It may not matter if there’s an app for that. Experiment # 2 with MilValChal

Introduction

My name is Adam McGarity and I am the CEO of The Language Finder (Twitter: @languagefinder). The individuals who helped me run this experiment are John Sechrest, Adam Berk, and Jesse Robbins. The link to my Trello hypothesis card is here. I am part of an experimental incubator that gives startups and entrepreneurs funding in exchange for testing and sharing Lean Startup hypotheses.

Hypothesis and Experiment Results

I thought that “after a customer interview, 12 out of 20 international students with advanced English proficiency will agree to help me conduct another customer interview with someone who shares their native language, but has more limited English proficiency.” I conducted 20 interviews modeled on Lean Customer Development (Alvarez, 2014) with members of my target population. Each conversation lasted about 15 minutes. Of the 20 interviews, 19 were conducted in person, and one was on the phone. In total, 18 interviewees (90%) agreed to help me conduct an interview, and gave me their email and/or phone number for the purpose of scheduling that interview.

Commentary

While I thought that 60% of interviewees would agree to help with a subsequent interview, actually a full 90% agreed to help, and many of them expressed some enthusiasm (saying “of course”, “absolutely”, “I know someone”, for example). Technically speaking, my hypothesis was off the mark. But I was testing the following assumption:“International students are willing to help those who share their native language.” It’s possible that these results are higher than the hypothesis because I was already acquainted with 5 of the participants (25%) before I interviewed them. But I don’t think that’s the full reason for the difference between the hypothesis and the results.

You see, the most significant thing I learned is this: A language barrier is much more than a cognitive problem (grammar, vocabulary, syntax, etc.)…it’s a social, psychological, and emotional problem. International students, even when they don’t have these problems currently, they felt these problems when they first arrived. For example, one interviewee “cried every day” during her first three months in the US, in part because she didn’t know English. Several interviewees (especially from Chinese backgrounds) described a crisis of confidence on arrival in the US …. they had studied English for 10+ years, and passed intensive exams in China, but weren’t understanding basic colloquial greetings and polite questions such as “How ya been doin’?” and “What can I get ya?”. And numerous interviewees told stories about professors and academic group members speaking too quickly with too much slang for their understanding. These language barriers are stressful. And to compound the problem, the interviewees were often embarrassed to ask the native speakers to repeat themselves.

After listening at length to stories about language barriers, past solutions, and examples of how interviewees helped others with similar problems, I asked them the “magic wand” question…“If you could do/have/change anything related to language, what would it be?” I expected many of their responses to be oriented around technology (better apps, software, auto-translation tools, ed-tech etc.), but only 5 responses narrowly fit that description. Rather, the majority of responses (14, 70%) had a face-to-face human orientation. For example, one interviewee said, “I wish my countrymen would help one another”; another wished that “it was clear when I should speak English vs. Mandarin” in social settings. And many of them expressed a desire for better colloquial/cultural skills when communicating with Americans.

These interviewees are using very little technology to overcome their language barriers, and very few of them talk with excitement about those tools…most use Google Translate and Dictionary apps, but they complained about shortcomings in the accuracy or lack of context. Only two mentioned grammar software that they like.

On the other hand, a number of participants spoke with enthusiasm about how their friends (native and non-native English speakers) help them with language barriers, and gave examples of how they help others: repeating after a professor, opening a bank account, and giving advice for an upcoming presentation. At the end of one interview, I suggested Hello Talk (a language exchange app) as an option for improving colloquial English, but the interviewee waved the idea off and said, “No, I just want American friends to talk with.” So this I return to the main point of this section…these students want 1) Real human connection and 2) Improved interactive communication skills more than they want “an app for that”.

Bonus Commentary

There were a couple of participants who spoke about their language barriers while conducting specific day-to-day tasks (finding/buying a specific lock, opening a bank account, getting a bus transfer)…which is interesting for the direction I had started with The Language Finder website. But for this group, I think there’s a bigger need. Almost all of these students want to learn and use English better. Many of them feel comfortable with the nuts-and-bolts of English, but get frustrated with 1) How fast native speakers talk 2) Colloquial Expressions 3) Slang 4) Cultural elements of interaction. Additionally, many are embarrassed to ask native speakers to repeat themselves, because they believe it’s their own responsibility to learn English better. Paradoxically, most of the situations in which the interviewees want better English skills…they aren’t organized for the purpose of improving language skills: socializing, lectures, group projects, etc. The purpose of these activities are distorted when the students make public efforts to improve their English skills. And I think these day-to-day, time-after-time “sink-or-swim” scenarios are the root of the pain for many of the students that I interviewed.

Next steps

In light of the results, I’d like to answer the question, “Will international students pay for a solution that offers 1) Real human connection and 2) Improved interactive communication skills?

So here’s the hypothesis for my third experiment:

“I believe that if I post flyers advertising “English Conversation — 5 minutes — $3” for 36 man hours, and someone is immediately available to chat in person, at least 30 people will pay for the service, and at least 18 will pay $3 for follow-up corrections/advice. I aim to complete this experiment by April 8.”

In total, I need $453 to help conduct this experiment. Here is how I intend to use the money: $360 to enlist the help of 3 people available for in-person conversations with customers ($20/hr. for 6 hours each — 18 hours total). I will personally be available for conversations with customers the remaining 18 hours (no cost). I need $33 to print 50 color flyers, $19 for a 3-pack of Square Credit Card Readers, and $41 for 16 days of subscription to Knack.com; this is the tool I’m using to collect information and provide customers with follow-up corrections, advice, and resources.

And here is the link to the Trello card

Thanks for reading. This was a valuable exercise for me, and I hope the blog was useful for you. I’d be happy to read your thoughts/responses.