Why I Built Tayseer

The founder story of Tayseer: an Arabic learner explains the problems that became the app.

Why this app

I am Schamil. I am not a native Arabic speaker. I am not a scholar. I am a learner, around B2, self-taught, online and at home.

I kept hitting the same three walls. Nobody to speak with. No daily habit that stuck. And no single tool for both everyday Arabic and the words I needed for Islamic studies. In 2024 I started researching how to fix this for myself. I have been building Tayseer since.

Why now

The biggest wall was conversation. Courses existed. Videos existed. But at home, there was no one to talk to.

Modern AI changed that. It made the missing piece buildable: an assistant that is always there and knows exactly which words you have learned. Before this, an app could not give you someone to talk to. Now it can. That is why now, and not earlier.

Why so much media

This comes from my own learning. A word stuck when it came with a picture and a voice. Bare word lists did not stick.

So in Tayseer, every line of dialogue has native audio and pictures. The lessons follow a real textbook, from the alphabet up. The structure is solid, not random.

Why interactive

Reading about Arabic is not using Arabic. You learn by answering, building sentences, saying things.

That is why the lessons are full of exercises, and why your personal dictionary uses spaced repetition. You do the language, a little, every day. Small enough to fit into a normal day. That was the habit I could never keep before.

Why both worlds

Most apps pick a side. Everyday phrases, or the words of study. I wanted one habit that carries both: the Arabic of daily life, and the words I need to understand lessons and books in my Islamic studies.

Tayseer holds both in one place. One habit, both worlds.

Where it stands

Today Tayseer runs on iOS, Android, and the web. Structured lessons, audio and pictures on every line, exercises, a personal dictionary, and an AI assistant that knows your words.

I am still a learner. I built the app I wished I had, and I still learn with it myself.

More questions