What Is LinguaTrackr and Who Built It?

This website is something I built entirely myself — from the initial idea to the design, coding, and deployment. I continue to maintain it and add new features to help me stay consistent in my own language learning, especially with Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

The idea for LinguaTrackr grew out of my time working as an ESL teacher in Spain. It was during those years that I became frustrated with how ineffective textbook-based teaching could be. I still remember the look on my students' faces whenever I asked them to turn to page 97 to learn yet another set of phrasal verbs. They were bored, and honestly, I didn’t blame them. It felt wrong to promise that doing more exercises from the book would someday help them communicate naturally with native English speakers because I didn’t really believe it myself.

The truth is, most of what’s taught in those books isn’t very useful when it comes to having real conversations. I say this not just from opinion but from experience. I spent nearly four years teaching in various schools, using these materials day in and day out, across different age groups. Despite hundreds of lessons, most students showed little improvement in their ability to speak English comfortably or confidently.

You might say that reflects on my teaching ability, and that’s a fair criticism. But then how do we explain students who had been taking English classes for years — even since childhood — and still couldn’t express basic ideas without frequent grammar mistakes? Time and again, I met students who had gone to summer camps, private academies, and taken school classes for over a decade, yet still struggled to hold a simple conversation in English.

In all my years of teaching, I can count on two hands the number of students who genuinely impressed me with their fluency. These were students who could communicate ideas clearly, without a heavy accent, and without needing me to slow down or repeat myself. Whenever I asked them how they learned English so well, the answer was always the same: they grew up watching English-language shows and movies. No mention of textbooks, grammar charts, or classroom drills — just consistent exposure to real, native content.

After hearing this again and again, I decided to shift my own learning approach away from structured textbooks and toward immersion. I started consuming media made for native speakers, by native speakers — films, podcasts, books, and more. And within a few months, I noticed the difference. My comprehension improved, and I began to speak more naturally without overthinking. It wasn't about translating anymore. I just knew how to say things because I had heard the right patterns so many times that they became instinctive.

This kind of progress doesn't come from memorizing rules. It comes from repeated, meaningful exposure — from hearing structures in context and absorbing them subconsciously. In language learning, input is everything. The more you hear and read, the more your brain starts to recognize patterns and produce them on its own. Repetition and exposure really are the most powerful tools.

It’s a platform to help learners stay motivated and consistent, especially those using immersion as their main method. Whether you’re watching TV shows in Korean, listening to Spanish news, or reading a French novel, LinguaTrackr gives you a way to log your progress, track your habits, and stay accountable.

Learning a language takes time — a lot of time. It’s not easy, and there are no shortcuts, no matter what anyone online tries to tell you. But it’s also one of the most rewarding things you can do. With LinguaTrackr, you can make that journey more intentional and more satisfying by keeping track of how far you’ve come, one hour at a time.