Not everyone has the time or the money to attend language courses or study abroad. Therefore, free programs and online learning applications such as Duolingo  have become very popular lately. One of the latest revolutionary ideas on the world of online language learning is Lingua.ly, an app which allows you to learn languages while surfing the Internet, on any website, for free and with just a few clicks. Sound tempting? It is. Lingua.ly is a plug-in for Chrome where you’ll be able to read any article you want while selecting words to add to your personalized dictionary to learn its meaning. Lingua.ly is currently available in English, Russian, French, Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic.

Lingua.ly can be used to learn a new language from scratch. When you install the extension, you can go to any website in the language you are learning and double click on the word to learn it. Lingua.ly automatically saves the words you choose to your personal learning area. You can hear the correct pronunciation by clicking on each word or browse by clicking on the speaker icon. Unlike other online courses, the “lessons” on Lingua.ly are created just for you while you browse the contents online, and you choose what you really want to read. As you add words, the system will know your level for the language you want to learn and will suggest items to read, tests to take, practice exercises, etc. And you will be always able to see your progress.

The cons of Lingua.ly: once installed, the plug-in can become a little annoying due to the pop-up with the meaning and pronunciation of words whenever you double-click on something, but this is bearable.

Learn new works with Lingua.ly even while you are on Facebook

Do you like the idea? Then check it for yourself. Just download the plug-in, choose your native language and the one you want to learn, login with your Google, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn account, and you’re all set. A Lingua.ly icon will appear to the right of the navigation bar: clicking on it, you’ll find the main menu of the app and you choose one of the 4 options:

1 Find something to read in English
2 Explore new words suggested by Lingua.ly
3 Study your own word list
4 Practice the words you have saved

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Apps can make your life much easier when you’re learning a new language or visiting a foreign country. Today we’re going to review Word Lens, an app meant to let you “see the world in your language: instantly translate printed words using your built-in video camera, in real time!”. What it does is exactly that: you point your camera at something written in one language, and it shows you the translation in a different language right on the screen, by replacing the captured text in real time. The app doesn’t require an Internet connection to work, however you will have to download language packs separately.

The description makes Word Lens sound quite interesting and fun to use, but the actual experience might not be as smooth and efficient as you would hope. I tried an English-Italian translation on a few writings, including an instruction booklet. This is the result:

Many words are poorly translated: for instance, “Before you get started” sounds more like “Before you arriving, it began”; for some reason “connecting” is translated as “communicating”; “light” as in “not heavy” is translated as “light” as “radiant energy visible to the human eye” (they are two different words in Italian: “leggero” e “luce”).

The translation seems to be extremely literal and word-by-word, so you’ll have to struggle in order to make sense of what’s written onscreen. The way this app works is also quite clumsy: you have to point at words and stand very still, and the text recognition isn’t always immediate.

The app is not completely useless, however: I believe it could be helpful if you’re traveling in places using languages that are completely obscure to you (maybe because they have different alphabets or writing systems) to make sense of signs, product tags and other easy bits of information — if you’re on a trip in the Amazon forest and you can actually translate a sign in Portuguese that says “something something rattlesnake something death something danger”, you don’t really need to understand the entire sentence to realize you should probably be careful, after all. This app might also save you from unwanted allergic reactions if you’re buying groceries in Russia and you really have no idea how to type Cyrillic letters into your smartphone keyboard.

Here’s a list of the supported languages: English-Russian / English-Portuguese / English-Italian / English-French / English-Spanish / English-German. 

Unfortunately, no Japanese or Chinese — for that, you’ll have to download a different app. However, in May 2014, Word Lens was acquired by Google (whose Translate app works fairly well with a large number of languages), so there might be new languages added soon, as well as improvements in the way Word Lens handles longer, more complex texts.

Word Lens might definitely be worth a try: you can download it from the App Store or from Google Play — both the app and the language packs are free.

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Prism is a web-interface tool that was produced as part of the University of Virginia’s Scholar Lab graduate intern program. It allows for collaborative reading using highlighters to show which parts of a text have a particular significance for a combined group of readers.

The initial inspiration for the project came not from the digital world, but from an analog in-class assignment used to study short literary texts. Students were asked to place a sheet of transparency paper over the text, then use different colored markers to underline passages. Each color was meant to signify a different element the class was asked to look for. The transparencies were then stacked together and displayed, so students could see how others had approached the same text.

The Prism web site takes the activity and improves upon it using digital visualizations. A text is uploaded and users can choose from up to three different colors to highlight the text. One example on the site is the lyrics from a Taylor Swift song, and users are asked to underline each passage they find to be feminist and each they find to be conformist.

Once users have given their input, they are able to visual the text in two ways. Color-coded text shows the predominant color used by the group of users. Clicking on an individual word reveals the exact percentage breakdown between each color. And a font-size visualization quickly reveals how many users underlined a particular text in relation to others within a single highlighter color.

The actual meaning of each color code is defined by the person who uploads the text. A user can upload a text publicly or privately, meaning that only those to whom a link is sent can access the text. This makes the tool very useful for a classroom setting, where the editing is limited to students in the class.

This tool would be great for a poetry class, allowing students to contribute to the text they are reading before coming to class, alerting the teacher about what passages may have been missed, and what others seemed particularly important to the students. The visualizations can be the impetus for class discussion, and guide the instructor on which points were obvious, which were missed, and what unique insights the class may have.

This tool is also perfect for peer review for two reasons. First, both the student work and annotations can be done anonymously, eliminating at least some of the potential reticence to share work or criticism with a peer. Students can view an aggregate of responses quickly, without having to compare notes from multiple readers (meaning that an instructor can also provide feedback without the student mindlessly making a change without considering why it should be changed). Second, comments are very structured and limited to the color-code scheme, meaning reviewers have a more clear mandate about what they should look for. For example, the person uploading the text may be more concerned about a particular grammar point that content, and could ask that peers find those errors.

Here peer-reviewers are ask to mark any general errors, specific errors about past-tense conjugations, and to say what they thought was good about the text.

You can access Prism here.. It is compatible with Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. You must register a free account to use, but you can browse public texts without an account. The site offers multilingual support.

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App name: Duolingo

Platforms: iOS, Android, and web browser versions

System Requirements: The app is relatively small in file size (17kb or so), but completing lessons requires an internet connection, although lessons can be downloaded for offline use. The web version

Cost: Free!

Languages taught: French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and English. The app supports users who speak a variety of languages, but their choices for language learning are limited, with English being the most commonly available.

What it says it can do: Unlike many language learning platforms, Duolingo actually makes very few promises beyond their tagline: “Learn Languages Free”

What it does: There are two ways to access Duolingo, some different resources are available on each. Both the web site and the app offer the basic language learning exercises. These are primarily presented in the form of translation and repetition. Below are some examples of the beginning German lessons:

While the general idea is to learn grammar rules implicitly, in the beginning stages small grammar hints are available.

Pronunciation practice is done through a computer-analyzed voice recording. This may not be entirely accurate, however, since in this screenshot I know that I did not give the correct translation but it was marked as correct.

The system notes small typo errors, although they are not always marked as incorrect. If an error persists, however, it is marked as incorrect.

For each lesson, users are given four hearts (reduced to three in the higher level lessons), losing one heart for each wrong answer. If all hearts are lost, the user must begin the lesson again. Users can also earn lingots by completing lessons without losing a heart. The lingots can be used to purchase items, such as lessons on idioms and expressions.

The beginning lessons are fairly simple, using pictures and the recorded voices of native speakers to present vocabulary and exercises that target specific grammar points. In the lesson from the screenshots above, for example, it is the clear that the objective is for users to learn gender with pronouns and articles. While users may be able to grasp the grammatical concept, there is really no attempt made to clearly explain the rule. It seems unlikely that user would be able to explain the grammatical concept to another person, although that student may be able to begin using it correctly in limited contexts. The lessons advance in a fairly logical pattern, building upon what each other and recycling vocabulary. Users are also encouraged the return to previous lessons to strengthen the skills they had learned in the past.

Additionally, the web site offers a few other resources. Users can engage in discussion forums. In fact, after each question using the web version, users can view or add to discussion about particular sentences, allowing them to gain more insight into the particular lesson through information provided by other users. There is also an option for users to give feedback if they believe there is an error in a particular exercise. Through the web site, users can also access a section called “immersion” where others post authentic texts in the target language, and users translate these texts to their native tongue. Users can also proofread the translations of other users.

Use of the app requires registration. The web site can be used without registration, but without saving a user’s progress as they learn the language.

Assessment:

This is an amazing product given that it is absolutely free to users. In many ways it rivals the usefulness of costly language programs and has already gained a large number of users worldwide. The app runs smoothly with no technical errors. And from what I have seen, contains few, if any, language errors. The interface is very user friendly, whether being used on a mobile device or through a web browser.

The drawbacks are similar to those of any computerized language learning software. There is no chance for meaningful interaction with another person. There is no communicative aspect of any of the activities. At some point, users may find that getting correct answers is more about figuring out how the program works and using deduction to find the right response rather than figuring out how to speak a new language. And unlike some software, such as Transparent Language, there is no way to customize the lessons so that they could be used in conjunction with a language course

While the discussion section of the web site seems helpful, the “immersion” section seems like a gross misuse of the term “immersion.” Document translation seems like a very high level task that is beyond the scope of why most people want to learn another language, yet also vastly different that the type of exercises that lead to language fluency. Furthermore, the selection of texts is rather drab, with few topics that would be of interest to many people.

Overall, Duolingo is an amazing product at a price that can’t be beat. While it cannot replace the type of communicative, take-based learning that happens in a language classroom, it could easily reinforce vocabulary and grammar principles for language learners. Lessons are brief and could easily supplement required coursework without placing a burden on a language student. Its low cost and easy accessibility make it a great program for any language learner.

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Beginning this semester, the Keck Center will use this blog space to provide useful material for faculty and students learning languages at Colgate. Our posts will focus on finding ways to make language learning more productive as well as highlighting some of the activities going on at the Keck Center and some of the work being done with languages by students and faculty at Colgate. We will be reviewing language learning materials , including software, web sites, mobile apps, and foreign films. We will highlight the work of our language interns, student workers, and majors and minors in the language departments. In addition, you can find information about upcoming events, and notes and materials from workshops presented by the Keck Center. We look forward to having a great, productive year of language learning at Colgate!

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