User:Rwellmanns/Verbling

Verbling is a free langauge exchange site which enables language learners to exchange languages with other mother tongue users for them to learn and get an "authentic" experience with native speakers. This complements their formal study of a language. It is launched for Spanish-English exchanges only but there have been Beta tests for Arabic-English. An English native speaker is paired with a Spanish native speaker and each converse to each other in their native tongue for five minutes. Users from all over the world use Verbling. There are specific daily sessions where users can log on and speak to a native speaker.

About

Verbling was launched in June 2011 by Standford students Jacob Jolis, Mik ael Bernstein and Google programmer Fred Wulff (the co-founders). After one month of launching, Verbling had 15 000 users. It has been succesful because there is a great benefit of knowing English for Spanish speakers. It is now seen as a necessary skill for Spanish speakers to be competitive in the job market. Verbling's name is a blend of the words "verbal" and "linguistics". How it works

To connect to Verbling you need to have a computer and a broadband internet connection. There is no software to install. Conversations take place live and after a conversation users can either "super-like", "like" or "dislike" their conversations and from feedback received be paired with partners they have enjoyed talking to again. Users can also request to talk to a "Verbling" (the name given to users on the site) again. Moderators on the site suggest topic conversations too.

Verbling founders

The Verbling offices are in Silicon Valley California. The three co-founders are Jacob Jolis, Mikael Bernstein and Fred Wulff. They met through a society at Stanford University.

Jacob Jolis is Swedish and was studying at Stanford University until he gave it up to focus on Verbling. He speaks speaks French, Swedish, English and Spanish.

Mikael Bernstein is Swedish and was studying at Stanford University until he gave his studies up to focus on Verbling. He speaks English, Swedish, German and Russian. He worked as a Swedish-Russian interpreter in the Swedish army. Upon coming to the United States of America he wanted a way to practice his spoken Russian and so the idea of Verbling was formed.

Fred Wulff is Swedish and worked at Google as a software expert. The future of Verbling

The co-founders of Verbling are currently working on bettering the web version of Verbling as well as working on software to measure users' linguistics evolution. The co-founders hope to launch in other language combinations in the future depending on demand.