Immersion is probably one of the best ways to learn a language. But we can't all jump on a plane and jet set around the world to learn languages. But one app is trying to bring that immersion to you. Flowlingo, available as an iOS and Android app, immerses its learners in books, music, and videos as a means of learning a new language.
Flowlingo has an impressively long list of languages available in the app, with more coming soon. That said, not all of them are fully immersive. At the moment, the only language that boasts all the features is Spanish. So, if you've been interested in learning Spanish, this app might be the one for you.
You can select your native language and the language you want to learn, and can then start browsing content in the latter.
In the case of Spanish, you'll find individual tabs for websites, videos (including music), books, and lastly a tab for words you're learning. For all other languages, you can browse websites in that language, and select individual words or entire paragraphs at a time to translate them.
How Flowlingo Works
A lot of the content on Flowlingo will be familiar to you but will appear in Spanish instead. For example, it includes links to popular websites from Buzzfeed and CNN to Wikipedia and Reddit. You'll also find familiar book titles, videos, and even covers of English songs in Spanish.
When reading a book, you can select your difficulty level from Basic to Max. With Basic, every word will be translated, while with Max, none of it will be translated.
When watching a video, you can listen and read along as the video progresses. You can also tap words to add them to your flashcards to save and review later.
When you review words you've saved, you can choose from a selection of images (some of which are sometimes not very helpful) as a means to help you recall the meaning of the word.
When reading an article on a site, select a word to see it's translation. That word will also be added to your flashcards.
Reviewing words you've learned is based on an honor system. You'll see a card asking you to guess what the word means. (You'll also see the image if you've associated a picture with that word). After you guess, tap Show Answer and the app will ask if you got your answer right, and you can tap Yes or No to keep track of your progress.
If you get a word right, you'll review it again after five days. If you get it wrong, you'll review it again after 30 seconds.
Flowlingo, is joining a pretty crowded space of free language apps to expand your language skills, but it's at the very least a great way to improve your vocabulary. The question remains as to whether it works as a standalone app to learn the grammar complexities of a language that is completely new to you---if polyglots are to be believed, with dedication and hard work on your part, it may be the best way out there.