We built the flashcards we wished we had

No child should return home a stranger

My name is James Kofi Ankobia. I grew up in the UK, but I'm Ghanaian. British Ghanaian, for official purposes 😉.

My mother spoke English at home to help us fit in. And it worked — for school, for work, for life. The only problem? Every time I went back to Ghana, I couldn't speak to my own people in my mother tongue.

My Twi had gone. And with it, a piece of home.

The moment everything clicked

Fed up with feeling like a tourist every time I landed in Accra, I decided to teach myself Twi again. The problem, as any diaspora kid will tell you, is that family will be the first to laugh when you butcher your mother tongue — but they'll be the last to help you fix it. African parents are not exactly the most patient teachers.

So I figured it out on my own.

I built a DIY flashcard deck on my phone. No audio — just words and pictures that meant something to me. A photo of my family for “abusua” (family). A plate of Ghanaian jollof (the world’s best) for "aduane" (food). It was scrappy, but it worked. My brofo Twi (English-Twi mashup) actually started to flow.

That's when I realised: if this works for me as an adult, imagine what the right tool could do for a child.

Why Tribal Tongue exists

When I discovered the talking flashcard device, everything fell into place. Proper native-speaker audio. Hundreds of words. Fun illustrations designed for kids. It was exactly what I wished I'd had back in 2016.

So we built it — properly — for the next generation.

Tribal Tongue talking flashcards teach children Twi, Yoruba and Igbo through play, independently, even if their parents are still learning too. Every card is designed to make language feel like fun, not homework.

Because language is more than communication. It's identity. It's belonging. It's the difference between visiting home and returning to it.

How we make our flashcards

Every set is recorded exclusively by native speakers and developed with professional language tutors to ensure authentic pronunciation and cultural accuracy. We don't cut corners on audio — it's the entire point. Your child deserves to hear Twi spoken the way it sounds in Kumasi, Yoruba the way it sounds in Lagos, Igbo the way it sounds in Enugu.

The cards are built tough for little hands, screen-free by design, and sized for independent play from age three upwards.

Built for the diaspora, by the diaspora

Tribal Tongue is based in the UK and ships to families across the EU, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — wherever the diaspora has planted roots and is trying to pass something precious on to the next generation.

We are parents, language lovers and diaspora kids ourselves. We know exactly what it feels like to stand in your grandmother's kitchen and not be able to tell her you love her in her own language.

We built Tribal Tongue so your children never have to feel that 💪🏿.