From Baby Talk to Lifetime Language with smallTalk CEO Dean Koch

What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw

Why is learning another language so difficult? The challenge starts at the beginning…of life.

Babies aren’t born with a specific language but they are equipped to learn from what they hear. The sounds and words they hear from parents and caregivers are vital to their development of language. In fact, babies quickly learn to lock in on familiar sounds and those make up the building blocks of language. All good, right?

Sounds they aren’t exposed to never become part of their verbal repertoire. Years later, as they try to learn another language those unfamiliar sounds become obstacles to their progression. The solution isn’t trying to teach babies multiple languages. It’s a lot simpler than that and yet ingenious.

Dean Koch and the team at smallTalk have found a way to engage infants in interactive language learning. “When a baby is in an environment where they can interact with two or more languages, they benefit for a lifetime. Infancy is the only time of life where this language interaction really changes the brain.” The company has developed a line of products to enable infants to engage with a foreign language.

Dean is Co-Founder and CEO of smallTalk. He has also served as Venture Partner at Jumpstart Inc, Co-Founder and CEO of Cervilenz, VP Marketing at Adeza Biomedical, Strategist for Ionica Sciences, and mentor at Esperanza and College Now Greater Cleveland.

In this episode of What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw, Dean talks about his entrepreneurial journey, the changing risk/reward tradeoff of entrepreneurship, and the mission of smallTalk to set babies up on a lifelong pathway of language learning.

What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw...

Life and career rarely go to plan. Breakthroughs happen on the ragged edge when things aren't quite going as expected. What I Wish I Knew podcast hosts Mike Irwin and Simon Daw explore lessons learned by leading athletes, creators, entrepreneurs, leaders, and difference makers. They all have three things in common: none are perfect, all are humble, and they've learned a few things along the way. In What I Wish I Knew, they share their lessons with you. http://www.whatiwishiknewshow.com

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For more information about smallTalk: https://smalltalk.tech/