Keefak was very nicely featured in 4Tech program on BBC Arabia.

You can watch Joseph El-Khoury’s interview in the video above!

Keefak was very nicely featured in the Yom Jdid program aired on the OTV station on Sep 25, 2013.

You can watch Joseph El-Khoury’s interview in the video above!

Keefak was very nicely featured in the BBeirut program aired on the LBC SAT station on Sep 7, 2013.

You can watch Joseph El-Khoury’s interview in the video above!

Keefak was very nicely featured in the Helwi El Hayet program aired on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) station on May 8, 2013.

You can watch Joseph El-Khoury’s interview in the video above!

Keefak featured by Executive Magazine on April 18, 2013.

As Executive seeks to celebrate Lebanese successes across the globe in 2013, we will be travelling to hear their stories. But in a digital age when information can spread faster than ever, the Lebanese language can be a powerful tool for creating unity. Many second and third generation expats, however, have never learned the language of their forefathers. Hadi el-Khoury, founder of the Keefak app that aims to teach people the Lebanese Arabic dialect, plans to change that. Executive asked him how.

What made you start Keefak?

I have been living in France since 2000 and have been in contact with a lot of French Lebanese that have been living in the country for the last 20 or 30 years. They told me that their biggest regret is not being able to transmit the Lebanese dialect to their children. So the idea popped into my head that I could use new technologies to try to do something to change that.

You launched in January 2012. How big is the app right now and where is it most popular?

We have around 10,000 users worldwide, by this I mean 10,000 people that are regularly using the app. We have a large part in France and the US and with modest numbers in Latin America and Australia. But the communication and marketing has just started – in 2012 all growth was organic, by word of mouth.

If a student does the sixteen courses currently on the app, what level of Arabic would they reach?

It would be mainly conversational. We are in the middle of categorizing lessons between intermediate, beginner and advanced but I think that the sixteen courses that are already implemented in the app are something between beginner and intermediate.

How big do you think Keefak can be?

We would be glad if we can reach 100 downloads a day. We have noticed a clear correlation between marketing and download rates – it is something quite measurable. We have the benefit of having early adopters that have expressed nice reviews. We know the product is robust and fun, so we are convinced that our biggest challenge is our marketing and communication.

100 downloads a day would take you to around 3,000 a month, each at $5. Would that make you profitable?

If you look at Keefak as a technology startup it is a three-year cycle. The first year you test the product and have early adopters, the second year you start industrializing you processes – whether on a production or marketing level, and the third year you start being profitable. I think if we get to this download rate a day, we can start being profitable at the beginning of 2014.

What are you plans for expanding the app – do you plan to move into other dialects?

I have been asked to move the concept to some other dialects, including in Spain in the Basque region. We have been asked also to check if we can do it for Syrian dialect. We are open [to these ideas] – the skeleton is here, the functionality is here, we just need to find the appropriate content providers. So if we have a Syrian dialect professor willing to team up with us we can have an app for that.

Where do you see Keefak in five years time?

I would see Keefak as the main connector between the diaspora and Lebanon. I also plan to develop Keefak Junior for children between the ages of four and ten – a game-centric application with cartoon characters that they could relate to.

And even in Lebanon, what we are noticing is that because the Lebanese are very keen on teaching foreign languages to their children they are forgetting about Lebanese [Arabic]. When I go to Lebanon with my four-year-old child everyone speaks to her in French or English – I would be very pleased if they spoke to her in Lebanese.

Keefak featured By Wamda on April 9, 2013 as one among 10 mobile apps that will help you learn arabic on your phone.

« Keefak is a fun app that introduces you to the Lebanese dialect specifically. The app is rather basic, not involving bookmarking or flashcards, but the conversation feature (reading and listening to conversations) and the grammar features are interesting. Most importantly, this app doesn’t require that you know the alphabet. »

Keefak featured on the Operamundi website on November 5, 2012.

Criado pelo libanês Hadi El-Khoury, o programa oferece aulas em inglês, francês e português.

Para as famílias que deixam sua nação de origem e rumam a outros países, manter a língua materna viva entre os filhos nem sempre é uma tarefa fácil. Foi pensando nessas pessoas que o libanês Hadi El-Khoury criou o aplicativo para smartphones Keefak, com lições para o ensino do árabe falado no Líbano.

« Tive a ideia em 2009, quando minha filha nasceu e eu pensei nas várias famílias que tinham problemas para transmitir sua língua original às crianças », conta Khoury. Formado em engenharia de Segurança da Informação, ele nasceu em Beirute, mas vive em Paris, na França, desde o ano 2000.

Mesmo com o projeto em mente, ele só começou a desenvolver o aplicativo depois de conhecer Antoine Fleyfel, um professor de árabe que ajudou a formular as lições da língua. Khoury contou ainda com a ajuda de duas outras pessoas, seu irmão, Joseph, responsável pelo desenvolvimento para o iOS (sistema operacional do Iphone), e Rawad Rahme, que assegurou a compatibilidade com o Android (sistema operacional do Google).

O curso é dado a partir da transliteração do árabe para caracteres latinos. Quando foi lançado, em janeiro deste ano, o Keefak, que em árabe significa « Tudo bem? », oferecia lições a partir do inglês e do francês. Em setembro, foi lançada a versão em português do curso.

« Traduzimos para o português do Brasil e temos planos de traduzir para o espanhol », relata Khoury. Segundo ele, as aulas em português foram traduzidas por um estudante francês trilíngue.

Perguntado sobre o que sabe em relação aos árabes no Brasil, ele responde: « O que eu sei é que a maior comunidade libanesa [fora do Líbano] está no Brasil e que tem cerca de oito ou dez milhões de pessoas. A eleição do prefeito [de São Paulo] Fernando Haddad é um exemplo de como a comunidade é forte. »

Para ele, o Keefak pode ser muito útil aos descendentes de árabe que moram no Brasil. « A língua abre portas. Esta é uma oportunidade maravilhosa de se conectar ao Líbano. Com o Keefak, as pessoas podem entender sua língua e conhecer suas origens. Isto é importante para a cultura e também para os negócios, para ajudar a promover laços de negócios entre o Líbano e o Brasil », destaca.

Atualmente, o aplicativo conta com 20 lições que são encontradas nos módulos « Vocabulário », « Conversação », « Gramática » e « Exercícios ». Por enquanto, as lições ainda não estão divididas em níveis, como básico, intermediário e avançado, mas Khoury conta que há demanda de usuários para que essa divisão seja feita e que ele espera desenvolvê-la até janeiro.

O custo do download do Keefak é de US$ 4,99 e ele pode ser feito pela App Store e pelo Google Play. As lições são baixadas nas três línguas disponíveis. Segundo Khoury, a versão em espanhol deve ser lançada em dezembro e também deve ser desenvolvida uma versão em alemão. Ele diz ainda que cinco novas lições são acrescentas ao aplicativo a cada mês. Para divulgar o aplicativo, Khoury criou uma página no Facebook.

Keefak featured on the Brazil-Arab News Agency website on November 5, 2012.

Created by Hadi El-Khoury, from Lebanon, software ‘Keefak’ offers Lebanese popular Arabic lessons using the Android and iOS systems. Classes are available in English, French and even Portuguese.

Aurea Santos*
aurea.santos@anba.com.br

São Paulo – For the families who leave their home countries and head overseas, keeping their mother tongue alive among their offspring is not always an easy task. Thinking of these people, the Lebanese Hadi El-Khoury created the smartphone application Keefak, which teaches lessons on the variety of Arabic language spoken in Lebanon.

“I came up with the idea in 2009, when my daughter was born and I thought of the many families that had problems passing their native language on to their children,” says Khoury. The holder of a degree in Information Security Engineering, he was born in Beirut, but is based in Paris, France, since 2000.

With the project in mind, he only started developing the application after meeting Antoine Fleyfel, an Arabic teacher who helped devise the lessons. Khoury also had help from two other people, his brother Joseph, in charge of development for iOS (the Iphone’s operating system), and Rawad Rahme, who worked on compatibility with Android (Google’s operating system).

The course is taught based on the transliteration of Arabic into Latin characters. Upon its launch, in January this year, Keefak, which means « How do you do? » in Arabic, offered English- and French-based lessons. In September, a Portuguese version was released.

“We have translated it into Brazilian Portuguese, and we have plans to translate it into Spanish,” says Khoury. According to him, the Portuguese lessons were translated by a trilingual French student.

When asked what he knows about Arabs in Brazil, he replies: “I know it’s the largest Lebanese community [outside of Lebanon] and that it comprises 8 to 10 million people. The electing of [São Paulo] mayor Fernando Haddad is an example of how strong the community is.”

To him, Keefak can be very useful to Arab descendants living in Brazil. “Language opens doors. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with Lebanon. With Keefak, people can understand the language and learn about its origins. That is important to culture and to business, to help promote business ties between Lebanon and Brazil,” he says.

Presently, the application includes 20 lessons, divided into “Vocabulary,” “Conversation,” “Grammar,” and “Exercises.” For now, the lessons are not categorized in levels, such as basic, intermediate and advanced, but Khoury says there is user demand on that sense, and he expects to develop the feature by January.

Keefak costs US$ 4.99 to download and is available from App Store and Google Play. The lessons are downloaded in the three available languages. According to Khoury, the Spanish version should be released in December, and a German version is also pending development. He says five new lessons are added to the application each month.

Khoury created a Facebook page to promote the software.

Keefak featured on The Daily Star on July 11, 2012.

BEIRUT: Leaving one’s homeland for another country to escape civil instability, experience something new, or search for job opportunities often leads to a tug of war between the cultural values and practices of one’s place of origin and those of one’s new environment.

Language is the arena where the struggle is arguably thrown into starkest relief. Should second-generation immigrants hold fast to their parents’ mother tongue in the face of a society that has little use for it?

The question exercises the minds of many in the Lebanese diaspora, estimated to total some 15 million people – a huge number, considering that the population of Lebanon itself totals around 4 million.

“When my daughter was born, it made me think about the number of Lebanese who grow up and live outside Lebanon and how many lose touch with the Lebanese language,” reflects Hadi el-Khoury, an information security expert currently based in France.

“I have met a lot of people who regret not transmitting their mother tongue to their children. This was my inspiration.”

Khoury is the developer of “Keefak,” a mobile application available on iOS and Android that is designed to teach users the Lebanese dialect of Arabic.

“Once I had the idea, I thought – why not?” recalls Khoury. “The smart phone seemed the most appropriate format since they are becoming so ubiquitous. I gathered the team and we got to work.”

The “Keefak” application currently retails at $4.99; once the initial application is downloaded, all further updates are free. Since it was launched in January 2012, there have been over 1,000 downloads.

“Keefak” is divided into courses, with each course containing four components: Vocabulary, Dialogue, Grammar and Exercises. There are currently 15 courses available, all of which focus on developing rudimentary day-to-day conversational Lebanese Arabic.

In addition to Khoury, three people were involved in the development of “Keefak.” Khoury’s brother Joseph developed it for use with iOS applications, Rawad Rahme ensured its compatibility with Android applications, and Antoine Fleyfel took charge of language instruction.

Khoury explains that one of the central obstacles faced during the design process was combining Fleyfel’s expertise as a teacher and author of books on the Lebanese dialect with a sleek, user-friendly format that would work across different devices using different software.

“We had a few difficulties during the development stage, but we were able to overcome them,” the developer of “Keefak” said.

The “Keefak” team aims to devise an additional five new courses every month until September, when more advanced courses will be introduced.

September is also when the Spanish and Portuguese versions of “Keefak” will be inaugurated, a development that will help Khoury’s foray into South America, home to a huge Lebanese diaspora. Currently, the application is available in English and French with Lebanese Arabic transliterated in Latin characters.

A further aim is to develop a more child-friendly version of the application featuring a likable fictional character, more interactive game-centric learning exercises, and an overall injection of color.

“Something to get the kids excited about when they get back from school,” Khoury says somewhat optimistically.

While Khoury admits that sales so far have not been spectacular, he maintains that the Keefak application has huge potential, not just in terms of its primary target market – the Lebanese diaspora – but among tourists, aspiring Arabists in Western universities, and spouses of Lebanese seeking to communicate with their in-laws.

Khoury also says that he and his team are gratified by the fact that their endeavor is serving to re-establish bonds between Lebanese and their homeland.

“Languages open doors and our application can reconnect people who left Lebanon for whatever reason. It is incredibly rewarding when you are helping people reconnect [with Lebanon],” says Khoury – noting in particular the satisfaction derived when positive feedback is given on the “Keefak” Facebook page.

And there is definitely always room for progress.

“We also appreciate the constructive criticism, because it helps us improve the program and adapt to what people want,” observes Khoury.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on July 11, 2012, on page 2.

Keefak featured on Forbes on June 15, 2012.

« The most innovative tech startups work to open the region to non-Arabs. One of the most exciting of these is an iPhone app called Keefak, launched in January by Hadi El Khoury, a Lebanese native living in France. Keefak teaches Lebanese Arabic, a unique regional dialect frequently colored by French and English. Costing $4.99, the app appeals to the 15 million people of Lebanese descent who live outside the country, as well as tourists interested in learning the language. »