OrangeEnglish-An English Learning App

Hi Winter, I really liked the concept and the way you presented your apps integration into an existing platform. With something like this it is great to have a built in market. I liked your play on words with the company name it will be memorable and the icon is perfect for the market you are trying to reach. I think targeting conversational English learning over conventional English language acquisition is a great idea. I would have loved to hear some sample audio, as a reassurance that the sentence pronunciation is indeed that of an English speaker. I think some testimonials for an app like this would go a long way to increasing the likelihood of investment. Even if the app is not completely functional, some "everyday" people lending support would have mass appeal like the 5 star rating or reviews on yelp or amazon. Your elevator pitch was very catchy with its graphics and transitions, I did however, find it hard to hear what you were saying as the background music was just too loud. The information on market availability in your venture pitch was great, it shows the real potential of this app. I would have liked a little more information about how the app would draw your attention with in the We-chat platform so that it wasn't just a buried micro-learning segment. The free to save 10 sentences then paid use afterwards is a great ratio of free to use in order to create customer interest. Well done!

1. Hi Winter, your concept of sending one sentence a day to a language learner is indeed helpful in this day when we are overloaded with language sources ranging from TEDex to BBC Learn English to VOA. The app has a minimalist design that does not distract the learner. Being able to store the sentences will afford easy and frequent review. The freemium model is a good business model especially if the paid version is competitively priced. Hosting it on WeChat makes Orange English even more accessible since everyone is on it constantly and the potential for advertisement placement is huge. Your team is small and efficient with just one content creator and one learning designer, which will keep your costs down. Therefore, $100,000 is a reasonable amount to ask for, considering that the market in China is massive with a total revenue of $1.4 billion forecast for 2022. Earning a revenue of $1 million at the end of 12 months is therefore not inconceivable. 2. I am currently a language learner of Vietnamese and living in Vietnam where I have been teaching ESL/EFL for the last 6 years. It is the fifth language that I am learning, with English as my native language, Malay as my second (intermediate proficiency), Mandarin Chinese as my third (elementary proficiency) and French as my fourth (beginner proficiency). I am ethnically Southern Chinese and I grew up in Singapore, which is a former British colony with a multi-racial and multilingual cultural mix. 3. I have found it most effective when I learnt a language using the communicative approach, where I learnt vocabulary, whole phrases and sentences in thematic contexts. This approach helped me to have a feel for the rhythm of the language, to have better listening comprehension and to respond appropriately. Knowing the context was extremely important since the purpose of using a language is to communicate semantically with an audience. Therefore, I would like to suggest that when your app sends one sentence a day to a learner, it should be embedded in a context with a short two- or three-sentence dialogue to help them know when and how to use it. For example, the sample sentence you used was 'I'll keep you posted.' This is an informal way of saying 'I'll keep you informed (of the progress of our project/decision/etc)'. However, it's not clear from the Orange English app what this sentence really means or how to use it. Google Translation of the Chinese explanation in the app states 'I'll maintain/stay in contact with you.' The word 联络 (lianluo) means 'to be in contact' but it does not connote the meaning of following up or updating the listener with a progress report or with the latest information. 'To keep someone posted' is actually an idiom so it cannot be translated literally. It therefore needs to be embedded in a context and a short dialogue so that the learner will use it only when replying that he will follow up on an earlier conversation with more information later. So, can I suggest that an explanation in Chinese could be this: 我会及时通知向你为发展情况。(Translation: 'I will inform you of developments in the situation in a timely manner'.) I hope your app succeeds as this minimalist approach can be very helpful as an add-on to a larger English learning platform for targeted speech practice.

Hi Winter, thank you for putting together the very compelling venture, OrangeEnglish. Your idea is simple and yet has the potential to dramatically improve the fluency of many Chinese English language learners while yielding considerable returns to investors. While studying Chinese in Wuhan, I discovered the importance of learning full sentences as building blocks to my fluency. I found the significant difference in sentence structure between the two languages made it very ineffective to simply learn isolated vocabulary without context as to how they fit within common sentences or sayings. If OrangeChinese existed during my 3 years in Wuhan, I certainly would have profited from this resource. The potential market of OrangeEnglish is absolutely immense but I imagine there is significant competition in ELL resources in China. You are wise to offer free, limited access subscriptions to the OrangeEnglish in order to attract future paid subscriptions. The OrangeEnglish appears to focus on common oral communications which do vary considerably between English speaking nations. I’m uncertain, for example, whether all English speakers would use the phrase “I’ll keep you posted”. I wonder if OrangeEnglish accommodates for the diversity found in the English language or whether it is focused on a North American vernacular. In any case, your idea shows considerable thought and consideration and has the potential to gain considerable traction.