By Nacho Kleinman, founder
A story of two languages, told at once
For years I've taught Spanish online and learned Mandarin on my own, but HabloHack also grew out of our own story. My wife is learning Spanish, and supporting her through that process has helped me understand what someone needs when they are starting to learn a language from scratch. That experience, together with my own as a teacher and learner, led me to build HabloHack.
The story
We met in New Zealand
We met in New Zealand, and English became the language we used to communicate. That's how it has been ever since. Neither of us imagined that years later we'd be seriously learning each other's language.
I moved to Taiwan, and everything changed
I went to live with her in Taiwan, right before the world stopped for COVID. That's where I started learning Mandarin for real, not from a textbook: watching videos, listening to conversations, reading whatever I could understand. It was the first time I felt what it's like to learn a language out of real need, not duty.
Four years learning each other's language, apart
Back in Spain, we ended up living in different countries. For four years, each of us tried to learn the other's language to talk with family and friends — she Spanish, me Mandarin. That's when I started experimenting seriously with comprehensible input: understanding before memorizing, first on video, then on text with audio.
We reunited in Spain
After four years apart, we finally lived together again, this time in Spain. She started studying Spanish at a language school — with classes, homework and exams. Meanwhile, I kept teaching Spanish online, watching up close what really helps a student move forward.
When school ended, she wanted to keep learning
In spring 2026 my wife's Spanish course ended. She wanted to keep improving, but without depending on a class — reading things she actually cared about. That was the concrete reason I sat down to code the first version of HabloHack: a tool that turned any text she wanted to read into a place to learn vocabulary in context, with timely review.
What I couldn't find
I've taught Spanish for years. I never found an app that did it well.
No context
Duolingo and similar apps teach isolated phrases, disconnected from anything you actually care about.
Zero real interest
You learn generic vocabulary, not the words from the show you watch, the book you read or the conversation you want to have.
Nothing serious for Spanish
For Spanish specifically, there's almost nothing built for an adult who wants to understand real texts, not repeat textbook phrases.
What does work
Comprehensible input works. In reading too.
The method has been used for years in video and conversation: you understand real content, a little above your level, and the language sticks on its own. I found it also works while reading — as long as the text has audio and you can go back over the words you didn't understand.
“You don't need to memorize a list. You need to meet the word at the right moment, as many times as it takes.”
What we believe
Technology and languages get along, if it's done with soul
We believe technology can support language learning in an efficient, natural way — not replacing human repetition with more automatic repetition, but giving you what really matters: context, judgment and the right moment to review.
This is still, above all, a project for two people
HabloHack started as a tool for my wife. Today I hope it helps anyone who, like us, is learning a language for a real reason: a person, a family, a life shared in another language.