About the author of Elephant

I am David, a software engineer, Korean-language enthusiast, and the creator of Elephant—and definitely not an AI, despite Elephant making use of it.

I have been learning Korean on and off for years. I started learning alongside a friend who was interested in Korea—not the most lasting motivation. I picked it back up to connect with my girlfriend, but many difficulties made me drop it and pick it back up again and again.

Elephant is (kind of) a solo project (the history of Elephant is a bit convoluted). I started building it because I was frustrated with the existing apps and wanted a tool that gave me feedback on my writing and helped me practice—not just another flashcard app. However, just like my Korean learning, Elephant was a huge on-and-off project.

Elephant is meant to complement your studies, not replace your teacher, your course, or your Anki deck. I believe getting a real teacher for feedback and immersing yourself in the language is invaluable. Over the years, I have seen many friends—and myself—not feel ready to get a teacher on italki or take a course at a Korean-language school. That made me believe there are a lot of intermediate and beginner learners who would benefit from a tool like Elephant.

Over the years, I've traveled to Korea a few times, met my girlfriend, and visited Jeju Island, but somehow I have no picture of myself in Korea that is not awful. To leave you with an impression of me that is not the same picture I use everywhere else, here is at least one of the bad ones.

If you find Elephant helpful, I'm glad. If not, it's still nice you read all of this.
— David

If you want to get in touch, you can send me an email at any Elephant or Ketzu.net address. It's not easy to reliably reach me on social media, but you can try me on Instagram.