About PapaGaio
Born out of frustration: three years of language schools, flashcard apps that paywall the useful parts, and translators that quietly teach Brazilian Portuguese to people living in Portugal.
What it does
- Translator with a pt-PT guarantee — flags every Brazilian divergence.
- A card every 15 minutes in Telegram during working hours. One tap. FSRS spaced repetition.
- AI voice coach — scenario roleplay (café, bank, doctor), speaks and listens, corrects gently.
- Pronunciation checks — say the word, Whisper verifies what you actually said.
- Your phrases become cards — translate anything, one tap adds it to your deck with audio.
Anti-features
- No subscriptions, no premium tier, no locked content. Ever.
- No streak shaming — ignore three cards and the bot politely goes quiet until tomorrow.
- No Brazilian Portuguese mixed in. pt-PT only, checked card by card.
Stack
Cloudflare Workers + D1, Edge TTS, Groq Whisper, FSRS. Everything runs on free tiers. Source on GitHub.
FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes, entirely and permanently. The whole stack runs on free tiers; there is nothing to charge for and no premium tier planned. That's the founding principle, not a promo.
What exactly is pt-PT?
European Portuguese — the variant spoken in Portugal and Madeira. It differs from Brazilian in vocabulary (autocarro vs ônibus), grammar (estou a fazer vs estou fazendo) and pronunciation. Most apps teach Brazilian without telling you.
Why spaced repetition instead of lessons?
FSRS schedules each card for the moment you're about to forget it. Twenty seconds every 15 minutes beats an hour on Sunday — the math on forgetting curves is brutal and well studied.
Where do my voice messages go?
To Groq (US) for transcription, then they're discarded. Details in privacy.
Can I use it outside Telegram?
The translator and dictionary work right here. Mobile apps (Android/iOS) with offline decks and local notifications are on the roadmap.