LingunAI vs LingQ

What LingQ does well

LingQ, co-founded by the polyglot Steve Kaufmann, is a reading-and-listening platform built on a simple premise: you learn a language through large amounts of interesting input. It’s designed to make content written for native speakers usable by learners.

• Your own content. Import articles, ebooks and YouTube transcripts, or choose from a large library of lessons.
• Word tracking. Unknown words are highlighted in blue. Save one as a LingQ and it turns yellow, so every page shows you what’s new and what you’re already learning.
• Reading and listening together. Library lessons pair text with audio, which suits learners who want to train their ear alongside their reading.

If you’re an independent learner who wants to read original material, such as novels, news and transcripts, and you’re happy to work through difficult text with help, LingQ is built for exactly that.

Where LingunAI is different

LingunAI starts from the same place, learning through reading, but changes where the text comes from. Instead of helping you through text written for native speakers, it writes or rewrites text at the CEFR level you choose.

• Text at your level. StorySplice writes complete stories of 50 to 500 words at any level from A1 to C2, built around the words you want to practice. The article reader rewrites an article you paste at your level, keeping the facts, and explains 8 to 12 key words.
• Your words drive the content. Pick words from your flashcards and the next story uses them, so new vocabulary turns up in context on purpose rather than by chance.
• A review ladder. Saved words become flashcards on a Leitner-style schedule, 1, 3, 7 and 15 days by default, with free quizzes and an AI Review mode for harder questions.
• Output, not just input. Roleplay scenes with feedback at the end, a grammar coach for your writing, and an AI tutor for questions.

The trade-off is real: a rewritten article is not the original. If reading the author’s own words matters to you, LingQ’s approach serves you better. If you’d rather understand nearly everything on the page from the first day, level-matched text is the better fit.

Who should choose which

Choose LingQ if:

• you want to read and listen to original content: books, news, transcripts
• you like seeing unknown words highlighted across everything you read
• you’re comfortable working through text above your level

Choose LingunAI if:

• you want text written at your level, from A1 to C2
• you’d like stories built around the words you’re studying
• you want speaking and writing practice in the same place as your reading

The research behind both is the same. Laufer (1989) suggested that reasonable comprehension needs about 95% of the words on the page to be known, and Hu and Nation (2000) found that reading fiction without help takes about 98%. LingQ helps you reach that coverage by supporting you through harder texts word by word; LingunAI does it by adjusting the text. There’s more on these numbers in how many words you need to read.

Using LingQ and LingunAI together

The two fit together well. Use LingunAI to read at a comfortable level and build vocabulary, then move to original content in LingQ as your level rises.

You can also pair them on a single topic. Read about a subject at your level in LingunAI first, through a story or a rewritten article, then take on an original piece about the same subject in LingQ. The background knowledge and the vocabulary you’ve just met make the harder text far easier to follow, an approach often called narrow reading.

For a broader look at reading as a method, see how to learn a language by reading.