Windows phones and language learning

[bazz2004]

I am considering getting a Lumia 640 as my first smart phone. One of my hobbies is learning a foreign language and the iPad is really helpful for this. It has been often said that Microsoft cannot offer anything like the apps needed to attract mobile customers. That looks to be true and my occasional use of a netbook running Windows 8.1 has disappointed in relation to apps available. Memrise and Duolingo are two apps that I recently discovered on my iPad and they are very good. The former isn’t available for Windows phone. Duolingo is awful on a computer because of problems with sound recording and speech recognition. It works after a fashion with the Chrome browser but the iPad is streets ahead of my laptop.

Has anybody experience of using language apps and feel able to make suggestions? At present a Windows 10 phone is looking much less suitable for me than an iPhone or Android device.

 

[sadman3]

Language apps are not really used on phones. Less than one percent of people use that function. would advise that you check youtube for assistance.

 

[Guest]

I must be missing something here. If my iPad with just wifi connectivity is helpful in assisting me to learn a language why not the iPhone or an equivalent phone with the same apps? A phone is more compact and is usable in more locations. It's quite likely that I have failed to register something obvious here. I am surprised at how many people cannot walk five yards without using their phones. I'm almost hoping you can put me off buying one completely. I can quite understand that those who are addicted to their phones are not interested in using them for this purpose. Also what is the relevance of YouTube in this context?

 

[bazz2004]

That was me in the last post. I had trouble logging in and posted as Guest.

 

[learninmypc]

In regards to your last question about youtube, If you wanted to learn the Philippine language https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=learn+filipine or whatever HTH?

 

[bazz2004]

It's unlikely that I'd be using a phone very often to watch video clips but I see what you mean. I think you'd need to be already using a phone and its apps as a language learning aid to answer my query. I'll try asking other students at the language class I attend. In every group there are those using new technology effectively. I've no intention of incurring additional monthly expenditure unless there's a clear advantage to owning a smart phone.

 

[DelJo63]

iPhone <> iPad (is not the same as)

1) websites should actually provide different content on these two devices
2) the usability for learning a new language can be quite different
3) learning <> a portable language translator

Wife and I traveled to Italy and desired at least some trivial vocabulary. We loaded a course on Italian to our iPad and away we went.

I would not expect an iPhone to == iPad.

 

[bazz2004]

I went back to my apps on the netbook running Windows 8.1 and the stuff is of poor quality. I've uninstalled just about all of them. One looked promising for learning vocabulary but failed to give the gender of the nouns which is rather important in French. It wouldn't record my voice either. Another had clips of a lady showing people around her house using relevant vocabulary. Unbelievably, she was carrying a baby which screamed non stop through the video clips. Microsoft need to be really careful with the apps they host. There's very little of anything and much of that is garbage.

Thanks everyone for the info so far and it's not looking good for my purchase of any smartphone. I think I'd rather buy a classy compact zoom camera than a smartphone.