Why we built a speaking-first language app
A short note on what we noticed about the way most apps teach — and why we wanted to start somewhere else.
Most language apps treat speaking as the output of months of drills. You memorize, you conjugate, you fill in blanks, and then — eventually, if you stick around — you're allowed to actually say something.
We think that's backwards.
When kids learn a language, they speak first. Badly, fragmentarily, with errors that don't matter. The errors don't matter because the goal isn't accuracy — it's connection. They're trying to say something to someone, and they keep adjusting until the other person understands.
This blog is going to be the place where we share what we're learning about that process. The research that shaped how the app works. The strange edges of language acquisition that don't fit on a flashcard. The reason your brain remembers the lyrics of a song from 2004 but can't hold onto a word you "studied" yesterday.
Some of it will be ours. A lot of it will be other people's, summarized and linked. All of it should feel less like a textbook and more like a conversation with someone who finds this stuff genuinely fascinating.
If that's you too, welcome.