Beelinguapp

Last updated

Beelinguapp
Beelinguapp.png
Type of site
Language Learning
Available in
Multilingual
  • English
  • French
  • Spanish
  • German
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Turkish
  • Arabic
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Italian
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Hindi
Created by David Montiel
URL www.beelinguapp.com
Launched1 September 2017;6 years ago (2017-09-01)
A screenshot of Beelinguapp showing English and Spanish simultaneously Beelinguapp screenshot.png
A screenshot of Beelinguapp showing English and Spanish simultaneously

Beelinguapp is a language-learning mobile application. It works by showing a text to the user in two languages simultaneously, allowing the users to use their native language as a references. It also works as an audio book, where users can listen to a recording of a voice reading a text while at the same time a karaoke style animation moves through the text in both languages. The app offers different kinds of texts across 12 languages; with additional languages in development. Beelinguapp app is available on Android [1] and iOS. [2]

Contents

History

Beelinguapp's creator, David Montiel, born in Mexico and located in Berlin, Germany, had been having difficulties reading texts and listening to audio books in German. When confronted by a word he still did not know, he realized it was too much of a problem to look for it in the dictionary and figure out which of the definitions suited better in the text. This is how the idea of a text in two languages simultaneously was born. One year after its conception, in September 2016, Beelinguapp went live.

Learning method

Beelinguapp works under two concepts it calls "Side by Side Reading" and "Karaoke Reading". The "Side by Side Reading" shows the user a text in a split screen in two languages side by side, the idea being that the user reads a text in the language being practiced but can always use their native language as a reference. "Karaoke Reading" means that the audio will be playing while the user is reading and a karaoke-style animation will be shown in both the learning and reference languages.

Initial financing and early recognition

In December 2016, Beelinguapp opened a Kickstarter campaign [3] to receive financing for the development of the iOS version of the app and the translation of more stories. By January 2017 the campaign was successful and the development of the iOS version started. In February, 2017 it was featured in the Huffington Post as one of the best 10 Kickstarter project of 2016. [4] Beelinguapp has been featured in Google Play's "Editor's Choice" section, where they recommended 5 language learning apps in the market from around the world [5] and has been named in news articles and blog posts among the best tools to learn Spanish [6] and German. [7] In May, 2017, Beelinguapp was certified by Mike Sharples and the Educational App Store and added to the Educational App Store Catalog. [8] On June 6, 2017, The Mexican newspaper El Universal wrote a featured article about Beelinguapp in both the online site and its printed version. [9] On June, 2017 it was selected by Google Play as an "Editor's Choice" app.

Business model

Beelinguapp has several texts of different kinds, such as fairy tales, science texts, excerpts from novels, short stories, popular stories, and every week more texts are added. Some of these texts can be unlocked by in-app purchases or by subscribing to the service.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Translate</span> Multilingual neural machine translation service

Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, as well as an API that helps developers build browser extensions and software applications. As of 2022, Google Translate supports 133 languages at various levels; it claimed over 500 million total users as of April 2016, with more than 100 billion words translated daily, after the company stated in May 2013 that it served over 200 million people daily.

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Play</span> Digital distribution service by Google

Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store or Play Store and formerly Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives, as well as ChromeOS, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit (SDK) and published through Google. Google Play has also served as a digital media store, offering games, music, books, movies, and television programs. Content that has been purchased on Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Books can be accessed on a web browser and through the Android and iOS apps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft SwiftKey</span> Virtual keyboard app

Microsoft SwiftKey is a virtual keyboard app originally developed by TouchType for Android and iOS devices. It was first released for Android in July 2010, followed by an iOS release in September 2014 following Apple's implementation of third-party keyboard support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Keep</span> Note-taking service developed by Google

Google Keep is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms and Google Sites. Google Keep is available as a web application as well as mobile app for Android and iOS. The app offers a variety of tools for taking notes, including texts, lists, images, and audio. Text from images can be extracted using optical character recognition and voice recordings can be transcribed. The interface allows for a single-column view or a multi-column view. Notes can be color-coded and labels can be applied to notes to categorize them. Later updates have added functionality to pin notes and to collaborate on notes with other Keep users in real-time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Sheets</span> Cloud-based spreadsheet software

Google Sheets is a spreadsheet application included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. Google Sheets is available as a web application; a mobile app for: Android, iOS, and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS. The app is compatible with Microsoft Excel file formats. The app allows users to create and edit files online while collaborating with other users in real-time. Edits are tracked by which user made them, along with a revision history. Where an editor is making changes is highlighted with an editor-specific color and cursor. A permissions system regulates what users can do. Updates have introduced features that use machine learning, including "Explore", which offers answers based on natural language questions in the spreadsheet. Sheets is one of the services provided by Google that also includes Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Play Books</span> Digital distribution service for ebooks

Google Play Books, formerly Google eBooks, is an ebook digital distribution service operated by Google, part of its Google Play product line. Users can purchase and download ebooks and audiobooks from Google Play, which offers over five million titles, with Google claiming it to be the "largest ebooks collection in the world". Books can be read on a dedicated Books section on the Google Play website, through the use of a mobile app available for Android and iOS, through the use of select e-readers that offer support for Adobe Digital Editions, through a web browser and reading via Google Home. Users may also upload up to 2,000 ebooks in the PDF or EPUB file formats. Google Play Books is available in 75 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Play Newsstand</span> Defunct aggregator and digital newsstand

Google Play Newsstand was a news aggregator and digital newsstand service by Google. On May 8, 2018, Google announced at Google I/O that Google Play Newsstand was being amalgamated with Google News. Launched in November 2013 through the merger of Google Play Magazines and Google Currents, the service let users subscribe to magazines and topical news feeds, receiving new issues and updates automatically. Content was offered for reading on a dedicated Newsstand section of the Google Play website or through the mobile apps for Android and iOS. Offline download and reading is supported on the mobile apps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Docs</span> Cloud-based word processing software

Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Docs is accessible via an internet browser as a web-based application and is also available as a mobile app on Android and iOS and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS.

Smigin is a conversation-based language learning platform available online and as a mobile application for iOS and Android. As of March 2016, Smigin has two products: Smigin, a language-learning website and Smigin Travel, a mobile translation app. Smigin's language learning site offers 4 different destination languages across 3 source languages, with several languages in development. Smigin Travel, exclusively designed for the mobile interface, is available on iOS and Android in 11 languages with users in over 175 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Allo</span> Instant messaging app by Google

Google Allo was an instant messaging mobile app by Google for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems, with a web client available in some web browsers. It closed on March 12, 2019.

Oswald Labs is a Dutch-Indian based accessibility technology company that builds products for individuals with disabilities. It specializes in enterprise web accessibility, offers smartphone apps, and also runs a startup accelerator. It was established in 2016 by Anand Chowdhary, Nishant Gadihoke and Mahendra Raghuwanshi after their product, Oswald Extension, won an event at the AngelHack hackathon in New Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puffin Browser</span> Web browser

Puffin Browser is a remote browser developed by CloudMosa, an American mobile technology company founded by Shioupyn Shen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hello English</span>

Hello English is an English language-learning application, which allows users to learn the English language through interactive modules. It functions on a freemium pricing model. The app is available on Android, iOS, Windows and Web.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amikumu</span> Mobile application for finding people nearby that speak a given language

Amikumu is a cross-platform app for smartphones which can be used to find people nearby who speak or learn the same languages as the user. The app was launched for Esperanto speakers on 22 April 2017 and for speakers of all languages during LangFest in Montreal on 25 August 2017. On 9 August 2018 Amikumu had members in more than 130 countries speaking 588 languages.

Mondly is an educational technology company that develops a freemium language learning platform which includes a website and apps with free and paid courses for 33 languages. Mondly is also a pioneer in VR Education, with its most recent launch on Meta Quest being in the top 10 VR apps worldwide. Starting May 2022, Mondly became a part of Pearson.

Crowdsource is a crowdsourcing platform developed by Google intended to improve a host of Google services through the user-facing training of different algorithms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tandem (app)</span> Language exchange app

Tandem is a language exchange app on iOS and Android that connects language learners with native speakers. Members can search for language exchange partners to talk to by either text or voice chat. As of October 2023, the app supports more than 300 languages, including 20 sign languages, 20 indigenous languages and six fictional ones, such as Mandalorian or Klingon.

Read Along, formerly known as Bolo, is an Android language-learning app for children developed by Google for the Android operating system. The application was released on the Play Store on March 7, 2019. It features a character named Dia helping children learn to read through illustrated stories. It has the facility to learn English and Indian major languages i.e. Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Urdu as well as Spanish and Portuguese. It basically uses text-to-speech technology, through which the character named Dia reads the story, as well as speech-to-text technology, which mechanically identifies the matches between the text and the reading of the user. The story of Chhota Bheem and Katha Kids was added in September 2019. In April 2020, a new version of the application was released. In September 2020, it added Arabic language to its language option. A web version was launched in August 2022.

References

  1. "Beelinguapp: Learn Languages". Google Play. October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  2. "Beelinguapp: Learn Languages with Audiobooks". Apple App Store. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  3. "Beelinguapp: Learn any Language!". Kickstarter. December 12, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  4. "10 Kickstarter Projects That Make 2017 Better Than 2016". Huffington Post. February 5, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  5. "Talk the Talk With These 5 Language Learning Apps". Google Play. May 1, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  6. "5 Best Android Apps to Learn Spanish in 2017". thedroidguy. May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  7. "Language learning apps: The best tools to master German". The Heureka. April 5, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  8. "Beelinguapp: Learn Languages". May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  9. "App Mexicana triunfa en Alemania". June 3, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2017.