Why we built Zantu
Zantu didn't start in a lab or in an office. It started with one question: how do you help someone who can't see translate the world around them? The first version was built for blind users. Voice in, voice out, no screens, no buttons. Just speak, and listen. As I built it, I discovered that what works beautifully for someone who is blind works just as beautifully for everyone else.
I've lived in Vietnam for nine years. Vietnamese is one of the hardest languages in the world, with six tones that can completely change the meaning of a word. For nine years, I've been searching for a way to truly communicate. Not just survive, but actually connect with the people around me. You don't realize how much communication matters until you don't have it. A joke you can't share. A story you can't follow. A dinner where you smile and nod but understand nothing.
I tried every translation app out there. None were ever good enough. Too slow, too many taps, wrong translations, or just not built for real conversations. So I built my own, and not in an office. I built it on the street, in restaurants, at family dinners, in real meetings. Every feature tested in the real world, broken, refined, and rebuilt. It took close to a year of daily use to make Zantu into something that actually works.
What started as an accessibility tool grew into something much bigger. Today, international teams use Zantu for meetings where every participant follows along in their own language. Companies with five different languages on the team can finally hold meetings everyone understands. Friends and families gather in chat rooms where each person types and speaks in their own language, and everyone reads and hears it in theirs. No interpreters. No delays. Just understanding.
I haven't found another app that does this. Not built for blind users from day one. Not for international meetings. Not for real, everyday conversations across many languages at once. I didn't build Zantu to be another translation app. I built it because the world needed one that actually works for everyone.
Marcel, from Vietnam