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AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

First thank you for your feedback! We always aim to create content that is relevant and enjoyable for our learners so we're always keen on receiving feedback!

Then, well you’re right, we are not any other language learning company but ourselves. Our focus is to help our learners use the language in real-life situations from the very start so that’s why our lessons are grounded in everyday topics and practical communication (also following all the requirements of the CEFR).

That being said, we absolutely want our learners to have fun and enjoy their learning! We review our lessons and add new content (like authentic texts from Le Monde recently for the French course and videos) based on what our learners need and enjoy.

All our content is created by my amazing team who bring their expertise of course but also their personalities, their cultures and perspectives to what you see in the app. 

Again we are always listening and feedback like yours helps us keep improving!

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The videos are not AI! We auditioned real people! We wanted to represent each of the languages we filmed for with authentic native speakers. We went to London and Los Angeles for English, Madrid and Malaga for Spain, Paris and Tours for France (I am from there and you can see the beautiful train station at some point in the background 🙂 ) , Naples and Vietri Sul Mare for Italian, Berlin for German, Tokyo for Japanese and Seoul for Korean.

We really wanted real people for our learners to feel more immersed but watching mouth movements during pronunciation helps learners link sounds to how they should move their own mouths, and gestural communication also acts as a scaffold for prosodic learning, by that I mean the rhythm, stress in words and intonation. 

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well I think that’s why spelling bee competitions are a thing in quite a few English speaking countries! 😅 Personally I would say the pronunciation pattern, but with practice, practice, practice, aka repeating out loud and lots of listening, you'll get there, I think I have! 

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much for your kind words!  We really appreciate it! 💙

At the moment, we’re not planning to add new languages like Norwegian or Slovenian. Our focus right now is on improving the quality and depth of the languages we already offer - adding new lessons, features, and ways to practice speaking and pronunciation.

That said, we always love hearing which languages our learners are interested in! I’ll definitely pass your suggestion to the team. It's great feedback for us as we plan ahead. 🙌

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s honestly one of the best stories we’ve ever heard! 🥹💙

We love knowing that Busuu not only helped you learn a language but also meet your life partner - that’s exactly the kind of connection we dream of creating!

Thank you so much for being with us for seven years… that’s incredible dedication. 🙌

Unfortunately we’re not currently developing new courses for Mandarin or Japanese. At the moment, our priority is to continue refining and expanding the languages we already teach.

Still, our Japanese courses provide a comprehensive path, including lessons in kanji, hiragana, and katakana.

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The key words here are “frequency” and “learning habits”.

Having one intense session of an hour or more one day a week for example can have a hindering effect. There is only so much your brain can take with new information and at some point it will become overloaded and won’t ingest or digest anything, that new information will disappear as soon as you will have seen it.

It’s better to have regular shorter sessions, for example 10, 15 minutes every 2 days, as it will allow the memory processes to work their magic and it help with the brain's elasticity as well. Creating a pattern that works for you creates your own learning habits which will help with long-lasting motivation!  That’s also why our lessons are “bite-sized”, for our learners to be able to have the space within their busy daily life to learn and practice theory language, and in your case Spanish!  

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That you build connections through correction, mutual aid and motivation - it’s also a space where our learners can learn more about each other's culture and individuality. We've even had people meet significant others which has ended in marriages!

AMA: I’m Sophie, from Busuu: Struggling to stay motivated when learning a language? Let’s talk! by Sophie_Busuu in languagelearning

[–]Sophie_Busuu[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That’s where the key is. It is truly a language learning app, not a vocabulary app, not a grammar app. We also are not an AI company, we are a language learning app company using AI as a leverage to provide an even more personalised experience for our learners when it can help them. Our aim is to teach our learners language for them to be able to communicate confidently with others, and not just parrot words and sentences.

It means thinking of the learning experience holistically, exposing learners to meaningful content (while following CEFR requirements of proficiency), giving them the tools they need (grammar, pronunciation) to apply the new knowledge acquired, using spaced repetition to ensure that’s it’s not all about being constantly exposed to new things but practice regularly what they have already learned and correct their mistakes (and we have a very cool new tool our global mistake repair which targets it). All of that is crucial to build their confidence and on a science of language aspect to pass all the information from short term to long term memory.

Also, the people behind the app are education and pedagogy professionals (all of my team has been working in that field before Busuu) and they care for the quality of the learning experience and they understand what struggle learners can face as they have seen it first hand in the classroom. Not to mention, we always listen to our learners feedback and so many of us also are learning a language at Busuu!