London-based Glite launches English app for people who already speak English

London-based EdTech company Glite has launched an AI-powered English learning app for existing English learners who want to reach real fluency.

Founded by entrepreneur Vassili Philippov, Glite is designed specifically for intermediate and advanced learners who can already speak English but want to understand the language at the level needed for everyday life, entertainment and work.

Where most language apps are built to take someone from zero to a few thousand words, Glite picks up where they stop working and actively turns learners away if they are not advanced enough. It goes beyond simply teaching words to helping users understand their actual meanings, including idioms and phrasal verbs. It also connects with popular media, turning films and books into language learning opportunities.

“We've created an English learning app for people who already speak English. If other apps are for day one, we are for day 1,000,” said Vassili Philippov, founder and CEO of Glite.

“We actively discourage beginners from using the app because there are other options available. Glite is built for intermediate and advanced learners, with several years of English behind them. They can hold a conversation, but still cannot watch a movie while fully understanding all of the context, read a novel without a dictionary to hand, or feel fully confident in a work meeting with native speakers.”

Training AI Models on Everyday Media and Real Data

Glite is the company behind one of the world's largest online English tests, already taken by more than three million people and generating 140 million data points used to train the learning models that power the app.

Its AI system is built to work in a similar way to a good human tutor, constantly figuring out what a learner already knows, where the gaps are and what they should tackle next, rather than pushing everyone through the same fixed course.

That starts with what learners are already watching. Before pressing play on a film or TV show, users can check which words, idioms and phrases they need to know to follow it. They can then watch while fully understanding the context, turning a normal night in front of the TV into language practice that actually sticks.

The same will work for music, with the feature launching in the coming weeks. Users can create a playlist and Glite will flag the words and idioms in songs they already listen to that they don't yet know, turning music they already enjoy into a source of new vocabulary.

Behind the app sits Glite's English test, already taken by more than three million people and one of the biggest tests of its kind for English learners who have moved beyond the basics.