Pocket French

A portable device for learning French powered by ESP32.

The Idea

I'm the type of person who loves hands-on building and can't consume a huge amount of theory. Languages are one of those skills which need to be trained daily and require a lot of memorization. To be honest, in my spare time, I would prioritize building another electronics device rather than learning theoretical physics or languages. As a person who already speaks four languages fluently, I picked up my fifth one recently - French. Just because of curiosity. Not for studies or job opportunities in the future, but because of genuine intrinsic motivation. And so, I built a device with which I can practice French anywhere - even if I'm outdoors. Alongside my regular study of this language, I think this device is a nice addition:)

Features

This device has four sections in total: vocab, practice, review and about.

• Vocab: In my .ino file, I hard-coded words and phrases. Once I have learned all of them, I need to re-upload new code with new words.

  PS: I wrote approximate French pronunciations using Russian letters to make them clearer and easier for me to read. This isn't a standard transliteration system; it's simply a personal pronunciation aid.

• Practice: this section challenges my memory through words, translations, context, etc.
• Review: here I can see questions I got wrong before and redo them.
• About: this is where I put a short description of the device.

Elements Used

• TFT screen
• Buttons
• ESP32 board
• LEGO pieces
• AA batteries and battery holders
• Breadboards
• Tape and note stickers (for labeling buttons)

Gallery