After working to upgrade his own Hebrew on an I-94 Southeast Wisconsin commute, he launched a platform for it
Every morning on his drive to work, from the North Shore to Racine County, Geoff Bloom would record himself speaking in Hebrew.
He spent 10 to 15 minutes of his ride talking about his day, a television show he was watching, or whatever was on his mind. He then downloaded the recording to artificial intelligence for feedback.
But no matter what he did, he didn’t feel like he was getting anywhere. He already knew Hebrew. He wanted to know it better. So he created Dioma, a platform that provides personalized language practice and feedback for learners looking to move beyond the basics, for himself as much as for others. Now, it’s a business, looking for customers interested in intermediate French, Spanish and, of course, Hebrew.
Apps like Duolingo and Babbel cater to beginners, but intermediate and advanced learners have fewer opportunities to practice their speaking and writing, according to Bloom.
The business grew out of frustration. Despite working with a tutor, studying independently and paying attention to Israeli media, Bloom felt trapped at the same intermediate level of Hebrew that he was at 15 years ago. No matter how much time he spent reading or listening to Hebrew, Bloom did not have enough opportunities to use the language with others. Bloom believes his struggle has exposed a gap in the language-learning market.
After spending a year studying in Israel during college, Bloom came back to the United States at an intermediate level of Hebrew. After college, he built a career for himself and raised a family, taking a break from his language learning process.
Ever since moving to the Milwaukee area in 2015, Bloom and his family have been members of Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid, with his children attending Milwaukee Jewish Day School.
In 2022, Bloom decided to return to Hebrew. After the attacks of Oct. 7, he found himself wanting to have a deeper understanding of Israeli society and news than the English media coverage provided.
“I didn’t really get it,” Bloom said. “It was clear there was a deeper tension happening in society than what you could see in English, or at least the minimal newspaper articles that we got.”
He hired a tutor, watched television in Hebrew and studied independently for hours each week. Even with all of this, he said he was not making progress.
In early 2025, he started to look at this problem through the lens of a marketer, as he did in his day job. What began as an attempt to solve his own language-learning standstill became Dioma, a language-learning website with structured and personalized practice and feedback for intermediate learners.
The site now has a few hundred users. Dioma takes feedback from each study session, using artificial intelligence, and uses it to design the next practice.
“The goal is to help people actually learn. I want people to make real progress and for it to motivate them,” Bloom said.
The platform launched with Hebrew, Spanish and French. Bloom acknowledges that Hebrew serves a smaller market than other languages, but including it in his website was important to him and more of a personal decision.
“Though Hebrew is the smallest market of the three, I’m passionate about including it,” Bloom said.
Bloom hopes that helping people learn Hebrew can strengthen connections between Israelis and American Jews.
Bloom added, “If I could play a small part with closing that gap, I’d love that.”
Loading ...