Most language apps teach the textbook version of a language. Move to Zurich and you find that the city speaks Swiss German, not the High German you studied. Move to Lisbon and the Portuguese around you sounds nothing like the Brazilian Portuguese most courses teach.

That gap is why we started Speeku , a startup in Zurich.

What we built

Speeku is a gamified app for learning a language as it is actually spoken. Our first two courses are Swiss German and European Portuguese.

Bite-sized lessons take you from your first words to a real conversation.

Every word and sentence is spoken aloud by recorded voices, so you hear the real sound of the variety.

A full dictionary sits behind every word in every lesson.

Speaking practice checks that you said the right word.

Why offline

We decided early that the whole app should work without a connection. Lessons, recordings, the dictionary and the speaking check all live on the phone.…