Please describe your proposed solution
Tongue Swap is a web app and Cardano DAO that connects people who are interested in practicing a language with native speakers. There are many of us who are currently learning a new language but do not have many opportunities to practice. Either because they are not currently in a country that widely speaks the language we are practicing or perhaps they are shy and do not like to strike up conversations with strangers. That is where Tongue Swap becomes a valuable service.
If you speak English and want to learn Spanish it will match you with someone who speaks Spanish and wants to learn English. The system will match you and assist you in scheduling a video chat where you speak 1 language for the first half and the other language for the second half. A list of questions and talking points is provided to guide the conversation and keep things interesting. If you and your match enjoy the conversation and would like to keep going that is great, keep scheduling time together to practice your languages. If you did not feel like it was a great experience no problem at all. Go back to the app and keep matching until you find the perfect practice partner. Or practice with a new person every time, whatever your preference is.
Learning a new language is difficult. Its something that requires daily effort. But memorizing words and phrases, learning grammar rules, and watching TV in your new language isn’t sufficient. To truly excel and become successful in your language journey you must PRACTICE SPEAKING. There is just no way around this. I can tell you from my personal experience that my language learning did not really begin to take off until I started having regular speaking lessons. After a month or so of this it was like a light switch turned on and I could finally start speaking comfortably. And while these lessons to practice speaking are extremely helpful, they also cost about 6 dollars each for the most affordable options. 3 times a week and this starts to add up. This is what sparked the idea to launch this service so that our community can practice and learn while helping each other.
The only way to access the App is by holding a Cardano NFT which also grants membership into the DAO. This is a community of people who are passionate about learning and practicing other languages, learning new cultures, and traveling and exploring the world.
V1 Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The first version that we are trying to fund through Project Catalyst will contain the following features and functionality.
Account Creation
You will be able to create your own account with an email and your Cardano wallet (the email is used for notifications). This is the first step to connecting with other language learners.
Setup Profile
In order to get matched correctly, you must fill out your profile information. It is just a few basic questions so we understand which people to match you with and which times would work the best.
Receive Matches
The app will then match you with someone who matches the same criteria that you do. If you are an English Speaker who wants to learn Spanish, it will match you with a Spanish speaker who wants to learn English. The reason for this is the native speaker can help correct you if you need it and listening to native speakers is priceless during the learning process. And since you are both learning a new language together, there is not the normal embarrassment that comes with practicing with total strangers in everyday situations. You are both in the same boat, no need for embarrassment. An email will be sent to both of the email addresses that you have provided with a prompt for you to schedule your meeting within the timeframe you entered. The learners will then schedule a Google/Zoom Meeting and start practicing your language with a native speaker.
Create Weekly Schedule
The app will create a weekly schedule off times available for your matches. Time zone will be auto-converted to your time zone to make everything clear. This will allow users to schedule times more easily.
Zoom/Google Meets Integration
Once you have scheduled your language session, the system will automatically create a zoom meeting invitation and send it to both you and your matches email.
Send Messages Between Matches
Users will be able to send text messages between their matches. This can be done to help with reading and writing in your native language or also to help coordinate for practice sessions.
Send and Receive Voice Memos
Can be used for quick daily practice, coordinating meetings, etc.
Professionally Prepared Content
We will have content for the participants to utilize during their practice sessions to help guide it and make it as effective as possible. Participants will not be expected to just chat and discuss their days. There are guiding questions to get you thinking and speaking in your new language in ways you might not have thought of normally. These will be created by a professional language teacher with several years of experience and hundreds of different lessons taught.
How the Practice Sessions Run
Each practice session is scheduled for 30 minutes, although both participants can do it for longer or shorter if they prefer. Half the session will be held in the first language and half the meeting will be held in the second language. Included in the email that scheduled the meeting will be a guide for running an effective and educational meeting. It will include basic ice breaker information, guided questions, tips for how to help or correct your language partner, and fun games or exercises that you can play to help perfect aspects of the language. These have all been created by an expert language teacher with years of experience and thousands of successful online language classes taught.
Few things to note:
- There is zero expectation to turn your camera on during the meeting. If you both want to that is fine as it can improve the conversation, but there is zero expectation or pressure from either side.
- We recommend that you give no personal details during the conversations. You can use a pseudonym instead of your real name, say your country but not specify your specific address or even city.
- If you enjoyed the session you can continue to schedule language practice sessions together.
- If you did not enjoy the session or thought it was not a good match, that is OK. Different people have different styles. Go back to the app and try to match again with someone new. There is no pressure or expectation to keep matching.
- This is not a dating site. You are here to practice languages.
V1 Spanish Language Only
The V1 Minimum Viable Product (MVP) will be for English/Spanish only. These are two of the most spoken languages in the world, so that is our focus for the first version to keep things simple but still make a large impact. According to Busuu there are 1.13 Billion English speakers and 534 million Spanish speakers in the world.
English being the most spoken language in the world, there is a large demand to learn and practice this language. Again according to Busuu, Twenty-two countries over four continents have Spanish as one of their official languages, and it’s already the second most studied language in the world. And that within three generations, 10 percent of the world’s population will be able to communicate in Spanish. So with English and Spanish being the top two studied languages in the world, it is a clear choice for the V1 MVP.
One of our team members has been teaching Spanish for years and is developing the course work and conversation prompts that will guide the participants and ensure they are able to maximize their time and get as much benefit from the process as possible. Once this has been mastered for English/Spanish, she will begin expanding the course work to other popular languages.
Marketing
We want this product to be a success and bring tons of new users to Cardano. And to do this, we cannot simply rely on the current Cardano Community to use this or spread it by word of mouth. We need to actively promote it outside of our normal channel and reach people who are not currently involved in Cardano or crypto. We are reaching a vast market of people who want to practice a new language, and through our service they will end up learning about Cardano.
To achieve this goal, we plan to advertise on popular social media channels such as Instagram, Youtube, Tik Tok, or Facebook. All advertisements will show our product but also make it clear that this is a Cardano product. So every dollar we spend on advertises helps our product, but it will also help put Cardano in front of thousands of new people who might not have been aware of it otherwise. Killing two birds with one stone. In addition there will be educational articles posted on Medium about the product and how to use it, tips for a better experience, explanations of its usefulness, and things of that nature. And of course posts from our own Twitter account and to the Cardano Reddit account.
Access
LifeTime NFT Access: We submitted this proposal in the last round with some options that would include paid subscription access, and there was feedback that it is not enough of a “Cardano” product. So based on that feedback we have removed that option.
The only way to access the app and participate in the DAO will be to purchase a Cardano NFT that will grant lifetime access to the application and to all features. An additional benefit is we will have learning materials created that people can work on in there free time that help them learn the languages. Similar to exercises or homework that can help you along your path to language learning. These would be stored in a token gated folder that you can only access if you hold the NFT.
The DAO
The purpose of the DAO is to be a community that promotes language learning and helps its members on the path to fluency in a new language. It provides a group of likeminded people who can help each other learn without embarrassment. The goal is for the DAO to evolve into an international group that promotes and sponsors global meet ups and trips/excursions for its members. Learning new languages is great, but its nice to be able to put what you learned into action. So we plan to launch a service for its members that provides the option for affordable and fun global excursions and trips.
One of the key components of this organization is a travel club that holding that NFT grants you access to. Please note, this is information so you understand our long term plans. This Catalyst proposal is to cover the creation of the language app which is the first step. After than, we will begin work on this next part. Many people in this world love the idea of travel and visiting new and exotic locations. However many people lack the ability or desire to plan the trip of their dreams and many more lack the group of friends to do it with. Speaking from experience, travel is fun but having the right group of people to enjoy and experience it with makes all the difference.
Well that is what we are offering here. An DAO that will plan out comprehensive trips and adventures around the world. That can utilize their experience, expertise, and bulk pricing to organize them for cheaper than most people could do themselves. And experiencing it with the community of friends that you have been chatting with in social media. If you have collected NFTs before, you are already aware of the strong communities that form around them. Well now imagine taking the trip of a lifetime with these friends in a location you have already dreamed of. That is what we are offering.
Holding the NFT gives you access to these trips. If you hold the NFT, you can put your name on the waiting list as soon as a new trip pops up that you are interested in participating in. Space is limited, so each NFT will allow someone to take 1 trip per Calendar year. And each trip will only be able to accommodate 20-40 people, so it will be on a first come, first serve basis. But again, only holders of the NFT will be able to participate in these.
Governance
We are operating in the real world, but are powered by blockchain technology and can utilize its benefits. One of those being easy and straightforward governance. If you hold the NFT, you are in the club and can help direct where we go and what we do. Have always wanted to visit the beaches of Indonesia or see the sights of Europe. Participate in governance and have a voice in where we plan our future trips, what kind of activities or events you would like to see included, what types of lodging or food options you would be interested in, and many more.
Example Trip
We have prepared a sample itineraries to give you an idea of the types of adventures we will be planning, the types of activities you could expect, and estimates of what something like this might cost.
Note 1: Please note that these prices are for a trip planned in August 2023 for travel in November 2023. Prices can change from when we planned this trip to a future date when you are reading this paper.
Note 2: For all trips, you will be responsible to book your own arrival and departure flight. Don’t worry, we are here to assist you with finding the best deals and options. But you will be responsible for booking it yourself.
Trip 1 – Discover Colombia
Day 1-3: Bogota - 3 Nights
Bogota Is the massive high altitude Capital of Colombia and no trip here would be complete without a visit. As an epicenter of Colombian culture there are several cant miss museums and land marks, delicious Colombian cuisine, and fun outings at night.
Hotel: $54 per day, Single occupancy
Excursions:
City Tour Including Monseratte Hill
Gold Museum
Salt Cathedral
Food: We love street food as much as the next person and it can represent delicious and cheap options to try a countries cuisine. But we also understand that there are elevated risks involved in doing this and a case of food poisoning can ruin a trip. So we have planned a list of delicious and affordable Colombian restaurants for you to enjoy while you are here. The restaurants are included in the cost of the trip, so no worries about trying to divide a check between 20+ people.
Day 4-5: Medellin – 2 Nights
Medellin: The city of eternal spring. Medellin has quickly become the most popular tourist destination in Colombia and is a cant miss for any trip.
Hotel: $63 per day, single occupancy
Excursions:
Graffiti tour of Comuna 13
Day trip to Guatape
Food:
Day 6-7: Santa Marta/Tayrona
This one is for all the nature lovers out there. After spending the week in the big sprawling cities, escape to the building landscape of the Pacific and come explore Tayrona National Park, Colombia’s most popular park and a well-kept secret to most foreigners.
Hotel: $44 per day, single occupancy
Excursions:
Discover Scuba Mini Course: Have you ever wanted to try out scuba diving and experience a while new world that lies beneath the surface? If so you are in luck. We will be having an outing where you can give it a try. No worries if you do not have your certification. This is an introductory course that only goes to a maximum depth of xx meters and will teach you everything you know to have a fun and safe experience. If you aren’t up for scuba, you can snorkel instead and stay with the group.
Food:
Day 8: Return to Bogota
This will be the end of the trip. We will all be flying back to Bogota after a week full of fun, adventure, and memories that will last a lifetime. From Bogota you can continue traveling on your own (which we can help you plan) or return back to your home country and get back to the daily grind.
Summary
We hope this first benefit to holding the NFT and being a member in the DAO has been well evidenced here. To summarize, you obtain access to world class vacations with a group of fun like minded people, for very competitive prices. Most travel agencies have profit in mind where as we are simply running these to cover our costs and provide benefits and utility to our NFT holders and community.
Cost Comparison
To demonstrate the value of this, we have provided a comparison with Intrepid Travel which is one of the most popular and well known small group travel and adventure companies in the world (<https://www.intrepidtravel.com/en>)
Here is a similar itinerary that Intrepid offers, which is 9 days through Colombia, visiting many similar locations.
The main differences to note here are that they only provide you breakfast each day and after that only 2 lunches and 2 dinners. Our itinerary also includes breakfast lunch and dinner for each guest. And perhaps the biggest difference to note is that this itinerary also expects each person to share a room with someone else (see below) or pay and extra 325 dollars. Our itinerary provides each guest with their own room for the cost. If you are traveling with a friend or partner and would like to share a room with them, then the price will be lowered.
So as you can see above, for this trip including a private room (note you still must share a room 2 nights during the trip) it will cost you $3,005 dollars, and that is without considering the cost of lunch and dinner for 6 days. Compared to our cost of $1,660 and you can see the type of value that we are offering. How do we accomplish this? With a team of seasoned travelers who are experts in planning trips and finding deals, and by not operating for profit.