Frequently asked questions

Everything people usually ask before they start reading.

Is SeoJae Story free?

Yes. Every one of the 115+ stories is free to read right now, with the full reader, translations, audio, vocabulary and comprehension checks. A Premium subscription is planned for later to unlock the full library beyond a few free stories, but nothing is behind a paywall during the current test.

Do I need an account to read?

No. During the closed test you can open any story and use every feature without signing up. Your saved words, study plan and streak are kept on your device.

Which languages can I learn?

English and Korean. Each story is written in one language with a sentence-by-sentence translation into the other, and in the reader you can switch which language the story body is shown in — so a Korean speaker can learn English, and an English speaker can learn Korean, from the same story.

What is a graded reader, and what do A1–B2 mean?

A graded reader is a story written so that its vocabulary and grammar stay within a set level. The levels A1, A2, B1 and B2 come from the CEFR scale used by most language courses and exams. See CEFR levels explained for what each level feels like and how to find yours.

How does tap-any-word translation work?

Tap a word in the story and a short gloss appears. The dictionary behind it is hand-built and stored in the app, so a tap is instant and works with no internet connection. Nothing you tap is sent to a server.

Are the translations machine-generated?

No. The sentence translations and the word glosses are written and edited in-house for the sense each graded story uses. No modern, copyrighted translation is used anywhere in the app.

Is the read-aloud a real voice?

Where a story has been prepared, the Listen button and the flashcards play small pre-generated clips recorded once with a neural text-to-speech voice, then bundled with the app. For anything without a clip — your own study phrases, a brand-new story — it falls back to your browser's built-in voice. Audio is never generated at runtime from a paid service.

Can I read the full, original book?

Each story is a self-contained graded chapter — a simplified retelling of a chapter or a complete short story — so you always finish something. More chapters of the longer works are being added over time. If there is a book you would like to see continued, that demand is what drives which ones we build next.

Where does the content come from? Is it copyrighted?

Every story is an original simplified retelling of public-domain source material — fables, fairy tales, and classic literature old enough to be free of copyright. Each lesson ends with a note naming its source. The retellings themselves are written for SeoJae Story.

Can I use it offline or install it as an app?

Yes. SeoJae Story is a progressive web app: add it to your home screen and stories you have opened, the dictionary and the audio keep working offline. A Google Play version is on the way.

How do I keep track of new vocabulary?

Tap a word and add it to your study plan. Saved words become spaced-repetition flashcards with audio, and the app shows you which ones are due. You can also highlight whole sentences to keep.

What is “My book club”?

A private club you own, with room for up to ten members. When you share a chapter into the club, your members can read that one chapter free while your subscription is active — a simple way to read the same story together.

How many stories are there, and how often is more added?

There are 115+ stories today, including 96 works of classic literature, spread across A1–B2. New stories and chapters are added regularly, guided by what readers ask for.