If you haven’t seen the viral video by Waverly Labs introducing the Pilot (Soon to be on Indiegogo) FOLLOW THIS LINK Then read on.

The Pilot from Waverly labs wont replace learning languages.

I will go one step further and say that the Pilot may even be vaporwear. What’s that? It is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled.

Pilot by Waverly Labs won’t work because of:

1) Latency:

It will most certainly be getting info off of the internet, which means that while one person speaks it will have to send the info to the cloud. After it has been computed it will be sent back to the phone and then to the other device. Even the demo in the video looks like a nightmare. Kind of like when you have a bad connection and you hear your own echo. This will make it harder to communicate, not easier.

2) Interaction with strangers:

Imagine: You get off a plane in China. You need to communicate with someone. You ask them to put this strange thing in their Ear. What happens next?

3) Cell reception/battery:

The user is forced to have a working phone with access to reception – which for most people isn’t all the time.

4) Translation software:

Google translate is getting better, Siri dictation is getting better. But they both still make horrible and hilarious mistakes. Put those two things together and you have a recipe for an international scandal of epic proportions or at least not knowing what each other is saying.

5) Idioms (AKA Google translate is not good):

See above. Google translate and many other translation software options simply cannot handle idioms or slang. “Shit! It works!” “Shit that walks? Huh?”

6) Effort:

Part of the reason people enjoy learning languages and using them with others, is that people appreciate the effort. If someone takes the time and effort to learn your language, you appreciate it, and them! If you want to be lazy, no need to buy this device. Just wait for the rest of the world to learn English!

7) Thoughts/culture:

Studies show that learning a new language changes your actual thoughts (what came first, the word or the thought? See schadenfreude) There are other benefits of learning languages of course, but without actually learning it you will miss out on learning the actual culture.

8) This is Vaporwear:

There have been a few other projects like this one – follow this link: and learn a language the fun, old-fashioned and HARD way

9) Opportunity Cost:

there is no doubt that there will eventually be a device capable of translaing languages. This isn’t it. Even when something like this is averrable it will never replace the act of learning and using a new language. Son’t waste your time or money.

The above is why we decided to make Waverly Labs Pilot Memes.

Some people are always looking for the easy fix, whether it is the diet pill that promises weight loss or the language software that promises to make it easy. We are a Los Angeles-based language school, so you might think that the Pilot is a threat to us.  Companies like Rosetta stone make all of their money by promising an easy solution (that most people buy and then don’t use). The pilot promises something easier still, you dont even have to learn, just stick it in your ear.

Check out all of our memes below: