Start here
If you understand a language but struggle to speak it, this page will help you find your footing.
Sound familiar?
Many adult language learners reach a confusing stage where understanding comes easily, but speaking doesn't. I've spent half of my life stuck in this stage.
You know the deal: you can follow conversations, watch films, or read without much effort, yet feel blocked, slow, or uncertain when you try to speak.
This happens a lot with people who learned a language informally or unevenly, through exposure. Maybe you spent time around your family who speaks Spanish, you watched cartoons in German as a kid, or you spent part of your childhood in Paris.
The result is real knowledge, but it's a kind of knowledge most language systems don't know what to do with.
Why language levels stop working here
Most language schools and courses rely on levels to decide what you should know next. So you enroll in a course, they test your knowledge, and you land on A2. You go to your class only to realize you already know everything you're discussing. You get bored, or you think there's nothing to learn here, and you quit.
That's because learners at this stage often know some advanced things while missing others that are considered basic. Progress at this stage doesn't follow a straight line.
Broken Fluency starts from that reality. Instead of trying to place you into a category, it's about understanding how your knowledge is structured and how to work with it, not against it.
What you’ll find here
This site explores:
- the gap between understanding and speaking
- uneven language knowledge
- why common apps and methods stop working
- practical ways to rebuild speaking ability without starting over
- tools and approaches that respect adult learners
The emphasis is on usability, not speed or performance.
What this site is not
Broken Fluency is not about:
- quick fixes or hacks
- fluency as identity
- motivation or accountability systems
- rigid curricula or one-size-fits-all methods
If you’re looking for a single app or course to follow step by step, this may not be the right place.
How to use this site
This site is growing gradually. Foundational pieces will be linked here as they’re published. You can start by reading the About page to understand the perspective behind the project.
Learning doesn’t always follow levels. This site is an attempt to take that seriously.
Why understanding a language doesn't automatically lead to speaking (and what to do with that)