Hello World: Why We Built Talkable.chat

TL;DR: Built a language learning app because I was tired of acing Duolingo but sounding incomprehensible to my Vietnamese wife. Key insight: give people an easy way to capture vocabulary from real life (shows, conversations, anything) and they'll build a way better curriculum than any app can. iOS app just launched, would love your feedback.

A few years ago, I started learning Vietnamese to talk with my wife and her family. I used all the popular apps, racked up impressive streaks, and could ace any vocab quiz you threw at me. But when I tried speaking? My wife had absolutely no idea what I was saying.

The tones were off. The pronunciation didn't land. And no matter how perfect my Duolingo scores looked on screen, we still couldn't have real conversations.

That frustration kicked off a two-year journey of weekend coding experiments and late-night tinkering that eventually became Talkable.chat. We're three people working nights and weekends who wanted to solve a simple problem: why is it so hard to learn the words you actually need and practice saying them the way real people do?

The Breakthrough: The Collector's Mindset

The answer wasn't better algorithms or smarter AI. It was simpler: once you have a truly easy place to capture vocabulary, you start seeing learning opportunities everywhere.

My son wants to go outside and I'm thinking "how do I say 'let's play outside' in Portuguese?" I translate it—"vamos brincar lá fora"—listen to how it sounds, save it, and use it with him right then. Mid-conversation with your AI tutor, you stumble on how to say something? Save that. Someone uses the perfect phrase for "I'm running late"? Save that too.

Before, these moments just evaporated. You'd think "I should remember that," maybe scribble it down, then never see it again. You'd go back to working through generic vocabulary lists about what the bear is wearing.

But give yourself one frictionless tool to capture what matters, and something changes. You stop being a passive consumer of language lessons. You start actively hunting for the exact words and phrases you'll need for your conversations, your travels, your relationships. You become a collector.

And suddenly you're building a curriculum that's actually relevant to your life.

What We Built

Talkable.chat combines vocabulary building and conversation practice into one flow.

You can speak, type, or translate anything into the app. We instantly break it down—translations, native speaker pronunciation, word-by-word annotations—all saved to your personal vocabulary. That phrase from the Netflix show, the slang your colleague used, the way people actually order coffee—it all goes into your collection.

Want to practice restaurant vocabulary before your trip? Just say "make me a practice set for ordering food" and our AI generates one in seconds. No more hoping someone made the right Anki deck.

Then talk with your AI conversation partner. Have actual conversations, practice speaking and pronouncing correctly, build confidence without the pressure. And here's what makes it work: mid-conversation, you can instantly save anything—what you said that worked, what the AI said that you want to remember, the corrections it gives you. One tap, straight to your vocabulary.

We're starting with Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Dutch, and Flemish—all from US or British English.

Why Not Just Use Anki + ChatGPT?

Fair question. We asked ourselves the same thing.

The answer: context switching kills momentum. When you're in a conversation and want to save something, opening Anki, formatting a card, finding audio, switching back—you've lost the thread. When you're watching a show and want to capture a phrase, by the time you've set up the flashcard, the moment's gone.

We built everything into one collector's flow: capture → practice → save → repeat. Because friction is the enemy of the collector's mindset. The easier it is to save something, the more you collect. The more you collect, the better your personal curriculum becomes.

Why This Works

Studies suggest people remember significantly more vocabulary when it's personally meaningful compared to generic textbook methods. Your brain is literally wired to remember things connected to your life—which is exactly what the collector's mindset taps into. (We've collected the research on our science page if you're into that.)

But the theory doesn't matter if it doesn't work in practice. Right now I'm using Talkable.chat to learn Brazilian Portuguese. My son just turned 3, and he's picking up Portuguese from his baba (his nanny) faster than I ever could have imagined. Last week he proudly taught me the word "caminhão"—truck—and watched me practice saying it over and over until I got it right.

Having one place to capture everything I encounter—from the phrases his baba uses when she's teaching him, to expressions I hear in Brazilian podcasts, to the exact ways I keep messing up in conversations—has completely changed how I approach learning. I'm not studying Portuguese. I'm collecting and developing the Portuguese I actually need.

What It Costs

There's a free tier to get started and actually try this out. Paid plans start at $7/month if you want more vocabulary space and unlimited practice (20% off with annual billing).

What's Next

We just launched on the App Store. We're building this in public with real learners, and honestly, we're looking for feedback more than anything.

If you've ever felt frustrated by language apps that teach you words for situations you'll never encounter, or if you've struggled to go from "knowing" vocabulary to actually speaking it—we built this for you.

Get Talkable.chat on the App Store

Questions? Things that don't make sense? Features you wish existed? We're [email protected] and we actually read every email.

We're just getting started, and we genuinely want to hear what you think.