Learning a New Language with Tech Language Learning Apps and Translation Devices

Our Favorite Language Learning Apps (and a Pocket Translator)

Here are a few more services and apps that can work well as supplemental tools to your language learning efforts, though some I don't like as much as the options above.

Lingvist ($10 per month): With a heavy focus on flashcards, Lingvist can help you build your vocabulary quickly, and the makers claim it will adapt to you. The app tracks your progress, and there are grammar and quiz sections. You can also dip into word lists. The app is straightforward, and its an easy way to learn in short bursts.

DuoCards (Free): This is yet another flashcard app that employs spaced recognition. It is worth a look because it allows you to create your own flashcards to decide which words you want to learn. Best used alongside other courses or apps, this app will help you build your vocabulary. The basic version is free, but with ads and limits on how many flash cards you can create.

Immerse ($24 per month): We are all familiar with the idea that you must immerse yourself to learn a language, but Immerse takes this to a whole new level with half-hour lessons held in VR. Its expensive, with $24 getting you four lessons a month, and I haven't been able to try it yet, but it sounds intriguing. You will also need a Meta Quest 2 headset (9/10, WIRED Recommends). The makers highlight the community side with the chance to meet and hang out with other language learners across the globe in virtual spaces.

Pimsleur ($15 per month): Dr. Paul Pimsleur developed a language learning method focused on listening to audio and repeating phrases out loud. The nice thing about this approach is that you can practice while you work out, commute, or do the housework. The short lessons are easy to jump into, but it is formal and can feel slow as it deliberately limits the vocabulary.

Fluent ($7 per month): This Chrome extension throws some language learning into your daily web browsing by highlighting English words on any website and giving you the Spanish, French, or Italian translation. You also get pronunciations and definitions, and there are quizzes to complete. Seeing words in context can help them stick, and this is a solid complementary way to build vocabulary alongside other learning activities.

Language Reactor (Free): This clever Chrome extension works with YouTube and Netflix to give you subtitles for whatever you are watching in two languages, so you can see your native language and the language you are trying to learn. You can also highlight words to see the translation, review all the subtitles, and get other examples of their usage.

Learn French TV5MONDE (Free): Anyone trying to learn French should check out the free app from the French-speaking TV channel TV5MONDE. You can take a quick test to find your level and improve your French through exercises using TV shows with genuine accents. You will get a feel for how people really talk in context, and you can focus on your interests by choosing relevant shows. There are Android and iOS apps, too.

Mondly ($10 per month): A colorful app offering short lessons organized into modules on different topics, Mondly is easy to jump into and offers lots of useful words and phrases with competitive gamification. Highlights include a chatbot, regular quizzes and challenges, and a leaderboard. Unfortunately, it makes little effort to explain grammar rules, and the app feels a bit haphazard and clunky.

Rosetta Stone ($12 per month): These immersive language programs offer bite-size lessons, and theres a focus on listening and speaking without explanations or translations. The content is accessible and polished, and you can engage in online tutoring sessions through the app. Its a bit dry and formal, the speech recognition is hit-or-miss, and it lacks the style and gamification of many competitors. Still, it obviously works well for many people.

Lirica ($9 per month): Can you learn a language through music? Lirica is a fun app that uses popular songs and videos to teach you Spanish, English, or German. It breaks down song lyrics to teach you vocabulary and grammar with handy explanations of colloquial language. It's a bit gimmicky and is best used to complement other learning approaches, but it is enjoyable.

Translation technology is useful, but should not replace learninglanguages

For many years now, there have been calls for Australians to learn languages, particularly Asian languages, as the world economy pivots to the Asia-Pacific. But the number of students learning languages in Australia has remained stubbornly low.

Rapid improvements in machine translation and speech recognition technologies in recent years appear to offer an easy way out. While problems still arise, the use of AI has led to remarkable improvements in the quality of Google translations, and increasingly accurate speech recognition technologies are now widely available.

Drawing these two technologies together, Google has announced the upcoming launch of wireless headphones that feature real-time language translation. With the advent of these technologies, do we still need to learn other languages?

These are exciting times. Technological advancements are enabling us to communicate with people all around the world without needing to have a common language. So I can now use such devices to communicate with speakers of Chinese, Hungarian or Hindi. They will hear my speech translated into their language; they can speak back to me in their language; and I will have this translated into English for me in real-time. But the ability to communicate in ones own language with speakers of other languages, without having any knowledge of how languages work or cross-cultural differences in the ways we communicate, opens up a can of worms.

For a start, linguists tell us that word meanings dont always match across different languages. What goes in is sometimes not the same as what comes out.

US President Donald Trumps attempts to communicate with the wider world are instructive in that respect. Earlier in the year, it was reported that Trump told a European Commission meeting that the Germans are bad, very bad. This caused much consternation in the German media, as they debated whether Trump meant the Germans are bse (which has connotations of evil, malicious intent) or schlecht (meaning they are not doing the right thing).

This is not simply a problem of mistranslation. The point is that word meanings dont match up precisely across languages. This has important implications for international business and relations, but its something that is masked if we take translations at face value.

Another basic feature of communication is that we generally mean much more than we say. Although language plays an important role in communication, very often what is implied or left unsaid is more important than what is said. These inferences are not easily managed in machine translation, because they differ across speakers and cultures.

A good example of this is that its common among speakers of (Mandarin) Chinese to first refuse an offer of food when visting someones house, especially if one isnt that close. Such refusals are a way of testing the waters as to whether the offer is genuine. Accepting an offer too quickly may also be regarded as impolite. Offers and refusals are therefore often repeated before guests finally accept.

The point is that different cultures prefer different ways of speaking, and that means we do things through languages in different ways. These different ways of speaking give rise to different inferences depending on the language in question.

New technologies will no doubt change how which we approach the learning of languages in exciting ways, just as the way we learn maths changed when calculators became readily available. But we cant outsource deep cross-linguistic and cross-cultural knowledge to apps, and the need to learn languages hasnt changed.

Indeed, it seems to be on the rise as we enter an increasingly globalised economy. According to a report on The New Work Order by The Foundation for Young Australians, advertisements for jobs requiring bilingual skills grew by 181% from 2012 to 2015. And a report by the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California, on Future Work Skills 2020 identifies cross-cultural competency as one of ten key skills for the future workforce.

Learning languages allows us to experience different ways of thinking. It enables us to develop the ability to change our perspective on what is going on in any particular interaction, and to adapt ourselves to the mindsets of others. It also helps us to understand ourselves better and our own mindsets. Real cross-cultural understanding helps us build deeper relationships.

No matter what advances we make in machine translation or speech recognition, technology cannot change the fundamental nature of human languages and their role in communication. While such technologies are an increasingly useful tool, they can no more replace the deep cross-cultural knowledge that comes with learning languages than the advent of calculators meant we no longer needed to learn maths.

However, such technologies are now widely accessible. The upshot is that developing an awareness of differences between languages and the ways in which they underpin key cross-cultural differences is something that every Australian will have to develop. Rather than making the need for learning languages redundant, we are in fact entering a world in which awareness of differences across languages and cross-cultural competence is a must for all.

Using Translation as a Method of Language Learning

These days, when you open up a search engine looking for information about foreign language learning, you get thousands of results, from advice on learning methods and styles to fun apps and games to help achieve your goals.

Among the many innovative learning strategies, the translation method has somehow got lost and gone out of style. Most modern language learners believe that the best way to learn their target languages is to limit the use of their native tongue.

When used in a thoughtful way, however, translation can be a great tool for learners, as those who prefer traditional language acquisition methods are well aware.

While professional translation is performed by qualified, skilled translators, anyone trying to pick up a new language can utilize translation in their journey to fluency.

As far as were concerned, this method is never in or out: its timeless.Lets take a more detailed look at how translation can help you improve your language skills.

How Can Translation Help You to Learn a Language?

Here are the top three ways translation can further your language acquisition:

• Translating between languages can reveal their structural differences, as well as any similarities they may share, such as vocabulary or word order.
• The translation method is ideal for helping learners realize how different languages can convey a message in vastly different ways.
• Translation is fantastic at engaging both parts of your brain; your native and target languages. It forces you to become accustomed to switching between your languages at a moments notice, which strengthens your linguistic abilities.

Its All About Regular Practice

As with anything, practice makes perfect. Try and make translation part of your regular study routine, whether its translating individual words and phrases, or challenging yourself by finding short articles online and translating them.

Although we are singing the praises of translation as a language learning tool, the benefits are severely limited if you try and do it alone.

Make sure you have a language tutor who can review your work and get you to the level you want to be.

The Many Benefits of Translation

When learning a new language, we often rely on visual aids or gestures, both to make ourselves understood and to ensure new words and phrases are logged into our memories.

This strategy of drawing, miming, or pointing is simple and effective when it comes to concrete words such as table, house, or picture, but how about abstract words and expressions like sympathy, feeling, or out of the blue?

In these cases, translation is efficient, reliable, and inevitable.

A secret benefit of using translation in this way is that, as well as acquiring vocabulary in your new language, you can actually learn to understand your native language better, as it gives you an insight into how languages differ from each other.

Just remember that, while online translators and dictionaries are helpful tools, you need to learn how to use them correctly, or you could commit some serious linguistic faux pas!

Run tricky phrases past your language tutor or a trustworthy native speaker, just to be sure.

Practical Steps for Using Translation as a Language Learning Method

So, youre sold on the idea of using translation as a tool for language learning, but where do you start?

If you are a complete newbie to the language, a good first step is to download one of the many apps that teaches vocabulary through repetitive translation.

For more advanced learners, however, try the following method:

• Take a few short paragraphs in your target language (around 400 words is perfect). Its important that you choose a text that suits your level, that is easy enough for you to understand.
• Translate the text from your target language into your native language. Take your time over it and consult reliable dictionaries where necessary. Pay close attention to the context of the text; words shift in meaning depending on the context.
• Finally, take your translation and back-translate it, that is, translate it back into the language youre learning. Dont look at the original text while doing this. These back-translations give you an opportunity to think in your target language and are a fantastic way of spotting your linguistic errors, such as syntax, spelling, and grammar.

Heres a quick summary of this method: if you are a native English speaker studying French, translate a French text into English, and then take the English translation and translate it back into French.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is no reason not to use translation as part of your language learning strategy.

While it may not be as modern as other popular learning methods, it engages your brain, highlights differences between languages, and gets results.

We predict a big comeback in the use of translation for language learning!

Remember that, while translation is useful for acquiring and practicing a new language, for texts outside your personal use, it is always best to hire a trustworthy professional language service.

BeTranslateds skilled translators are experienced in a wide range of specialisms.

For more information or a free, no-obligation quote, get in touch today.