Lingvist: A Platform that Let you Learn a New Language in Just 200 hours

Lingvist promises to teach you a new language in only 200 hours using nothing but the apps available for iOS and Android. According to the creators, 200 hours should be enough to reach B2 level proficiency in the new language which should be adequate to “understand texts, watch movies and have casual conversations”

Lingvist is a language-learning platform, accessible from international public free beta version.  As of August 2015, the platform offers French Learning Modules for English and Estonian speakers, and English learning modules for Russia, Estonian, French, and Germany speakers. In near future, both Spanish and Russian should be available for English speakers, with Portuguese and Germany following in the fall.

Unlike the majority of the learning applications, Lingvist uses a different approach. It focuses on the statistical significance of words to improve how people learn a language.

Before you start, you will be asked to select the language you want to learn. It is important to know that you are required to speak Russia or French if you want to learn English, or English in case you want to learn French.

Once you have picked the language you want to learn, you need to create an account by providing an email address and a password.

After you register, you will not be asked to verify your email. Instead, you will be thrown right into the first class. At first, it is normal to feel weird as you will be asked to enter the English (or French) translation of a word shown to you. And since you can’t speak the new language yet, you will feel confused. However, just swipe to the right and the world will be displayed and pronounced at the same time.

If you fail at first, words will be repeated during the memorization session. Because you are likely to swipe many times in the beginning, you will get many words recurring frequently.

Besides memorization, the programs offer two additional modes.

• Read provides access to various text types such as articles, dialogues, jokes or literature. Basically, it is a collection of texts that you can read to determine how well you comprehend the language. The app highlights the ratio of words that you know for every text on the front, therefore, helping with the selection process.
• Listen on the other hand provides audio conversations that users can listen to. The percentage of known words is showed by the module as well.

Lingvist also provides a dashboard that displays how you are progressing. The same menu shows the words you have mastered so far including the times they appeared in the memorization module.

Last but not least, Lingvist concentrates on words, pronunciations and spelling. The app is easy to use and many learners make progress quickly. The application is for people who want to learn words fast and improve their vocabulary. While you will be able to lean sufficient words in 200 hours and reach a  B2 level, you are advised to use other additional resources to have a better understanding of the language’s grammar.