Founder
CurrentMoving away from management consulting to work on a problem near and dear to my heart...Language learning - it shouldn't be this hard! I'm a New Zealand-born Chinese, who's spent my whole life trying to learn my heritage language - Mandarin. During this time, I've tried a plethora of language learning services. Think learning apps with psychotic green owls, weekend language schools, private tutors, and even entire university language diplomas (are they worth the $20k in student debt? I'm not sure... you tell me).Heck, I've even gone on exchange for a whole year at Tsinghua University in Beijing to immerse myself in the Mandarin language (one of my favourite language learning and life experiences)!Whatever methods you can think of, I've tried them... and in all this time learning a second language I've started to see one common thread that never feels adequately addressed.See, I think one of the most amazing things about learning another language is the ability to communicate with other people - and not on a superficial level of just saying hello or asking for directions, but being able to sit down truly connect. To have a meaningful conversation, exchange viewpoints on life and culture, or share perspectives on the world.Yet, existing language learning services all emphasise the traditional way of learning - textbook vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening and oral skills. While these have given me a strong foundation in my second language, they have never given me the ability to seamlessly connect/communicate with other people.This is because applied oral competency is not something that CAN be taught the textbook way. You need an immersive environment that lets you use the words and phrases you've learnt, and this is so hard to do when you live, and study, and work all in your first language.My mission is to innovate on the broken model of language exchange to create an applied oral learning environment that actually works.Join me on the journey!
