Learning a New Language With Your Partner Has a Hidden Benefit

I learned the hard way not to date people I work with, but when I was serving tables, clocking into my shift was just as much about taking orders and serving food as it was flirting with coworkers. 

I wouldn’t have looked at a few of my work crushes twice outside the conditions of the restaurant, but something about working together made them that much more attractive to me. Looking back, my versatile crushes have one common thread.

We were achieving something together.

Sure, our achievements were making sure that Table 24 got their appetizer and ensuring that Table 12’s pizza was gluten-free, but we were a master class in communication. I told them what I needed and they delivered, despite the chaos of the kitchen and the busyness of the dining room. 

When I started dating one of my coworkers, we felt like superstars after finishing a difficult shift together. We pushed our communication abilities to the limit and most of the time came out the other side triumphant.

We get closer with our partners when we feel like we’re on the same team and working toward the same goal. When you and your partner are coworkers, this happens without extra effort. But if you’re not, integrating activities where you’re learning and growing together can be transformative.

Learning a language is one of the best ways to find that connection and shared sense of achievement, and you get to come out the other side with a new– and useful– skill. 

Drops is an app that makes language learning easy and fun with engaging, game-based methods. We talked to Sonia Izrar, the product manager for Drops, about what the app has to offer couples who want to learn a new language.

Beyond learning something new together, language learning helps couples set goals, learn new strategies, and think more critically about how they communicate with each other.

“Our mission is to improve people’s lives through language learning,” Sonia said. “I stress the game-based aspect because it’s a really important part of who we are. We believe that the best way humans learn is through play.”

Game-Based Learning Makes New Languages Fun

There are a ton of reasons why somebody may want to learn a new language. Regardless of why you want to learn, a craving for connection is at the center of that desire.

“Users often tell us they’re using the app to learn a language to reconnect with relatives, or they’ve decided to move abroad,” Sonia said. “Or maybe they’re just going on holiday. But at the root, they’re seeking human connection, there just might be a variety of reasons behind that.”

Whatever your reason is for learning a new language, you want the learning method to be effective and accurate. You don’t need outdated phrases or stuffy lessons in conjugation. You need the real language skills that would serve you in everyday conversations. 

Drops focuses on teaching you the elements of language you really need to know. “We want learning to feel natural,” Sonia told us. “There’s a few things that are slightly different about Drops that help us get there.”

Drops is free to download and use, and, unlike many other language learning apps, the free version is all you need to start learning a language. You can explore Korean, Japanese, Mexican Spanish, Bosnian, and a variety of other languages in the app. 

The app also focuses on conversational phrases that native speakers use. “Everything that we give you to learn is a real life word or phrase,” Sonia said. “You’re never going to come to Drops and learn something you’re never going to use in real life.”

Drops instead teaches you the phrases you need to order at a restaurant, buy a train ticket, or ask for directions. The app offers a variety of lessons that you can work through at your own pace. Drops will also send you reminders to complete lessons and keep track of your language learning streaks.

Couples Who Grow Together, Stay Together

Drops regularly asks users for feedback about their experience on the app, and Sonia said one story has stuck with her. 

“A British couple moved to France for work,” Sonia said. “I’m French, and you know how the French are with people who come in and speak English. There’s very little patience– if you speak to someone in English, you’ll get a response in French.”

The couple realized they needed to learn French– and fast. They tried out a few apps, but after finding Drops, they knew that was the best app for them. They appreciated how applicable each lesson was. For example, if they were about to go to the grocery store, they could do a quick refresh with the supermarket lesson.

“They had all of this directly useful content,” Sonia said. “And so they started using Drops regularly, and it became part of their routine.”

Every night, the couple would settle in for a short lesson. They would start the session separately, both working  on their own individual lessons in the app. The couple would work on the same or similar lessons and then regroup.

“They would then quiz each other on what they learned,” Sonia said. “It was just this lovely story of a couple learning together.”

To Sonia, this couple’s story illuminates everything wonderful about Drops. The couple was facing a lot at this period in their lives. They were living in a foreign country where they didn’t speak the language and adapting to new workplaces, new communities, and a new home. 

Drops provided them the opportunity to engage with their new language and each other at the same time. 

“It rooted them together in this activity that helped both of them settle into their new life and build something together,” Sonia said. “This story shows how useful Drops can be, and how its even more powerful when you get your partner involved.”

Is it a Language Lesson or a Date?

Drops is an invaluable tool for couples who are looking to learn a language together. But it’s also especially useful for couples who speak different languages.

“To be completely honest, I think the biggest use might not be two people who are learning a second language together,” Sonia said. “The most common use for couples is one of them learning the other person’s native or second language.”

Language learning holds greater importance for couples who speak more than one language. If your partner’s native language is different from yours, knowing that language will help you engage with your partner, their culture, and their families in a deeper and more meaningful way. 

“I think it’s a beautiful thing,” Sonia said. “But it’s also necessary sometimes.”

Sonia shared a story that demonstrates how language differences can cause miscommunications, and how language learning can help keep those miscommunications to a minimum.

Her good friend was dating a person from Russia. One day, he was eating a sandwich and asked his boyfriend if he wanted a bite. Sonia said his partner seemed instantly offended, and said, “A bite is all I can have?”

While her friend was inviting his boyfriend to enjoy the sandwich with him, his boyfriend took the phrase literally. “Because of the way that it was phrased and translated into their own native language, it sounded different,” Sonia explained. “It sounded like he was only inviting him to the tiniest bit.”

Miscommunications happen frequently for couples who speak the same language. Add another language into the mix, and chances for misunderstandings go way up. For mixed and shared language couples alike, Drops offers a routine for learning a language that brings more than new vocabulary and phrases.

It also brings deeper intimacy. Whether that intimacy is deepened through frequent lessons or the ability to converse in your native language or your partner’s native language, Drops gives you the tools to do it.

“Find something that you enjoy doing with your partner, whether it’s language learning or not,” Sonia said, “and do it every day together.”