If you ever search for a language lesson application, you are familiar with the endless lists of options. Beyond what we will call the big names, the usual group of apps provides a list of words for you to memorize. Some have audio included so you can hear the word spoken.
We came across Learning Language last week that is attempting to be the area between the two. There is a app per language that you might want to learn, like Italian, Spanish, French, Japanese and more…
Launching Learning Language (over 100 meg install each) we found the lessons broken down by the depth of interaction the words and sentences would be used in. Depending on the language, we saw one to three of the areas included for use in the free app.
Each area is sub divided down into manageable parts. Living Language flash cards can be viewed one at a time or as a group to swipe through. You see a word in the language you wish to learn and can tap the ‘play’ button in the center of each card to listen to the word being spoken. The trick is to hear the word, see the picture, and take a guess at what you think the word may be in English prior to tapping the card to flip it over and be shown. If you prefer just the words on the flip cards, the pictures can be hidden with a slider switch on the screen.
After the word association is complete, the next step is more advanced information on the words just covered. There is a chart of direct word translations as well detail about word uniqueness. Each word can be tapped to have it spoken to you. This area of Living Language was particularly nice to understand what made a word formal versus a word being used when speaking with the family.
Following each lesson pack, a series of ‘games’ is provided. These work in two ways, making sure you remember as well putting the lessons into real life situations. Below, Living Language asks you to drag the correct words to the box to make the sentence given in English above the building area.
Multiple choice and fill in the blanks (build a sentence) is other games to play in Living Language to help learn and verify that you actually did remember the lessons you went through earlier.
To unlock the extra areas within Living Language… Congrats to you that your moving beyond the basics… is done via a in-app purchase.
