YAP

Speaking-first approach is exactly what language learning needs. Most apps train you to read and tap, but real conversations are a completely different skill. How does it handle pronunciation feedback for tonal languages like Mandarin?

Congratulations on the launch! A year ago I suggested this idea to a couple of language-learning platforms, but they refused to implement it at the time)

finally someone admitting the obviousmost language apps are gamified flashcard machinesif you can’t speak after 300 days, the streak was the product - not the languagemaking speaking the core loop just makes sense

i really love the thought behind this as someone that has had a 300+ days streak on duolingo and is yet to be able to have a conversation using that language. will definitely give it a try and congrats on ranking today!

Yap is great. I spent years on Duolingo and it was helpful in a lot of ways, but not in feeling truly comfortable in having a conversation.

On the onchain credential: what exactly is being recorded (and what is explicitly not), who is the first “verifier” you’re designing for (employers, schools, immigration, etc.), and how will you prevent it from becoming a vanity badge rather than a trusted signal?

i tried learn spanish on duolingo and got some vocabular, but i can't speak nor i know grammar. will try yap for sure :-)

Hey everyone, Christian here, CEO and Co-Founder of YAP.

I want to tell you why I built this. The real reason.

When my mother was dying, I couldn't talk to her.

I grew up speaking Cantonese and Spanish. When my family immigrated to the United States, I lost most of both. That's what happens. You stop using a language and it leaves you, quietly, over years, until one day you reach for it and it's not there.

I took courses throughout my life. I thought I was keeping up. I wasn't.

In her last moments, I had my phone out trying to look up the words I needed to say to my own mother. I couldn't tell her what she meant to me. Not in her language. Not in words that came from me. I could say the basics in Cantonese: I love you, I'm so thankful, I'll miss you. And that was it.

Having your phone between you and your dying mother, searching for the words that should already be yours, is a kind of humiliation I can't really describe.

After she passed, I had to process two things at once. Her death, and my own failure to speak. That was the tipping point.

I ran 200+ user interviews. The same story showed up again and again, in less extreme forms. People had studied for months or years. Downloaded the apps. Hit the streaks. Then they froze in a real conversation. The problem wasn't motivation. People were motivated. The problem was that no product made them do the one thing that actually matters: open their mouth and speak.

So we built YAP around one idea. You speak from the first lesson. Not after ten levels of flashcards. Not as a bonus feature. Speaking is the product.

Here's the insight that most language apps get wrong: people don't need to understand every word or nail the grammar first. They need to speak. And through speaking, everything else follows. Grammar clicks when you hear yourself using it. Vocabulary sticks when you've said it out loud in context. The mouth leads. The mind catches up.

Our AI listens to you in real time and breaks down your pronunciation at the phoneme level. It doesn't just say "try again." It tells you what your mouth is doing wrong and how to fix it. Then it coaches you through the correction. Less like an app, more like a patient tutor who never gets tired.

We built this across 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese) with a full CEFR-aligned curriculum. There's real progression from beginner to advanced.

And every lesson you complete gets recorded onchain as a Proof of Language Learning credential. Language ability should be verifiable. Not just a line on a resume, but a real credential backed by data. Your employer, your university, or an immigration office should be able to confirm what you can actually do, not just what course you sat through.

My cofounder Landon joined in the summer of 2025, after we shipped the web beta, and he's built the technical foundation that makes all of this work, from the AI pipeline to the blockchain integration on Sei.

We're a small team with 500+ active users. Our 30-day retention is 43%, roughly 24x the industry average for language apps. We think that's because when people practice speaking, they feel themselves getting better. That feeling is more powerful than any streak badge.

We're early. There's a lot to build. But the core thesis is holding up: make people speak from day one and they learn faster and stay longer.

If you've ever felt the gap between "studying" a language and actually being able to speak it, that gap is exactly what we're here to close.

Try YAP. And if someone you love speaks a language you've lost, don't wait.