Hear And Tap - Ifen Idiomas

Furlanography — English Learning App

1. Concept

Furlanography is an English language learning support system created to solve one of the biggest difficulties for Portuguese speakers: understanding how a word should actually be pronounced from its spelling.

The app uses Furlanography based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to transform English pronunciation into a more intuitive and easier-to-interpret visual representation.

Instead of forcing the student to memorize that a word written in a certain way has a completely different pronunciation, the app simultaneously presents:

original word → Furlanography → pronunciation

The goal is to create a bridge between traditional English spelling and real pronunciation.

2. The problem the app solves

English has a rather irregular relationship between spelling and pronunciation.

For example:

THOUGHT

For a Brazilian, looking at the word doesn't clearly reveal how it should be pronounced.

The app presents the conventional word and, below it, its phonetic representation in Furlanography, allowing the student to understand the sound they need to produce, instead of trying to deduce the pronunciation from the letters.

This is especially important for:

Brazilian beginners;

people who study English on their own;
students who have difficulty with listening;
students who can read English but cannot speak correctly;
people who learned English mainly through writing;
people who have difficulty interpreting the traditional IPA.

4. Emphasis on the stressed syllable

One of the fundamental elements of Furlanography is the visual identification of the stressed syllable.

Stress is extremely important in English because it is not enough to produce the correct sounds: it is also necessary to know which part of the word receives greater emphasis.

In the app, the stressed syllable receives a differentiated visual treatment.

For example, conceptually:

word

FUR-la-NO-gra-phy

↑
stress

The goal is for the student to immediately perceive:

where the stressed syllable is;

where the word's core is;
how the word should be rhythmically structured;
which parts should be reduced.

This transforms Furlanography into something closer to a pronunciation score.

5. The app doesn't just teach words

The system should work on different levels.

Level 1 — Sounds

The student learns the sounds of English individually.

For example:

vowels;
consonants;
sounds that don't exist in the same way in Portuguese;
combinations of sounds;
differences between similar sounds.

Level 2 — Syllables

The student learns how sounds combine.

Level 3 — Words

The word appears in its conventional form and in Furlanography.

Level 4 — Phrases

The student begins to understand pronunciation within a context.

Level 5 — Conversation

The representation moves beyond just word-by-word and begins to work on:

rhythm;
stress;
reduction;
connection between words;
intonation;
natural speed.

Developed and published by Quasarbit.