Case study · our own project · in development
Ovečka: an app for learning Slovak, built with the help of AI
Ovečka is our own app for English speakers learning Slovak, named after the little sheep who walks with the learner across Slovakia from Bratislava to Košice, teaching a piece of the language at every stop. Before It Was Cool designs, writes and builds it with AI, the same way it offers to build apps for clients.
- stops on the road from Bratislava to Košice
- 27
- words in 67 packs
- 2,679
- grammar lessons
- 35
- automated checks on every change
- ~700
As of 19 Oct 2026. Content is still growing.
The brief: teach Slovak in a way people enjoy
We wanted an app people actually stick with for 15 to 20 minutes a day, and one that takes them to everyday Slovak within a year. Not a list of words, but language in context: conversations, stories and situations a foreigner in Slovakia actually meets.
We built the app around a journey: Ovečka travels from Bratislava to Košice, meets locals at each stop and collects passport stamps and souvenirs. Progress in the language is progress on the map.
What we designed and built
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Concept and experience
A journey across Slovakia with 27 stops, a passport with stamps, arrival celebrations, encounters with locals, and Ovečka herself, with moods and regional costumes. Reasons to come back every day.
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A course in a proven order
Grammar follows the order of a proven Slovak textbook for foreigners, one case at a time. Every text, dialogue and exercise is written new.
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Speaking, not just words
Exercises where the learner speaks: say it in Slovak, reactions in conversation, shadowing and telling the same story three times. A story and a listening task at every stop.
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Review at the right moment
Words come back just as the learner starts to forget them, at intervals of up to 240 days. New lessons wait until the old ones are reviewed.
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Content checked by a native speaker
A Slovak teacher reviews the content, and her corrections go straight into the app. An automated check keeps Czech forms out of the texts.
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AI-assisted development and tests
AI writes first drafts of code, exercises and tests; people decide and review. About 700 automated checks run on every change, and one simulation goes through a full year of learning, day by day.
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One codebase for the web and iPhone
The app runs in the browser, and the same code becomes an iPhone version with haptics and speech.
What Ovečka looks like
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Home: today’s lesson, goal and a road encounter -
Journey: every stop is part of the course -
Exercise: find the pairs -
Passport: 27 stamps
Where Ovečka is today
Ovečka is in development. We use and test it every day, the content is going through a native speaker’s review, and we are preparing recordings of real voices. We are not publishing learner results until we have them from longer use.
What it means for you: how we bring your app to life
We follow the same process for your app, whether it is about language, a customer service or a tool for your team:
- we turn the idea into the scope of a first version that real people try
- we design an experience people come back to, not just screens
- an expert from your field checks the content
- we build with AI, with tests on every change
- one codebase for the web, iPhone and Android, plus help with the store release
- and once the app is ready, we make sure people find it: a website, SEO and GEO and ads
Got an app idea?
On the intro call we suggest the smallest first version that proves your idea.
30 minutes, online, no obligation.