I am comfortably trilingual. I have spent decades navigating different cultures, grammars, and accents.
By all accounts, I should be an "expert."
Yet, I still found myself in situations where I felt like a total beginner. You know the feeling—you are having a deep, intellectual conversation, and suddenly your brain freezes because you don't know the specific word for "screwdriver" or "mortgage rate."
In that moment, it doesn't matter that you know the subjunctive tense perfectly. You feel speechless.
I realized that Vocabulary is the only part of a language that is infinite.
- Grammar is logic (you learn it once).
- Pronunciation is style (you practice it).
- Culture is soul (you live it).
- Vocabulary is the content. It is the fuel. And it is something you have to work on for the rest of your life.
The Problem: The "Context" Gap
Over the last thirty years, I have tested over 50 language apps. I wanted a tool that would help me capture the specific, weird, beautiful words I encountered in books, movies, or real life.
Instead, I found apps that wanted to teach me:
- "The apple is red."
- "Where is the train station?"
These apps might be great for tourists, but terrible for actual learners. They lacked Context.
They taught "naked" words. And as we know, a naked word is hard to remember and dangerous to use. (Using the wrong word for "hot" can turn a compliment into a very awkward situation).
I didn't need another app to teach me standardized tourist phrases. I needed a tool to catch the words I cared about.
The Spark: Coding from a Recovery Bed
The turning point came when I was recovering from surgery at home. I had a lot of time. I was watching Netflix. I was reading books. And I kept hitting that wall: “What is that word? I want to save it. I want to remember it in this exact sentence.”
But the tools didn't exist. Notes apps are messy. Flashcard apps require too much manual data entry. Translators give you zero context.
So, I stopped searching and started coding.
Enter Vokabulo
I built Vokabulo to solve my own problem. I wanted an app that was:
- Fast: So I could jot down a word while watching a movie without pausing for a minute.
- Intelligent: So it would generate the translation, and context for me.
- Flexible: So it wouldn't force me to learn its list, but let me build my list.
Vokabulo isn't just a database; it’s a net to catch the language that flows around you. Whether you are reading Harry Potter, watching Casa de Papel, or listening to a podcast about economics, Vokabulo helps you keep the words that matter.
Join the Journey
What started as a personal project to help me moving forward each day has grown into something much bigger.
We believe that everything great starts with the right words.
Whether you are trilingual or just starting your first foreign language, Vokabulo is here to make sure you never run out of things to say.
Ready to build a vocabulary that actually fits your life? Download Vokabulo and start your collection today. 🚀