How come?

Hello! It’s good to have you here. I’m Martin, and I started this project because I wanted to learn German myself. Before you send me a “Procrastinator of the Year” T-shirt, let me quickly explain how it came about.

The last time I had to learn a language, I was still at school, where a few hours of French were on the timetable every week. I didn’t take it particularly seriously at the time, and to be honest, the result was about what you’d expect. For many people a foreign language remains a hobby, yet for some it later becomes a necessity, because what comes next in their career and in their life depends on it. But by then, of course, you’re no longer at school, and the challenges of learning it are quite different from what they were back then.

The first is time, because between work, studies, family and everything else, there isn’t much of it left, and fixed class times are hard to fit around everyday life. On top of that, you’re usually taught not on your own but in a group, where everyone learns at a different pace and has to share the teacher’s time and attention. And yet, to learn a language, you have to spend time with it every day.

The second is a good teacher, because even once you’ve found the time to learn, you won’t get far on your own. You can certainly read and listen by yourself, but that’s hardly enough. Beyond that, you need someone you can talk to, who listens patiently, corrects you and encourages you. A good teacher also notices which mistakes you keep making and where they come from, and so knows what you should work on next. Teachers like that are rare, though, because not everyone who speaks a language can teach it.

The third is money, because you don’t learn a language in a few weeks but over months and years, and with the best will in the world, you can’t do it any faster. Even if you find a good teacher who has time for you as early as six in the morning, very few people can afford one for that long.

So building a learning platform of my own wasn’t exactly the first thing I thought of. In the end, though, I started building just what I needed myself. Bit by bit, that’s turning into Bonnie, a personal AI tutor for German, who also has time for you at six in the morning or in your lunch break. She listens to you patiently, corrects you and knows what you should work on next, and you can afford her for as long as you need her. With her you practise everything, from reading and listening to speaking and writing, and you do it with texts and audio files that really interest you.

But that’s enough reading! Your new teacher is already waiting for you, and your first audio file is ready for you. So join in and become part of the WieGesagt community now!