I am 27 years old and am learning four different languages; Spanish, French, Portuguese and Chinese. I live in Manchester, UK. I have always been passionate about making progress in the languages I learn and getting feedback from native speakers about how to do so.
This is why I helped to create Lingora:
Lingora lets language learners know precisely what native speakers think of their speaking ability. After a language learner uploads an audio on the website, native speakers can comment on exactly what they are doing well and precisely how you can improve. The feedback is specific to the language learners’
accent
pronunciation
intonation
accuracy.
Each week, there are language tasks to do. These are sent to language learner’s email address. As an example, a recent one asked language learners to read out a short article about the recent, severe heat wave in India. Then, learners were invited to speak about the weather in their home country. Once they had posted an audio, they received invaluable feedback from native speakers about how they could improve.
What I am suggesting
We can arrange to speak via Skype on a weekly basis and carry out Lingora’s challenges. Like the task described above, there will be a text to read out and I will ask you some questions about it. We can record the conversation and then upload it to Lingora. That way, as a native English speaker, I can carefully analyse all of the aspects of your speech and give you custom, written and recorded audio advice about how you can go about improving.
Pretty cool idea. Although there will be problems i feel because of the different dialects/accents. Being from Manchester (like me) i’m sure you’ll know that we can have endless arguments with southerners over how to pronounce things like ‘bath’ etc.
Can you describe the differences between your system and LingQ?
Your message was posted on the LingQ forum, and many of the viewers of it know what kind of system LingQ is. By comparing the two systems, you can show us their merits and demerits.
I went to your site but could really not find any significant information. Lingora requires my e-mail info. and this, given i know nothing about the site, means i really don’t know what Lingora is about. I certainly would never give out my e-mail to a site that i know nothing about (and can not find information on)! Also, how much is the cost?
It’s a brand new site. Edmund is one of the creators and the site has just been launched.There really are audios there that have been assessed. Just a few as the site is new!
Funnily enough at Lingora, we are looking to expand the site and see if people would be interested in the following:
Do you think language (the example is in the case of the English language, but this applies to all languages) learners would like to know exactly how the pronunciation, syllable stresses and phonemes differ, depending on whether a Scottish, Irish, Canadian, South African, North American or Australian person is speaking?
Currently, there are no sites which provide regular audios of people reading out the same texts in different dialects/accents, along with an analisis of how they differ.
I would love it if you could let me know what you think of this concept.
I use LingQ everyday. I listen to podcasts in Portuguese and read the transcripts carefully to ensure I understand all of the vocabulary and grammar. I can also, if I want, get my writing corrected by native speakers. There is also a forum on LingQ where I can talk about a wide variety of topics, whereas this is not available on Lingora.
Lingora, at the moment is much simpler. Users are sent a text to read out (to their email address on a weekly basis) along with some questions to answer. Then, they wait for native speakers to give them specific, custom advice about how exactly they can improve their accent, pronunciation (often of specific words), intonation and accuracy. In my case, this week I read out a text in Portuguese about Portugal winning the Euro 2016 tournament. I am waiting for native portuguese speakers to tell me exactly what I need to do to improve. Lingora makes sure the texts are about relevant, entertaining topics.
I think we can all agree that LingQ is way more comprehensive than Lingora. However, Lingora is simpler in the sense it is ONLY meant for language learners who want specific advice from native speakers about how they can improve at speaking a foreign language.
As an avid language learner, I will continue to use the two systems on a regular basis.
Lingora is extremely new, so there is not a lot of information out there about it.
What I can tell you is that Lingora costs nothing! It is a free, community driven site. (Later on, it will generate income by having language tutors publish advertisements on the site, and learners will be interacting with them. Also, as stated in Lingora’s terms and conditions, you have the right to cancel your account at any time and all of your personal details will be deleted from the database. UK law (where Lingora is based )is extremely strict about things like this, so you would have little to worry about)
You are right to be very cautious about giving your email and personal details to a site you do not know a lot about. I am just like you as have been careless in the past and suffered the consequences.
What I will tell you is that Lingora is a great place to come if you want to know (from interacting with native speakers) exactly how you can improve at speaking a language you are learning in terms of your accent, intonation, pronunciation and accuracy. If you want to have this information recorded so you can review it on a regular basis and ensure you are acting on the feedback you get from native speakers, then I am sure you would enjoy being on Lingora.
Later on, there will be a lot more information about Lingora on the web. This will include reviews.
As I said to mikebooks, Lingora is extremely new so that is why there is not a lot of reviews about it on the internet.
To go over how Lingora works:
*Lingora costs nothing!
*It is a free, community driven site.
*Later on, it will generate income by having language tutors publish advertisements on the site, and learners will be interacting with them.
Once there are more reviews and information about Lingora I will definitely let you know. Also, we are well aware that the “About Us” page is not at all comprehensive. We will be looking into this very soon.
Yes, the site is just a couple of months old but it will remain a free, community-driven site forever.
Please do let me know any feedback you have about Lingora - negative or positive. It is vital we listen to people who are registered on the site and act on their feedback.
Thank you for the information- that is the kind of info. someone visiting your website would like to know. While i am not interested in having someone critique my speaking, i am sure many other language learners are. Good luck.
Thanks very much for that honest reaction, Wulfgar. It is very much appreciated. We will be asking more people what they think of the name “Lingora” over the coming months.