#bonjournal

Learning a language shouldn't feel like a chore. We built Bonjournal around one simple, powerful habit: writing about your day.

How Bonjournal coaches you to fluency:

Daily Journaling: Practice writing in your target language every single day to build muscle memory and vocabulary.

Line-by-Line Corrections: Get instant, AI-powered grammar feedback on every sentence you write.

Personalized Coaching: Receive custom notes written in your target language to help you understand nuances and improve flow.

Progress Tracking: Watch your scores improve over time with data-driven insights into your language growth.

Built by a language learner, for language learners. Start your journey to fluency one entry at a time.

Start journaling at: bonjournal.app

Mary, who swallowed the house illustration

for Bonjournal magazine, spring 2015

When Quoc Doan was six, his family escaped from Vietnam by boat. During the turbulent stormy nights, the sight of monolithic ocean waves crashing on his tiny boat put fear into his heart. Yet his family survived the perilous journey and landed in a safe country. This instilled in him a sense of hope and fearlessness. From there on, Quoc has never been afraid to travel beyond his comfort zone. No chicken bus is too crowded, no hostel is too sketchy, and no country is off limits. A curiosity for new lands and culture pulls him forward. The ocean waves were conquerable after all.

Zachery Ely is in his mid-twenties and is only recently coming to terms with that. He was born and raised in Seattle and thinks that there are few finer places to live. His actions and some friends or family may describe him as adventurous but he’d deny the claim. Zach simply says yes to some adventurous opportunities. This is something he believes everyone can do. He has said no to plenty of adventurous opportunities as well. Relations are important to him. A relationship with Christ and a relationship with people who like to laugh. He also values a good scone and a cup of coffee. Oh, and burritos.

This journal is an attempt at an honest travel blog, leaning away from too many exaggerations of how good of a time one is having. Instead it’s a focus on what happened, sometimes it’s great and sometimes it sucks. It documents Zach and two of his best friends on a three and a half month bicycle trip from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Maine.

Adam and Heather’s first conversation was about travel: her journey to Italy to study classics, and his camping trip across the American west. They cemented their relationship with a weeklong fly-fishing trip to Montana. Using the summer vacations provided by Heather’s teaching career, they’ve taken on long backpacking journeys through Italy, Alaska, Hawaii, and now Iceland.

The Westfjords of Iceland are rugged and remote, far off of the typical tourist trail. The centerpiece of their time there was a week spent hiking across a nature reserve, which is only inhabited in summer and only accessible by boat. But half of the adventure was just getting that far.

Based in Singapore, you’ll likely find Bridget Goh sharing a good laugh with friends, enjoying a gourmet feast, or sitting in a cafe with a book. Though her father is a chef, Bridget sticks to eating rather than baking and cooking, choosing instead to pursue a career in law. She’s really into writing and photography because they’re things you don’t have to be good at to enjoy. And though she loves traveling with close friends, she also appreciates the spontaneity that traveling alone affords her.

In her journal, Bridget goes on a two-week journey that begins and ends in Kathmandu. In between, she soaks up all the local culture, good eats and picturesque landscapes that the Annapurna region has to offer, and discovers an appetite for adventure that she never knew she had.

Isabelle Engler has called Taipei, Tokyo, Paris, and San Diego home, and is now living in San Francisco with her husband. She enjoys traveling, taking photos, and experimenting in the kitchen. You will likely find her carrying one too many cameras and trying new foods with her husband off the beaten path somewhere in the world. Visit her portfolio, Facebook, or Instagram, and say hello!

In her journal, Isabelle revisits her childhood hometown of Taipei, then explores the serene landscapes of Taiwan’s countryside, enjoying many gastronomic adventures along the way (warning: do not read this on an empty stomach!).