Camino Ciudadanía
Web app
A free app that helps Spanish speakers study for the U.S. citizenship test by listening to every question in both Spanish and English.
At a glance
My mom was studying for the citizenship test from an English-only booklet. I built her a tool that reads every question aloud in Spanish and English, then shared it for anyone to use for free.
10,000+
Visits in the first 3 months
702
Audio clips in Spanish and English
128
Official test questions covered
My mom is preparing for the U.S. citizenship test. She was studying from a paper booklet, and she kept getting stuck on government terms she didn't know. She told me she wished she could listen to the material in both Spanish and English.
When I started, the official study materials for the new 128-question test were in English only. The material lives on a government website, but it isn't organized in a way that helps you study. And the real test is spoken, so reading alone wasn't going to prepare her.
my role
Full, end-to-end build. I researched the official questions and the test requirements, designed the app and its design system, made the logo, wrote every word in the interface, and built it as a web app that installs on a phone and works without internet.
Both languages on screen together
She reads the Spanish to understand and the English to practice, without switching back and forth.
A Mexican Spanish voice
It's the accent my mom speaks. Of the three voice services I compared, only one had it.
No account, no personal information
People studying for citizenship shouldn't have to hand over their details to use a study tool. Progress saves on the phone.
A progress page
Seeing how far you've come keeps you coming back. It covers the four areas of the real test: civics, reading, writing and the interview.
My mom uses it regularly. I also shared it online for anyone to use for free, and it had over 10,000 visits in its first three months.
Building it made me think about everyone else facing the same barrier. Language shouldn't be what stands between someone and citizenship.
What i learned
I learned that you can combine tools that already exist to build something powerful that fills a real gap. I also found out how much I care about this kind of work: projects that support communities who are often overlooked and connect technology to real-life circumstances.
Next, I'd like to find more social impact projects like this one, where technology can help people on a hard journey.
