I’m going to be honest and say that I very much don’t love the normal process of learning languages. Memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules feels so tedious and frustrating that I can’t bring myself to spend hundreds of hours required to learn it. But here’s my problem: I need to speak German fluently.

When it comes to struggling to learn a language, this isn’t my first rodeo. In 2015 I lived in Seoul. Korea and attended Sogang University’s intensitive immersive language course. While I did make progress and friends, it was an expensive, time consuming, frustrating grind. I learned the hard way just how much friction traditional language-learning methods can create. I spent a lot of time, money and effort getting myself to lower intermediate Korean, only to have the knowledge dissapear within six months of leaving the country.

Fast forward to today, I’m living in Berlin, Germany with lower intermediate (B1) German. My work and life here are seriously handicapped because of my lack of fluency. I do want to learn this language but the effort-to-result ratio feels so inefficient, there has to be a better way!

I met so many language learners who struggle to learn but do it for a better job, a visa, or just surviving in a new country. They’re like me, they need the knowledge but are not super disciplined, are not passionate about languages and don’t enjoy studying. We are normal people: lazy reluctant learners, unwilling to spend hundreds of hours in frustration, memorizing lists and tables.

That’s where ChineseIrish comes in. I’m on a mission to find out if apps, games, and other tools can actually help people like me (and maybe you) learn languages without the misery. I’ll share honest reviews, tips, and my own struggles along the way. If I’m going to be miserable studying, it might as well be to make someone else laugh.

So, if you’re tired of the grind but still need results, you’re in the right place. Let’s figure this out together, because there has to be a better way to learn.