Activate your vocabulary

Get instant feedback on your English!

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1 million attempts!

I've studied vocabulary and grammar, but when it comes to speaking, the words just don't come out in English…

I've taken many English conversation lessons, but I don't feel like my English is improving...

InstaEnglish

InstaEnglish was developed based on these challenges that we ourselves faced.

Our mission is to support English learners in breaking down language barriers by providing the most effective learning method.

How it works

  • 1. Choose a situation that suits you from a wide range of materials and instantly translate practical sentences into English!

  • 2. There's more than one correct way to say it! Receive instant feedback on your answers and quickly identify areas for improvement.

  • 3. Words you use correctly are automatically recorded as Active Vocabulary! Quickly master the 2,000 words needed for daily conversation.

  • 4. Speaking speed is automatically measured! Aim for a comfortable 150 words per minute (WPM), just like a native speaker!

Achievements

Our Approach

What is Active Vocabulary?

Active Vocabulary refers to the words you can confidently use in conversation. In contrast, words you understand in text but cannot use in conversation are called Passive Vocabulary.

InstaEnglish is an app designed for those who have already studied and learned the basic 2,000 words necessary for daily conversation as Passive Vocabulary, focusing on training and activating these words into Active Vocabulary.

Why 2,000 words?

Many studies show that roughly 90% of daily conversations can be covered by 2,000 words. That is why we created materials to help you efficiently use these commonly used 2,000 words.

How Is Speaking Speed Measured?

When you answer a question correctly, the time taken to speak the full sentence is automatically recorded. Based on this, your Words Per Minute (WPM) is calculated. You can check your average WPM in your learning records. Aim for 150 WPM, which is the comfortable speaking speed of a native speaker.

Why Instant English Translation?

When speaking, people go through three steps:

  1. Conceptualize what you want to say.

  2. Formulate your concept into words.

  3. Articulate the words as sound.

Instant English translation skips the first step of conceptualizing what to say, allowing you to focus on the second step: formulating your thoughts into words. This is an efficient way to practice and is very effective in overcoming the common challenge of not being able to express what you want to say in English.

Will My English Skills Really Improve?

InstaEnglish provides you with "Recommended Questions" based on your Active Vocabulary and speaking speed. By tackling slightly challenging questions that use words you haven't fully mastered yet, you can effectively improve your English skills!

About us

Yutaro Nishiyama, the founder, was born and raised in Japan. During high school, he excelled in English, ranking 16th nationwide on an exam, and had strong confidence in his English abilities. However, during his study abroad in the United States, he painfully realized his significant lack of speaking skills and experienced a major setback.

Following the commonly heard advice, "The best way to improve your speaking skills is to engage in English conversation practice as much as possible," Nishiyama invested over 1,000 hours in various English tutoring services. Unfortunately, he did not see noticeable improvement and began to question the effectiveness of this persistence-based approach.

In response, he collaborated with linguists specializing in second language acquisition to explore scientifically optimal methods for learning English. With the support of team members, including native English speakers and multilingual business experts, he developed a new learning approach.

This new method focuses on quantifying Active Vocabulary and improving speaking speed, evolving the concept of "instant English translation" into a more advanced training method for efficiently converting concepts into language.

Team

  • Yutaro Nishiyama

    Yutaro Nishiyama

    FOUNDER & HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY

    Northwestern University MBA + MS
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Master of Computer Science

  • Théry Badin

    Théry Badin

    FINANCE

    Northwestern University MBA + MS
    Dartmouth College

  • Evan Lai

    UX DESIGNER

    Northwestern University MBA + MS

  • YUTAKA KAWABATA

    YUTAKA KAWABATA

    CONTENT MODERATOR

    Northwestern University MBA + MS
    Kyoto University

  • Goro Suzuki

    Goro Suzuki

    CONTENT MODERATOR

    Northwestern University MBA + MS

  • Henry Park

    Henry Park

    DATA SCIENTIST

    Northwestern University Economics

  • Hiko Hirano

    Hiko Hirano

    MARKETING/FINANCE

    University of Chicago MBA

  • Kasumi Hatori

    Kasumi Hatori

    DATA SCIENTIST

    Northwestern University MBA
    University of Tokyo