Hi! I’m Daiyan. Today I will write about how I created a language app called Interchao. Before that, I would like to talk about what made me decide to study English.
What made me decide to study English
I decided to start studying English because I am a programmer, so I want to work in Silicon Valley in the United States someday. I long for working as an engineer for Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and others.
To get closer to my goal, I traveled alone to the United States at the age of 28. The purpose of my trip was to see Silicon Valley with my own eyes.
Travel to the USA
My trip to America was great. It was a series of surprises and excitement. The size of the Google headquarters, the freedom of the employees who work there, the convenience, and the greatness of technologies such as Uber and Airbnb were highlights.
There were many moments when I wished I could speak English, for example, when I had only two words with the driver at Uber, or when I was eating with other tourists I became friends with in the dormitory.
During that week’s trip, I decided that I would definitely be able to speak English and that I’d return.
Working Holiday in Canada
Upon my return train from Haneda Airport, I got a working holiday visa. After returning to Japan, I was afraid that my motivation for English would drop after a while, so I acted immediately.
Two months later, I went to Vancouver, Canada. I quit my job, so I studied with a lot of energy. I also attended a language school and studied every day from morning until night.
I really enjoyed living there. I was excited just to go to the supermarket. I was staying at a share house at the time, but I remember being extremely nervous when talking to my share mates in English.
Start of English Diary
I finished grammar at a language school, but I can’t speak at all. When I asked my schoolteacher, “How can I speak?”, she recommended that I start keeping an English diary.
Writing is extremely important in language learning because there is no way I can speak what I can’t put down in words. I would like to speak out about the importance of writing a diary in English, so I will summarize it in the next article. I decided to incorporate an English diary into my daily study regimen.
Writing a diary in English is harder than I imagined. I can’t write sentences smoothly in English, so I wrote as I searched on Google.
The sentences I wrote were corrected by my school teacher every day. By repeating writing a diary and receiving feedback, I realized that my English ability was definitely improving. In addition, I was able to tell my share mates what I was writing in my diary as it was, and my speaking ability improved steadily.
Creating Interchao
After graduating from language school, I was in trouble because even if I kept a diary, no one could check it. I also asked my foreign friends to check it, but I felt bad having them do it every day. You can pay for it by using a paid correction service, but the cost is high, so I ended up quitting my English diary.
I don’t want them to be corrected to perfect sentences, I just want them to check whether the grammar is correct and the meaning has been conveyed from a native point of view.
I searched for a service that would correct my diary every day for free or at a low cost, but I couldn’t find one.
I am a programmer. If there isn’t such a service, I will just make one myself. That was my reasoning.
Interchao Development and Release
From there, I spent half a year creating the app. I cut the work I was undertaking in half and used all my free time to develop apps. You can write a diary and have it corrected. I made such an app.
Then, in April 2020, the app was completed and released. At first, it was only a smartphone app, but now it can also be used on the web.
I hope this app will support everyone’s language learning.
At the end
That’s how I started making Interchao apps. Next time, I will write about the necessity of keeping a diary in English.
Interchao is a free, interactive language learning application for Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean learners. Your journal entry will be read and marked by native speakers. Let’s mark others’ diary as a native teacher as a return!
Interchao: http://interchao.app/
