Coming Soon: My Community for Learners Who Actually Want to Live the Language

For the next little while, you'll receive some of my updated articles. I recommend reading through them even if you've been here from the beginning. The new formats and information are not just for readers, but for writers who want to learn how we should adjust our articles for LLM (ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, etc) discoverability. Again, we shouldn't use LLMs to create and think, but when it comes to searching and planning, they're here to stay.

I won’t be chasing likes.
I won’t be feeding social media algorithms.
I won’t be posting social media “content” like it’s some spiritual offering to the tech gods.

Instead?

I’ll be quietly, stubbornly building something for the people who want to live unbound and salir de las fronteras que impone su mente. This isn't just for people who want to learn a language, but for people who want to communicate better and break free from the cognitive biases and societal conventions holding them back.

I'm working on creative worksheets, audio files, and activities for the globally-minded, emotionally intelligent, bilingual humans trying to actually sound like themselves in a second language and/or across cultures.

All this is part of Born Without Borders, newsletter that doesn’t live behind billion-dollar gatekeepers.

The Mission (and the Problem)

“We learn a language to communicate, and communicate to connect.”

So why would I participate in a system that replaces connection with scrolling?

The social web was supposed to expand our reach, not extract our attention.
We used to build blogs, write essays, and sell our products without 5-second reels and optimized carousels and influencer-speak disguised as wisdom.

Now, it’s all ads in your face, dopamine in your brain, and billionaires selling your soul to the algorithm in exchange for… what? Exposure?

No.

If we want a better world, we have to build it. We have to stop lying to ourselves and saying, "But we can also do good on social media." Do good without supporting the bad. It doesn't take much critical thinking to see that authoritarian regimes, mental health, and social issues have been on the rise ever since people gave in to "We need social media for our businesses and art."

That's why I'm here—on Ghost—far away from Substack’s “featured creators,” Instagram’s dopamine feedback loop, X's conspiracy nut jobs, and TikTok's brain melt.

The Core Product: A Bilingual Guide for Real Fluency

I'm creating what I always wished I’d had as a language learner, traveller, writer, and someone who lives unbound to conventions.

• Dialogues based on real situations: Bureaucracy meltdowns, bar flirting, family politics, existential dread.
• 🇬🇧🇪🇸 Side-by-side English and Spanish, with cultural context and tone notes.
• Cultural psychology boxes explaining why phrases hit differently, depending on the country, class, or mindset.
• Swear Word Decoder and Colloquialism Corner: No sugarcoating.
• Critical prompts and fluency journaling tasks, not grammar drills.

Real fluency means sounding like you.
Not a tourist. Not a textbook.
You.

What You’re Funding

I’m not asking you to fund a vague idea. You’ve seen the bones already:

If you’ve read any of my essays, you’ve seen the cultural side.
If you’ve worked with me one-on-one, you’ve experienced the psychological depth.
This project combines all of it.

Why I Need Paid Subscribers

I’m building this without a VC-funded platform.
Without sponsored posts.
Without social-media-like algorithms.

Ghost now costs me €50/month just to run this space — and that’s not counting design, editing, tools, or time.

Even 10 new paid subscribers this month would offset the costs and buy me the time to finish what I’ve started.

That’s it.

If you’ve ever gotten value from my:

• Cultural deep dives
• Blunt language takes
• No-bullshit perspective on coaching, creativity, or life abroad...

👉🏽 Please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Examples from the Project

Chapter Sample: Shame and Swearing in Two Tongues

Capítulo de muestra: La vergüenza y los tacos en dos idiomas

🇬🇧 / 🇪🇸 Side-by-Side Story

ESPAÑOL:
Una vez le dije a mi casero que estaba caliente, cuando en realidad quería decir que tenía calor.
Él asintió, serio:
“Yo también.”
Me quería morir.

ENGLISH:
I once told my Spanish landlord that I was horny when I meant hot. He nodded solemnly.
“Yo también,” he said.
I died inside.

Cultural Notes & Psychology Insights

Notas culturales y apuntes psicológicos

• Shame is processed differently across cultures.
  In Anglo-American culture, embarrassment is often treated as an individual failure — a crack in your "image."
  In many Spanish-speaking contexts, it's more shared, communal, and theatrical. The awkwardness can even become a bonding moment. That's also why they have words like "Vergüenza ajena," which refers to the feeling of embarrassment or discomfort that one experiences on behalf of someone else, often when they are doing something foolish, awkward, or inappropriate.
• Swearing & shame live close together.
  You can’t separate emotional risk from language learning. Shame, especially the kind born of saying something sexual by accident, is actually a rite of passage.
• Owning mistakes builds trust.
  Language learners who laugh at themselves tend to be seen as más majos, more approachable, than those who freeze or apologize profusely.

Swear Word Decoder

Diccionario emocional de tacos

• “Estoy caliente” ≠ “I’m hot” (temperature).
  This means you’re sexually aroused.
  ✅ Correct way to say you're warm? → “Tengo calor.”
• Other risky expressions:
  • “Me pone” → turns me on
  • “¡Qué follón!” → what a mess (careful, it sounds sexual if misused)
  • “Cachondo/a” → can mean horny OR funny depending on context
• In English:
  Be careful with:
  • “I’m excited” → neutral in English, but direct translation “Estoy excitado” is sexual in Spanish
  • “I’m full” → “Estoy lleno” can sound like “I’m pregnant” depending on tone/context

Colloquialism Corner

Rincón de expresiones coloquiales

Audio: Real Speech Flow

Coming soon if I can sustain this with paid subscribers.

• English & Spanish voice recordings of each story and example
• Casual vs formal tone
• Natural rhythm & emotional nuance

Here are some of the exercises people to do my classes. However, I will offer a free online class for any of my first 100 paid subscribers. All you need to do is respond to this email.

Exercises & Prompts

Ejercicios bilingües de práctica reflexiva

1. Tell a story where you accidentally said something embarrassing in your second language.
   ➤ Bonus: Add what you should have said.
2. Now write the same story in your other language.
   Don’t translate literally. Try to match the tone and effect.
3. Reflect:
   • How does shame feel in each language?
   • What taboo topics are easier/harder to talk about in your first vs second language?
   • Has swearing ever helped you connect?

No Ads. No Tricks. Just Us.

There’s a myth we’ve swallowed:

“You need social media to market your work.”

No, you don’t.
We had blogs before we had reels.
We had readers before we had feeds.
And we had meaningful work long before we became “content creators.”

But keeping things honest takes more energy, not less.

That’s why I’m asking:

Will you help me build this?

Not for virality.
But for connection—the kind that outlives the algorithm.

You in?

Join Me

👉🏽 Become a paid subscriber to support this project, the essays that help you live unbound, the bilingual experiments, and the ongoing rebellion against the scroll.

More soon.
We’re just getting started.

— Nolan

Affiliate Links for Global Citizens

Home Exchange: Trade homes, not hotel bills. Live like a local anywhere in the world.

Wise: Send money across borders without losing your mind (or half your paycheck in fees).

Preply: Make a living teaching people worldwide.

Flatio: A more ethical version of Airbnb.