Language-teaching apps a hit among city’s young, elderly

Similarly, Akash Selvakumar, a city-based wedding photographer, is helping his 68-year-old grandmother Vijaya with app-based English and Hindi lessons. “She was born and brought up in rural Tamil Nadu so she didn’t learn any languages,” says her grandson.

He has installed an app called Duoliongo (see pic), which provides mini lessons to learn over 20 languages. One of the best features is that most of the modules are audio-visual. “If a picture of a parrot appears on the screen, she will tap on it, hear the pronunciation and repeat,” he says. This improves rote memory and increases the ability of learners to associate the images with the pronunciations.

These apps also facilitate reading and writing modules. Some have inbuilt dictionaries and ebooks too for advanced learners. Not just this, Meghana says the main advantage of app-based learning is the time and cost efficiency. “Most of the Japanese courses are quite expensive and for longer durations. Since I don’t have much time before I leave, apps like Drops help me learn from the comfort of my home,” she explains.

Since January, these apps have crossed a lakh users and some have as many as 7.5 lakh followers. The average rating is 4.6. “The world is getting smaller and smaller thanks to globalisation and technology. Thus, it has become important to be multilingual. Learning through apps helps one practice through conversations or make it fun,” says Chitra Nagarajan, a freelance Spanish teacher located in Besant Nagar.

For instance, some apps help create clubs through which users from different parts of the world can network and learn together. “This creates healthy competition because one user can see the progress levels of the other,” she adds.