ELSA Speak

Practice English pronunciation with real-time AI feedback, on the app a Vietnamese entrepreneur built out of her own struggle to be understood in English. About ELSA Speak: ELSA (English Language Speech Assistant) was co-founded in 2015 by Vietnamese entrepreneur Van Dinh Hong Vu and speech-recognition expert Dr. Xavier Anguera, born directly out of Vu's own experience: after moving from Vietnam to Stanford for her MBA, her strong Vietnamese accent kept classmates and professors from understanding her, despite fluent vocabulary and grammar. ELSA uses AI speech recognition to detect specific pronunciation mistakes in real time and give targeted feedback, rather than just grading overall fluency. It has grown into a global product with more than 60 million downloads across roughly 195 countries, and remains especially widely used inside Vietnam, even as its corporate headquarters has since relocated to Silicon Valley. Key Features: Real-Time Pronunciation Feedback: AI detects specific sounds you're mispronouncing and shows exactly what to fix, rather than a generic overall score. Personalized Learning Path: Lessons adapt based on your accent, mistakes and goals (workplace English, everyday conversation, exam prep). AI Conversation Practice: Practice natural, unscripted spoken dialogue with an AI tutor rather than only scripted exercises. Offline-Friendly Practice: Many exercises can be done without a constant internet connection, useful for daily practice on the go. How to Get Started: Download the ELSA Speak app and create an account. Take the initial assessment so ELSA can identify your specific pronunciation patterns and set your starting level. Complete short daily lessons and AI-guided conversation practice. Review your pronunciation feedback after each exercise and revisit flagged sounds over time. Important Notice: ELSA is now a global company with its main office in Silicon Valley rather than Vietnam — it's included here because of its Vietnamese founding story and continued heavy use inside Vietnam specifically, but it isn't a Vietnam-only or Vietnam-government-linked product the way some other entries in this catalogue are.