Language learning platform Lingua.ly has launched a Web app that helps individuals learn a language on all browsers. Previously, Lingua.ly on the desktop took the form of a Chrome extension, but you can now choose between downloading the extension or just working within the app on a browser.
However, the Web app will gradually be replacing the Chrome extension for existing users to become the only option for desktop users going forward, a spokesperson tells us. Recently the company also launched an Android app that saw more than 100,000 downloads in the first month. An iOS app is coming by fall this year.
Lingua.ly provides users with a free dictionary and learning platform to highlight foreign-language words (currently only for English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew) and add them to a cloud-based account. Other than improved word highlighting features inside Twitter and email, the new Web app builds on this existing service by also recommending personalized content and practice exercises. It includes new gamification features too, such as a leaderboard for the number of words collected, and doles out points to encourage more word searches and practice exercises.
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More importantly, the web app brings Lingua.ly to educational institutions. The company has signed a deal with the largest textbook publisher in Israel, The Center for Educational Technology, to offer the technology to over one million students learning languages in the country’s public school system by September this year.
Headline image via CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images
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