The inability to express and defend myself against hurtful comments due to language barriers was such a painful experience that I was determined to learn and master English so my voice would no longer be silenced.

as I was going through school and then working for companies, I started to realize that many immigrants, classmates, and co-workers whose first language is not English face the same obstacles as I did back in high school.

The fear of being called upon by coworkers to chat but not knowing the most appropriate way to respond, the embarrassment of having to make up excuses to skip a session that requires public speaking in a different language, and the nervousness of group conversations and not understanding the content nor when to chime in -  This is what a lot of immigrants have to deal with everyday.

Having lived in both worlds and having gone through the pain of language barriers myself, I deeply relate to the frustration and loneliness of not being able to understand and directly communicate with the people you love / care about the most.

75% of the world’s population do not speak English at all. 1 in 5 Americans speak a language other than English at home. 97% of US immigrants speak a native language that is not English.

why don’t we try to use AI for good to help people break down language barriers and bring the world closer?

I named the app, Byrdhouse, because when I think of immigrants, I think of a nest of birds. Birds don’t stay in their nest forever. Every year they go out of their comfort zone, fly 600 hours to migrate to another destination for various reasons, just like how multilingual families may have family members who migrate from their own country to another country with completely different culture(s) and language(s) for their own reasons.

Accessibility to language and being able to understand and talk to your loved ones should not be a privilege.

where speaking different languages is no longer a barrier to building deep and lasting relationships.