Why We Founded Klara

Klara isn’t just an app to us. Klara is a passion project.

We are Jörg and Christiane Freihold. We live in Central Hesse, Germany, with our four children and three goats. We both grew up in Würzburg, shaped by family, education, language and curiosity – and by the belief that people can grow when they are given the right environment to do so. The idea for Klara grew over many years.

The idea for Klara grew over many years. From our own experiences. From our work. From conversations with people who wanted to learn a new language – and from the frustration of seeing how difficult it was often made for them..

Jörg is a teacher of German and politics, an author and passionate about language teaching. He spent several years teaching German as a foreign language in Ireland, taught politics bilingually in Germany and now also teaches language courses for refugees. Again and again, he has seen the same thing: people don’t learn a language by memorizing rules. They learn by listening, repeating, experimenting, making mistakes – and continuing to speak anyway.

One of his favorite sayings is:

“When learning a language, you have to steal with your ears.”

Because that’s exactly how language works. We hear something, absorb it, try it out – and eventually it starts to sound right. Not because we have calculated a grammar rule in our heads, but because we have developed a feel for the language.

Christiane is a psychologist. She worked in personnel development at Bertelsmann, in international recruitment in Dublin, and for almost twenty years has supported people and organizations through change with her consulting company Der rosarote Elefant. Her perspective on language is strongly influenced by psychology: learning requires a sense of security. People need encouragement. And if you are constantly afraid of making mistakes, you will never speak freely.

That is exactly what traditional language courses often lack: real conversations, positive feedback, psychological safety and the opportunity to practice for as long as it takes for the language to become second nature.

As parents of four children, we also know the other side. We have seen how much time children and teenagers spend learning languages – and how little of it sometimes translates into actually speaking them. Too often, a language remains a school subject. A grade. A worksheet. A rule. But not what it should really be: a key to the world.

As our children grew older, we felt the desire to start something new together. A project as a couple. As a family. As people who believe in education. In understanding one another. And in the idea that technology is most valuable when it brings people closer together.

That is how Klara came to life.

Klara is a language buddy who is always there: via text, audio and video. Patient, attentive and encouraging. Klara helps you become more confident step by step, understand more, speak more fluently and prepare specifically for language exams based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

But above all, Klara is designed to build something that is essential when learning a language: courage.

The courage to simply start.

The courage to make mistakes.

The courage to speak out loud.

The courage not just to learn a new language, but to actually use it.

We believe that language is about more than vocabulary and grammar. Language can determine whether people find their place. Whether they belong. Whether they find work, make friends, feel confident and are able to tell their own story.

In a world where migration, international collaboration, skills shortages and cultural tensions are becoming increasingly important, understanding one another is not a side issue. It is a foundation for social cohesion.

That's why we built Klara.

From experience.

From conviction.

And with the desire to make language learning more human, more courageous and more effective .