As interest in Korean culture and language rises, Teuida has unveiled an accessible solution to overcome language barriers with a new mobile app. The startup attended the Korea-US Startup Summit at Pier 17 in New York, USA from Tuesday, September 20th to Wednesday, September 21st.
Teuida aims to eliminate language barriers
Language education offers unique challenges. To many (international) students the culture, practices and language norms of their target language can remain inaccessible behind barriers such as physical distance, high price points for education, or lack of speaking practice.
Teuida was created with the purpose of overcoming these barriers, by means of an interactive mobile application.
In practice, users can do pronunciation exercises, speak through virtual simulations like they would with a real tutor, just at a significantly lower price comparatively.
During the past two years after Teuidas release in June 2020 as a “Korean speaking service”, the app has achieved positive acclaim from North American, European, and Asian users alike, exceeding 2 million total downloads as of August 2022, as well as 216 million speaking practices done thus far.
The outstanding language learning method used by Teuida has also been recognized by the Global Edtech Startup Awards and the AWS TIPS 2021, where it was awarded the 3rd and 2nd place respectively. In addition, it received the grand prize of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award in September 2022.
A service as close to living in Korea as possible
Among its distinguishing features, Teuida aims to imitate the experience of living abroad among native speakers and being integrated in the culture as closely as possible. CEO Jiwoong Jang realized that in order to truly learn a language and effectively communicate, a certain language level must be achieved, and that clearing this bar required education beyond the means offered by conventional language learning apps.
For instance, where traditional applications are text-based, and teach memorizing vocabulary and sentence structures through games, Teuida offers ‘experiences in talking with native speakers in everyday life’ by means of interactive simulations. As opposed to tutoring or great travel expenses, the content is available any time, and removes barriers to place the user directly into everyday scenarios virtually.
This way, segment by segment, Korean culture becomes more accessible to anyone wishing to learn more. In the light of recent international successes of Korean enterprises and media such as K-Pop or film, authentic learning rather than mere “on-paper” education is taking a vital part in introducing foreigners to culture and the Korean market.
With this goal in mind, Teuida has expanded their goals into advertising as well. CEO Jang addressed these avenues, saying that a number of significant seed investments and advertising contracts from a diverse range of companies had been received in 2021.