What's New in Volitude
What if you could read a story about anything?
Not a story about a topic you picked from a list. Not a story that's close enough to what you like. A story about exactly the thing you had in mind - your hobby, your job, your next trip, or that strange idea you had in the shower this morning.
That's the biggest update we've ever shipped, and it's available today. Alongside it, we're opening Volitude up to five new languages and giving intermediate learners a bigger challenge.
Let's dive in.
Create your own stories
Since the beginning, Volitude has written stories tailored to your level and your interests. But interests are broad. "Travel" could mean backpacking through Patagonia, or missing a train in Milan. "Food" could mean a Michelin kitchen, or your grandmother's soup.
The most common request we've received is some version of:
"Can I just tell it what I want to read about?"
Well, now you can.
Describe a character, a place, and what happens - and Volitude turns your idea into a short story in your target language, written at your level.
For example:
- A nervous intern gives her first presentation to the boss
- Two friends find a treasure map in their attic
- A cat decides to move into the house next door
Not sure where to start? The prompt box suggests ideas based on the interests you chose when you signed up, so there's always something to spark your imagination.
Your custom stories work just like every other story in Volitude. You get narration, tap-to-translate, a comprehension quiz, and every new word feeds into your vocabulary progress. Custom stories are marked with a Your idea badge in your library, so you can always find the ones you dreamed up.
Why this matters for learning
Learners tend to remember vocabulary better when it's connected to something they care about. A story about your own hobby, your own job, or a place you're about to visit is full of words you'll actually use - and you'll want to keep reading to see what happens.
If you're a nurse learning Spanish, read about a shift in a busy Madrid hospital. If you're heading to Tokyo next spring, read about getting lost in Shinjuku station. The language you learn becomes the language of your life.
A few ground rules keep things working well: your idea needs to describe a story (so requests for essays or code won't work), unsafe or offensive ideas are filtered out, and there's a daily limit on how many custom stories you can create.
Five new languages
Volitude started with European languages. Now we're going much further.
You can now learn with stories in:
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin
- Arabic
- Hindi
These languages bring Volitude to hundreds of millions more speakers - and they're some of the most rewarding (and most challenging) languages to learn. New writing systems make reading practice even more valuable, because the only way to get comfortable with a script is to spend time reading it.
Learning a language we don't support yet? Let us know at volitudeapp@gmail.com - your requests help decide what we add next.
Quizzes in your target language for B1 and B2
One last update, for intermediate learners.
Every story ends with a short comprehension quiz. Until now, questions and answers were always in English.
If you're reading at B1 or B2, quiz questions and answers now appear in the language you're learning. It's a small change, but it keeps you immersed from the first word of the story to the last answer of the quiz - and it's a good test of whether you've really understood what you read.
A1 and A2 learners will still see quizzes in English, so beginners can focus on the story itself.
What's next?
We're continuing to build Volitude around your feedback - and many of this release's features started as suggestions from readers like you. If there's something you'd like to see, reach out anytime at volitudeapp@gmail.com.
In the meantime, there's one question left: what story will you write first? Create your first story today.