This is my "Lean Startup"... my attempt to change the way people learn languages, forever.
I'm not a designer, nor am I a programmer (although I took a few first year computer science courses at uni and have always hacked around with websites, since I was 13)... but I taught myself enough to put this together.
The idea was inspired by a Japanese course I took in university. It was the most challenging course I took (even more challenging than Computer Science 115 where my fist assignment was to "design a system to schedule the arrivals and departures at an airport"), because I couldn't just "figure it out": I had to come up with an effective way to learn enough of a language to pass my aural exam at the end of the semester - without distracting from my other courses. My peers had all taken Japanese courses before, and I was stuck not only learning 3 alphabets for the first time, but also how to speak and read them. Repetition and staggered recall worked really well for me, and Populearn is a modern-day incarnation of my "Phrase Book Flash Cads".
Learning languages takes time, and if you are willing to put in some work I can help you. Every week I release new lessons, and I'm working on some pretty cool new features that will be launched soon (so check back often). Inspired by that restaurant with a "set your own price" menu, someday I think I will go with a "Pay what you can" model... so don't worry, Populearn will always be free.
I could go on, but you might as well just try out a few lessons yourself?
