Join Sylvi to build your language confidence →

Our

Hiya, I’m Amy and this app was built for me (and you)!

After watching Mary-Kate & Ashley’s iconic Passport to Paris when I was 6, moving to Paris has been a goal of mine. Speaking French felt like part of the deal, so I studied it at school until I was 18, where I was awarded a D in my final year 🙃

Never one to give up on a dream, I started my adult-learning journey with Duolingo, where I got 600-days under my belt. I had boasted quite a lot about my impressive streak to my boyfriend, Tom, who was often witness to my frantic tapping at 11:59pm to maintain my 600 days.

We went on a trip to France, where I assured Tom I would translate for him (you know what the English are like 🙄). However, I didn’t make it past bonjour. I opened my mouth to order a coffee, realised I had no idea how to do that & feebly looked at the waiter and just said “english?”. All those days on Duo and I froze.

I know I’m not alone in this feeling of utter despair. You’ve got the streak, but you don’t have the language.

The solution

I had tears in my eyes as the realisation that I’d wasted 600-days hit me. But lucky for me, I just started dating a man dabbling in app development.

Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely think Duolingo is great! But it’s for beginners. And despite my D at A-level, I wasn’t a beginner, but I didn’t know where else to go.

When we got home, Tom started to build me a conversation tool. No more tapping, or filling the blanks. A judgement free way to chat, while getting corrected on my mistakes.

And chat I did! About my weekend, my meal prep, the latest goss with the girls & Sylvi explained every mistake I made.

And the name - Sylvi, it was the name given to me in Madame O’s French class when I was 6.

What’s next?

The obvious answer would be Paris, right? For now, Tom’s roped me into helping him tell people about the app, but Paris seems like a real possibility now…

But I’m practicing speaking French everyday. I’ve been back to Paris since ‘the big freeze’ and have managed to order a coffee & much much more… I cannot explain the feeling of being able to communicate in a language you’ve been obsessed with since 6.

So despair no more, your dream of chatting away to natives in your target language has just been made possible, thanks Tom!

Amy xx