Independent
That a small company without investors can beat Duolingo.
Not with more money, but with a better method, smart systems and people who care.
Our story
The most human thing we share
In a world of AI and companies built to extract profit, we want to share the world’s most human moments: culture and language. Lingophant is a small, independent company that helps people learn languages from people.
Hi, I’m Alex
I never liked language learning cause it can be painful and can feel like a waste of time. And I had plenty of it at school and at university. But I loved travelling, and the “oh wow!” moment of realising that I can actually speak a language. That’s one of the best feelings.
As a student I noticed that only the people with lots of conversations or a job learned the language quickly. So I started building an app that turns conversations into practice material, and I’ve tested it on myself ever since: Russian, mainly on the metro, and Georgian, one of the hardest languages around. How that went →
Ineffective learning feels like a waste of time. Lingophant is my answer to that.
How we got here
2014–15As a student
The idea
I decided to build it in the “Alphabet” club, after forgetting the word for “nothing” three times in a row.
2016Vienna
Lingophant e.U.
The company is registered in Vienna, and the first version is built.
201713 July
On the App Store
A prototype to work with. Two years later the Android version followed, so it could be used in classrooms.
20202 February
Sharing phrasesets
Phrases no longer live on one phone only: a link shares them with a student or a friend.
2021Feb–June
Four months in Central America
I quit my job to work on Lingophant during Covid, from an iPad. The best part was speaking Spanish, and realising that memorising words isn’t enough: listening belongs to the journey.
202327 August
Moving to Georgia
Lower costs, time to focus, and one of the oldest and most difficult languages to test the method on.
თუ ქართულს ვისწავლი, ყველა ენას ვასწავლი.
If I learn Georgian, I can teach any language.
20261 June
Everything works
The app with its Premium subscription, the free listening tool, phraseset previews, and content for 30+ languages.
2026October
Now we tell people
The first marketing. We wanted to be sure it works before we asked anyone to try it.
What we’re trying to prove
The method
That we’ve found the fastest way to learn languages.
We believe it: natural learning, but sped up with technology. Now we want to prove it with many more than a handful of learners.
People
That human content beats AI content.
AI can help, especially in the beginning. But people learn languages from people: real voices, real culture. Our AI-generated starter phrasesets are being replaced by recordings from native speakers.
In times of AI, when anyone can copy anything, it matters who you learn with: a company that pursues impact, shares fairly with the people who create, and stays human.
Our principles
Efficiency over gamification
I’d rather spend 30 effective minutes a day than 60 half-active ones.
Human and social learning first
Once you can have fun, continuing becomes easy. Everything is prepared to get you to enjoy speaking & listening ASAP.
Smart beats big
Smart systems, collaboration and authenticity can beat corporate competitors with infinite money to spend.
Integrity
We don’t waste people’s time, trust or money by lying. Every claim on this site is one we can back up.
Independent, on purpose
All of Lingophant was funded by private salary, savings and small family loans. Every grant proposal we wrote was rejected, but we built it anyway. No investors to pay off means no reckless monetization pressure.
Lingophant has worked with people from Brazil, Germany, Syria, Kazakhstan, Chile, Russia, Georgia, the US and many more, and it has been a career starting board for at least eight people.
Here’s the plan
Long term, at least 70% of our profits go back to the people who create content: recordings, grammar explanations, videos from the countries. What we can fund depends on how many people subscribe, so here are our milestones, in income per month.
Income is what reaches us after the app stores and taxes: about €5.85 of a €9 subscription.
What we’ll fund, and how to join: Collaborations →
€55We’re hereOctober 2026
1
€120About 20 subscriptions
Profitable.
2
€650About 110 subscriptions
Advertising experiments.
3
€4,000About 700 subscriptions
Full-time.
More than a software job pays, so I can keep doing this full-time.
4
€10,000About 1,700 subscriptions
A team and a creator budget.
A full-time video editing team in Georgia, trained by us, and a monthly budget for community creators.
5
€20,000About 3,400 subscriptions
Challenges and creators.
Monthly challenges, and funding for creators.
Help us get there
Learn a language with Lingophant, or help us make content for yours.
Phrasesets, curated listening videos and grammar summaries. Content Library →
Practising is always free. For iPhone and Android.
Learning a language is a social act
You depend on other people’s willingness to help you. You need empathy to understand them, and creatively work with the words you have to express yourself.