Every morning before work, I sat down with an app to drill Danish. Matching words to pictures. Fixing spelling mistakes. Memorizing sentence structures. I spent months doing this until I moved to Denmark.

That’s when I realized I had no idea how to actually speak.

I could recognize words on menus, but when it came to having a real conversation, my brain couldn’t keep up.

Over time, the more I listened and spoke, the more confident I became. I connected more deeply with people, and suddenly the world around me started making more sense. I loved that feeling.

So when I decided to learn Italian, I skipped the apps and focused on actual speaking. I took hundreds of online classes with the product I was building at Babbel. I used old audio courses. And from the beginning, speaking felt easier, more natural.

Since then, I’ve traveled across almost every region of Italy, meeting people, having real conversations, and connecting through the language. Through this experience, I realized something:

Language apps focus on the wrong thing.

Most apps focus on reading and writing first, but that’s not how people actually learn to speak. That’s why so many of us freeze up in real conversations. Our brains aren’t trained for it.

New AI apps can help, but they miss the learning science that gets things to actually stick. Real teachers and classes are the most effective, but who can afford them?

I wanted to build something different. Something that actually gets you speaking using solid learning science. Something that fits into your life without forcing you to stare at a screen for hours.

With HearSay, you listen and speak your way to real conversations.

No screens. No spelling tests. Just real practice that fits into your life – while walking, commuting, or making dinner.

In January 2025, we launched our first pilot program for Italian learners and saw the results firsthand. Now, we’re opening early access to all languages as we start to build our first app. I hope you give it a try!

Sincerely,

Sam