Lisa Rückwardt
Staff Writer
Having barely passed the ACC 170 French entrance test I decided to look for a way to improve my French a little. I could read some books, a really dry grammar book still from my high school time for example, or I could finally get a smartphone and download a language app. Studying playfully: an old concept in a new disguise.
Since I do not have the app yet I started with the online version on my laptop. If you have already acquired some language skills, you can jump ahead a few levels before starting with the exercises. The challenge is to complete one exercise with less than four mistakes to unlock the next level; otherwise you need to repeat it. The focus lies on translation of sentences from French to English and vice versa. Speaking and listening is integrated as well. You can skip the speaking part which comes in handy when on the train, in a café or elsewhere public.
The app from Duolingo is another example why spending time on your beloved smartphone can be more than just a thoughtless amusement. Of course, the argument still holds true, that at the moment you are spending time on your phone you are “anti-social”, but then again, while studying or reading for school you are as well.
The concept reminds me of my first language classes in English and French, when we had to create vocabulary games ourselves (vocabulary memory, little memo cards for on the way with the correct answer on the back side, who is the fastest to give the correct answer?). Although I enjoyed it when I was little, the app seems to be much more of an enjoyable and more efficient way of learning.
It also has another advantage: a phone is much lighter and easier to take with than books or a huge amount of paper cards. My teachers used to tell me to carry the vocabulary cards I had to study for class with me so that I could always just randomly look at some and that I would learn from the constant repetition. The app fulfills the same purpose, just in a more playful and convenient way.
Even Plato knew: Do not, then, my friend, keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play. Obviously, it is not the perfect or single way to learn a language but especially for studying the vocabulary it is an effective method and you will most likely feel good about yourself for resisting the temptation to crash some candies or check Tinder.
Lisa Rückwardt, class of 2015, is a Law, Linguistics, and Theater Media Studies major, from Dortmund, Germany.
