Language Learning Application Suggestions

     

     In those days using applications for learning a different language is very popular, technology changes the way we learn something and of course it changes the way we learn a foreign language. Using applications or technological devices to learn a language i think is very natural and understandable because these technological tools or applications are portable so they are accessible when they are needed and they enable interactive, communicative, authentic and selfadapting learning. Having fun while learning is also another advantage of these applications, they also eliminate the tackles resulted from the unappropriate environment conditions.

When these advantages are taken into consideration the question changes automatically, then the question why don't we use arouse and the interest for these applications increases normally. I also use some of these applications to learn Russian and i think they are really effective, of course there are also limitations and some tackles besides the benefits of these apps and i will try to give you an idea about these factors by representing to you four of these applications. Let's start...

      MEMRISE

                                                                         

    Memrise is a website includes 16 different language courses, for example i use the Russian course for learning this language by using application of this website. Memrise turns language learning to a game actually with the help of flashcards, it consists of several courses and to pass from one stage to other you must succeed in each course. To reinforce the learning of subjects and topics there are several repetitions, you have to succeed in these repetitions to start another lesson. You can watch the videos of native speakers  for pronunciation of the words or you can just listen. 

There are stages like quick repetition, hard vocabularies, pronunciation, classic repetition, learn from the native speaker and listening skills. Matching, writing. arranging and finding out the right meaning are the activities that included. You can see your progress, the number of words you learnt and your score. To use Memrise signing in is enough and it is easy to use but using the planner, downloading the courses and accessing more examples or courses are limited you must pay for it. 

      MONDLY

                                                                                  

    Mondly is another language learning website and application of this website also available. The main difference between Mondly and other language learning applications is the Augmented Reality, with this specialty Mondly enables its learners factual experiences for example you can study with a native speaker of target language in a very realistic way but how effective this specialty is not certain according to me because in some cases it cant go beyond being a game. 

When you start Mondly you can choose your level and the themes you are interested with then you can start the learning. Having the chance to try Mondly without signing in is also another unique side of this application because most of the applications want to sign in even you want to only try. It involves constituting sentences, matching the vocabularies with their meaning and matching the images with the sentences that you hear. Chatbox gives you the chance to practice, it enables you to listen, understand and give answers to the questions asked in the chatbox, you can also meet with different types of sentences thanks to the options given you while you are trying to find the answers in the chatbox.

                                                                   

    In Mondly there is also a daily lesson that you can access in that day, if you don't benefit from this daily lesson in the determined day you lost the chance to access this lesson, in that sense Mondly motivates and urges you to come and check this daily lesson so that you continue learning. As in the Memrise you can see your progress, get information about statics and your lessons you can also (if you want) compare yourself with other learners by examining the leaders statics. The alphabet system is also useful for example for Russian you can use the cyrillic alphabet. 

There are 33 language options are available in Mondly which means you can learn the rare languages too. However, these features are generally limited so that you boost your membership from the standard or free to the pro. You might face with some tackles while trying to benefit from more features. The borders between the language levels are not certain too in other words the difficulty levels are similar to each other for example there is not a big difference between the A1 and B2 levels.

       DUOLİNGO

     With Duolingo you can also learn a foreign language. After signing in you start learning. First you select the language you want to learn and it is asked you why you want to learn this language and it enables you to learn in a concentrated way then you choose an aim as an example there are aims like ease, middle, serious and crazy. Afterwards, there is a stage named choose a way, in that stage how much you know this language is tried to be determined i also passed from these stages and i have to start from the beginning :)...

I think Duolingo is a motivating application because you can see your achievements and your friends, there are also competitions for motivate you. Like Memrise, Duolingo also concentrate on spaced-repetition there are many repetitions about the previous vocabularies at different stages and it prevents to forget what you learnt before. 

     With daily targets and series for every day you learn in a regular way, these features also keep you on learning so just spending maximum 20 minutes in a day you involve the learning process. The activity types are matching the words with their meaning and these meaning are given with pictures, matching while listening and translating these features enable to you learn with entertainment but i think the focus on speaking ability is lack because there is not any specific activity for obtaining the speaking skills.

    BUSUU

                                                              

 

                             

   The last language application i want to talk about is Busuu. This application when it is compared to other language applications that i talked previously, has lecturing too, i think this is a big opportunity because you cannot do exercises without knowing the course subjects, even you do it is not a conscious process and Busuu with short lecturing for each lesson first teach you and then let you do exercises, it also gives you short informations about the lecture. 

The joining process is classic, first you sign in then start to learn. When you join the Busuu you choose a program for yourself you select a specific time in the day to come and learn you also have the chance to specify your aim . With the help of notifications you don't need to worry about forgetting the time Busuu will remind you. When you You can also socialize with the Bussu for example you can help other learners who try to learn the languages you know and you can also take help from others. Learning activities are matching the images and words with their meanings, matching by listening, making up sentences withe the given words and filling the blanks. You can also observe your learning process and examine the statics. 

    The main point is all of these applications or websites allow you learning with fun and new technologies, they give you the chance to learning a language with a daily or weekly program which isn't very strict, just with a few minutes in a day you can learn something about the target language and can repeat what you learnt. However, the speaking output is not available you cannot do speaking exercises you have to find another way for developing your speaking abilities.

Another important point (at least for me) is lack of lecturing, i think even not very detailed there should be some informations about the topic or lecture such as grammatical rules and cultural effects on the language. As you can see only Busuu gives some information about these factors but the main logic behind tehese apps are very similar to each other and to from more features you must pay for it is same fir all of these applications. Just decide which one of these applications are most appropriate for you and start to learn don't forget the language you want to learn too 😁 GOOD LUCKS...