“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“I really like the flexibility, because being an MBA student during the recruiting season, I don’t have the most predictable schedule.”

“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.“

“I think at the end of the day, if you talk with your coach and you really know what you need, B-Speak! Coaching will provide the session by tailoring your need to achieve results! For me it is a great remedy for my communication skill“

“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.“

“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…“

“My pandemic experience has been all-but-consistent, but having daily classes with Alejandra (or even a less intense but still regular schedule in the fall) vastly helped me through this year. I remember stretches in the summer where I had very little motivation and was really just making it through the days, but by the end of my lesson with Alejandra I would have a wide smile on my face and I would be bouncing around the house with energy and satisfaction to share.“

We had the pleasure of meeting Eric Ramirez-Weaver, Associate Professor of Art at the University of Virginia in 2017, when he began what was to become a 1.5 year individual Polish language course. In 2018, he decided to switch his Slavic focus to Czech, learning online with our Prague-based instructor, Jan. This past fall, Eric and his daughter, Olivia, decided to use their time at home to craft a Spanish silver lining, taking online Spanish lessons together with one of our stellar teachers, Paula Mercado.

“I want to keep working with Theresa until I graduate, by which time I hope to be proficient. Recently I have been doing some Portuguese on Duolingo, and I would also like to learn German someday.”

“I have definitely gotten more confident and comfortable at speaking Japanese which was my main goal over the summer. I will also be ahead in grammar and reading  Kanji before starting my Japanese classes this fall.“

“I work with many Spanish speaking patients and families at the hospital and was inspired to learn Spanish because I felt that I was not providing the same level of care to these patients as to those who are English speaking.  Just being able to enter the patient’s room and introduce myself and my role in Spanish makes a huge difference in establishing trust and acceptance.“