Speakly was founded in 2018 by Ott and Ingel, two language scientists and polyglots. But there is much more to their journey pre-Speakly that we would like to share with you.
The story of Speakly began more than twelve years ago when cofounder Ott Ojamets decided to crack the code of language-learning—to discover the secrets to learning languages faster than we are used to in schools and using traditional methods.
Origins
After years of research, teaching, learning, and translating from many different languages, Ott published an original language learning methodology coined the LIVE-methodology in 2012.
It amasses all the accumulated knowledge of innovative language-learning to date and provides all the necessary tools to learn languages in just months. This is thanks to the unique method that uses the power of statistical analysis as its foundation.
Running a tutoring business
After publishing the methodology, Ott started running a language tutoring company that used the ideas and approaches of his methodology to offer tutored language classes to companies and private learners in different countries.
During the 3.5 years that he ran the tutoring company, he met Ingel, who was working as one of the team’s tutors and always earned maximum feedback from learners, making her the best tutor on the whole team.
So, when choosing the best cofounder with whom to start the Speakly journey, Ingel was the perfect person, not only because of her massive language skills (she speaks even more languages than Ott does) but because of her translating and teaching experience.
Years of research
Arriving at Speakly was very natural for Ott and Ingel. After creating the LIVE-methodology and running a tutoring company for years, a language-learning application would assemble all the knowledge and research that Ott and Ingel had employed over that time.
An interesting thing to note is that during those 3.5 years of running the tutoring company, Ott, Ingel, and their team members researched and analyzed thousands of real learners—their speaking patterns, their conversations in real life, etc. And this research became a big part of Speakly’s foundation.
No shortcuts
As the saying goes, “People overestimate what can be done in one year, and underestimate what can be done in five or ten.” And indeed, arriving at the application that Speakly is today has taken a decade of work.
Today, the Speakly team is a mix of talented developers, inspiring language specialists, and partner companies, all of which have helped make Speakly the most efficient way to teach sustainable language skills.
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