Capuchino
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    Hello, world!

    By Tim Bonnemann2 min read
    • learnspanish
    • capuchino
    Capuchino results page: range 1,800–4,300 words, level about B1, a green-yellow-red strip showing solid up to 3,200, patchy to 5,000 and mostly new after that, with two charts.
    Capuchino self-assessment results page

    Welcome to Capuchino!

    I’ve been learning Spanish for several years, currently at B1/B2 level (depending on the day). Following an introductory course in March and April of this year on how to build AI agents, I set up a virtual Spanish tutor (locally on my Mac), mostly to help improve my written Spanish. I also needed something to help with advanced vocabulary, and so on April 27 I started to build this app. And while I could have achieved the same results going the local route, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to get better at building apps of this nature, so there...

    Most of the basics were put in place early on:

    • The pipeline for processing the first frequency list

    • An early version of a kind of “temperature check” self assessment feature

    • The gap list

    • Ability to export word lists (e.g., for use in Anki)

    In May, a few more enhancements rolled out, incl. a proper landing page, a first topic-based sub-list, and the ability to upload a text and have the app highlight the words that fall into your gaps.

    Then in August, a bit of housekeeping on the backend.

    Over these past few months, a few friends and family gave the app a try, and it even attracted a handful of strangers, but things have been pretty quiet overall.

    Meanwhile, my virtual tutor has advanced tremendously and become a near-daily part of my learning routine. And with a loose aim to pass the DELE C1 exam sometime next year, I recently decided to put the 10K vocab challenge back into focus. As a result, I needed to make sure this app serves my learning needs 100%. Hence, a new round of development is here, and you’re invited to be part of it!

    So far this week, the following things have shipped:

    1. A new and improved version of the self assessment test, incl. awesome charts and a methodology page

    2. 29 additional topic-based sub-lists

    3. Improved word list export capabilities

    4. Fancy new user dashboard

    5. Cookie-free analytics

    6. A first few admin tools

    7. The Capuchino blog

    More to come! There is a ton of fun stuff in the pipeline. If you are an advanced Spanish learner, definitely check it out and let us know how it’s working for you!