About Us
Who We Are
Our
Story
From Concept to Connection: The Birth of Articulatte
The first idea of what Articulatte could be emerged while Thomas was working for a non-profit organization promoting bilingualism in Finland. He noticed that many people enjoyed practicing a foreign language simply by conversing with other language learners. This observation led him to wonder if the concept could appeal to a broader audience. As he was finishing his studies, Thomas decided to develop the concept further by joining
Hanken Business Lab, where he exchanged thoughts with other aspiring entrepreneurs.
When Kasper heard about Thomas's idea, he was immediately convinced of its potential. Kasper had recently encountered physical language cafés during his travels in Europe and was fascinated by the idea of practicing his target language with other learners wherever he was. Inspired by this, he saw immense promise in creating a platform that could bring this experience to more people.
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Together, Thomas and Kasper transformed the concept into a fully-fledged platform ready to welcome its first language learners. What you see offered on Articulatte's website today represents our shared passion for igniting excitement about languages and language learning. We especially focus on the speaking aspect, which, for many—including ourselves—is perhaps the most challenging and final step in achieving comfort in a new language.
Thomas Thijssen 🇫🇮
Co-Founder & CEO
Hi! My name is Thomas and I kind of love languages, like a lot. I grew up in a bilingual family, with Swedish and Dutch being the spoken languages at home. My interest for new languages was not a given at first, with me being a bit scared of making mistakes when learning a new language. But through school, hobbies and the army I realized that learning new languages can be very fun as long as you dare to discuss with others and make mistakes.
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Before Articulatte I worked at an NGO called the Language Ambassadors for over three years (that's a whopping tenth of my whole life), where I got to inspire and motivate students to learn new languages by showing them the benefits of languages and the possibilities they bring. During my time there I also hosted language cafés for over one year. This ultimately gave me the idea of creating Articulatte, a place for anyone interested in bettering their language skills to find other like-minded people to do so with.
In my free time I like doing all kinds of sports, attend music festivals and try out new types of exotic beers. I also like talking and meeting new people, so the concept of language cafés is a perfect way of combining both. I will be hosting cafés in Swedish, Finnish and English. Hope to meet you in a language café some day!
Kasper Rokama 🇫🇮
Co-Founder & COO (Caffeine Operations Orchestrator)
Moi! I'm Kasper, an avid language learner and advocate for international relations. I received my first spark for languages in high school when I took up Spanish as the first elective language. From the first interactions with native speakers, I was captivated by the idea of connecting with people from different cultures through language. This fascination only deepened the following year when I embarked on my first student exchange program to Buffalo, New York.
Since then, I have pursued language learning wherever I could play my own role in fostering international relations. This journey has taken me on two more exchanges on my way to completing my Master's in International Business, with studies in English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Swedish, along with some exciting work experiences abroad.
Today, my love for languages continues to thrive at Articulatte, where I currently host language cafés in English and Italian. I hope to see you there!
Would you like to join us?
Do you find the idea of hosting language cafés and/or working in a start-up role so cool that you'd like to do it too? Please, send us a brief introduction about yourself to contact@articulatte.live and we'll be in touch!