“These types of human connections that were the highlights of my trip would have been impossible without Stefanie and Speak!“

“It has been interesting learning about Franco’s home country and the various places he has lived while we worked together.”

“Learning Japanese feels like expanding my mind—it makes me see the world differently.”

“The regularity that Speak! offers has made the difference. It keeps me accountable and focused.”

“Studying on my own was easy to do passively. In-person lessons make it impossible to hide behind fear or doubt.”

“Our Spanish class is one of the highlights of my week. Nattachya’s joyful energy makes learning fun, even on my hardest days.”

“Speak! Is a treasure to me. The different Spanish classes and teachers and the German instructors are all excellent.”

“A big part of the course is based on an overview of Italy and its culture.”

“The individualized attention from Franco in the one-on-one classes is really great; he is able to tailor the classes according to my needs.”

“Tatiana has a lot of experience teaching Ukrainian to English speakers, and it shows.”

“Lessons with Anne have given me the confidence that I can learn a new language.”

“I like that I can ask a question about a topic I'm unclear about and instantly have it explained to me.”

“Speak! Language Center has the perfect format for practicing your target language”

“Hearing questions from classmates (and hopefully them hearing mine) helps us all learn and grow on our Spanish journey.”

“Our classes are very dynamic. Dana always has something new and especially a lot of patience and didactics. It's an enjoyable environment, and everything flows well.“

“Marta was truly one of the best language instructors I’ve worked with. She had a knack for simplifying difficult concepts and illustrating her points with lots of examples culled from a variety of authentic sources (newspapers, music, videos, etc.), and she was also great about correcting my grammar and pronunciation without ever seeming overbearing…“

“The lessons really helped me elevate overall English communication skills, it also helped me enhance my enunciation, intonation, listening skills, and understating of common American phrases. The initial assessment by my coach helped me identify weak areas so that I could work on them and be clearly understood by professors and peers…“

“Happily, there were lots of overlapping motivations. Being conversant in another language opens your view of the world, and I really missed that feeling. So when I learned about the UVA education benefit + Speak tutoring from a colleague, I knew right away I’d sign up for it at some point.“

“Sojung is a fantastic teacher. She is so encouraging and always finds ways to tie my interests back to our lessons which helps me retain the information better.“

“When I was much younger, I tried to learn German and French, but now know neither of those languages. During my travels, I always wished I could speak to people in their own language. I thought that if I learned Spanish, I might be more likely to use it in other countries and in our own, and therefore to remember it…“