General

People learn languages for all sorts of reasons. It could that you have a specific purpose for learning a particular language, or it could just be that you want to learn one as a hobby. In the latter case you may decide that you want to start with a language spoken by a large number of people in order to maximise your gains, or you could simply decide that you want to learn the easiest language possible to start with. Defining how easy a language is to learn is, however, a difficult problem. First and foremost it depends on where you are coming from. An asian language, for example, is easier for a speaker of another asian language to learn. Because of that we need to set the base from which we're learning from. As you're reading this article in English, we're going to assume that you're...

I read this a lot, learn the most frequent 1000 words (or 2000, it depends on the source) and you understand 80% (or 90%, it depends on the source) of the language. It's a statement that is so deeply embedded in language learning that it appears everywhere: from Duolingo's old fluency percentage to Lingvist's pretty little graph. Even the good old BBC push this theory. But It's not about Words, it's about Meaning So let's start with examining the problem with this idea. Language is about communicating something. But if we consider it on a word level then we're highly restricted in what we can communicate. Say, for example, that I walked up to you and said: Water Now you might guess that I want water, right? In fact, the fact you guess that without thinking about it is very importan...

You imagine yourself speaking another language fluently, laughing with the natives as you order another beer. You make a throwaway comment about how the beer is better than in your country. "Oh. I didn't know you weren't from here", says the barman, "You speak the language so well". "Thanks, it's not perfect but I try", you reply as you secretly make plans to sell all your grammar books on the internet that evening and use the funds to buy a t-shirt with the simple slogan "bilingual" on it. You've had a dream like that, right? And then you tried to learn a language and remembered that learning a language is a bit like running a couple of marathons backwards, back to back, in fluffy panda slippers. Unless you're just enjoying the shape of the various straight and squiggly lines on you...

There are two interesting language related products on Kickstarter currently. The first one I'm going to talk about has 11 days to go, wants to raise $2000 and currently has $1 pledged. This is for an app called TransVerb. Just with the name we start to see why it's raised so little money. TransVerb is not an app that's about verbs. TransVerb translates slang between Spanish and English. Apart from calling this "Ground Breaking Technology" (which it clearly isn't), the listing is very light on details and there are no rewards. Almost thrown into the mix is another game based app that helps you conjugate verbs. There's no real details, but this sounds like a far better idea to me. If I'm honest the post then reads a bit too much like "please pay to send me to this technology conference t...

Like many people, I'm a fan of both the simplicity of the Chrome browser and the power of its extensions. Where I find that extensions really come in handy is in the realm of language learning. The internet is really useful for practicing reading and listening (think, for example, about youtube videos). But a few extensions can improve this experience even more... The clever little Language Analytics plugin helps you to track how long you're browsing on pages in different languages so that you can easily tell if how much you've been reading in a foreign language. Better yet, it allows you to set browsing time targets in any language you choose and then gives you a notification when you get hit those targets. Transover is a clever little extension that uses the power of Google...

Kickstarter is rocking one interesting language learning project at the moment: Speasi. Speasi is a conversation exam learning app that appears to be targeted mainly at GCSE students. Speasi makes a bold claim in the blurb: By combining the latest web, app and AI technology with teaching expertise, SPEASI will help students of languages shine in their speaking exams, and inspire an enduring love of language learning that will enrich their lives well beyond the classroom. Nothing else in the description implies actual use of AI, so it's difficult to tell if this claim is true. But I suspect it's just there for effect - everybody like AI right? Does the market need such an product? A good UK GCSE result approximates an A2 level CEFR level. So we're talking a relatively basic l...