Question 1

What is Glossa?

Accepted Answer

Glossa is a web-based language learning app that lets you upload your own PDFs and EPUBs and read them in 13 languages with click-to-translate, audio narration, and built-in spaced-repetition vocabulary practice. It turns any book you already want to read into a graded reader for the language you are learning.

Question 2

What languages does Glossa support?

Accepted Answer

Glossa supports 13 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Russian, and Turkish. Word difficulty is scored from corpus frequency data, so coverage quality tracks how much text a language has in that corpus. Glosses and translations can be shown in 18 languages, those 13 plus Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hindi. More languages are in preparation.

Question 3

Can the translations be in my own language instead of English?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Glosses and sentence translations can be shown in 18 languages: the 13 you can learn plus Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hindi. Glossa uses your native language by default and you can change it for each book, so a Chinese speaker can read an English novel with Chinese glosses, or a Hindi speaker a Spanish one with Hindi glosses. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hindi are available as gloss languages only, not yet as languages to learn.

Question 4

What file formats can I upload?

Accepted Answer

PDF and EPUB, up to 100 MB per file. Books upload directly from your browser to Azure Blob Storage via a short-lived signed URL — the application server never sees the raw bytes in transit.

Question 5

Is Glossa free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The free tier includes 2 books and 10 distinct pages of reading, with every feature unlocked (translation, audio narration, vocabulary games). Pro is $9.99 per month billed annually ($119.88 a year), $14.99 month-to-month, or a one-time $4.99 7-day pass, and raises the library to 100 books with unlimited pages. Annual plans are refundable in full within 30 days.

Question 6

What is included in Pro?

Accepted Answer

Up to 100 books in your library, unlimited pages, AI-generated chapter summaries, and faster book processing. Pro lifts limits rather than gating features — translation, audio narration, and vocabulary practice are also fully available on the free plan.

Question 7

Does Glossa work on mobile?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Glossa runs in any modern mobile browser. There is no native iOS or Android app yet; the responsive web app is the only way to use Glossa on phones today.

Question 8

Is my uploaded content private?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Uploaded books are stored in a private Azure Blob container accessible only to your account, are never shared with other users, and are never used to train AI models. We do not sell user data.

Question 9

How does Glossa decide which words to translate?

Accepted Answer

Glossa estimates how difficult each word in your book is for you, and only the words above your level get a translation written underneath — everything else stays as original text. It adjusts to your level automatically: the more you read and practise, the better it fits you. You can also set it yourself with a slider in the reader — a fuller slider shows more glosses, an emptier one fewer. The slider's stops carry CEFR labels (A1–C2) as a familiar reference point, not an official CEFR assessment.

Question 10

How does the spaced-repetition vocabulary practice work?

Accepted Answer

Words you tap while reading are saved to your vocabulary list. Glossa surfaces them in short games — matching, fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, parts-of-speech tagging, and sentence-scramble — scheduled so you re-encounter each word at increasing intervals based on how confidently you answered last time.

Question 11

Is Glossa suitable for beginners?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Complete beginners can start in the phrasebook, the "My phrases" tab next to your books: you build a handful of sentences about your own life (who you are, your work, your family, why you're learning), each glossed word by word, read aloud, and practised until it comes without thinking. We think a few anchors like that make new vocabulary easier to build in a logical order, because every new word attaches to something you already know. Reading books works best once you can read simple sentences, roughly CEFR A2, though the reveal slider's lowest setting glosses nearly every word. Glossa is not a full course and does not teach grammar systematically, so some beginners will still want a course or textbook alongside it.

Question 12

Does Glossa teach speaking?

Accepted Answer

Not directly. Glossa is a reading app. It supports listening and pronunciation: any sentence can be read aloud by a native-quality neural voice, for most languages the word card shows syllables and stress, and the phrasebook lets you build and drill sentences about yourself that you would actually say. But it has no speech recognition or conversation practice, so it cannot hear you speak. For speaking, pair it with a tutor, a conversation partner, or a speaking-focused app.

Question 13

Can I use Glossa alongside ChatGPT or another AI assistant?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A general assistant is good at explaining a grammar point or a confusing passage on request; Glossa handles the reading itself, keeping a whole book readable at your level, glossing only the words above it, reading sentences aloud, and remembering the words you look up. On any plan, including free, you can also connect Glossa to Claude as a connector (MCP), so the assistant can see your library, reading activity, the words you keep missing and your phrasebook, and recommend books or build practice around them. It is read-only, except that, if you allow it, it can propose sentences for your phrasebook, which wait for you to keep or discard. It cannot change or delete anything else in your account. Connections from ChatGPT and Gemini are being worked on and not yet confirmed.

Question 14

How is Glossa different from Duolingo?

Accepted Answer

Duolingo teaches with a fixed curriculum of synthetic exercises. Glossa is a reader: you upload real books you actually want to read, and translation and vocabulary practice are built around that content. For complete beginners, Glossa's first step is a phrasebook of sentences about your own life rather than a set course. Choose Duolingo for a structured course from zero; choose Glossa to start from sentences about yourself and move on to real books.

Question 15

How is Glossa different from LingQ?

Accepted Answer

LingQ has a large catalog of curated lessons, a learner community, and native mobile apps, and it can import your own ebooks by splitting them into lessons. Glossa keeps your PDF or EPUB as one book and writes translations between the lines for only the words above your level, adjustable with a slider, where LingQ has you tap words to look them up. Choose LingQ for curated content and a phone app; choose Glossa to read a book you chose with glosses that adapt to you.

Question 16

How is Glossa different from Readlang?

Accepted Answer

Both read your own books: Readlang takes DRM-free EPUB and plain text, and is strongest on web articles through its browser extension. Glossa also reads PDFs directly, and glosses only the words above your level, fewer as your vocabulary grows. Choose Readlang for web articles; choose Glossa for PDFs and whole books.

Question 17

Can I import books from Project Gutenberg?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Glossa has a built-in browser for the Project Gutenberg catalog of public-domain titles. Pick a book in your target language and it imports in seconds without leaving the app.

Question 18

What voices does Glossa use for audio narration?

Accepted Answer

Azure Neural Text-to-Speech voices, native-speaker quality in each supported language. Every user gets a default voice per language; additional voices can be unlocked using Glossa Points earned through reading.

La barraca

Read the books you love.In the language you're learning.

How Glossa works

Upload a book

Only the words you don't know

Listen along

Tap any word for context

Build vocabulary

Switch language

Import from classics

Simple pricing.

Free

7-day pass

Monthly

Annual

Start reading for free