Why I'm building Envoz

I've spent years trying to learn Spanish.

I've been motivated. I've tried tutoring. I've tried apps. Some of them helped, and I don't want to dismiss that. But I still hadn't reached the thing I wanted: being able to take part in a conversation without getting stuck trying to put it together.

That bothered me. I'm used to learning difficult things. Technology has been a big part of my life, and I've spent a lot of time figuring out how complicated systems work. Yet here was something I wanted badly, and I couldn't seem to get there.

Eventually, I started thinking about what I wished I had. What would a system built for someone like me actually do?

This summer, I started building it. That's where Envoz began.

I wanted a way to bring the pieces together. To hear something useful, understand it, try saying it, get help when I needed it, and come back to it in another situation. I wanted the practice to carry forward, so every session felt connected to what came before.

I also wanted room to struggle. If an explanation didn't click, I wanted another way into it. If I needed to hear something again, or slow down, or ask a question that felt obvious, I wanted to be able to do that and keep going.

Those wishes have guided the work over the past few months.

Gabriel Wyner's work on Fluent Forever and the approach behind Language Transfer were important early influences. Other teachers, researchers, and systems have given me things to think about along the way. There's good work out there, and I'm grateful for it.

As I kept building, my own ideas became clearer. The question I kept coming back to was how to connect the things that had helped me into a practice I could actually keep using.

That developed into what I call the Wolff Method: Explore, Explain, Experience.

Explore is how you meet the language. A phrase in a story. Something you hear and want to understand. Natural exposure comes through curious exploration. Each discovery is a seed, a meaningful connection to build on.

Explain means getting help with what you encountered. Sometimes a short explanation makes a pattern click. Sometimes you need a different example. I want understanding to give you something you can use in your next attempt.

Experience means doing something with it. Saying the phrase out loud, answering a question, trying a role play, or using it with another person. And when that attempt turns up something you don't know, you have a reason to go back and learn more.

1. E

   Explore

   Follow your curiosity. Each discovery is a connection to build on.

2. E

   Explain

   Find the explanation that makes it click.

3. E

   Experience

   Say it. Try a scene. Use it with someone.

↻ Each attempt gives you something new to explore.

There's something about my own English that I think about a lot. I can hear a sentence and know it sounds right without being able to tell you the grammatical rule. I want to develop that familiarity in Spanish, too. I still want to understand the grammar. Often, I just want a phrase I can say before I take it apart to find out why it works.

My background in technology gives me a way to act on these ideas. We're building voice conversations with an AI trainer, lessons that offer different explanations, and a system that can respond when a learner says the work is too hard or too easy.

I think of the trainer much like a personal trainer at the gym. Someone to encourage you, help you make sense of the work you've done, and give you a useful next step. The trainer can draw on your recent learning activity. The bigger goal is a plan that grows with you, connecting what comes up in your conversations with what you practice next.

Remembering is part of that plan. Envoz brings material back for spaced review, drawing on research into spacing and recall. I want the words you worked hard to learn to be there when you need them in a conversation.

Role-play scenes give you somewhere to start speaking. You can try ordering a meal, lose your words, and try again. For someone worried about making mistakes in front of another person, that is a much less intimidating first step. I know how easy it is to keep studying while putting off the conversation. I want Envoz to help close that gap.

Affordability matters here, too. Working with a good tutor can be valuable, but paying for every hour of speaking practice adds up. I want learners to have regular practice they can afford to keep doing, with human connection still at the center.

We're focused on English and Spanish because the two groups have something to offer each other. Someone learning Spanish may already speak the English another learner wants to practice. Both can be beginners and still bring something valuable to the conversation. By connecting them, we put that shared advantage to work: what comes naturally to one person is exactly what the other wants to learn.

Those connections can become more than practice. There are people to meet, things to say, and friendships that can grow from helping each other speak.

I'm still a learner, and I'm going to put this system to the test myself. I want to use it to work through the same problem that made me build it. I'll share where I get stuck, what helps, and what we change because of it.

I'd love for other learners to be part of that first wave. People who have tried, made some progress, and still want to get into a real conversation. Your experience will help shape what we build next.

Envoz is available now for Android: Get Envoz on Google Play. And for iPhone: Get Envoz on the App Store.

You can also try our free Explore pages: Explore. Pick an expression, listen to the examples, and try saying something of your own with it.

If you've been trying to learn a language for a long time, I'd like to hear from you. What has helped, and where do you still get stuck?

Zak Founder, Envoz