Scientific Foundations

Maximum language learning speed has not been reached yet.
So that is our goal, we don’t want to be just another mediocre app.

We want to break records.

Our approach makes sense from a theoretical and practical point of view.

What is Efficiency?

Working at the maximum of your abilities.
Learning more in the same time.
Wisely using the paid time with a teacher.

Main goal: Increase learning efficiency by activity
selection and smart technology use.

This is what this synergy can look like mathematically.
If our three activities each are 20% more effective and support each other, then:

1.2*1.2*1.2 = 1.728

We can learn 72.8% faster than if we choose normal methods.

This is of course just a model, but it shows that if methods support each other, faster learning is possible.

Current state of language research:

Explicit teaching doesn’t really help with acquiring necessary implicit knowledge. Language is way too complex to teach through direct instruction. It can help if you can stop and think and formulate sentences. But for real fluency, implicit knowledge is required, meaning intuition and direct spontaneous connections in the brain.

Output Automatism (instantly knowing relevant phrases),

Comprehensible Input (making natural speech comprehensible)

We only teach certain must-know patterns that we quickly introduce so you know about them.

Implicit knowledge is what just feels right and natural to your brain. It’s hard to measure this, but research shows that it’s essential because of the complexity of language. Basically language is too complex to formulate consciously. Luckily our brains have a Natural Grammar feeling that can internalize structures just from hearing them. That’s why studying with Lingophant feels a bit ineffective, until suddenly after 9 weeks, you realize that you can speak. A lot just works subconsciously, and you cannot count pages in a grammar book.

Personalisation

Currently, everyone learns at the same pace in most apps and courses.

However, personal differences exist in interests, reading speed, and pattern recognition ability.

A great method allows everyone to learn at their maximum speed, which is why we focus on listening training and memorization of phrases.

Relevance

With teachers recording phrases, you can focus on topics of your interest or play through certain scenarios. It also adapts to your level, because you learn phrases you miss.

Furthermore, if you’ve learned something in a real-life conversation, it is more likely to stay in your brain than if it comes from a text book or app screen.

Connecting language to culture, human connections or even entertainment, is another way to make learning more relevant. If it is fun, our brain is more engaged and so we remember it better.

Ordered development

Ordered development is a concept we observe with kids, that every child naturally progresses through the same order of grammatical concepts. For example, in English we first learn simple verbs, then the -ing form, then the -ed past. Something similar is observable for L2 learners.

Using our app with a teacher allows you to build vocabulary at your own speed of understanding. So start with simple sentences, until you know those, and then you can quickly increase complexity.

Enjoyable learning

While practicing with our app is mentally quite demanding, it is highly effective, which in turn leaves more time for other enjoyable activities.

And because you can do it anywhere, you’re not really losing time if you normalise practicing in e.g. public transport.

But most importantly, our listening practice is genuinely enjoyable. Especially when you watch YouTube or Netflix content with double subtitles.

Natural speech includes
many (filler) phrases.

You’ll notice that people repeat some patterns over and over again. And you won’t learn those in normal classes or with other apps.

You can learn those fillers by listening to lots of natural speech, and memorizing
frequent phrases directly with our app. In the beginning you’ll start with very common expressions for staying in the language.

Because sounding natural comes from exposure to natural language and frequent patterns of speech.

Other method elements:

We work with spaced repetition, which optimizes practice intervals and is proven to lead to long-term retention of information.

We also work with self-testing, which is proven to be one of the most effective ways to memorize content. It’s the same when you talk, you have to generate a correct phrase immediately. So we don’t play 4 different games, or tap on words. You know it or not.

We also curate or create grammar overviews for noticing relevant grammar patterns or understand pronunciation details. A 10 minute video can sometimes beat a 30 minute explanation by a teacher.

And we create opportunities for highly effective listening practice.

Together, this can speed up the natural learning process.

Become someone who is pleasant to talk to in a new foreign language.

Our 🌴 12-week program guides you through all methods and steps, with clear explanations and step-by-step progress. You’ll get two emails per week that explain everything.

All you need is 30 minutes per day of practicing (flexible, can be anywhere and at any time). And one lesson per week of 40 minutes for getting new personalised input. This way we’ve minimised and simplified the effort.

You can of course also follow the program at your own speed. But 30 minutes per week is doable, and getting into a habit of daily practicing makes you learn without having to make a decision to study. It’s just natural and automatic whenever you have some free time or are sitting in a bus.

The only decision from you is wanting to make language part of your daily routine. But without that, there will be no real success anyways.

Q&A section (click to expand)

What about age and language learning?

It’s more the quality and quantity of input that younger people can get. It’s easier to spend e.g. 5 hours with communicatively embedded input for a younger person than for an older person.

In the end it’s a numbers game. But older people have the advantage of experience and understanding patterns faster. So if you spend enough time, there’s not really evidence that speaks against the ability to learn a language at an older age.

And it has very clear health benefits because it makes your brain create new nerve cells, because new patterns are necessary.