In March 2020, during the height of the pandemic, the language learning app Duolingo recorded double its usual number of new members. People were cooped up and bored, and learning a new language was a good way to occupy that time. But can these language learning apps really teach us a language effectively?

Ingrid Piller, a linguistics expert at Macquarie University, says that learning a new language has two elements: linguistic and social. From a linguistic point of view, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation must be learned. These are the areas where these language learning apps can help you best.

Especially because they borrow elements from games, with points and motivators to log in every day and practice; these apps are a great way to promote consistency in language learning.

But what these apps lack is the social aspect of language, which is important if you want to be able to converse and convey meaning. “Language is about interacting with other people; it’s not something we do alone,” says Piller, “The big challenge of language learning is for our minds to put all these elements together creatively and make decisions [in the moment]: How do I pronounce this? What kind of words do I choose? And how do I put them together into a grammatically correct sentence or into larger chunks that produce conversations?”

But the real answer to language learning, according to Piller, is diversity: taking lessons, watching videos and reading Twitter in the language you’re trying to learn, keeping the app a useful tool on the sidelines to promote consistency and reinforce language fundamentals.

The International Iberoamerican University (UNIB) offers programs related to this topic, such as:

• Master in Spanish as a Foreign Language Teacher Education
• Master in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Source: People flocked to language apps during the pandemic — but how much can they actually teach you?

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