Duolingo
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Duolingo has a premium subscription, but lessons are still free
The idea that learning another language should be free is the core idea behind Duolingo. Over the past few years, the app has strived to make learning a new tongue convenient, portable and fun. Now the company's trying to turn its free language learning tools into a profitable business by introducing a premium service. Don't worry, though -- Duolingo Plus doesn't take away your free language course, it just gets rid of its ads.
Duolingo's clubs make language learning a competition
Duolingo debuted chat bots to help you learn a new language back in October, but now the company is looking to offer a bit more human interaction. Today, it introduced a new feature called Language Clubs so you can band together with friends and other users who are attempting to tackle another language. Think of it like how you compare accomplishments with your friends in fitness apps and you'll get the idea.
Learn a new language with Duolingo's chatbots
Duolingo has been offering language learning tools for a while now, but today the company debuted a new tool inside its iPhone app that could make the task a bit easier. Thanks to AI-powered chatbots, the language-learning app offers a way to have conversations while you're trying to learn French, German and Spanish. That's a short list of languages for now, but Duolingo says more options are on the way.
The best tech for students studying abroad
There's nothing quite as exciting or daunting as packing up your stuff and heading overseas for a semester. You'll have an opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture, a foreign language and a whole ocean of unique tech challenges. But don't worry, we're here to help you navigate those obstacles. In our guide you'll find top notch cameras to capture all those transformational memories, luggage that is basically impossible to lose, a backpack that hides a spare battery for charging your phone and, of course, some noise-cancelling headphones for those long flights filled with screaming children. But you'll also need a lightweight laptop with solid battery life (like the HP Spectre 13.3) and a phone with a couple of SIM slots for doing a little border hopping. Check out the gallery below for all our recommendations for students studying abroad. And make sure to check out our full back-to-school guide right here.
Brush up on hundreds of topics with the Tinycards app
Plenty of people have turned to the popular language-learning app Duolingo to become well-versed in a different tongue. The company knows how to hammer knowledge into your brain. That's why it's bringing us Tinycards, a special app meant for learning a lot more than language.
Learn Klingon from the comfort of your own planet
Can't figure out how to pronounce Qapla' or properly conjugate majQa'? Not sure what those words even mean? Well buy' ngop because Duolingo is gearing up to teach you. The language learning app has announced that it is working on a new course for a very alien tongue: Klingon. The company just needs to find somebody that actually speaks it first. The Federation-to-Klingon lessons aren't technically part of the core Duolingo framework as, say English-Italian is. Rather, it's being coordinated as part of the crowdsourced Language Incubator program. If you think you've got the linguistic chops to help develop this course (or just want to be notified when it's ready) head over to Duolingo and volunteer.
Schedule your education and learning with Gibbon
One of the biggest, yet still mostly undelivered promises of the iPad age is for this device to become the universal textbook. Use this small, light piece of glass and metal to replace not just heavy and expensive textbooks, but open up the vast store of human knowledge. But so far we've only seen hints and promises. Gibbon offers more towards that promise with "curated learning" covering an array of subjects. This app is for the iPad only and requires iOS 7.0 or later. In my ideal, Star Trekian future, one would be able to access the best, most effective lectures, classes, and training on every conceivable subject, right through your handheld techno-magical device. And all delivered by the experts in each subject area. It's a glorious vision. It's somewhat available. I'm a big fan of Duolingo and I'm using it, sporadically, to polish up my Spanish. But what if I wanted to learn the basics of quantum physics. Or building iOS apps? This is what Gibbon sets out to offer. The people behind this app have set out to provide "curated textbooks." You can create an account, no charge, and select the subject that you want to learn from their library. You can use either your iPad or their web site to do this. It's an admirable effort. Unfortunately it's really very early. The selection of courses/text books is slim. And while Gibbon claims to provide "curated" offerings, anyone can build their own textbook and offer it up. My look through the current offerings didn't show any indication if the course I was about to select was any good, designed and written by someone who actually knows the subject, or provides any reason why I should take their course other than the fact that it was there in the catalog. That's not very reassuring. The app itself is relatively simple. I can load up course work and track my progress. But the "textbooks" aren't much more than text and many are actually just a shell that links to other, existing content, like Youtube videos. There doesn't appear to be any testing, quizzes, or verification that I've actually learned anything. It's not really curated if I have no way of telling the high quality stuff from the crap. Gibbon offers an organizational, paid solution and that makes sense. Most organizations need to do a lot of internal training and an approach like this makes sense, especially when designing and delivering their own training. A general, public education solution will need better, certified training to really become useful. I am a big supporter of online and electronic education, but Gibbon is far too early in the development stages to see if their approach will provide any real educational benefit over simply looking up stuff in your browser. I hope that Gibbon can take this to the next level and offer textbooks and training from highly qualified writers and teachers.
Polynumial teaches you to count in over 50 languages
Polynumial, free with ads in the App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, is a bare bones language app that focuses only on learning numbers. While the app itself doesn't do a lot, it's packed with 60 languages, which is far more than most language apps. Unfortunately, the variety of languages is all Polynumial has going for itself. The app teaches you how to count in another language. You'll also learn the proper spelling of those numbers. However, that's all it teaches you. Other than dazzling your friends at parties, when is it practical to know only how to count in a foreign language? Numbers won't help you hold a conversation when you are in another country. Polynumial is extremely basic, so it's easy to use. There are two different modes to help you learn the numbers. One is by entering the numbers via a number pad, which they call "calculator mode." In this mode you can learn decimals and negative numbers. The "odometer mode" gives you a simple scroll option. Again, there is nothing revolutionary here. There is a "drill mode" that tests your progress. This has a flashcard feel to it. You see a random number, guess how to say it and then tap the screen to see if you have guessed correctly. Enabling Speak Selection on your device is crucial here. That's the only way you will learn how to pronounce the numbers. There's an obvious problem here in that Speak Selection doesn't sound like an actual human. You miss out on the inflection and pronunciation quirks of some languages. It's hard to categorize this as a feature of Polynumial because it does not function in any way that's truly beneficial. Plus, it also does not work for all languages the app offers. You can change the look of the app with one of the six themes, three of which are pictured above. None of them are particularly appealing. They only add to the overall boring feel. There's not much to this app, but I could see it having a benefit for kids. It could lay the groundwork for higher-level language learning. For adults, however, Polynumial offers little beyond novelty. You're better off with Duolingo.
Shazam, Duolingo and several other apps head to Google Glass
Just ahead of Google I/O, a slew of new Google Glass apps are hitting the MyGlass store. The new downloads include the popular music-recognizing service Shazam and Duolingo, which offers free foreign-language courses. Two fitness-focused apps, Runtastic and 94Fifty Basketball, are also new additions to the Glassware family. Rounding out the list are the GuidiGO personal tour guide, an app for The Guardian, Livestream, MusicXmatch, Goal.com and the game Zombies, Run! Finally, the Allthecooks app has been updated with voice commands, so you can use Glass hands-free while following recipes.
Duolingo brings its language-learning app to the iPad
Duolingo takes a fun approach to language learning. It gamifies the process by breaking down lessons into digestible chunks and rewarding you for your progress. Starting today, you can enjoy the app on your iPad as well as your iPhone. Duolingo requires an account to keep track of your achievements and progress. You can log in with a unique username / password combination or choose to sign in with Facebook. Once you log in, you can choose the language or languages that you wish to learn. The app ships with learning modules for Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and English. The app starts off with the basics, mainly simple words and sentences. It then gradually moves into more difficult content like phrases, plurals and vocabulary. It's designed to be used in small bursts so you can take as little as 15 minutes each day to start learning a new language. Duolingo launched as a web app and then added an iPhone app. This latest version adds the iPad to the mix, allowing you to spread your learning across your devices. Your progress across all three platforms is synced so you can complete a lesson on your iPad and start in on the next lesson on your Mac. Duolingo is for the person who wants to learn a language, but struggles to sit through long, dry courses. Duolingo is quite the opposite of your typical language course -- it's interactive, enjoyable and doesn't require a big block of time. It'll teach you the basics of a language, which you then can use as a springboard for more immersive studies. Best of all, Duolingo is available for free because it has a unique business model. As you progress through a course, you can start practicing your skills by translating documents. These documents are uploaded by companies and people who pay Duolingo for the translation. You get free instruction, companies get an affordable translation service and Duolingo makes enough money to keep innovating. You can check out the Duolingo app for free from the iOS App Store.
