Origin

Hi, I'm Moi.

I grew up in Colombia and started learning English pretty young.

Most of it happened at school. I could read, write essays, study for exams and understand what people were saying. I did well in English.

I just didn’t use it much outside the classroom.

When I moved to the U.S., I noticed that almost immediately.

I’d know the answer in class and sometimes keep it to myself because I wasn’t sure how it would sound.

Before a phone call, I’d run the first sentence through my head a few times.

And in normal conversations, I’d sometimes choose the easier sentence instead of saying exactly what I meant.

I had spent years learning English, but I hadn’t spent nearly as much time speaking it in real life.

The thing that helped me most was simple: speaking more, getting corrected, trying again and getting used to hearing myself speak.

Years later, I kept coming back to that experience when I started Verbalta.

I wanted to make the kind of practice I would’ve used when I first moved here. Somewhere you can speak freely, get specific feedback, try again and keep going.

And over time, Verbalta gets to know your English. It remembers the mistakes you repeat, what you’ve practiced before and the situations you’re preparing for.

We’re building it for the parent who wants to talk comfortably with their child’s teacher. For the student who knows the answer and stays quiet. For someone who has lived in the U.S. for years and still rehearses an important sentence before saying it.

There are a lot of versions of that feeling. I’ve had mine too.

I hope Verbalta makes those moments easier.

Created with love by Moi 🤍