In the ’flat-world’ of Thomas Friedman, we travel more these days, for business, pleasure, tourism, spiritual quest, etc. as well as more people stay away from home, increasing the need to have apps that help them learn native Indian languages.
We travel more these days, for business, pleasure, tourism, spiritual quest, etc. And landing in a foreign country (like India).. where chaos and confusion rule the road, it becomes important for anyone to have that little edge, where IF they are able to read street signs, shop names, instruction booklets, product/item descriptions, etc...it goes a long way than completely depending on your host.
While the above is true for anyone wanting to learn the language newly, its a reverse quest for people of Indian origin, living overseas. People migrate to US/UK/EU/AUS for work (@30 million Indians worldwide), but still hold some of their values dear; like speaking in their native language at home. These languages are not necessarily taught in schools in those countries, and for young kids (especially toddlers, who pick up languages in a jiffy), having an app like Letter2Sound becomes vital. As it connects the sound to the letter that emits the sound, forming a foundation for quick learning.
With such demographic ironies in this world, having tools that allow us to smoothly learn a language become important. Letter2Sound is one such app that provides a learning tool to understand the basic building blocks of some of the Indian languages. Building blocks being: Vowels, Consonants & Numbers. This specific app (details below) is for Hindi (national language of India), but it is available in other languages as well (Sanskrit, Marathi, Bengali; Coming soon: Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada).
Letter2Sound is simple, straightforward and easy to understand. Simply put, it mimics the first language lesson taught in primary school. It sure doesn’t try to do too much and confuse new learners. This is visible in the features like ’Auto Play’ where users can play back the sounds of the various alphabets in a sequence. Doing this multiple times, reinforces the sound and makes its connection with the letter. The app also uses simple words in the ’Details’ screen. As we know tough words during the initial ramp-up to a language could prove a huge turn-off. At the same time, if the newbie start reading those simple words, it gives them the confidence and satisfaction to go on and learn more.
With the advent of devices like iPhone and Android, mobile learning is definitely taken to the next level. Animations, sounds, ease of navigation, etc all become critical to help users learn quickly. Letter2Sound uses these techniques and more to deliver one of the best app for Indian Language learning.
App Name: Letter2Sound (Hindi)
Languages Available: Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Marathi (coming soon: Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada)
Platforms: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (coming soon: Android & RIM)
iTunes URL: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/letter2sound-hindi/id424685964?mt=8
App Home: http://www.chikitsu.com/letter2sound
App Facebook Home: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Letter2Sound/204288519589846?sk=wall
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