Learn a Language with ClickBooks

If you're about to learn a new language (for a mission, a move, a grandchild, or just because), here's something that works whether you're six or sixty: start with a picture book. Not a textbook, not a flashcard deck. A picture book. The pictures carry the meaning, the sentences are short, and your brain does the thing it is best at, which is connecting a sound, a word, and an image.

That's the idea behind ClickBooks, a free site I built for exactly this. Every page of every book is shown in two languages at once: the one you already speak and the one you want to learn. Click a picture, or click a word, and you hear it spoken out loud. No ads. No accounts. Nothing to buy.

How It Works

1. Go to clickbooks.wasql.us and pick a book, or add it to your Roku TV by searching for ClickBooks or going to https://my.roku.com/add/clickbooks.
2. Choose your two languages: the one you speak, and the one you're learning.
3. Read a page. Your learning language is the star, and your own language sits right beside it so you're never lost.
4. Listen. Every sentence is read aloud by a natural-sounding voice. Replay it as many times as you like.
5. Click the pictures. On many pages, individual things in the illustration are clickable. Tap the wolf and you hear the word for wolf, with the word on screen in both languages.
6. Turn the page and do it again.

That's it. There is nothing to configure and nothing to sign up for.

The 14 Languages

Right now you can mix and match any two of these:

Learning a language with a different alphabet or writing system? The romanization line is your training wheels. You can see how the unfamiliar characters sound in letters you already know, while you hear the real thing read aloud.

Don't see your language? Please ask! More languages are on the way, and requests help decide which ones come next. Tell me which language you'd like to learn, or which one you'd like to learn from, through the contact form.

Why Picture Books Work So Well

• Context does the teaching. You don't need a dictionary when the page shows a pig building a house of straw.
• Short sentences. One or two simple sentences per page is the sweet spot for a beginner: enough to be real language, short enough to actually remember.
• Hearing and reading together. Seeing a word while hearing it spoken ties the spelling to the sound, which is the hardest part for many learners.
• Repetition without boredom. Stories repeat vocabulary naturally. "The wolf huffed and puffed" shows up again and again, and by page ten you know it.
• Zero pressure. Nobody's grading you. You can click the same word twenty times.

A Study Routine That Works

Here's a simple way to get real progress in ten minutes a day:

1. Pick one book and stay with it for a week. Familiar material is faster to learn than new material.
2. First pass: just listen. Read the page in your own language, then listen to the learning language read aloud. Don't worry about the spelling yet.
3. Second pass: read along. Follow the learning-language text while the narration plays.
4. Third pass: say it out loud. Pause after each sentence and try to repeat it. Your accent will improve faster than you expect.
5. Click the pictures. Quiz yourself: look at the object, say the word, then click to check.
6. Swap the languages. Make your target language the one beside the picture instead, and see how much you can read without the helper.

Learning with a child? Let them be the clicker. Kids love finding the clickable things, and they pick up words by pure play.

What's On the Shelf

The collection mixes original illustrated stories with classic public-domain picture books: A Day at Home, Humpty Dumpty, A Apple Pie, Mother Goose, and The Three Little Pigs, with more being added. The classics come from the Library of Congress's collection of free-to-use children's books, so the old art is genuinely free for everyone to enjoy.

New books are announced to subscribers. There's a sign-up box right on the home page, and you can unsubscribe at any time. No spam, and I won't sell your email.

On Your TV Too

ClickBooks also has a Roku channel, and it is already live. Search for ClickBooks on your Roku or add it here. You can read together on the big screen: pick the book and the two languages with your remote, and the narration plays through the TV speakers. It's a lovely way to do a family language night.

Here's why I'm excited about it. Roku recently passed 100 million streaming households worldwide. That is a lot of living rooms, and a lot of children and grown-ups who could be learning a second language one picture book at a time. For a free, ad-free project built by one person, that kind of reach is hard to imagine.

And Roku is only the start. ClickBooks has been submitted to Amazon Fire TV and is waiting on Amazon's review, and Google TV is next, which would grow the potential audience to 300 million+ viewers. Every new platform means more families who can pull up a picture book, pick two languages, and learn together on the living-room screen.

A Gentle Invitation

Reading aloud costs real money, because every sentence in every language is narrated by a speech service. Each narration is generated once and then saved, so the cost grows with every new book and every new language, not with how many people listen. ClickBooks will always be free to read, and it will never show ads or ask for an account. But if it has helped your family and you'd like to see it reach more of those living rooms, a small gift on the support page goes straight into narration, new books, and new languages. It also helps us promote ClickBooks, including running ads on Roku and other platforms, so more families can find it. There's no pressure at all. Reading a page and telling a friend helps just as much.

If you know of a business, foundation, library, school, or charity that cares about literacy, language learning, or families reading together, I'd be grateful if you'd introduce us. A sponsor could help get these books to far more homes. Please get in touch and let me know, or just pass this article along.

A Word About Quality

Every sentence in ClickBooks is written fresh for each page and for each language, using natural, simple phrasing. I'm one person, and I'm being honest: I have not had every language reviewed by a native speaker yet. If you speak one of these languages and spot something that sounds off, please tell me through the contact form. That's how the books get better for everyone.

Missionaries, Take Note

If you've been called to serve in one of these languages, or you're helping someone who has, a picture book is a surprisingly gentle way to build the habit of hearing the language every day. It won't replace the MTC or your study materials, but it fills in the small gaps with vocabulary for family, food, home, and animals. Those are the words you'll use at every doorstep.

Your Challenge This Week

Open ClickBooks, choose one book, and read just one page in the language you're learning. Listen to it three times. Then say it out loud to someone, even if that someone is the dog. Tomorrow, do the next page.

P.S. — ClickBooks is free and stays free. It's built and run by one person, and every new book and language means more narration to pay for. If your family loves it and you'd like to help keep it going, there's a way to say thanks on the support page. And if there's a language or a favorite public-domain picture book you'd like to see added, just ask.