Canary
Learn languages with music, practice with people
603 followers
Learn languages with music, practice with people
603 followers
Canary is a language learning app powered by music. Pick a song, see real-time translations, save words to your vocabulary list, sing karaoke to practice pronunciation, take quizzes on songs, and practice with others!
Canary
Hey PH Family! 👋
I’m Ben, and Canary started almost by accident.
After a small exit, I decided to do some content creation ( reached 800k+ followers mostly because of my French accent 🫠)
Six months ago, I posted a simple video of me singing in French with English translations. Nothing fancy, just lyrics and subtitles. The response was incredible. Engagement was super high.
I launched a separate page dedicated to this idea, and it grew to 100k followers in just 5 months.
That’s when I realized people love learning languages through the songs they already love.
That’s why I am building Canary.
With this beta version you can:
🐥 Pick a song and see real-time translations
🐥 Save words to your personal vocabulary list
🐥 Sing karaoke to practice pronunciation
🐥 Take quizzes on songs
🐥 Connect with others who are learning the same way
It’s still in the early MVP stages, but I would love to get your input on it.
And of course, any feedback or ideas for cool features you’d want to see would be incredibly valuable! 🙏
@bengue_z Hi Ben, can I import songs, and please, do not score me on the pitch 😂
Canary
@jojo_li hahaha we won't, believe me I am the worst singer. Recordings are private on your profile, so it's just for you! And yes, you can search and import any songs!
@bengue_z that's great, guess i will be one of these canaries then!
Canary
@jojo_li hahah I hope you will!
DaysAround
@bengue_z This is such a fun idea, I've always wished something like this existed. Learning through music just feels right.
Curious: have you seen any data or feedback from users about retention compared to traditional methods?
Canary
@vladstan Haha yes, fun definitely beats boring.
It’s still too early to draw strong conclusions on data. So far retention looks good, people come back and spend around 10 minutes on average in the app but we’ll need at least 6 months of data to really compare it properly with traditional methods.
DaysAround
@bengue_z make sense. one more question, why do you guys decided to mix this with dating :P?
Canary
@vladstan hahah fair, we’re not trying to be a dating app, but language is social by nature. A lot of users told us they want to practice with real native speakers, not just study alone.
MultiDrive
@bengue_z that's, by the way, how I learn languages :D Thank you for the app!
Canary
@tetianai me too! And you're welcome :)
@bengue_z I never thought there was such a way. It's really amazing!
Canary
@vatary thank youuu
minimalist phone: creating folders
Hey Ben, I was once "warned" that we should be very careful to learn languages from songs (because lyrics can have a different/wrong sentence structure etc.) – how do you prevent this? :)
Canary
@busmark_w_nika That’s true, you won’t learn 100% “perfect” grammar only from songs, and we’re not trying to turn lyrics into a grammar textbook.
We use music mainly as a memory and motivation layer: people remember words, expressions, and rhythms much better through songs than through lessons.
What most learners tell me they’re missing is pronunciation and confidence in speaking. The karaoke feature lets you actually practice saying the words out loud, not just recognizing them on a screen.
And we’re building a social layer on top of that, so native speakers can comment, correct, and help when something sounds off or isn’t natural.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@bengue_z I second that people remember words or texts in general from the music approach. Anyway, I will be thrilled to see a version that can help users to nail the grammar. :) How many languages does the app support?
Canary
@busmark_w_nika Currently only 5 ( English, French, Spanish, Italian, German), but we will add more soon!
We will train the ai agent to give more grammatical context on songs. Thanks for the feedback, super helpful!
minimalist phone: creating folders
@bengue_z Cool! Hopefully, there will be a huge demand! :)
@busmark_w_nika I’ve heard the same warning too.
Not only can sentence structure be a bit “creative” in lyrics, but the stress and intonation can also be misleading when you try to map them directly to everyday speech.
This is such a fun way to learn! Textbooks are boring, but lyrics stick. My biggest question with music apps is always licensing. Does Canary integrate with my existing Spotify/Apple Music account to play the tracks, or do you handle the licensing directly within the app?
Canary
@liusally4 We don’t host or distribute music; we rely on official YouTube videos and build the learning experience around them. Licensing is something we’re being very intentional about as we scale.
Canary frontend developer here 👋🏻
I’ll be honest - when I first joined the team as a developer, I didn’t fully understand this product. I was there to do the work.
Over time, though, it grew on me. My wife immediately connected with the idea though, saying how she could easily learn anything through music - and that’s when it clicked for me too.
I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish, and through Canary I’ve already picked up real words and phrases just by engaging with songs I actually enjoy.
That being said, I think Canary makes language learning fit into something people already do every day: listening to music.
I'm excited to see how Canary evolves
Canary
@samuel_kings love to have you on board Samuel!
Minara
Most language apps assume motivation comes from streaks or goals, but music already carries context, repetition, and feeling, which is usually how phrases actually stick in real life.
Great product team!
Canary
@frank_li13 Thank you Frank! Appreciate it
That's a really great idea @bengue_z. I always thought learning another language the traditional way with textbooks was so boring. I honestly learned english through music + watching tv series with subtitles. I was wondering what is your source for the tunes? Is it pulling it from something like a Spotify API or others? Congrats on the product!
Canary
@alexandr_cizek thank you! And yes we are using Youtube Api!
Love the concept! Singing has really helped my English and Cantonese, but I found traditional French learning a bit too serious. This cute app is exactly what I needed!
Just gave it a try—French songs are tough (I'm still stuck on 'Hélène' haha 🤣), but the karaoke mode with subtitles is super fun. Can't wait to master a song and record a video!
One small piece of feedback: The pronunciation for individual words doesn't sound fully native yet. I noticed this specifically with 'rêve' and 'histoire'. Hope this helps!
Canary
@iwineday thank you so much for the feedback! That's what I need! We will work on working on those pronunciation