Your Bahasa app teaches you how to say "the cat is on the table." Your ojol driver doesn't care.
KataWise teaches you the language for the 15 conversations you'll actually have living in Indonesia: warung orders, market haggling, landlord drama, immigration runs. Practice with AI that talks like a real local.
7-day free trial when we launch · Founding pricing locked in for the waitlist
Warung Scenario
AI as warung owner
You've been here 3 months. You still freeze at the warung.
"Apakah Anda berbicara Bahasa Inggris?"
Duolingo taught you that. Nobody talks like that here. Your warung guy has never heard a sentence that formal in his life.
"Sorry, what?"
Google Translate is fine until your ojol driver speaks 200 words/minute in Javanese-flavored slang. You nod and hope for the best.
"One sec, Google Translate..."
A real tutor is $30/hour. You don't need a tutor. You need to not panic at Indomaret when the cashier asks if you have change.
15 real scenarios. AI plays the other person. You practice until it's reflex.
Each scenario has formal and informal modes. Pick how you actually talk.
Practice the conversation before you have it.
Pick a scenario. Pick formal or informal.
Choose from 15 real-life situations. Toggle between formal Bahasa and the casual street-level version your neighbors actually use.
Chat with the AI in Bahasa. It plays the warung owner, driver, or landlord.
The AI responds like a real local. It uses slang, shortens sentences, and doesn't wait for you to be perfect. Neither does Bali.
Get instant feedback in English: what was off, what a local would actually say.
After each message, see exactly what worked, what sounded textbook, and the phrase a local would reach for instead.
Founding member pricing
Prices lock in for everyone on the waitlist. We'll email you when we launch.
Monthly
Full access to all 15 scenarios, AI feedback, and formal/informal modes.
- All 15 scenarios
- AI conversation partner
- English feedback panel
- Formal + informal modes
Annual
Everything in Monthly, billed once a year. Less than a single tutor hour per month.
- Everything in Monthly
- Priority feature requests
- Early access to new scenarios
- Save $40.88/year
Lifetime Founder
Pay once, use forever. Includes all future scenarios and voice features when they ship.
- Everything in Annual
- Lifetime updates
- Voice/speech in v2 (free)
- Founding member credit
7-day free trial when we launch. Waitlist members get founding member pricing locked in.
Why we're building this
We are InPresenceLab, and we watched too many friends move to Bali and stay stuck at hello for 6 months. The apps teaching them are built for tourists or students, not for people who actually live here. Duolingo gives you grammar drills. Google Translate gives you dictionary words. Neither of them prepares you for the moment your ibu kos calls about the water bill and expects an answer.
KataWise is for the second group: the ones who chose Bali as a base, not a holiday. Fifteen scenarios. Real language. No fluff.
InPresenceLab
Frequently asked questions
Targeting June 2026. Waitlist members get 7-day early access before it opens to the public — and founding member pricing locked in.
Because these 15 cover 80% of the conversations a nomad has in their first 3 months. Depth beats breadth. We'd rather you nail "nasi goreng satu, bang" than know how to talk about the weather in Bahasa.
Not at launch. Text first — it's faster to iterate and most feedback says reading Bahasa is the bigger blocker. Speech comes in v2 if there's demand.
No. This is for people who live here for at least a month. If you're in Bali for a week, Duolingo is fine. If you're signing a yearly lease, you need KataWise.
Indonesian only for now. Most Balinese speak Bahasa Indonesia in daily commerce — your warung owner, driver, and landlord will all use it. We'll add Balinese dialect support later if the community asks for it.
Stop saying "sorry, English?" to every ojol driver.
We'll email when KataWise opens to founding members, with your pricing locked in.
No spam. One email when we launch. Unsubscribe anytime.