Fabuly: the new app that’s revolutionising English language learning through literature
Plaine Images is proud to count Fabuly amongst its incubated projects – an app that offers tailored support for learning English through reading and listening to great English classics. With Jack London’s *The Call of the Wild*, Jane Austen’s *Pride and Prejudice* and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ *Tarzan of the Apes*, the language of Shakespeare will hold no more secrets for you.
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“Be proud of yourself because we can do whatever we want to do!”
To be honest, France doesn’t rank highly when it comes to English language proficiency. It is ranked low for English proficiency according to the EF English Proficiency Index.
Apps to help you learn English are everywhere on the app stores. Giants such as Duolingo, Babel and Memrise lead the way in the app market. And yet one might well ask: is a few minutes a day really enough to learn a new language?
My secondary school English teacher would tell us that it isn’t. She’d even give you this memorable piece of advice: play the BBC in the background as you fall asleep and watch your TV programmes and films with English subtitles. At the time, using the BBC as a lullaby seemed a bit far-fetched to all of us…
The idea was to stimulate active listening by training your ears, to get used to the sounds and different accents of the language, so you could reproduce them more easily and move away from a ‘French-style’ pronunciation.
It’s also a chance to give our visual memory a workout, because seeing the words helps us absorb their spelling and grammar – which, in the case of English, doesn’t necessarily follow the same logic as that of its neighbour across the Channel, France.
Positioning itself as a complement to apps already on the market, Fabuly helps you practise that all-important active listening through the great classics of English literature. The app has already attracted more than 20,000 users since its launch this year.
The story of Fabuly begins with Joseph, its founder, a former developer at Google in Zurich. Whilst travelling in Japan, he found it difficult not only to find but also to carry books in English. He therefore devised a solution to provide easy access to works in the public domain, whether for reading or by offering the option to listen to the text whilst reading along.
Active Listening by Fabuly / Fabuly: read and listen to classics in English.
Fabuly is a mobile app that offers an immersive experience, allowing users to read and listen to classic works in English at the same time. The app offers a wide selection of literary masterpieces such as Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Frankenstein and The War of the Worlds, as well as timeless authors such as Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen.
One of Fabuly’s distinctive features is its carefully curated selection. Each book is meticulously chosen by the team, who also ensure the quality of the audio recordings. Furthermore, the app stands out for its modernised book covers, created specifically to provide an engaging visual experience.
A clear and ambitious mission
Joseph sums up the company’s vision as follows: “Our mission is to make classic literature accessible to everyone by offering an immersive experience that allows users to read and listen to books and short stories in English at the same time, in a fun way, with a free version available.”
This innovative approach is already winning over many users. One of them says:
“A wonderful app for reading and listening to famous literary masterpieces for free, or discovering lesser-known gems. The selection of books is varied, and I’m looking forward to seeing more added. The reading experience is excellent and the audio quality is remarkable – on a par with Audible! In short, this app excels at achieving a noble goal: providing easy access to the treasures of world literature, which is invaluable. Thank you!”
A promising future
Joseph has turned to Plaine Images’ Take Off incubation programme to develop and launch his project. Incubated in April, Fabuly is the perfect example of a project that combines technology and culture to meet a growing need.
Since its launch, Fabuly has already surpassed 10,000 downloads on the Google Play Store and has been recognised as ‘Product of the Month’ on MobileAppDaily. This positive feedback and public interest are encouraging and show that Fabuly’s approach meets a real need.
Changes to the team are expected soon! To meet new expectations and take on new tasks, the team is set to expand, with a vacancy opening up in IT to complement the two marketing internships. Indeed, the team is constantly working on adding new content, themes and features to enhance the user experience.
In summary…
By combining technology, teaching methods and literary heritage, this start-up offers an effective and accessible solution for improving one’s English, whilst discovering the great classics of literature.
At Plaine Images, we are delighted to see Fabuly’s positive progress and will continue to support them as they grow within our innovation ecosystem.
Fancy having a look at Fabuly? It’s easy! The app is available for free on the Google Play Store and the App Store. Users can also visit the website www.fabuly.io or send their feedback directly to joseph@fabuly.io.
