Why most language apps fail
The Rules of Copycat Cafe
7 beliefs we won't compromise on. They're not popular with app makers—but they're how humans actually learn to speak.
Copying isn't cheating. It's how you learned to talk.
Somewhere along the way, we decided that copying was bad. That real learning meant figuring things out yourself. That looking at the answer was cheating.
But babies don't invent language. They copy it. They listen to their parents. They mimic sounds. They repeat until it sticks.
Imitation isn't the lazy way. It's the human way.
In the app: Every lesson has a Copy activity. You hear native French, then speak it back phrase by phrase. No guessing—just listen and repeat.
Your ears come before your brain.
You don't learn to pronounce “croissant” by reading about French phonetics. You learn by hearing it a hundred times until your mouth knows what to do.
Traditional language learning starts with rules and grammar. We start with sounds. Listen first. Analyze later—or not at all.
Linguists call this orthographic interference—when seeing a word's spelling makes you mispronounce it. English speakers see “faux pas” and want to say “fox pass.” But hear it first, and your brain locks in the real sounds.
Your ears are smarter than textbooks give them credit for.
In the app: The Watch activity starts with audio only—text stays blurred so you hear the sounds before seeing the spelling.
Say it wrong until you say it right.
Your first attempt won't be perfect. Neither was your hundredth attempt at walking. You fell. A lot. And then one day you didn't.
Most language learners stay silent because they're afraid of mistakes. But silence isn't safety—it's stagnation.
Every wrong pronunciation gets you closer to the right one.
In the app: AI scoring tells you exactly how you sound—no judgment, just clear feedback. Most learners start at 60-70% and hit 90%+ within weeks.
Sound French before you understand French.
You probably already understand more French than you can speak. That's the problem: recognition without production.
You can read a menu but freeze when ordering. You know the words but they won't come out. The solution isn't more vocabulary. It's more speaking.
Production builds comprehension. Not the other way around.
In the app: You speak in every single lesson. Watch → Copy → Chat. By the time you face a real French person, you've already said it out loud dozens of times.
15 minutes beats 2 hours once a week.
Weekend cramming feels productive. But language lives in daily repetition. Your brain needs frequency, not duration.
A short session every morning beats an ambitious Saturday plan you'll abandon by February.
Consistency compounds. Intensity doesn't.
In the app: Each lesson takes about 15 minutes. Short enough for your morning coffee, but focused enough to stick.
The score isn't judgment—it's a compass.
When you record yourself speaking French, you're not being graded. You're getting feedback—instant, specific, and actionable.
A 67% on your first try isn't failure. It's a starting point. An 85% a week later isn't perfection. It's progress.
Scores show you where you're going. They don't define where you are.
In the app: Your pronunciation score shows exactly which sounds need work. Watch it climb from 60% to 90%+ as you practice.
Conversation is the destination, not the test.
You're not learning French to pass an exam. You're learning so you can order coffee in Paris, chat with your neighbor, surprise your partner's family.
That's why every lesson ends with conversation practice. Not as a quiz, but as the point. The whole point.
When you can have a real conversation, you've arrived.
In the app: Every lesson ends with Chat—a real conversation with an AI tutor about what you just learned. No scripts, just practice.
Curious how we put these rules into practice?
See how Copy teaches French
Stop understanding French.
Start speaking it.
These 7 rules are built into every lesson. Try them for a week—on us.
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