TECHNOLOGY LEARNING
Best language apps to help travellers click with locals
There are a number of mobile apps that tackle the language barrier problem
If you’re not careful about your pronunciation, it’s pretty easy to tell someone in France that you’re pregnant instead of saying you’re full. In Israel, you might ask someone to buy their daughter instead of buying a slice of bread. Saying you’re cold in German? It sounds a lot like saying you’re dead. Living like a local is all the rage for travellers, but speaking the local language is not always easy. However, there are a number of mobile apps that tackle this problem. For people with short attention spans, Drops is the best app. With no reading and typing required, it promises to teach 19 languages spanning from French and Spanish to Korean and Arabic. The lessons walk users through 120 word buckets covering food, drinks, numbers and hotel terms. And instead of showing flash cards with cheesy stock photos, the app features clean illustrations, all in white, set against solid-coloured backdrops. Whether matching pictures to their translations, unscrambling letters to practise sp...
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