Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Attianna Palmer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Attianna, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

In 2015 while I was in my last year of university, I got accepted to be an English Language Assistant in Lyon, France. I’ve never been to France before, so this was going to be a whole new experience but I was excited to explore a new culture and country. Being a new university graduate, I drew to the Erasmus student events in Lyon and this is where I discovered language exchange events. These events would help all the students from all over the world to come together and speak to others in different languages that they might speak or they’re interested in learning/practicing.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted work with languages and I’ve operated as such throughout high school and university by sticking to studying French and Spanish language and culture. So after attending a few of these events, I thought to myself that this would be a great way to introduce people to a new language and get them excited about it because it’s basically networking over drinks and food. Learning is mainly connected with classrooms and an official teacher but if this feel a bit informal and more exciting than sitting and learning from a textbook, this might work!

It took me a few years to launch this business after coming up with the idea in 2016 because life happens (becoming a mom!) but the validity of this idea was still very apparent even 3 years later. I moved to Ottawa, Ontario in 2019 and I met quite a few people who were afraid of speaking in their second language, French, because they felt they were going to sound silly and were going to make mistakes – which is a part of the language learning journey. You have to be ok with making mistakes and sounding silly – that’s how you grow.

We have thousands of tutors worldwide but not many of them focus on the real life practice part – I don’t mean those silly scenarios that we had to do in class, like ordering a meal at a restaurant – no. I mean, REAL life practices, getting to know someone and using your target language to do that. It feels better and more natural and this is what gets people excited about the events.

This is how Fluentry was born.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Learning a new language takes constant practice or you’re going to start losing all the vocabulary that you’ve built.
My name is Attianna Palmer and ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to speak many languages, as many as 7, but the older I got I changed my mind to stick to 3 haha. I created Fluentry to bring people together who wanted to meet other language enthusiasts, who would bond over their common struggles and find language partners to practice with.

I offer a French beginner’s course for those who are interested in learning the language and I offer language exchange events for those who speak the language(s) to practice, build their vocabulary and most importantly, their confidence.
Our language exchange events aren’t just pub nights where we meet up and chat, but we also have, immersive workshops where you are actually learning a skill or dance style from a different culture in your target language. For example, in May we hosted our first ever, Salsa en español. We parterned with a local dance school, Ritmo Baile, to teach Salsa and speak to the students in Spanish. Beginners were also welcome and they were excited to share all the new words they learnt afterwards.

I find that language students tend to get caught up in courses, all they want to do is learn and keep learning – which can be good but we have to put those lessons to the test and actually start practicing. If you’re nervous to do this, this is where Fluentry comes in. We provide a welcoming and safe environment for those who want to practice without the fear of sounding silly and making mistakes. Mistakes help us to grow in our language learning journey and we must embrace them.

I’m most proud of when I complete a session (either a beginners’ class or immersive workshop) and I see the fun people just had learning a language. It gives me great joy to know that people found language learning fun. For those who are on the fence about joining us at our events, just know that you can come as you are and we will work from there. None of us are perfect in our target languages, not even in our native language English haha! So join us and have some fun learning a new language and expanding your view of the world.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Lately, I have had to do my research for podcasts and books to keep me motivated. Imposter Syndrome is very real and we have to be aware for when it happens. I’ve been listening to Atomic Habits by James Clear on Audible because my aim is to be resilient and strong for anything that will come my way. Another favourite book of mine at the moment is, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza – this book is ground breaking and it helps with self reflection.

Being an entrepreneur is a test of faith EVERY DAY! Haha. You have to be strong for whatever comes your way.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Running a business is not a race – either your idea is gold or not.
In the past when I just launched Fluentry, I had so many ideas and for some reason, younger me thought it was a great idea to launch all these ideas at once without actually having a plan on how to attract clients to these services.

Now looking back, I just thought I had to be the one to launch it so that everyone knows that I’m the genius behind the idea and not anyone else who comes after with the same idea. I’ve had to unlearn this and acknowledge the fact that, good ideas are good ideas and no matter when I launch them, if it’s good enough, clients will pay.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fluentry.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fluentry.ca/
• Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/fluentry-language-consultancy

Image Credits

1st photo – Sandra Ivleva Photography
2nd photo – Infokhus Productions Inc.
3rd Photo- Hersi Osman Photography