We want to find technology that genuinely benefits us in our real lives, so every week we will be trying to find answers to everyday problems. So if you have any experiences to share, please let us know.
With many people travelling to visit friends and family this Christmas (or escaping to go on holiday) perhaps it’s worth picking up a few phrases in a different language. So, this week’s question is, can technology help you to learn a new language?
We’re looking for any Apps, Gadgets or websites that could support or inspire.
We’ll be reporting back next week on what people have found the most beneficial.
If you have any experience to share, or if you have a problem you would like to get community advice on then please let us know.
Better 
I started out with Duolingo about three years ago I think. Probably I found out about Memrise through a LifeHacker post about language apps.
I think Duolingo has improved since I first started out. There is more variety in learning from Duolingo versus to mostly vocabulairy in Memrise.
However, I’ve been using Memrise a lot since I like that you can download a course for offline use. Memrise is like a flash card system where its focus is on repetition. It is somewhat mindless but I actually like it and I don’t mind as it helps me memorize (as I don’t think I’m good at memorizing).
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I have used Duolingo app and also Memrise app. Busuu is another company that is popular but charges an annual fee compared to the other two services being free. I liked both Duolingo and Memrise – the former was more fun to use but had a rather odd choice of vocabularly suggestions; for example I knew how to say I was talking to a bear before I know how to order meal! Memrise was a little ‘drier’ in experience but vocab suggestions more tied to real-life experience; customer support was very tardy though. Lastly, have yet to find a service that can easily help with learning character-based languagues such as Chinese, Japanese or Arabic.
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