When you’re starting out in a new language, you may not realize what sounds natural and what is a bit strange. This is why it’s so surprising to see some apps using text-to-speech computer-generated audio recordings instead of hiring native speakers to create high-quality audio recordings. While reading and writing are, of course, a very important part of the process, being able to speak and understand the spoken language is absolutely essential. Nearly every person who endeavors to learn a language does so in order to communicate with other people. If they’re the same, run for the door! Quality of audio recordings Switch between the languages offered and check the lesson plans.
But, it’s not until you dig a bit deeper that you’ll find the content is exactly the same in every language. Some apps, such as Mondly, look pretty good on the surface. This can lead to important topics being taught poorly, such as differences between formal and informal tenses or teaching greetings that aren’t commonly used in your target language. While this might cut costs for them and make it possible to offer a course in multiple languages, it comes at a major cost to students. It’s not at all uncommon for an app to create a course in one language, then essentially translate that course into a bunch of different languages. This should be obvious, but somewhat surprisingly, many language learning apps teach every language in the exact same way. Unique curriculum and content for every languageĬurriculum and content for different languagesĮvery language is unique and deserves to be taught in a way that takes this into account.Some are much more niche-focused and will, therefore, be judged by a different set of criteria.īut, for those that aim to help learners in the early stages of their language learning journey, it’s essential that they excel in the following areas: Of course, not every app is out to accomplish the same goals. The truth is that there are a wide variety of language learning apps available, so to be deserving of language learners’ time and attention, it’s essential that they do a few things very well. More often than not, these apps end up being ‘me-too’ apps that essentially do the same thing as other apps without excelling in any particular area. It seems like every other week a new app hits the market and claims that it’ll have you fluently speaking a new language in a matter of months. There’s no shortage of language learning apps.
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