Your Personal Path to Real Conversation

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

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

“Anne helps me with my work that I have for class and it often leads into deeper philosophical discussions about whatever I am learning. She gives me vocabulary words to memorize to help me build my vocabulary as well. Sometimes we have sessions to go over grammar. I really like her sense of humor!“

“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.”

“Stefanie has been or given me a lot of things: Confidence while I'm speaking, including the confidence to speak and keep speaking even when making errors…”

“I think my first real conversation in Italian was while I was in Rome in September 2018.  I stopped in a small gelateria.  There were no other patrons, just myself and the young man behind the counter.  I decided to place my order in Italian.  I think I felt brave because there was no “audience”… he was so kind and patient.  As I was leaving he said, “You speak Italian beautifully.”  Oh my gosh!“

“Honestly – I’m often really tired after my lessons! But in a good way, like going to the gym and getting a good work out. You can feel those mental muscles building. The lessons themselves are fun – it feels like getting together with friends.“

“The hardest thing to do is to have a conversation, but that is also the most fun, particularly when we talk about things in our everyday lives. Stefanie finds wonderful books, and we are now reading one called Allerlei zum Lesen, which is a compilation of short stories by German authors. The book has lots of good exercises that along with the stories make learning German a lot more enjoyable. I particularly like the crossword puzzles.“