ilmli
from Arabic علم (ilm, "knowledge") + Turkish -li — "with knowledge; learned."
- 1.to learn a language by simply talking to it — a few lines a day, in a messenger you already use.
- 2.(proper noun) a tutor with a memory — knows what you told it last week, brings it up when it matters, slips new words into every reply.
Native bread, foreign filling.
Your tutor starts each sentence in your native language, slips one or two target-language words in the middle — with a small gloss — and closes in your native again.
As your pace quickens, the bread thins. Foreign words carry more weight, glosses fade, and one morning you realize the whole sandwich came out in the target language — and you understood it.
Yesterday I had Feierabend (cozy end-of-workday) on the sofa with coffee.
Gestern war mein Feierabend mit Kaffee on the sofa.
Gestern hatte ich Feierabend auf dem Sofa mit Kaffee.
— and you didn't think twice.
What you're actually buying.
Tuesday afternoon. Your phone buzzes.
"trip's in 12 days — want to run through ordering food once tonight, just to keep it warm?"
You hadn't thought about it in two weeks. You actually do want to. Five minutes later you put the phone down. You've practiced the thing you'd otherwise never have practiced.
It remembers what you said. It'll bring it up again at the right moment.
That moment is the product. Everything else is in service of it.
The shortest pitch ever.
No streaks. No quizzes. No XP. No leaderboards. No cards. No hearts. No owls glaring at you. No push notifications about how many days you've missed.
We will never guilt you into opening the app. Because there is no app.
Quiet by default. Loud only when it matters.
Your tutor pings when you're awake, answers with your real numbers, slips new words in where you'll meet them, and stays out of the way when you don't.
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It pings you first.
Messages you when you're awake, in your timezone, when there's something worth saying. Reply when you can. Silence is fine.
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It remembers your life.
Trips, deadlines, the people in your orbit, the topics you've asked it to leave alone. When something matters, it brings it up — a week before, the night before, the morning after.
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Voice both ways.
Type a line, send a voice memo, get one back. Pacing matched to your level so you can keep up.
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A photo becomes a lesson.
Snap a menu, a sign, a letter, your dinner — your tutor names what it sees and teaches you the word on the spot.
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Words come back before you forget them.
The right word at the right moment. Mistakes corrected by demonstration, never by lecture. No flashcards, no quizzes.
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Numbers, only if you ask.
Vocabulary, mastery, level — every detail tracked. Invisible by default, yours on demand.
Pick a personality you'd actually speak to.
Six distinct personalities. Same curriculum, different mood. Switch anytime — your progress follows you.
Simple tiers. No surprises.
A turn = one message you send + one reply. Turns reset every day; voice notes pool monthly so you can binge on a Saturday and chat on Tuesday. Cancel anytime, one click, 14-day refund on paid plans.
- 1 language
- 10 turns / day
- All six personas
- Text only — no voice
- 1 language
- 50 turns / day
- 60 voice notes / month
- All six personas
- Full dashboard + CEFR auto-advance
- Spaced repetition vocabulary
- Up to 3 languages
- 100 turns / day
- 120 voice notes / month
- Everything in Daily
A "voice note" is a TTS reply your tutor can speak, or a transcribed voice memo from you — counts as both a turn and a voice credit. Each clip caps at 30 seconds (short bursts are how people actually learn). Hit your daily turn cap and the bot pauses until tomorrow; hit your monthly voice cap and it falls back to text until the cycle rolls.
The questions we actually get.
Which languages?
German is live today. Spanish and French ship next. Italian, Portuguese, and Polish are on deck. If you want one we don't have, reply to any email — we keep a list.
Will this work if I'm a complete beginner?
Yes. We start in your native language, slip target-language words in one at a time, and within a week you're reading half-and-half. Within a month, mostly target. The tutor calibrates to you, not the other way around.
WhatsApp instead of Telegram?
Soon — WhatsApp Business API has constraints we're working around. Telegram first because it lets us be ourselves: voice notes, formatting, no bot-shaped jail.
What about privacy?
Your messages are yours. We don't train models on them, we don't sell anything, and you can export your whole vocabulary as a CSV any time. The legalese version lives on /privacy and is, for once, readable.
Can I cancel any time?
Yes. One click. No "are you sure" with five sub-screens. Your vocabulary stays in your account; come back any time and pick up.
What if I'm bad at this?
Then we'll be bad at this together. The tutor never says "wrong" — they say it back the right way. After a week of saying it back, you'll start saying it right yourself. That's the whole trick.
Something we missed? hello@ilmli.ai — a real person reads everything.