Tsai, H. (2014). Tour guide [digital image]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/qASXhD
Many of us hardly remember how it’s like to learn a language. Our lingua franca came as innately as the sun, and the next thing we knew, we could already speak with much fluency. However, it’s not the case for our second or even our third language. In some cases, we’re forced by the educational system to study a foreign language or another local dialect. Some of us might have worked our way through Deutsch gender assignments, Italian accents, or French nasal vowels. Some of us might have aced a semester’s worth of language lectures and exams yet we still couldn’t speak like a native. At worst, we’d forget it altogether once we’re done.
Thankfully, there are technologies that could help us learn and practice another language within our fingertips. Here are three of the best applications to unleash the polyglot in all of us:
Perhaps the most famous language learning app around, Duolingo has a gamified environment that puts learners in a competition. These comes in the form of streak counts, in-lesson grading, and hearts that can be lost due to unsuccessful writing or speaking. It’s also effective. A study conducted by the researchers from the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina showed that with enough motivation, Duolingo learners had an average language ability improvement of more than 90 points.
The guys behind Babbel see it as a combination of language learning and state-of-the-art technology. Conceptualized in Berlin, Babbel is perhaps the most learner-centric language learning application because it considers the learners’ lingua franca and personal interests to offer a better and successful learning path.
As a brainchild of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), WaitSuite recognizes that even our hyper-connected lives have downtimes, so these should be capitalized for language learning. The guys from CSAIL built WaitSuite as a tool for “wait-learning” or learning during times we are waiting for the wifi to connect, the emails to push through, the instant messages to pop, the elevator to come, or the contents to load into our smartphones. With WaitSuite, we are expected to learn at least 57 new words in over two weeks.
The best thing about these language learning applications is they are all free! All it takes is our desire to learn a new language and become as native speakers are.
