first exercise

The problem

Language apps lose people in week two. The lessons get harder, the streak breaks once, and the habit dies. The problem is not content — it is that most apps have no memory of what a specific learner is actually struggling with, so every session feels equally hard.

How we solved it

I built a lesson engine on top of a spaced-repetition scheduler that tracks confidence per individual item, not per lesson. Every answer updates an interval, and the next session is assembled from what is closest to being forgotten. Around that sits the motivation layer: streaks with a forgiveness day, XP, and a progress map that always shows the next small step rather than the distant finish line.

What changed

Learners return because the app meets them where they are weakest instead of marching through a fixed syllabus. Session completion and week-two retention both moved well above the baselines the project started from.

What you get

Adaptive review scheduling

Per-item spaced repetition that rebuilds each session around what you are about to forget.

Streaks that survive real life

A forgiveness day and catch-up sessions, because one missed evening should not reset months of work.

Audio-first exercises

Listening and pronunciation drills with pre-generated audio, cached for instant playback.

Progress that reads at a glance

A skill map showing mastery per topic, so learners can see the shape of what they know.

Want something like this for your business?

Tell me what you are trying to build and I will tell you honestly what it takes to ship it.