Interview: English Attack (法國巴黎) 創辦人Paul Maglione短訪

和English Attack的創辦人Paul Maglione於我另外一個寫著玩的部落格 oriibu.com (關於外語學習)結緣的, 他留言給我說因我在文中介紹English Attack, 讓他出乎意料地「突然」擁有了1千多名來自台灣的Beta用戶, 我告訴他他應該搞錯了, 那些台灣用戶應該是看到「不花錢學英語」這本雜誌介紹而得知的. 剛好English Attack也符合asia-thinking專門替中文地區的讀者報導來自歐陸的網路startup, 現居巴黎的他, 欣然答應了接受我的短訪.

在創辦English Attack前, Paul於2006至2009擔任曾是全球最大的遊戲公司之一Vivendi Games的執行長 (星海爭霸, 魔獸世界等知名遊戲都屬於法國Vivendi集團的). 我簡短地形容English Attack: 簡潔富創意的設計 (絕對不輸Disney的產品), 結合英語學習和遊戲及娛樂導向的內容, 是既日本的Smart FM之後, 又一個令我眼睛為之一亮的線上語言學習產品. 以下是我給他的短訪:

Ewan: 當初會讓你想創辦English-Attack的想法和動機是什麼?

Paul:  我和另一位搭檔Frederic Tibout, 我們的一直以來都在資訊媒體產業服務, 不管是音樂圈, 電視, 新聞或是遊戲等, 感受到了這些圈子受到網路科技的影響, 而所產生的巨變. 過去我們不斷地問自己, 那一個產業會成為下一個受網路科技影響而出現轉變呢? 我們一致認為是「教育」事業. 接著, 我們便決定將我們過去所吸收的相關經驗, 移植到教育產業上, 尤其是英語教學這一塊, 英語學習同時也符合全球大眾的需求. 我們將目標年齡層鎖定在13至25歲之間, 依據我們最近的經驗, 這個年齡層也是對電玩遊戲及手機遊戲最熱衷的一個族群.

Ewan: 目前市場上有類似的競爭者嗎 (將英語學習和遊戲及流行文化結合)? English-Attack如何能從中脫穎而出?

Paul: 目前English-Attack是唯一一個百分百原汁專注娛樂, 年輕族群的線上語言學習服務. 市面上有類似應用娛樂元素來學英文的產品, 可是還沒有像我們一樣專注結合線上遊戲, 甚至和真正遊戲一樣有不同的關卡及獎勵的架構. 將青少年, 年輕用戶作為我們的目標群更是我們獨一無二之處.

Ewan: English-Attack的Freemium 模式將如何運作?

Paul: English-Attack每天會推出3個免費的學習項目, 分別是Video Booster (看影片學英文), Photo Vocab (多元主題的詞彙練習) 以及遊戲. 這些內容每天會更新. 付費會員則可以享受完全的服務, 一百多部影片, 英文單詞, 還有一大串的遊戲內容. 會員獨享的遊戲區更包括了語言訓練功能, 還有今年底將推出的特殊發音練習模式.

Ewan: 不同於大部分來自歐陸的網路startup, 困於服務範圍過度侷限於區域, English-Attack似乎有著往國際市場擴張的野心. 你們除了計畫將擴充到20個語種的版本外, 還有哪些會是你們走向國際的策略?

Paul: 我們計畫和在地的企業合作, 這些企業如果認同English-Attack經營模式的潛力, 可以成為我們的推廣夥伴, 舉凡行銷傳播, 廣告, 用戶獲得, 學術機構等方面. 現在我們會在幾個地區和國家選定合作企業, 除了歐洲, 南美和亞洲地區外, 也期盼來自台灣對此感興趣的合作對象, 能在台灣代表English-Attack的產品和形象推廣.

Ewan: 其他的報導曾提過, 除了法國地區外, English-Attack會於巴西及土耳其先行測試. 請問這兩個國家有何特別之處, 能首先獲得你們的青睞呢?

Paul: 土耳其和巴西這兩個國家擁有龐大的年輕人口, 快速成長的寬頻普及率, 強烈的英語學習需求 (伴隨經濟以及出口迅速成長). 對我們佈局全球的計畫來說, 這兩個地方自然成為首選. English-Attack目前在台灣擁有的註冊用戶數讓我們出乎意料, 我們因此將台灣列為拓展國際的優先名單.

Ewan: 說到歐洲網路startup的熱點, 法國巴黎可能還算不上. 巴黎哪些地方吸引你留在那創業?

Paul: 事實上, 法國政府為創業家設立了許多輔助創業的架構和計畫, 我們從巴黎市政府以及巴黎工商會那裡獲得不少的協助. 另外, 巴黎附近有許多頂尖的學府, 我們曾經和幾間科技大學所組成的精英聯盟合作過, 在學術上驗證English-Attack所應用的教育學習模式! 另一點更重要的是, 在一個英語非母語的地方作為據點也有其優勢. 這時時刻刻都提醒著我們身為一個英語學習者該有的心態, 在這個基礎上建立自己的網路服務.

Ewan: 我自己注意到許多線上學習產品運用電腦作為單字或句子的發音, 比方說English-Attack的Photo Vocabs就是. 我個人不覺得這樣的發音練習方式特別恰當. 對此你的看法為何, 你認為像English-Attack這樣的線上學習產品如何和那些虛實整合的英文學習服務作競爭 (尤其是在亞洲, 許多公司除了每月發行實體雜誌和CD外, 本身還有純線上服務)?

Paul: 我們的重點在於讓用戶可以藉由聽 (音樂)和看 (影片)來加強本身的詞彙量和發音, 不斷重複的播放, 讓用戶建立聽力的基礎, 而且習慣多元的英語腔調 (從紐約黑幫到英國的銀行家), 以及不同的講話速度. English-Attack裡的「機器」發聲僅是一個附加的工具, 不是我們的產品重心. 之前提到, 今年年底我們將推出創新有趣的發聲練習模式.

Ewan: English-Attack在未來的3年內會有什麼樣的發展?

Paul: 我們希望能在台灣以及其他亞洲地區達到一定規模的發展, 和當地的夥伴合作, 擁有大量的用戶和付費使用者. 我們知道這會花上不少時間, 需要耐心和努力, 我們對自己很有信心, English-Attack也是一個長遠規劃的事業. 目前我們是靠自有資金發展, 沒有投資方的壓力, 以不致造成短線的獲利導向. 我們的目標是將English-Attack變成年輕人學英語的最佳輔助工具, 傲視全球.

Ewan: How did you come up with the idea of founding English-Attack? What are the motivations behind this?

Paul: Both I and my business partner Frederic Tibout had each experienced how web technology had transformed, and was continuing to transform, industries in which we had worked : music, television, news, gaming. We asked ourselves what would probably be the next industry to be transformed by the web, and we agreed that it would be Education. So we decided to apply everything we had learned in the web-driven transformations of the other industries to Education, and specifically to the teaching of English since it is such a universal desire. We also decided to focus our efforts on the 13 – 25 age group, the age group which we knew best through our most recent experiences in videogaming and mobile games.

Ewan: Are there any other products on the market that also teach English via entertainment and combining the pop culture? How could English-Attack stand out from the crowd?

Paul: We are the only online service that is 100% focused on entertainment, and also the only one to focus on the teenager and young adult demographic. There are a few other services out there that use entertainment videos to help with English language skills, but none of them have this focus on a total entertainment approach (for example, integrating online games, and having a game-like levels, points and badges motivational system) and certainly none that are focused on teens and young adults like we are.

Ewan: How would your freemium business model work?

Paul: Every day there will be three content items available to visitors to the site, free of charge: one Video Booster (a video-based content unit); one Photo Vocab (a thematic visual dictionary) and one Game. These contents will be refreshed daily, so there is always something new to see on the site even for non-paying visitors. Subscribers to the site, however, benefit from full access to all of the hundreds of Video Boosters and Photo Vocabs, as well as access to the full range of Practice Games, games which are exclusive to subscribers, access to our Coaching functionalities, and also access to a special Pronunciation module we will be introducing later this year.

Ewan: Unlike many other European startups that have been facing the challenge of being too local, English-Attack seems to be with great global ambition. Besides being localized into 20 languages, what would be your main strategies in terms of launching English-Attack internationally (opening offices in other countries)?

Paul: We want to work with local entrepreneurs in each country who see the potential for a truly entertainment-driven approach to learning English, and who can adapt the communications and commercial approach to consumers, advertisers, schools, and other partner companies to the optimum for that country. We are currently appointing local representatives in a number of countries in Europe, South America and Asia, and would love to hear from anyone in Taiwan interested  in being the “name and face” of English Attack! in Taiwan.

Ewan: A report has said English-Attack will be tested in, in addition to France, Turkey and Brazil. Are there specific reasons why these two countries would earn your first attention?

Paul: Both Turkey and Brazil have large, young populations, a rapidly growing broadband internet penetration, and a strong desire to improve English language skills generally to accompany those countries’ rapidly growing economies and export sectors. So these factors make them a natural place to start the global roll-out of English Attack! But we have been amazed at the spontaneous popularity of English Attack! in Taiwan, so we have moved Taiwan up our priority list.

Ewan: Paris, France doesn’t jump to mind when asked about the hottest European startup scene. What appeals to you to stay in Paris founding your startup?

Paul: Actually, France has created a lot of structures and programs to help start-ups, and we could not be happier with the support we are receiving from the City of Paris and the Paris Chamber of Commerce. Also, there are many great universities in and around Paris, and we have worked with the most prestigious of these, the ParisTech group of elite universities, to validate our pedagogical approach with English Attack! Furthermore, it’s actually an advantage to be in a city where the mother tongue is not English: it reminds you about what it means to be a learner of English, and forces you to build the site with this in mind.

Ewan: I have noticed that a lot of web language learning products (SaaS) use computer voice to pronounce vocabularies, sentences and so on (Photo Vocabs of English-Attack for example). I personally don’t think it as an attractive way to learn the English pronunciation. What is your opinion, how does English-Attack see itself in competition with English eLearning business, especially in Asia, that not only recruit English teachers publishing monthly magazines (with CDs), but they also provide web-based English learning products?

Paul: One of our main areas of focus is to allow users to improve their vocabulary and pronunciation by hearing and seeing exactly how these words and phrases are used and pronounced in the movie and music clips we feature on the site. By playing those excerpts over and over, users get used not only to hearing them, but also get used to the many very different accents in spoken English (from New York gangsters to British bankers) and varying speeds of speech delivery. We also have some “automatic” pronunciation on the site, but this is really just an additional tool to accompany the definition, not a main area of focus for us. And, as I mentioned, we will also be introducing a Pronunciation Module which allows users to practice their pronunciation in a very innovative and fun way.

Ewan: Where do you see yourself 3 years from now?

Ewan: We certainly hope to be present in Taiwan as well as China and the rest of Asia in a very big way, with local partnerships and a very large audience of users and subscribers. We know it will take time, patience and hard work, but we believe very much in what we are doing, and are taking a long-term approach to our business. We are self-financed, so we don’t have pressures from investors to take a short-term approach. We really want to build English Attack! into the best service in the world to help young people improve their English, and we will do everything, for as long as it takes, to get there.