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Learn Irish with a cat in the woods

Cara

A companion that learns Irish alongside you.

Coming soon What it does
Free to play Free to play. No account, no subscription, nothing uploaded.
Cara

Cara is a small cat in an Irish wood who learns Irish alongside you. She speaks it, listens to you type it, and grows as you learn: from Óg to Fásta, then on through four ranks that unlock places in the wood. Oisín, the second pet, grows up in the moss under a green cloak, so you can pick whichever voice you would rather learn from. Cara is a companion, not a course. There is no streak to protect and nothing to lose.

It grows with you

Four ages and five places. The wood, the beach, the sea, the island and the school open up as the pet gets older and as you learn.

The Irish appears while you type

Type in English and the Irish is there before you press anything. Every word can be heard: recorded Irish for the words, and an on-device voice for whole sentences.

Eight games to play

Litriú, Comhrá, Bia Boird, Éist, Scéal, Meaitseáil, Luas and Bolgáin. They open as you learn, and what you have learned is what opens them.

Features

What it does

621 lessons

Three tiers, Basic to Advanced, and the lesson waits for you rather than pushing you along.

A real dictionary

41,414 words with their forms, genders, meanings and example sentences: 344,039 inflected forms and 45,965 full entries.

Games as you go

Litriú for the spelling, Comhrá for the right reply, Éist for the ear, Scéal for the story, and the rest to fill the time between lessons.

Numbers, names and phrases

Numbers written out in Irish, the Irish form of a surname, Irish first names with their meanings, and a phrasebook of 2,623 entries.

Talk to the pet

Ask the pet about your day and it remembers what you told it. Connect an AI and it handles the questions its own corpus cannot; leave it off and it still answers on its own.

Your key stays yours

If you connect an AI, your key is stored only on your device and sent straight to the provider you pick - MiniMax, ChatGPT or DeepSeek - with no server in between.

Built to be installed

Cara is a progressive web app: install it on a phone or desktop, run it offline, and it updates itself when the build changes.

On screen

See it working

Specification

Under the hood

Cara
Platform Any modern browser. The Android app is in preparation.
Connection Needed the first time, then it runs offline
Account None. Everything is saved on your own device
Languages Gaeilge and English, with speech in both
Lessons 621, in three tiers from Basic to Advanced
Corpus 41,414 words, 344,039 forms, 45,965 entries, and a phrasebook of 2,623
Games Eight, and they open as you learn
AI Optional. MiniMax, ChatGPT or DeepSeek, with your own key
Licence See the About screen for the sources and licences of the tales, names and pictures
Free to play

Free to play. No account, no subscription, nothing uploaded.

Coming soon

Cara is still being finished. The link will appear here as soon as it is ready.

Price
Free to play
Platform
Any modern browser. The Android app is in preparation.
Languages
Gaeilge and English, with speech in both
Account
None. Everything is saved on your own device
Connection
Needed the first time, then it runs offline
Made by
Ziov Tech

  • Free to play, and no account needed
  • No telemetry, nothing uploaded
  • Runs offline once it has been installed

Questions

Before you start

Is it free?

Yes. Cara is free to play and needs no account. If you connect an AI provider for the conversations, you use your own key and pay that provider directly.

Does it need to be online?

Only the first time, to cache the app. After that it runs offline, and your pet, your lessons and your progress are all kept on your own device.

Is it a course I have to finish?

No. Cara is a companion, not a course. There is no streak to protect and nothing to lose, and the pet never holds anything against you for being away.

Can I get it on Android?

The Android build is finished and is going through the Play Store process now. When it is released, the link will be on this page.

Where do the tales and names come from?

The tales are from Dúchas.ie, and the surnames and first names come with their meanings and origins. The About screen lists every source and the licence each one keeps.

What is the AI for?

It is entirely optional. The pet has its own corpus and answers on its own; the AI only handles the questions that corpus cannot. Turn it off and nothing else changes.

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Cara is nearly ready

It is free to play, it needs no account, and nothing leaves your phone. The link goes here first.

Coming soon Ask a question