The Elhuyar Foundation creates a mobile app to learn Basque language
2011/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
The Elhuyar Foundation has presented the application to start learning the Basque language through the mobile phone. Moblang is one of the applications created within the framework of the European project in which international organisations have been working for two years.
The application teaches the user how two thousand basic words and phrases of a specific language are expressed. In fact, "learning words is the first thing to do when starting to learn a language, according to pedagogical theories of linguistic learning. Then, when we have mastered a minimum vocabulary, we start learning grammar," explains Danel Solabarrieta of the Elhuyar Foundation.
As an application for mobile use, "those who want to start learning Basque can do so at any time in a simple and pleasant way. In fact, the application is designed to be used in short times that we do not use at all a day, for example when we expect them to call us at the dentist's office," said Solabarrieta. As a multimedia application, "it helps to memorize those two thousand phrases that must be learned at first, since through audio, image and exercises you learn faster than with the text".
In addition to the Basque language, "we have created applications to learn Albanian, Greek, Turkish and Gaelic", said Yiannis Laouris, director of the Institute of Neuroscience and Technology of Cyprus (project leader, "but can be adapted to any other language". The application in Basque has been the responsibility of the Elhuyar Foundation.
At the moment they will be available for mobile by running Java applications and receiving micro SD cards. However, they intend to adapt the apps for iPhone, Android and other smartphones.
