The cast
Every character lives somewhere real, at a specific moment, doing specific work. Choose one and the language arrives with them.
4 characters available
Cannes, French Riviera
Lucien is a charismatic 29-year-old boat captain based in Cannes on the French Riviera. Easygoing, humorous, and effortlessly conversational, he helps learners build authentic spoken French through everyday life along the Mediterranean.
Puebla, Mexico
Domingo is an elderly baker trying to keep his family bakery running during the Siege of Puebla. Proud, stubborn, sharp-tongued, and deeply committed to his craft, he introduces learners to nineteenth-century Mexican Spanish through bread, prices, shortages, family, and the pressures of daily life during wartime.
Suzhou, China
Xiu Ying is a young silk weaver living in Suzhou in 1896, during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty. Through her work, family, relationships, routines, and surroundings, Mandarin learners encounter Qing China as part of an individual life rather than as a separate history lesson.
Northern France
Sœur Marie-Bernard was born Lucie Carlier near Lille around 1941 and has spent more than sixty years as a Cistercian Bernardine nun. Through simple French, learners encounter wartime family memory, postwar rural life, Northern French culture, monastery life, Vatican II, gardens, food, aging, and the changes she has witnessed across eighty-five years.
In research
French
Riviera harbours and Parisian courtyards
Coming soon
Spanish
Andalusian markets and colonial arcades
Coming soon
German
Printing houses and alpine railways
Coming soon
Italian
Venetian workshops and hill towns
Coming soon
Portuguese (European)
Lisbon tile façades and river docks
Coming soon
Portuguese (Brazilian)
Coastal cities and coffee country
Coming soon
Russian
Winter libraries and provincial estates
Coming soon
Irish
Stone harbours and village pubs
Coming soon
Latin (Classical)
Forums, roads, and merchant ledgers
Coming soon
Japanese
Post towns and paper workshops
Coming soon
Chinese (Mandarin)
Canal cities and silk gardens
Coming soon
Arabic (Modern Standard)
Bookbinders and coastal souks
Coming soon
