With the colonial hangover and westernization of most of the countries in the world, English has become an integral part. To an average English speaking person, it might seem a big deal but for a person coming from a place where there’s no access to English, learning the language is indeed a big deal. Trying to help my grandfather learn English as he didn’t have a chance to learn it back in the day, I came across the Hello English App on Play Store.
The idea of the app stems from a personal experience by one of the co-founders, Nishant when he was to travel to China and struggled to learn Mandarin. Hello English was an app launched by the startup CultureAlley founded by Nishant and Pranshu Patni in 2012. The couple quit their job in Gurgaon to build their own business in Jaipur and were working on the software three days before their marriage.
“To give you some context, we actually started CultureAlley as a platform for people to learn foreign languages. Languages like Spanish, Mandarin, Portuguese, and so on. But while we were doing that – it was a web-based platform at that time – we realized that English was a much, much larger market” says Pranshu.
What sets Hello English apart from other English learning apps is the fact that they make use of local languages as a medium to teach English. Currently the app supports 14 Indian languages(including Haryanvi and Bhojpuri) and 11 International languages(Mandarin, Spanish). Before launching Hello English, the founders engaged language experts from Oxford University and local experts as well. This resulted in an app that gave a personalized experience for people who speak native languages.
“A Hindi speaker, for example, will make mistakes because he or she is thinking in Hindi and translating into English. The app thinks of mistakes [speakers of specific native languages] will make and will create ways to get around that” Pranshu says.
Hello English is a special app that keeps adults in mind who are learning English as a second language. It doesn’t go with the A for Apple kind of English, but teaches learners how to speak and understand complex sentences. Also, both the co-founders opt for a simple app with brilliant features to ensure that even a non-techie finds it easy to learn English.
The app features games, virtual conversations and a forum to pose questions to make learning fun. The platform offers 475 lessons across 19 phases, which range from basic steps like self introduction to forming complex sentences and understanding English grammar.
“For someone who’s learning English, it’s a do or die situation, in India, folks who do not speak proper English are not able to get better jobs. Some of them are not even able to get their first job. We realized that English was that really [fundamental] need that was a must-have for people” adds Pranshu.
Till now, the platform has managed to raise $6.5 million in Series-A funding led by New York-based venture capital firm Tiger Global Management with investors such as Sasha Mirchandani, Rajan Anandan and Sunil Kalra in March of 2015. The 17 member company is also in plans to make it a business-to-business version to earn money.
So hurry up! Go check their website www.culturealley.com to go through all of their programs with all the details!
