Skritter.com has been on my radar for quite some time, but the need to sit at a computer and draw characters with my mouse is not what I consider an ideal learning experience. The developers were quite aware of this limitation, and have been burning the candle at both ends to create not one, but two iOS versions of Skritter. With the release of their Mandarin app on June 12, 2012 and their Japanese app on September 2, 2012, Skritter’s innovative approach to learning (and actually remembering!) Chinese characters has finally been given the modern, mobile, touch-based format it deserves.

Who Created Skritter?

Skritter was first created by George Saines, Nick Winter, and Scott Erickson, with Jacob Gill and Chris Clark joining the party later on. According to the Skritter website:

“George Saines, Nick Winter, and Scott Erickson roomed together at Oberlin College, and upon graduation in 2008, they decided that high-paying jobs suck, rice-and-beans startups rock, and there’s no reason why Chinese and Japanese should be harder than French. While Nick was waking at 3AM from a fever dream in Beijing and saw an insomniac friend scratching out surgical strokes to perform ninja combat surgery in a Nintendo DS game, he had an idea for a new, stroke-based handwriting system for learning Chinese and Japanese. Skritter happened. They realized that this was a bit silly, because who wants to write with a mouse or buy a Wacom tablet just to use Skritter? Well, thousands of dedicated users, it turns out, but still that’s always been a barrier for many people. You want to write directly on the screen, when you’re out and about! So they’ve spent the last year and a half making Skritter Chinese and Skritter Japanese for iOS, pulling in everything they’ve learned about learning these languages and making it better than ever.”

After putting both the Mandarin and Japanese apps through the paces, here is a rundown of what I liked best and what I feel can be improved going forward.

The Good

Unlike many language apps that look like rough drafts of an incomplete idea, the good folks behind Skritter have obviously spent a lot of time thinking their product through.

Free, Well-Designed iOS Apps

While Skritter is a premium service, they were kind enough (and business savvy enough) to offer the apps free of charge. The apps come in two flavors (Mandarin Chinese and Japanese), both of which are attractive, intuitive, and feature rich.

Excellent Spaced Repetition System

Any language app or system worth its mustard should incorporate “spaced repetition” (intelligently scheduled repetitions that help maximize retention by re-showing you information right before you are about to forget it), and Skritter delivers the goods. Unlike competing spaced repetition apps which rely solely on self-reported difficulty scores, Skritter requires you to physically write target Chinese characters on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad to demonstrate that you actually know them. This is especially important when learning kanji/hanzi since it is far too easy to self-report that you “know” a character when you have simply reached a level of passive recognition but not true mastery.

You can learn more about the specifics of Skritter’s spaced repetition system here and here, but in a nutshell, a given character will be shown again sooner if you struggle to write it correctly, and put off for a longer period if you produce it without any challenge.

“The problem with most spaced repetition systems is that they have no idea whether you remembered an answer unless you tell them. Many of them ask you to grade yourself on a 0-5 scale after each prompt, so that they can adjust your interval accordingly. Not only is that distracting, but it doesn’t have active recall built in. Active recall is the key to long-term memory: you have to come up with the answer yourself, rather than just see the answer on the flip-side of the card. Existing programs are spaced repetition for flashcards, not characters. That’s why we made Skritter.”

Ability to Test Writings, Readings, Tones, and Definitions in Isolation

There are heaps of Chinese character flashcard apps these days, but most are simply digitized versions of paper flashcards that only drill passive knowledge (sorry, simply switching from atoms to bits doesn’t automatically solve the problem). Moreover, two-sided flashcards only allow you to isolate two variables, usually with one side showing the character and the other side listing both the meanings and readings. Often times, you may find that you know the meaning of a character but not the readings, the reading but not the writing, or the writing but not the meaning or readings. With traditional flashcards, there is no good way to indicate which of these variables you struggled with. Not so with Skritter, which tests these three components separately, prompting you to write, pronounce, or define a character/word depending on which particular card you’re confronted with.

Non-Intrusive Handwriting Guidance

Skritter’s elegant handwriting recognition system not only checks whether your stroke order is correct, but also if you are writing a particular stroke in the proper direction and with the required “hooks” seen in some characters. If you are completely lost, simply tap in the center of the screen to be shown the next stroke in blue.

“With Skritter, you write, not trace. Skritter gives you immediate stroke-level feedback.”

Automatic Syncing & Ability to Study Offline

Whether you are learning on board your flight to Japan, trying to avoid data overages, or rocking an iPod touch and don’t want to have to stay glued to a WiFi hotspot, the ability to study offline is a must for any good language learning app.

Everything you do within the app is synced back to the Skritter server, meaning you can start studying on the website while at your desk and finish on your iPhone during lunch. Though I prefer studying via the app, I can foresee situations (such as when at work) where twirling away on your phone looks like slacking while discreet study on your computer can be taken for hard work on those TPS reports.

“No internet? No problem. Learn offline, automatically sync when connection returns.”

Vocab Lists From Popular Text Books

While it’s good to have the option to create some custom lists, having to create all your own study lists is a “pain in the app”, wasting valuable energy and time that would be better spent learning the characters themselves. With Skritter, you can simply download one of the many pre-made textbook decks, including my recommended character books for Japanese and Mandarin: Remembering the Kanji (original and 6th edition) and Remembering the Hanzi.

Ability to Customize Cards and Lists On the Go

You would think this level of customization would be found in most apps, yet I am often surprised how many apps require you to use the desktop version to create or edit flashcards. Skritter allows you to not only create custom lists within the app, but also edit the content of flashcards, change/add hints, and suggest corrections if you come across mistakes.

Full-Featured One Week Trial

Good copy and pretty screen shots can make any app seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but you won’t know if something is truly a good fit for you until you actually get under the hood and try it for yourself. Smart companies like Skritter allow you to try ALL their features during the trial, instead of showing only a “lite” version of the product. The idea, of course, is that you get hooked on the product and sign up as a paying customer once the trial ends. Given how well Skritter works, I have a feeling that many users will do just that.

Users can currently choose between four different payment plans (offered as in-app purchases):

• $9.99 per month (cancel anytime)

• Prepay $39.99 for a 6-month membership (=$6.67 per month)

• Prepay $69.99 for a 12-month membership (=$5.83 per month)

• Prepay $119.99 for a 24-month membership (=$4.99 per month)

And even if you decide to not pay for a membership, the good news is that you can continue reviewing previously studied characters for free (adding new words requires an active subscription).

“Web subscriptions work in the app and vice versa, but we can’t use conveniently auto-renewable subscriptions in the App Store, so we’re offering in-app launch sale prices on longer subscriptions up to two years. These are just in the app, not on the site, but if you want to grab the sale price outside the app, just email us. These sale prices won’t last forever.”

The Bad

Truth be told, there aren’t very many things to criticize about Skritter. Here are the only weaknesses my team of highly trained nitpicking squirrels could find:

Cost Prohibitive for Some Learners

At $9.99 a month, Skritter may be out of reach for some cash-strapped learners. This of course is true for any paid service, but it would great if there was a cheaper (or perhaps free) version with less bells and whistles. Then again, from a business point of view, I agree that it’s best to keep things simple (having too many price points has actually been shown to reduce not increase conversions).

If you are a truly starving student, consider asking your school to sign up for an institutional subscription.

Overly Picky Stroke Recognition

While Skritter’s stroke recognition system is generally quite impressive, there were times when it failed to pick up strokes despite being written in more or less the correct direction and location. Fortunately, the system shows you exactly how/where it wants you to write a particular stroke with its blue stroke hints, but this can cause a somewhat frustrating delay when you are already intimately acquainted with a character but simply fail to use proper penmanship (or should it be called “fingermanship”?).

My Verdict

I dig Skritter. I like that it was created by a small team of dedicated language enthusiasts, not a faceless corporation who cares more about pleasing shareholders than users. And while it’s certainly not the cheapest Chinese character study option, I feel it’s well worth the investment given the myriad benefits I listed above.

As Charlie Sheen would surely describe it:

“Other Japanese learning apps are cute kittens. Skritter is a fierce tiger.”

What do you think of Skritter? Give the app a try and share your thoughts in the comments.

Want 30% Off a Skritter Account?

My Master Japanese guide includes discount codes for many of my favorite Japanese language learning sites and products, including:

“I concentrated so hard that I stopped feeling pain.”

“I contemplated the untapped reserves of the human mind. The great hidden depths of the brain. I learned from it.”

After World War II, Michel moved to Los Angeles where he began a language school, continuing to refine his language teaching approach. Given his location and growing reputation for fast and effective language teaching, he went on to teach many Hollywood stars, including Woody Allen, Sofia Loren, Emma Thompson, Doris Day, Barbara Streisand, and Mel Gibson. But his star-studded résumé is not what impresses me; it is his inspired attitude toward learning that earns my respect:

“Learning should be excitement. Learning should be pleasure. And one should experience a constant sense of progression. And one would want more. That is learning to me. And a teacher is somebody who will facilitate and show how to learn.”

How the Michel Thomas Method Works

If you visit the Michel Thomas Method website, you will see a simple, only mildly marketing-esque slogan:

“No books. No writing. No memorising. Just confidence fast.”

This sums up the method fairly well. Much like the Pimsleur Approach, the Michel Thomas Method is completely audio-based. The learner is encouraged not to overtly memorize words and phrases; the brain should automatically internalize them if the teacher (in this case Michel) breaks the language down into sufficiently small chunks and then puts them back together in a sufficiently intuitive, logical, step-by-step approach. And that is exactly what The Michel Thomas Approach promises.

The Good

There is a lot to like about the Michel Thomas Method:

Available for Most Major Languages

The following Michel Thomas courses are currently available:

Now Available in iOS App Form

For those wanting to learn using 21st century tools, there is now a free Michel Thomas Method app for the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. Though the app and one lesson is free, you have to buy subsequent lessons via in-app purchases. This can actually be a benefit since you can pay as you go instead of shelling out money for the whole shebang at once.

The Bad

Even the best course has its downsides. Here are few elements of the Michel Thomas Method that I don’t care for:

Other Learners Can Slow Things Down

Although I liked learning Spanish alongside the other beginner students, it was sometimes a bit annoying when I was ready to move on and they were still struggling to get things right. This is one of the same reasons I don’t usually like taking formal classes: they move as fast as the slowest student.

Audio Only Has its Limitations

While I like the fact that course gets your ears and mouth used to the language first (many learners start with and get trapped in the written language), it would be nice to be able to go back later (only after completing each course) and see the words and phrases written out. Listening and speaking are definitely the foundation of a language, and Michel is right to prioritize them, but most learners will want to read and write the language as well. To help foster reading skills but without going against the method, perhaps the words and phrases from the course could be used in a fun, fictional story that reinforces what has been learned without trying to present them in a traditional, dry approach.

Cost is Prohibitive for Some

Although I think the courses are reasonably priced, especially alongside the inflated prices of Rosetta Stone, I know many learners who will have a hard time laying out the cash for these courses even at the steep discounts offered on Amazon.

Lots of Time Spent in English

Given how the method works, this is an inevitable downside, but it is a downside nonetheless. I have this same criticism of many language programs, courses, and classes, in fact, but unlike most courses, the positive results of the Michel Thomas Method far outweigh this limitation.

My Verdict

If you can afford the course or get a copy from your local library, I highly recommend using the courses for your target language or languages. I discovered his method far too late in my language learning journey and only wish I could go back in time and give myself this course.

The Language Master, BBC Documentary

The documentary shows Michel in action, teaching French to a group of British high school students who had either no previous exposure to French, or who had tried and failed. You will also learn more background about his experiences in World War II, and his failed attempts to get his method used in public schools and universities.

More than Words – The life and Work of Michel Thomas

Here is another documentary about Michel Thomas brought to my attention by a Language Mastery reader (thank you, Acutia!) It is audio only, but I think you will find it quite moving even without the visual component.

Common Misconceptions

Argument 1:

Chinese characters are really, really difficult; it’s easier to learn how to speak first.

Argument 2:

Chinese and Japanese children learn Chinese characters more easily than foreign adults because they already speak the language and therefore have more to attach the characters to.

Argument 3:

Most adult learners can get by without reading and writing; it is the spoken language that matters most.

Argument 4:

Most signs in China and Japan have Romanized Chinese and Japanese (i.e. Pinyin and Roumaji), so foreigners can get around without knowing Chinese characters.

Argument 5:

It takes a really, really long time. If it takes native Chinese and Japanese children all the way through high school before they learn all standard use Chinese characters, it will likely take non-native adults even longer.

Okay, on to the shredding…

Rebuttal to Argument 1

Chinese characters are not difficult if you go about learning them in an un-stupid way that exploits (instead of ignores) the adult brain’s full potential for creative thinking and association.

Rebuttal to Argument 2

Chinese and Japanese children don’t learn Chinese characters easily. They learn through pure rote memory (the same method Japanese teachers and textbooks expect us to use), arguably the most painful and inefficient way to learn just about anything. The difference is that Japanese children don’t really have a choice. Learn Chinese characters or fail school, let your parents down, and end up an unemployed looser drinking cheap baijiu or Ozeki One-Cup saké by the train station…

Rebuttal to Argument 3

The spoken language is indeed extremely important. And yes, many learners (especially the Chinese and Japanese themselves) focus entirely too much on the written word at the expense of their oral skills in foreign languages. But I cannot tell you enough how important literacy is in Chinese and Japanese:

• Reading opens up a massive pool of potential language learning material, including some of the world’s best literature.

• It allows you to read the transcript of things you listen to, a practice that creates new connections faster than a media whore on Facebook.

• Being able to read and write Chinese and Japanese makes you far more employable than only speaking the language.

• And hey, nothing impresses the Chinese and Japanese more than foreigners who can read and write Chinese characters. You shouldn’t let it go to your head of course, but you can channel that positive energy into acquiring more of the language.

Rebuttal to Argument 4

Pinyin and Roumaji are false friends. Yes, it may help you take the right exit off the highway or get on the right train before your Chinese characters are up to snuff, and yes, they are what you will likely use to type Chinese and Japanese on your computer or mobile device, but they are not a replacement for learning Chinese characters. Knowing at least the meaning and pronunciation of Chinese characters will allow you to read real Chinese and Japanese, live and work in China or Japan with greater ease, and darn it, just flat enjoy learning the languages a heck of a lot more.

Rebuttal to Argument 5

If you use the efficient, adult-friendly method I recommend below, you can learn the the meaning and writing of all standard use Chinese characters in a matter of months, not years or decades as is usually the case with rote memory.

How to Learn Chinese characters

So now that I have hopefully convinced you that learning Chinese characters is both worthwhile and not as impossible as often thought, let’s get into how to learn them as quickly, efficiently, and enjoyably as possible.

Use “imaginative” not rote memory.

Despite it’s common use, rote memory is a terrible way to learn Chinese characters, especially for adults who have better tools at their disposal, namely, what is called imaginative memory. The method, used in James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji and Remembering the Hanzi, involves creating unique, vivid, emotional, altogether wacky stories that help you remember the meaning and writing of each and every Chinese character. Instead of trying to remember a more or less arbitrary slew of strokes (ridiculously difficult) you just have to remember whatever story you created (waaaay easier). This may seem like an extra step to those just starting out with Chinese characters, but believe me, it will end up saving you heaps of time and frustration in the long-run.

Use spaced repetition.

Back in the 1960s, cognitive psychologists, linguists, and memory researchers proved what every elementary school student has long known: we forget new information really freaking fast unless it is repeated. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we remember information for progressively longer and longer periods of time upon each re-exposure. With this in mind, a number of language learning systems and flashcard tools have been developed (including Anki which I discuss below) that repeat target words, phrases, and yes, Chinese characters, in increasingly longer intervals. Just when you are about to forget a Chinese character, boom, the spaced repetition system puts in front of your face, urging your brain to store it in ever longer memory.

Study Chinese characters right before bed and upon waking.

Studying new Chinese characters right before bed is ideal because our brains consolidate new information while we sleep. Whatever you see or think about right before this neural housekeeping session has a better chance of sticking. Furthermore, I find it to be a rather relaxing practice that actually calms my mind and helps me fall asleep. Studying first thing in the morning not only solidifies what you learned last night, but also ensure that you get in some study time that day no matter how crazy your day becomes.

Take it slow and steady.

As in all skills (and tortoise-hare parables) slow and steady wins the race. You may be tempted (especially in the beginning) to rush through as many Chinese characters each day as possible. But you will soon realize that studying more kanji or hanzi everyday does not automatically equate to actually learning more. Take your time with each character. Make sure you have truly committed its meaning and writing to memory before moving onto the next.

Be consistent.

Pick a set number of chracters to learn every day (I recommend 10 in the beginning moving up to 30 as you get into the flow of things), and stick to this goal like super glue. Make a deal with yourself that you can’t go to sleep until you’ve learned your daily dose. Or allow yourself that special naughty delight (beer, chocolate, an episode of Dexter) only once you have reached your daily chracter goal.

Take it bird by bird.

It is all too easy to get intimidated (and depressed!) by Chinese characters when you focus on how many you still have to learn. The key is to focus not on the distance between here and your final goal, but just one (and only one) character at a time. This psychological tool is put into words best by Anne Lamott in her must-read book on writing and life, Bird by Bird:

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

Recommended Materials and Tools

Last but not least, here are my recommended Chinese characters learning tools. Before spending any time or money on any of these, however, make sure you are properly motivated to learn. Even the best tools in the world matter not if they sit on the shelf unused.

Remembering the Kanji 1

If you get only one Chinese character learning tool, this is the one to get. The subtitle to James Heisig’s kanji classic reads “A Complete Guide on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters”. And that is exactly what the book does; it provides a systematic, adult-friendly way to learn the the basic meaning and writing of all 1,945 standard use characters plus 97 additional characters for common people and place names. By design, book one does not teach you how to pronounce the kanji, a comparatively more difficult task covered in book two. This is perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Remembering the Kanji system, but Heisig defends his approach well:

“One has only to look at the progress of non-Japanese raised with kanji to see the logic of the approach. When Chinese adult students come to the study of Japanese, they already know what the kanji mean and how to write them. They have only to learn how to read them. In fact, Chinese grammar and pronunciation have about as much to do with Japanese as English does. It is their knowledge of the meaning and writing of the kanji that gives the Chinese the decisive edge.”

$34. 460 pages. Available on Amazon.

Remembering the Hanzi (Simplified or Traditional)

For Chinese learners, you can choose between two options depending on whether you are learning traditional or simplified Chinese characters. Regardless of whether you study traditional or simplified characters, keep in mind that there are two books, each covering 1,500 characters (for a total of 3,000).

$29 for each book (pages vary). Available on Amazon.

Remembering the Kanji 2

Once you have learned the meaning and writing of all standard use kanji, it’s time to tackle their myriad readings. Contrary to popular belief, this component of Japanese is far more arduous than learning to write the kanji themselves, but again, Heisig comes to the rescue with his second book, Remembering the Kanji: A Systematic Guide to Reading Japanese Characters.

Most Japanese kanji have two kinds of readings: those of Chinese origin called on-yomi and those of Japanese origin called kun-yomi. Kinder kanji have just a few readings, while other less friendly characters have dozens of variant readings, each with their own unique meaning. I’ve looked far and wide for alternatives, but this book still represents the most efficient way to learn all these various readings without going crazy or pulling a wakizashi across one’s gut…

$27. 397 pages. Available on Amazon.

Remembering the Kanji 3

For the eager beavers who complete books one and two and are still hungry for more, check out Heisig’s third book, Remembering the Kanji 3: Writing and Reading Japanese Characters for Upper-Level Proficiency. This volume goes through the meaning, writing, and reading of 1,000 additional characters needed for university study and specialized academic or professional pursuits.

$32. 430 pages. Available on Amazon.

Skritter

This is one of my favorite new iOS apps. Check out my review to learn more.

Remembering the Kanji iOS app

Until this app came along, I used to recommend James Heisig’s Kanji Study Cards, a complete (but enormous) set of cards designed for reviewing all the information covered in Remembering the Kanji 1 and 2. But no longer with the introduction of this life (and back!) saving app, which covers all the same ground and then some.

$4.99. For the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Available on iTunes.

Anki

Some people love flashcards, others think they are the root of all evil and should be banished to the whatever level of hell holds Hitler. I personally find them a useful addition to (not replacement of) authentic content like podcasts, blogs, television shows, etc. And when it comes to Japanese flashcards, there is no better tool than Anki, a name which literally means “memorization”.

Free for Mac, PC and Android. $24.99 for iOS. Download here.

Now Go Get “Kanjing”

Alright folks, you now have the tips and tools you need to kick kanji’s keister. Now get out there and accomplish in a few months what usually takes foreigners and Japanese children alike over a decade. Happy Kanjing!

Few learners are probably aware this sub-concious process goes on at all, but Arkady’s extensive experience learning languages, interpreting, and experimenting on himself and other learners have proven that it does indeed occur. As he points out in our interview, even many seemingly successful foreign language learners still translate to and from their native language, but can just do so at such a rate that they can’t perceive the process.

It is no secret that the vast majority of adult foreign language learners fail to ever reach fluency in their target tongues, and there are many theories behind this abysmal success rate. In Arkady’s view, there is one primary root cause: 95% of adults are “foreign language incapable”, unable to learn foreign languages easily (if at all) through traditional or even modern methods because their brains adopted logical (as opposed to visual) thinking as they matured into adults.

As the name implies, Language Bridge attempts to create a “bridge” over this logical-thinking barrier, turning off sub-conscious translation to and from one’s native language, while also fostering visual thinking in learners who have long since lost such an ability.

Language Bridge is currently available in the following versions, each available free for 6 months:

Listen to the Show

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Read the Interview

John Fotheringham: [0:06] This is Episode seven of the Foreign Language Mastery podcast. I’m your host, John Fotheringham. In today’s show I interview Arkady Zilberman, the creator of Language Bridge. For a transcript of this episode and more tips, tools, and tech for learning any language, go to languagemastery.com. Here is the phone interview originally recorded February 8th, 2011.

John: [0:33] Hello there.

Arkady Zilberman: [0:34] Hi.

John: [0:36] Good to talk to you again.

Arkady: [0:37] Thank you John.

John: [0:38] How have you been?

Arkady: [0:40] Oh, good. Working a lot on my method now and I published a few articles, prepared presentation for a round table discussion and there is good news, I have now found an investor and a marketing group.

John: [0:57] Oh, congratulations. Fantastic.

Arkady: [0:59] Yeah. So it’s moving, it’s moving.

John: [1:00] Yes.

Arkady: [1:02] I have also decided that we will now offer all versions of Language Bridge software free for six months so that both the students and teachers will have more options to try it and I hope that in this way I will get more testimonials. By the way, yesterday on that Kirsten’s blog, one user of Language Bridge has published his testimonial. His name is Mick and it’s a fantastic testimonial. I never met him, but he has given that his description of his experience and it’s a very unique testimonial because he used both, Pimsleur method and the Language Bridge method.

John: [1:59] I think it’s wonderful you were able to do the interview with Kirsten because I think she has a pretty established reputation now in the industry and I think she can help bring your work into the ears and lives of more people.

Arkady: [2:17] Yes, that is very helpful I understand, but however of course I also understand that there are problems because the linguists would prefer to use the methods which they know and it’s normal.

John: [2:35] Right. Let’s use that as our jump?off point then. Comparing Language Bridge with “the methods that a linguist would know.”

Arkady: [2:45] It’s different in that I think that cross?translation is the main barrier in learning a language. Here cross?translation is a very interesting term because as I describe it, it actually has nothing to do with translation.

John: [3:09] Right. We should add that you’re formerly a simultaneous interpreter. I think it’s important for the listeners to understand that you have that background.

Arkady: [3:20] Yes, actually I have a degree in science and I worked for nearly 20 years as a simultaneous interpreter in the former Soviet Union and during my work I made hundreds if not thousands of experiments and I have found that simultaneous translation is actually not using two languages, but using one language at a time. It sounds strange, but that was the foundation of the Language Bridge. [4:02] In other words, on your blog you have a guest post by Antonio and I remember it starts with, “Is your native language a help or a hindrance?” Now, answering your question I will most definitely say that it is a hindrance and here I will also say that although the statistics is that only five percent of people successfully learn a foreign language, only five percent.

[4:39] If this statistic is confirmed, for example, by the founder of Total Physical Response System, Dr. James Asher. And I was trying to find an answer to this question, why it is so that some people very easily learn a foreign language and most have great difficulty in it.

[5:07] I came to the conclusion that it’s because our native language becomes a barrier, especially in adults. In other words, we try to add a foreign language to the native language and that’s why actually when we learn a foreign language we use bilingual information that is we use two languages. Necessarily we use native language and we actually learn foreign words as a translation to and from the native language.

[5:45] We try to add, to say, English to a native language. In my case, my native language is Russian, so when I thought that if any Russian tried to learn a foreign language most of them try to add English to Russian and that wouldn’t work.

[6:04] It works only in very rare cases, only five percent. 95% have great difficulties. It’s interesting that I first noted it and I called it cross?translation, actually its subconscious activity when learning a foreign language you always use, maybe without even special efforts, it’s just subconscious, you don’t notice it. Here I can give you one example.

[6:38] Rosetta Stone, a very famous program, a great program, and they start showing you some pictures, to say, a horse, a table, and anything. And they then give the word for the picture and the word in English.

[7:01] The assumption was that if you exclude the native language from the learning process that you can learn as a child in my opinion it’s strong. I think it’s impossible because subconsciously, most people will subconsciously first see this word ‘table’ in their native language. In my case in Russian I will see that it is “stohl” and then they will see it as a table. This is very hard alleviate. We actually do have a special tool to solve this problem and at this point I want to mention the great book and video by Norman Doidge.

[7:59] He is a psychologist and a medical researcher and in his book he studied all scientists work for the last 50 years. Following them, he actually came to the conclusion that adults have great difficulties in learning a foreign language because of, as he calls it, “tyranny of the mother tongue”.

John: [8:31] Yes. I love that quote.

Arkady: [8:33] Yes. Actually that explains, I didn’t formulate it that way. I knew for many years and I tried to explain it to linguists. It’s very hard, by the way, to a linguist to understand it. It may be very hard for you, because linguists never had that problem.

John: [8:58] Well, see, this is actually one thing I think we disagree on, because my background is in linguistics, but most linguists that I know don’t actually speak a foreign language. I think the definition of “linguist” is very broad. You have a degree in linguistics, you’re a linguist, or are you someone who speaks one or many foreign languages, then you’re a linguist. [9:22] So, I think your definition right now you’re talking about is for the latter. Someone who has learned one or many foreign languages well. For that person, they might not understand why others have a hard time, is that correct?

Arkady: [9:37] Not quite. As a linguist I may call… let’s broaden that term and just tell any English teacher or foreign language, actually, teacher or those linguists who write books on the lessons, programs for learning a foreign language, because they never encountered that problem, it’s very hard for them to understand. They think that the cross?translation cannot be sold and so let’s forget about it. [10:19] That’s, well, the normal condition for any student, to overcome his native mother tongue tyranny. But then, if we agree on that, we may mention that briefly that in the history there were a few methods, which overcome this impediment and I mentioned in those articles on Kirsten’s blog that Callan method is one method, then the Crazy English if you know about that one from China.

John: [10:59] That was one that wanted to also talk about. My experience with the Crazy English method, I’m actually quite skeptical because it actually doesn’t seem to fit with other things you’ve said in that you talk about how the listen and repeat after me method is going to become extinct because it obviously does not work. I don’t see how that’s different from Crazy English. From what I’ve seen there’s a guy on the stage and he’s yelling out phrases and then the whole audience is just repeating after him.

Arkady: [11:28] Well, yeah, it’s very different and here’s why. First of all, it’s not learning its rehearsing. Someone had given a very good term. It’s not learning English. When you repeat in a crowd at that time, because you’re all together and you repeat at the same time, it’s very unusual activity and because of that your subconscious cross translation to and from your native tongue is turned off. [12:02] But neither the founder of Callan method nor Mr. Li, the founder of the Crazy English, didn’t know actually how it works. They came to it from the practical point of view. It works. So they have quite a number of followers, but of course it’s not the method which would be recommended to learn English in the stadium.

John: [12:30] I see. So your point is that that method turns off cross translation…

Arkady: [12:33] Yes.

John: [12:34] But it’s not enough. It’s not a complete way that you would recommend of actually going about it.

Arkady: [12:39] Yeah, of course. First of all, it cannot be used as a basis for the blended learning because there is another very important term and I think that in the future the blended learning when we have to help to learn English in china to 350 million people, young adult learners, then the blended learning probably is the only alternative. [13:08] The blended learning means that you have to use software with prerecorded lessons which a learner can use at home 24/7 anytime, anywhere and he will have also an option to sign up for some public classes maybe or if he can afford for private lessons. But most of them will use public lessons where they can ask questions, where they can solve their problems, where they can be tested and get the feedback of the results of their self?testing.

[13:50] So the blended learning, I think, is also the only alternative in my point for the future of meeting the demand, the gigantic demand, in learning English, which in that article is described as English mania. Probably you know of that term also.

John: [14:10] In my experience as a teacher I made every effort to try to deemphasize my role and deemphasize the importance of a teacher, emphasize the importance of the individual learner’s motivation, attitude, and choice of materials that they are interested in, which I think is something we agree on, but they were not sold. [14:30] It was very difficult to convince the learners that they actually don’t need a teacher or at least that a teacher cannot force the language into their brains. Only their brain can do that at a subconscious level.

[14:44] I think that that’s actually, in terms of perception, in terms of marketing that’s a major hurdle that I think all of us still have to overcome in addressing especially the Chinese market.

Arkady: [14:57] I totally agree with you, however, I think that first of all we have to select one point and maybe to direct students to that point. The point is, which we just briefly mentioned before, that we have to answer the question, “What is the main barrier?” [15:17] We have to explain the conventional…by the way, your presentation about the conventional methods, that is a great, great presentation. However, we should first solve that problem and the problem is we have to explain it, maybe demonstrate it, and then to give the tool that we must probably explain a little bit more.

[15:49] When we talk about simultaneous repetition it’s not clear enough because actually the essence here not in simultaneous repetition. The essence is that we use three actions at the same time.

[16:09] So a learner reads to say the text on the screen, the learner hears in their headset, necessarily in their headset, and repeats at the same time. By performing three actions at the same time the tyranny of the mother tongue is silenced. It is turned on automatically. There is no way and I determined it just experimentally. And thousands and thousands of customers already learned English now, especially most of them are in Russia, but now I try to bring this method to other countries, especially to China.

[16:51] That’s why I have already produced a software which I, at this point, even offer for free. This software is localized into Chinese, it’s localized into Spanish, into Russian, and one teacher actually localized it into a Czech language.

[17:11] So if you use those three actions at the same time the subconscious cross translation would be turned off. That is the main point and to explain that maybe that will change the attitude of Chinese learners because they know 4,000 words. Actually, every college graduate knows 4,500 words and he cannot speak English.

John: [17:38] Actually, they’ve memorized the translation of those words.

Arkady: [17:43] Exactly.

John: [17:44] They can see it on a piece of paper and know what it means, but if they hear the same word they won’t know what it is.

Arkady: [17:50] Exactly. So that should give a starting point.

John: [17:55] So I guess one of my curiosities would be from turning off cross translation and getting those three…well there is actually two forms of input and one form of output all done simultaneously, from that stage to actually understanding the meaning of what you’re saying or hearing. That’s something that I’d really like to understand in a more cognitive, linguistic sense.

Arkady: [18:20] I will explain how it is accomplished. First of all, when you do all three of those actions at the same time, and you are very clearly described it’s two inputs and one output, that actually activates your both right and left brain. Why you don’t have any problems because the program is localized. That means that everything what is there is in two languages. And although I say that we have to separate languages and your native language, mother tongue is there, but it is used, I would say in a different mode. [19:07] For example, if you start a new lesson you can read with your eyes in your mother tongue and imagine the situation because you do not pronounce the word. Actually when in the class I always even recommend to keep your tongue between your teeth like this so that you cannot pronounce the word.

[19:34] By the way, that opens your visualization again. You visualize the text. You do not read it or remember it. Then you immediately go to the next reel where you see the same text in English and you read it, you listen to it, and you repeat it. So you know what it’s about because you were introduced to the images of the lesson in your native tongue.

John: [20:04] Right. So the context is clear, but then once you actually get into the drills the idea is you’re not going to be translating word for word. You’re trying to build that new language center by using your mouth, your ears, and your eyes.

Arkady: [20:18] Exactly. Exactly. More than that. There is one great additional tool built into the software. Whenever you have a problem with the word or with the meaning of the word you can click on it with your right mouse button and translation into the mother tongue will appear, but only for 10 seconds. [20:42] So you will see it and the time is enough to create the image and because you hear this word and you continue pronouncing the whole sentence you even don’t notice that you got the image not the translation. You don’t remember translation. You don’t see it. You don’t work in it. It is given to open your…actually to activate your visual capability again and many learners have noticed that their even memory was improved because their visual capacity was returned back.

John: [21:22] Interesting.

Arkady: [21:23] So there’s no problem in understanding. That’s, again, a difficult part to understand because some teachers in those comments and everywhere they see a contradiction here. That I say that we have to silence the mother tongue and at the same time I give everything in two languages. [21:47] There’s no contradiction at all. I give it in a totally different environment, totally different application.

John: [21:54] Right. That’s something that I think needs to be very clear to the end user and to the teacher. There is two purposes here of the native language and the target. The native is there only for creating that mental context.

Arkady: [22:07] Exactly. Yeah, John, but we have to maybe go into some details and everything. We have to write about, we have to explain it, because even to a linguist first it’s hard to understand because it’s so different from what we use now. When you will read that testimonial of Mick’s, and it’s interesting he mentioned that he noted that sometimes while repeating after the speaker, he was one or two words ahead of it. [22:43] That is a very interesting observation made by many, many learners. Because when it becomes automatic, when the speech center of the target language, in this case English language, is formed and you see or hear the image, you are in the visual mode. The word appears on the tip of your tongue as if by itself.

John: [23:08] Right.

Arkady: [23:09] He was surprised. He couldn’t even understand where it comes from. I want to explain to him, to you, to everybody it comes from the language speech center in the brain, which is formed as a result of a three?action approach…

John: [23:27] Right.

Arkady: [23:28] …three actions at the same time.

John: [23:30] Linguistically speaking, it would also be called spreading.

Arkady: [23:33] There are two different types of spreading. One spreading you are talking about is actually the case when you still have both, your native language and your target language. Still the spreading can work there. Because there are many, many students who are learners who actually speak from this, I would call, “two?language center.” Because, there is no such thing, but it seems to them that they speak because they translate quickly enough.

John: [24:12] Right.

Arkady: [24:13] But it takes a lot of brain power…

John: [24:15] Yes.

Arkady: [24:16] …and very few can do it. Most fail and they just stop learning a foreign language because they cannot do it. [24:23] Now, the spreading when you have separate languages, when you actually do a new language speech center in the brain…by the way, it starts working even when you know 300 words. I just experimentally determined it, by many hundreds of students who have noted that after about seven or eight lessons they already feel that some of their expressions come to them automatically. So you don’t need much effort to pronounce something which you feel.

John: [25:07] I think even a lot of language enthusiasts, teachers, linguists or even our basic same camp we’re all on the same side of basically saying that the traditional way doesn’t work. But even on this side of the wall there are still, obviously, many subdivisions. [25:25] I think one of those major subdivisions is listen first, speak later, or speak as soon as possible. But I think, that as your method has proved and as many others out there have proved, the disadvantage of speaking soon has been highly exaggerated.

Arkady: [laughs] [25:41] Not only exaggerated, but it’s not quite true because…I think you were one of the first who mentioned that one of the main reasons of the conventional methods didn’t produce desired results is because they considered foreign languages as information…

John: [26:06] Yes.

Arkady: [26:07] …although it is a skill.

John: [26:08] Yes.

Arkady: [26:09] But if it is information, and you base all your research on this assumption that it is information, then we have a lot of problems here. I would like here to mention one of the most, I would say, scientifically based methods in the world, and that is the Pimsleur method. You very correctly describe it that it was introduced in 1967 in a most scientifically based paper. [26:46] But, the Pimsleur method, a very scientific method, was correct because at that time there was only one theory, one assumption that a foreign language is information. If you consider it as information, his method is right.

[27:09] But if you consider it that it is a skill, and you have to separate…you have to salvage his mother tongue, and you can actually very quickly, in a few months, you can start forming a new language speech center, and you can learn a language in less than a year and be absolutely proficient in it. Then his method becomes obsolete.

[27:36] It doesn’t meet the current level of knowledge. A foreign language is a skill. If you learn it as a skill, then his famous graduated interval recall theory is not applicable any more. It’s not information.

John: [27:56] Right.

Arkady: [27:57] If you remember, once again, that learner Mick he said he was keeping learning Pimsleur three times in a row; all three levels, and he was keeping forgetting it. Why, because as information, especially bilingual information, it’s our protective mechanism. We are doomed to forget everything while in 30 days 90 percent of information is lost. Especially information which was not used. So that is the catch?22.

John: [28:34] I think that’s why so many of these people continue to be frustrated. Despite so much effort, they still fail.

Arkady: [28:43] Exactly.

John: [28:44] What is it they’re failing at? They’re failing at a mission impossible, which is…

Arkady: [28:49] Yes.

John: [28:50] …memorize an almost infinite number of facts…

Arkady: [28:53] Yes.

John: [28:54] …about an organic system which is not fact based.

Arkady: [28:57] You know that Chinese learners are very motivated. They are very capable. They are learning English maybe four hours a day and still no result because the system is wrong. Now, why it is wrong is because you can memorize words, and they do memorize words, but speech is a subconscious process where memory doesn’t play practically any role.

John: [29:27] Right.

Arkady: [29:28] We confuse two different processes. When we speak, we do not…how to say a subconscious process…

John: [29:37] Yep.

Arkady: [29:38] …we do not recall words. We do not use memory. The words appear on the tip of our tongue called forward, if you will, by the image, by the feeling, by association. We speak in chunks. Another interesting point that in language we do not learn words at all. A separately taken word doesn’t have any meaning. We learn by chunks, by sentences.

John: [30:12] Absolutely. An attempt to memorize English or any language through linear memorization of individual words is doomed to failure.

Arkady: [30:20] Yes, but, nevertheless, that’s all of what we do, and that’s very strange. And actually to me, it’s very painful even to observe it because it seems to me so illogical.

John: [30:34] It’s illogical from the point of view of what works to learn a language. It’s very logical from the point of view of what’s easiest to teach and test in a formal setting. [laughs]

Arkady: [laughs] [30:47] Yes, I understand it.

John: [30:49] I think the only thing that ultimately will work is to show people that it does work. I think the comment you had from Mick…

Arkady: [30:55] Yes.

John: [30:56] …that’s exactly what you’re forgetting, it’s people that have actually used it and said, “Wow, it actually works.”

Arkady: [31:04] John, I have hundreds and hundreds of such testimonials. Some of them are on the website. What is interesting that I received actually, in the form of a testimonial, a whole essay from one of the Chinese learner. He told me that he came to Canada to continue his education. When he came here, after being the best student in China, after having the highest score in all those certificates which are necessary to graduate, he came to Toronto to find out that he doesn’t understand English and he cannot speak English. [laughs]

John: [31:59] Yep.

Arkady: [32:01] And he was shocked.

John: [32:03] Yeah.

Arkady: [32:04] He started to look for the cure. He was lucky. He found Language Bridge. He started using it. It helped him, and in response, he sent me his testimonial. What’s also interesting is in his essay he described that actually simultaneous repetition was used for centuries in Asian culture for different things. Not only for martial arts…

John: [32:33] Yeah.

Arkady: [32:34] …for learning music, for learning mathematics, for learning how to sing. For many, many things it was used there for centuries. So they’re very well familiar with it. Somehow, in our culture we never came to this. I came across it by pure chance because I worked as a simultaneous interpreter. That’s why I came to it. But actually this approach has a lot of history behind it. It has a lot of logical explanation and rationality, I would say. It is a scientific approach.

John: [33:18] It’s a human approach, I would also say, in that it mimics how we actually learn all of our physical skills.

Arkady: [33:28] Exactly.

John: [33:29] You mentioned martial arts, and I often use that analogy. Can you imagine trying to teach somebody how to perform a certain movement by explaining you need to bend your elbow at 45 degrees…

Arkady: [laughs] [33:41]

John: [33:42] …and apply 24 kilograms of force, and shift the weight from your… But that’s exactly how we try to teach a language. It’s absurd.

Arkady: [33:51] Yes, yes, and you know what? Actually, I have used a few times this phrase, that when you start learning and teaching by Language Bridge, then all your students become language?capable again. And here, let’s come to that point again and maybe elaborate on that a little bit more. That you were going ask me about that…

John: [34:16] Yes.

Arkady: [34:17] I just remind you about that 95?5 percent ratio. What is that?

John: [34:21] That’s one thing you bring up often, is that 95 percent of adults are “foreign language incapable.” And I think my key point, and this is something that much of foreign language mastery is about, is that, yes indeed, obviously, 95 percent, or I would even say higher in many populations, percent of adults fail to learn a foreign language to fluency. Absolutely, there’s no argument there. [34:51] However, why is that the case? I think that’s where we might slightly differ in our views. I do agree that cross?translation is a huge part of it, no doubt. But I think I ascribe attitude, motivation, and what materials you use as also very large percentages of that. And a lot of this is, of course, experience. A lot of it is anecdotal. But some of it is scientific, but it’s hard to nail down any of the effective factors in language learning scientifically. I mean, is the only way to… [overlapping discussion]

Arkady: [35:30] No, no, John, I cannot agree with this, and here is why. If you talk about motivation, then you cannot find more motivated people than Chinese learners…

John: [35:42] Well, motivation…

Arkady: [35:43] …and they have the greatest difficulties.

John: [35:45] Absolutely. But when I say attitude, I don’t just mean only motivation. I don’t think those are synonymous. I think motivation is one subset of attitude. But when I talk about attitude, I mean attitude towards language learning, attitude towards one’s self?identity, attitude in terms of, do you think you can actually learn a foreign language? [36:04] I want to put China aside for a moment, because I think they are, absolutely, they are very motivated. I’m talking more about North American learners of Japanese, or North American learners of Chinese or other languages. And I think across the board, most of them do believe, A, languages are hard. They think that they cannot learn a foreign language, which is a big part of the support of saying that they’re language?incapable. I think a lot of that’s a self?fulfilling prophecy, where you say, “Oh, I can’t do this,” and then, of course you can’t.

[36:35] But I think we’re parsing hairs here. We agree that no doubt, 95 percent of people fail. Whether that’s because it’s attitude, or because it’s method only, who knows? I think we could probably argue all day about it. I’m more interested in the solution.

Arkady: [36:49] And John, OK, I heard what you said, but let me give my point. And maybe if you will just listen and try to use more intuition than your past experience, just intuition and logic, maybe you will see it from a different angle. [37:13] I don’t believe that attitude and motivation is a very…it is important, but not crucial. It’s not of paramount importance, because they failed, and that is a statistical fact. And we already know that one of the main reasons is their subconscious cross?translation, or the tyranny of their mother tongue.

[37:37] Now, there’s another explanation, and maybe it will make it more easier to digest this new approach. Most people, adults especially, at the age of 18, and they become logical. What that means is, because we learn so many subjects in school , because we learn everything, we think everything, and because the ego at this point becomes our controller, everything compare to the past, to our past experience. And whatever comes into our field of vision, we evaluate according to our own experience. And so, we become very, very logical.

[38:28] Now, it’s just statistical fact that five percent of people remain visual. I cannot find explanation to this, but that is their nature, maybe their human nature, or that probability theory and the distribution curve. Those people who are very visual, they can learn a foreign language by any methods. That’s why you are a linguist, I am a self?made linguist, because we both are visual.

[39:07] We can learn, and I can learn any language in a very short time, because I am visual. And I actually determined it experimentally, because when I do simultaneous repetition, do you know what happens? I see what the speaker is telling me. I see it, I don’t hear it.

[39:32] And I can give you one case, and it looks like it was a practical case, like, anecdote. I knew very little German at that time, and there was a mistake in the program. And one of the lecturers turned out to be German instead of English. And I started to translate simultaneously from German into Russian, and I practically didn’t notice the difference, because it doesn’t matter to me.

[40:04] I don’t hear the words, I see the images. And I translated it, and then I started to think how it happened. I don’t hear the words, I see the image. So, those five percent are lucky people who somehow preserve that ability, and they can learn any language.

[40:30] Now, what happens? And that’s why I disagree with your approach, and it was a lot of published scientific articles about that…again, it’s because when their languages were information. Now, when it is more a skill, we do not have really research in this field. Because if you consider it as a skill, if you use a method similar to Language Bridge, when you turn off, you silence the mother tongue, then you become visual again.

And that is why a few times I have written about it, explained it in my lectures, in my [indecipherable 41: [41:07] 19] I.Q. classes, that this method restores your language capability. Any learner who follows the Language Bridge instructions becomes visual again. He becomes language?capable again. He can learn. Anybody can learn a language. And of course, motivation and attitude is important, but it is not a deciding factor.

John: [41:43] The point you make where anybody, regardless of their attitude, if they actually do this method will learn, I think that’s a key point.

Arkady: [41:51] Exactly, yes.

John: [41:53] I think, though, back to my point, to get somebody to spend the time to do it in the first place, that’s one of the first obstacles. That absolutely is going to be attitudinal. They have to be motivated, and they have to want to do it, and they have to believe it’s going to work, and I think that…

Arkady: [42:10] Yes, John, yes I understand. You are absolutely right, but you know what? And it would be difficult, but we should remember that any chain reaction of dramatic change in any field requires only four or five percent of a sample to believe. And the more we get such testimonials, and we’ll get them in hundreds and thousands, the more it will become popular. Besides, the Language Bridge software is organized in a very special way, and a very unusual way. You would never find such features, I will briefly now name them here, in any other software program. [42:58] For example, you can print out any lesson or any drill. You can transfer it to any mp3 player, and you can work on it not necessarily on a computer. You can work on it on your mp3 player, on a phone, anywhere, anytime. And besides, if you understand the fundamentals of it, you can actually take a lot of free resources on Internet. There are thousands, millions of free resources they are underused. Why? Because, students, learners, they don’t believe that they can do it.

[43:41] Now, we have to show it. We have to explain them why they could not, and why they can now. That’s what I try to show to you. And if I will be successful to show it to you, then maybe together we’ll be successful to show it to somebody else. That’s the chain reaction.

John: [44:03] Yes, I’m converted [laughs] .

Arkady: [44:05] Oh, great!

John: [44:07] I have no doubt in the efficacy. I think when you’re 99 percent agreed with somebody, then it’s interesting to talk about the one percent you disagree.

Arkady: [44:15] Yes, yes, and that’s a great pleasure, John, and that’s why I am very grateful now for this interview with you. Because I found that since you created that presentation about the conventional methods, and you are looking for something new, that’s why I was sure that you will be interested in this approach.

John: [44:38] I am indeed. Well, thank you for getting in touch and being patient with me getting back to you. And I look forward to talking again.

Arkady: [44:47] Thank you very much, thank you.

John: [44:49] All right, good luck. [music]

John: [44:55] For a transcript of this episode, and more tips, tools, and tech for learning any language, go to languagemastery.com.

More About Language Bridge

For more information about Arkady and Language Bridge, visit his site and check out his 3-part article series on Kirsten Winkler’s blog:

Spanish is one of my next target languages and I was quite excited when Amanda Moritz of Brainscape asked me to do a review of their new Spanish language learning app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

There’s no better excuse to study a language and play on my iPod touch than doing a product review!

What I Liked

Truth be told, I am not a huge fan of flashcards. I much prefer to just listen, read, and speak. But Brainscape does an excellent job with what can otherwise become a rather boring aspect of language study. Here are some of the app’s best features:

In App Training

The first time you use the app, it will help guide you through how to use it. For example, here is what pops up when you rate your first card:

You rated this card a 2. The higher your confidence, the less often you will see this card. Also, tips will occasionally pop up showing you how to get more out of the app.

Audio Files for Each Flash Card

One of the biggest problems with most flashcard systems (both paper and digital) is that they only focus on one skill: reading. With Brainscape, however, you can actually hear each word or phrase every time your review a card. This not only helps improve your listening and speaking skills, but also improves retention (brain research shows that the more senses you employ during study, the better your memory becomes).

From Words to Sentences

The app’s “Spanish Sentence Builder” does a good job of slowly building up your vocabulary from individual words into phrases that include a combination of previously studied words.

Excellent spaced repetition

As noted in The Science of Brainscape:

Repeating an easy concept too soon risks wasting your time, while repeating a difficult concept too late risks your having to learn it all over again. By employing user-controlled spaced repetition intervals, you can ensure that less familiar language is repeated more often, while better knows words won’t be repeated as often.

Usage Explanations on the card

Many flashcard systems only show you the key word and its meaning or pronunciation. Brainscape Spanish! cards also provide usage notes so you actually know how to use the new word or phrase.

Ability to delete cards as you go

You’d think that this would be an obvious feature, but I’m surprised how many flashcard apps don’t allow you to delete cards as you go, if at all. Brainscape also makes it easy for you to suggest an edit if you find any mistakes or missing information.

Specific topic decks

In addition to all the basic words you will need in daily life, the Brainscape Spanish! app also includes specific decks on a variety of topics, including business, food, medicine, transportation, technology, and geography.

Ability to sync the app with your brain-scape.com account

Apps are a great way to review languages on the go, but if I am at home or the office, I prefer the increased screen real estate allotted by a computer.

What Could Be Better

The following additions would be nice, but both represent rather costly endeavors, so I can understand if they doesn’t happen anytime soon, if ever…

Pictures

As noted in Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, “vision trumps all other senses”. Adding stock photography to the flashcards would not only improve retention but also make study more inherently more enjoyable. This would also require less translation, allowing the student to spend more of their study time within instead translating to and from the target language and English.

Sample Sentences on All Cards

Although I like Brainscape’s sentence builder approach (gradually progressing from individual words to more complex phrases), it would be nice to have example sentences even in the very beginning so you can start getting used to a wider range of Spanish vocabulary and structures. While you might not understand much beyond the target phrase or construction, I find that having this extra input speeds acquisition and improves enjoyment.

Like any language learning tool, the key is balance: if used in combination with other sources of language input and output (listening to podcasts, watching Spanish television programs, reading blogs, speaking with friends or a tutor, etc.), Brainscape’s Spanish! iPhone app is an excellent addition to your your language learning arsenal.

Brainscape Spanish! Press Release

iPhone app teaches you Spanish using “smart flashcards” and brain science

Brainscape’s researchers from Columbia, Yale, and MIT have developed a novel language-acquisition approach they call Intelligent Cumulative Exposure (ICE).

NEW YORK: When we think of using flashcards to study Spanish, we usually think of putting simple one-word questions and answers like “apple” and “manna” on 3×5 index cards. Not Brainscape. This small team of educational technologists out of Columbia University has leveraged the power of the iPhone to combine grammar, sentence construction, and audio pronunciation into an incremental and comprehensive language-learning experience.

Brainscape Spanish works in three simple, repetitive steps:

Brainscape asks you to translate a particular sentence (e.g. “I have two siblings”) into Spanish where the single underlined word is the only concept that has not yet been introduced in previous flashcards.

Brainscape reveals the correct translation (Tengo dos hermanos) on the back of the flashcard, and explains or annotates the new concept in smaller text. (e.g. Although the word hermano usually means “brother” when singular, the plural hermanos could mean either “two brothers” or “a brother and a sister”.)

Brainscape asks you, on a scale of 1-5, “How well did you know this?” which determines how soon that flashcard will be repeated. Cards rated a 1 would repeat often until you report a higher level of confidence, while 5′s are very rarely repeated.

The process continues to repeat one card at-a-time (with AUDIO accompaniment), at gradually increasingly levels of complexity, with previous cards being repeated on an as-needed basis, according to Brainscape’s machine learning algorithm. Interspersed with these sentence-building exercises are simple vocabulary enrichment and verb conjugation-practice flashcards which also employ a confidence-based repetition technique.

Brainscape’s founder Andrew Cohen has written an entire white paper about why the new method (which he calls Intelligent Cumulative Exposure) works so effectively. “The Input Hypothesis, the value of Active Recall, and the importance of Metacognition have been known for decades,” says Cohen, “but much of the advancements toward applying these principles have confined to laboratories. Brainscape is the first company to make these language learning advancements so absurdly convenient.”

Brainscape Spanish is currently a $40 iPhone/iPod Touch app but is available to try free on Brainscape’s website where you can also find other flashcard-based courses and even create your own smart flashcard decks. As of this writing, Brainscape has over 120,000 members, and it plans to create a web/mobile learning community that eventually encompasses the world’s entire body of knowledge as well as just languages.

But this is not necessarily a bad thing considering the myriad advantages of ebooks, especially for learners of foreign languages.

The Rise of eBooks

Here are a few reasons why the ebook is beating print books to a “pulp” (pun intended):

Lower Production & Distribution Costs

This allows for lower retail prices, putting books in the hands of more and more readers. And many ebooks are available at no cost at all, including literary classics no longer covered by copyright (e.g. Project Gutenberg) and new works that are free by choice (this is one of the common “freemium” strategies where an ebook is used for free marketing to promote other paid content or services.)

Read Anytime, Anywhere

You can literally carry thousands of ebooks with you on your mobile device or ebook reader. Language learning is then just a click away whether you are on the bus, a plane, or bored to tears in a meeting. And if you forgot to download books at home, you can always download more on the go via WiFi or even 3G networks.

More Time Efficient

Many ebook readers allow you to easily cut and paste words and even look up unknown terms using built in dictionaries. This can save the learner hours and hours, especially in ideographic languages that usually require looking up characters by strokes, radicals, or handwritten input.

So now that I’ve made the case for ebooks, let’s look at my two favorite weapons of choice for using ebooks in foreign language learning:

Best Ebook Readers

There are heaps of ebook reader devices on the market today (the Amazon Kindle, the iPad, the Sony PRS series, the Barnes & Noble Nook, etc.), as well as numerous ebook reader apps available for Android devices, iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, Blackberry devices, PCs and Macs. After trying out hundreds of different devices at last year’s CES and stealing…I mean “borrowing”…a few of my friend’s devices for further testing, here are my two finalists:

1st Place: The Amazon Kindle 3G

Available from Amazon.com (Kindle 3G: $189 USD, Kindle (WiFi version): $139 USD)

While I am a full-fledged Apple fanboy, I must give Amazon credit where credit is due. Despite serious competition from the Apple iPad, Sony’s various ebook readers, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and myriad other me-too products, the Kindle remains a hot seller, and my humble opinion, the world’s best ebook reader.

Here’s what I love most about the Kindle:

1) E ink is easy on the eyes and your battery.

Unlike the pixels used on computers and smartphones (which can wreak havoc on your eyes and zap your battery), the Kindle’s use of E Ink creates a reading experience pretty darn close to physical books, all while consuming very little battery life. They accomplish this amazing feat by employing millions of itsy-bitsy, electronically charged “microcapsules”, within which there are tons of little black pigment pieces and white (or rather, light gray) pigment pieces. Text is produced by causing the black pigments to run to the top of specific microcapsules, while the background is created when the gray pigment is forced to the top. The Kindle display is also much easier to read outside in the sun, while most other devices (including the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch) suffer from serious glare problems.

2) Direct access to the world’s largest book store pretty much anywhere in the world.

Users can wirelessly access over 750,000 ebooks, plus heaps of audiobooks, newspapers, magazines and blogs, in over 100 countries worldwide. And unlike the iPad, the 3G wireless connectivity is provided free of charge.

3) Great Apple and Android apps.

If you don’t want to fork over the funds for a Kindle, or you already own one but don’t feel like lugging it around all the time, you can always just download the free Kindle app.

Available for Android, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, PC, and Mac.

2nd Place: Apple iPad and iBooks

iBooks is a free download in iTunes. The iPad 2 is available at the Apple Store, Verizon and AT&T.

1) More than JUST an ebook reader.

My only gripe with the Kindle is that it is only an ebook reader. With the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, on the other hand, your device is only limited by the apps you download to it. I currently have about 100 hundred apps on my iPod touch, including Skype for calling tutors and language partners, Evernote for keeping notes of new words and phrases, iLingQ, etc.

2) Sexy, intuitive user interface.

The Kindle interface isn’t bad by any measure, but it pales in comparison to the rich, elegant design of Apple iBooks. The new “retina display”, available on the iPhone 4, iPod touches (4th gen), and likely the next vesion of the iPad, creates extremely crisp, vivid images, and makes reading text far easier than on lower resolution devices.

3) Excellent built in dictionary, bookmarks, highlighting and search features.

iBook’s built in dictionary, bookmarks and highlighting tools are a thing of beauty. To look up a term, you need simply tap the word and then click “Dictionary” from the pop-up menu. To highlight, you again just tap a word and then drag the handles to the left or right to select the words or sentences you want. Bookmarking requires just a quick tap in the upper right corner. Best of all, you can then quickly go back to your saved highlights or bookmarks using the table of contents tab. Also, you can use the search feature to quickly find all instances of a particular word (a very useful feature for language learners as it allows you to quickly see how a particular word is used in context.)

Getting the Most Out of Ebook Readers

As we’ve seen, ebooks and ebook readers are wonderful language learning tools indeed. But as ESLpod’s Dr. Jeff McQuillan puts it, “A fool with a tool is still a fool.” Here then, are some tips on how to best apply these amazing new tools.

1) Don’t fall into the trap of reading more than you listen.

Reading is an important part of language acquisition, and is an essential component of learning how to write well in a foreign language. But remember that listening and speaking should be the focus of language study, especially in the early stages of learning. It is all too easy to spend too more time with your nose in a book than listening to and communicating with native speakers, especially for introverts and those who have been studying for too long with traditional, grammar and translation based approaches.

2) Read an entire page before looking up unknown words.

Lest you get distracted and lost in the details, I suggest making at least one full pass through each page in your ebook before looking up unfamiliar words.

3) Choose books that are just a tad beyond your comprehension level.

By “comprehensible” I mean that you can understand about 70 to 85% of the text. Too far above or below this and you will quickly get bored and likely give up.

4) Use the Kindle’s Text-to-Speech Tool.

The Kindle and Kindle 3G can literally read English-language content out loud to you. Use this feature when you are doing other tasks that require your vision but not your ears, and as a way of building your listening comprehension. I suggest listening to a passage first and then reading to back up your comprehension.

5) Get audio book versions of ebooks you read.

While the Kindle’s text-to-speech tool works well, it can get a bit monotonous with its robotic pronunciation. For longer books, I suggest buying the audio book version the book, which tend to be read by professional voice actors, and are therefore far easier to listen to… Audio books are available from Audible, iTunes, and countless other site, and make sure to check out the free Audiobooks app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.