In short
- Go to parlaapp.io/start and pick a language, your level and a companion.
- Tap I agree, continue and Open Telegram, then Start in the chat that opens.
- Send /help in the chat whenever you want to change a setting.
Start a chat
Parla has no app of its own to install. Each companion is a chat in Telegram, and you start it on the site.
- Go to parlaapp.io/start.
- Pick the language you want to practise.
- Say how much of it you already know.
- Pick a companion.
- Tap I agree, continue. With that tap you confirm you are 18 or older and do not live in the US, and you accept the Terms.
- Tap Open Telegram.
- Tap Start at the bottom of your companion's chat.
That is the whole sign-up: no form, no password, no email.
After you tap Start, your companion writes first. Reply when it suits you, with a text or with a voice note.
Tip: No Telegram yet? It is a free app. Install it, then come back to the Open Telegram button.
Tip: At a computer without Telegram on it, the page shows a QR code. Point your phone's camera at it and you land in the same chat. There is also a link to Telegram Web, if you would rather stay on the big screen.
The free week and the subscription
Your first week is free, and you give no card for it. Near the end of it, the chat tells you the week is ending.
To keep going:
- Tap the link in the chat.
- Subscribe with a card.
If you do not subscribe, nothing happens to your money. You never gave a card, so there is nothing to charge.
When the week is over, your companion stops writing first. A few days later they stop answering too, until you subscribe. From then on, /help also shows Billing, where you can subscribe.
One subscription covers every companion, in every language. The price is right under this guide.
Change your settings
The settings live in a menu inside Telegram, and you change them by tapping.
- Send /help in your companion's chat.
- Tap the setting you want to change.
- Tap one of its choices.
What is in the menu:
- Corrections: how many you get, or none for a while.
- Warmth: anywhere from reserved to affectionate.
- Voice notes, Message length, Emoji and slang.
- Writes first: whether your companion may start a conversation, or only answers.
- Log in, Your data and Cancel.
- Billing, once your companion has stopped answering because you have no subscription, or when a payment needs fixing.
Typing HELP in capitals works too. Any other spelling is just chat, because "help" might be the word you are practising.
Send /login, and you get a link that logs you in to your account on the site. There you see your companions, your Sunday letters and everything Parla knows about you, and you can download it, make a companion forget it, or delete the lot. The link works for fifteen minutes. If it runs out, send /login again.
Tip: Before you give up on something that bothers you, send /help. It is probably a setting.
Pause a companion
Going on holiday, busy, or just not in the mood? Pause your companion.
- Send /pause in your companion's chat.
- Tap the button with your companion's name, such as Pause Giulia, when the chat asks if you are sure.
Your companion goes quiet: no messages from them, and no answers either. When you want them back, send /start. They still remember you. Pausing is not forgetting.
More than one companion
You can talk to more than one: two in the same language, or several languages at once. Each companion is their own chat in Telegram.
- Send /help in any companion's chat.
- Tap Other languages.
- Tap a language to see who speaks it.
- Tap a name to open that companion's chat.
You can also go back to parlaapp.io/start and pick another companion there.
They do not share what you tell them. What you tell one companion stays with that one, so the other has no idea you just got a dog.
The free week is one per account, not one per companion. A second companion does not start a new week, and once you subscribe, it adds nothing to the bill.
Commands
| Send | What it does |
|---|---|
| /start | Starts the chat, and brings your companion back after a pause. |
| /help | Opens the settings menu. |
| /pause | Asks first, then pauses your companion until you send /start. |
| /feedback | Sends the next thing you write to the Parla team instead of your companion. |
| /login | Sends a link that logs you in to your account on the site, for fifteen minutes. |