‘The Russian engineer wants some ice cream’ and other useful phrases.
When the world becomes more normal, surely one of the most asked questions will be "What did you do in lockdown?" The answer for many people will be "I had the time to brush up my foreign language skills".
"I too have been brushing up a foreign language".
Despite being unable to travel and take part in an in-country face-to-face language course, people have turned to other ways to improve their English or, in the case of native English speakers, a variety of other languages.
And guess what, the Brits are leading the way in learning a language via an app. You can read the BBC news article here.
To see how effective this method is, I too have been brushing up a foreign language, using one of the bestselling apps on the market. My verdict? Well, apps are a handy resource being quite cheap and easily used on a variety of devices. They incorporate personalised instant correction and adaptive quizzes and you can study whenever and wherever you want.
On the downside, however, I’m not yet convinced how much they help you acquire the kind of English that allows you to speak fluently and appropriately. I have learned such wonderful phrases as:
‘Father, is that cow laughing?’ and other handy phrases like ‘The green owl speaks English’.
And I’m eagerly awaiting the appropriate occasion to say:
"The Russian engineer wants some ice cream".
While the ‘lessons’ on the app I’ve been using review a lot of basic vocabulary and basic structures in a fun way, the scope of apps is limited and too often apps produce awkward sentences and phrases. An app is definitely not a language expert and live face-to-face online lessons are much more effective.
ECS Scotland continues to provide fully interactive live online sessions for our specialised courses. Read more about our live online courses here.
