I will never forget this particular Sunday morning. Worship had ended and everyone was standing around talking as usual when I saw someone going through the auditorium from group to group. She would interrupt their conversation and quickly move to the next group. I had no clue what was going on. Once she finally got to where I was, she asked, “Do any of you know sign language?”
I told her I had learned a little when I was in college but not enough to really converse with anyone. She assured me that was better than nothing and we went to where a visiting lady was sitting. She was deaf and wanting to know about the church. A couple of us tried our best to communicate with what little bit of sign language we knew and ended up having to pass written notes back and forth. It was embarrassing to think in a congregation of our size, and with all of the outreach we were doing, someone came in to our building and we could not communicate with her.
Has anything similar ever happened to you? I hope it hasn’t, but it certainly could. Are the members or ministry staff prepared to deal with something like this? Thankfully, in the technology driven world we are living in, there is an easy and free solution to this problem. I want to share with you two apps that you need on your phone and tablet. With only a few minutes a day, you can learn the basics of almost any language imaginable.
Duolingo
The first app I want to share with you is Duolingo.
Duolingo is accessible on pretty much anything you want it to be on. It is on iOS, Google Play, Windows Store, and can be used through the website which has an interface very similar to the others. It uses multiple ways to teach the language. You may have to listen to a word or sentence and then translate or type what you heard, match pairs of words (man/hombre), as well as many other methods of learning.
Pros of Duolingo:
- It is free. Duolingo’s website has in large letters as soon as you arrive, “Learn a language free. Forever.” With other methods costing hundreds of dollars per level, it is hard to beat a free alternative that is as well put together as this one is.
- 15 languages to choose from. You may not have known you wanted to learn Ukrainian until you had a free option to do so.
- Options for those who aren’t English speakers. For those who do not speak English and want to learn it, or one of many other languages, Duolingo is perfect.
- Connect it to your LinkedIn profile. As you learn the language, your LinkedIn profile will update to show your level of comprehension.
- Daily reminders to study. You may think that you are too busy to add learning a new language into your schedule, but you will be surprised what you can do in a five or ten minute break.
- The website. Duolingo’s website is a great help. Everything you have done on your phone or tablet will carry over when you login on the website.
- The Format. Duolingo feels like a game. Everything about its design looks like you are playing a game instead of learning. You can even follow others and compete for high scores. As you progress, the material gets more difficult by adding in specific verb forms and more detailed elements of the language.
Cons of Duolingo:
- If you want to learn a language that is not one of the 15 offered, you are out of luck.
- It is a little too easy at times. When learning some of the words, it will show a picture along with the word. This is helpful, but I have found myself looking at the pictures and not noticing the word underneath the picture that I should be learning.
- The iOS version is a little difficult to navigate. To change languages you have to go to your profile and then change the active language.
Memrise
The second app you should consider is Memrise.
Memrise is sort of like the wiser, older uncle to Duolingo. It feels more like you are studying than playing a game, but is still very clean and enjoyable to use. It does not appear to be available on the Windows Store, but is still present on iOS, Android, and has a fully functioning website. Memrise uses mostly the same styles of teaching that Duolingo does.
Pros of Memrise:
- All that you need is free. There are paid features, but they are not necessary. I have been using Memrise for a while and have never had it tell me I needed to pay or wished I had those extra features. They are simply bonuses if you want them.
- Almost 100 languages, including American Sign Language. Not only are there far more language options than Duolingo, there are multiple courses within many of the languages. If you are learning Spanish in school, you may see a course based off of the particular textbook you are using in class.
- More than language courses. In addition to the language options, there are other topics to choose from. History, geography, trivia, there is even a course to learn each of the Pokemon.
- World wide leaderboards. You don’t have to follow anyone to know how you are comparing with others. Check out the leaderboards and watch yourself climb to the top.
- Custom courses. If you are a teacher and want to be sure your students are studying exactly what you want them to have, you can make your own course for them to use.
- Reminders. Just as with Duolingo, you can set a daily reminder. You are even able to tell it how much time you want to spend each day studying.
Cons of Memrise:
- You cannot search for a language. With so many options, it is easy to get lost in the list.
- With so many options per language, you may have to try a couple before finding the one you really like. If you are studying a language that uses accent marks, there may be some courses that do not have them.
Conclusion
In the end, I have found myself on Memrise far more than Duolingo although both are still present on my phone and iPad. I use Memrise for Greek which is connected directly to the Greek grammar we use in class and have used Duolingo primarily for Spanish. My suggestion is to download both and see which works best for you. Have the whole church staff work on learning Spanish together and have a test at the end of a month. Highest score wins a prize!
Raven says
Funnily enough, I use both of those apps. However, I prefer Duolingo over Memrise. It might be due to the fact that I started using Duolingo in 2013, before it was named Apple and Google Play’s App of the year. Personally, the daily streak is what kept has me there after all this time. I started learning Portuguese for the first time and simultaneously did French lessons (to maintain what I’d learned growing up in Canada, where it is our other official language) and over the years I’v added Italian, Dutch, Spanish and most recently Russian. Before my cruise last summer where internet is limited/unattainable I was at 612 straight days of Portugese & French.
A negative in my opinion is that there aren’t really extensive explanations. You just sort of learn as you go along and for me it still shows when I still constantly mix up the Portugese words for this, that, these, those etc.
Now Memrise on the other hand, I picked it up only near the end of 2015 when I was starting Russian on Duolingo and needed to first learn the Cyrillic Alphabet (Oh boy was that hard). I was impressed with the variety of topics to choose from and after finishing the Russian Alphabet I started ASL and Flags of the World which has been a lot of fun.
For me the only negative has been that the daily streak doesn’t count unless you set a specific number of points to achieve each day (minimun 1,500 / 5 minutes) and quite frankly I don’t have time to do multiple rounds of lessons which has been a major deterrent for me. I use it a couple of times a week but not daily.
Steven Holt says
Thanks for your comments! I agree with the lack of explanations being a setback. It would be great if it came pre-loaded with some explanations for some of the concepts. On the other hand, when we learn our first language, we often learn very similar to the way the app teaches it. We just learn words and figure out the explanations later.
I also can see the issue of needing a certain amount of time on Memrise to count towards a daily streak. Truthfully though, I like that feature. It keeps me honest. I have to set a certain amount of time aside for study if I want to see great progress.
In the end, both of these are based on personal preference. I’m glad these apps have been useful for you in the past. Keep on learning! :^)
Eric Dye says
Memrise is okay, but I prefer Duolingo.
Steven Holt says
The one thing that makes me prefer Memrise over Duolingo is the greater selection of languages. Being able to make your own cards and search for exactly what you need is pretty cool in Memrise.
Eric Dye says
What impresses me the most, is how both of these apps are helpful AND free!!!
My kids prefer Memrise for that same reason – because knowing two languages just isn’t enough… 😛
Chris Wilson says
So the biggest problem with both of these apps is they don’t really give you any proper practice of the language. They only help you learn short words and grammar points. That’s a real problem because if we want to actually hold a conversation with someone, knowing a series of words and grammar points will help but you’ll have to put together sentences slowly all the time. Really you need exposure to dialogues and texts which show language that naturally occurs together and provides a context to help explain new items. Neither really do this.
However, they both have spaced repetition built in and in defence of Duolingo’s non explanations, it introduces grammar naturally and slowly (via first showing examples of the grammar with questions where you don’t have to know the grammar to get it right, and then eventually giving you a question where you have to use the grammar correctly to get it right) so that you should be able to use the grammar without a complicated explanation (it certainly does with Russian and Polish cases). Of course, there are plenty of websites out there which do have grammar explanations if you need them.
A feature that really annoys me about Duolingo is that the sentences don’t start very practically. Things such as “the turtle is swimming” isn’t exactly the sort of thing you say everyday and yet it it one of the first sentences I learnt when using it for Spanish. That is actually something that Memrise can be much better at as it is has lists of words and phrases that are more useful and practical, often focusing on the most frequently occurring language.
Anki is another good language learning apps which basically is enhanced flashcards with spaced repetition built in (much like memories).
Here’s an article we published a while back with some tips on how to learn a language before your next mission trip, in part three and four there are some places where you can find natural dialogue and practice speaking and listening skills. https://churchm.ag/learning-a-foreign-language-before-your-next-mission-trip/
Steven Holt says
I agree, but for a free platform, I was not expecting the full features that might be in a premium app. I think these are a great way to start learning a language and then find something more advanced, or a method to supplement a current study.