Correct me if I'm wrong when I say we all speak at least one language. But the real question is why stick to one when you can speak more thanks to apps like Duolingo, a Universal Windows app that is among the best in its kind in that it makes it fun and easy to learn a foreign language. Duolingo lets you learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Irish, Dutch, Danish and English; all of that totally free, with no in-app purchases. So no surprises. Today the developers behind the learning app released an update that adds three new languages to the lot: Russian, Polish and Ukrainian. Three additional languages to learn at your own pace. If you haven't tried Duolingo yet, visit the Windows store on your desktop or phone to download and have fun learning languages.
Learning a new language can be a daunting task, but it does not have to be that way. Enter Duolingo, a free app for Windows Phone and Windows that makes the learning experience fun, rewarding and FUN. This app will definitely win your heart. I used it to learn italian. With Duolingo you can learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Irish, Dutch, Danish and English. The app will remind you if you miss your daily intake of whatever language you're learning. It was not necessary for me as Duolingo is so engaging.
Duolingo has been updated today and is now a Windows 10 universal app. Two new languages have been added and you can now learn Esperanto and Norwegian from English. Head over in the Windows Phone and Windows Store to download Duolingo and start the language of your choice.
Back in December last year, Skype debuted the preview of a new service called Skype Translator that lets users connect to people around the world without worrying about the language. Back then, Skype Translator only supported Spanish and English. Four months later, Skype is now adding Italian and Mandarin to the list of languages. The announcement was made on the Skype blog today. the blog post state how "Mandarin is challenging language to learn, even for Skype Translator. With approximately 10,000 characters and multiples tons, this is one of the most difficult languages for a native English speaker to master, along with arabic, Japanese, and Korean." Italian was added following popular demand when Skype rolled out the sign-up page for the preview. Besides the addition of Italian and Mandarin, this new release also include some "key" changes: Text to speech translation:
You now have the option to hear the instant messages people send to you - in the language of your choice.
Continuous recognition - Recognized text translation as your partner is speaking.
Automatic volume control:
Your partner can speak while the translation is still happening. You will hear the translation at full volume, and your partner at a lower volume, so that you can follow the translation, which will help make conversations more fluid.
Mute option for translated voice:
There is now an option to easily turn translated audio oe or off if you would prefer to only read the transcript.
There are quite a few language learning apps in the Windows Phone store and even fewer manage to stand out of the lot. Duolingo is one of these apps. Besides being cross platform, Duolingo brings you the experience of learning while having fun. Similar to a game, the less mistakes you make earns you hearts. Lose all hearts and you start the level again. It really is a fun way to learn French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Irish, Dutch, Danish and, of course, English.
Initially, Duolingo was designed for your own personal learning on your phone wherever you are. With today's update, the learning gets to a new level. The app is now capable of tracking students progress. A feature that makes Duolingo school-ready as students can now share their progress with their teacher, or kids with their parents.
To enable progress sharing, both parties must have the app installed. Go into the menu and tap "progress sharing" and you will see two sharing options: email field and a field for section or class if provided by a teacher. Add any information on that screen and tap "save changes". After enabling progress sharing, the parents, teacher or friends simply login to Duolingo's dashboard to track the student's progress. It is that easy. If you're a teacher or student, go into the Windows Phone store to download Duolingo for free.
