Nowadays, foreign languages play an important role in work and personal life. The popularity of traveling is growing and many people are looking for a living abroad. Probably no one wants to understand each other on vacation, as they say "hands and feet", a friend of mine was dealing with the same problem and asked me if I would explain some basics of English to her and give some tips on words that could be useful to her on vacation. Thinking about how I would accomplish this task, I searched the Internet until I came across the Landigo web application. After researching it, I found out that even those who don't want to can learn a foreign language with it, so I decided to share my experience with you. What are the pros and cons of the app?
Performance
Landigo is a web-based online application that you can run on practically any device that has a web browser and access to the Internet, there is no need to install anything, just enter the address landigo.cz and that's it. You can easily add the application to the home screen of your smartphone and then launch it as a classic application. And who is the creator of the project? As the name of the application might already suggest, it is a well-known company Landi Multimedia, which has been involved in teaching foreign languages since 1990, surely everyone remembers Landi DVDs, which were very popular in their time. With Landigo you can learn English, German, Spanish, Italian or French.
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Who is Landigo intended for?
The Landigo app is intended for a wide range of people, from complete beginners to advanced users. If I were to be specific, English is available from pre-beginners up to C1 level, then the other languages offer the highest level B1, which are intermediate learners.
Languages for Survival - Learn the Basics in 100 Days
There is also a category in each of the available languages For survival, here you will learn the very basics that will come in handy when traveling - for example, how to ask for directions or make an appointment at a restaurant or shop. If you do just four exercises a day, you should be able to get by in 100 days.
How does it work?
Landigo is based on exercises that contain thousands of questions. However, if you only imagine the classic boring word completion, I have to disabuse you, because there are several types of exercises and a lot of other functions, in addition, there are also video courses available for English and German. V Landi believes that it is easier to remember words in association with a specific image, sound or situation, and the entire application is adapted to this.
Select the desired language and you will be shown individual levels, each of which contains different categories and it is up to you which one you choose. Step by stepto learn basic vocabulary, Grammar, for grammar practice or perhaps Idioms. In the category Conversation again, you will find countless topics that will come in handy in common situations - at the airport, in the store, when your car breaks down and many others, this section is the most useful in my opinion. Then you can also learn Phrasal or Irregular verbs.
When you choose your level and exercise category, the questions will start to appear directly to you. And now comes one of the main things that makes Landigo different from most other English learning apps, you can choose how you answer the questions. Classic is available Quiz, when you fill in the most suitable of the four words offered, you can also choose Dictation, here a sentence is read to you in English and your task is to rewrite it in its entirety. This is, in my opinion, the absolute best way to learn words. Another way to complete the answers is Quiz with writing, it differs from the standard quiz only in that you have to manually enter the selected word in the empty field. You can also choose Translation with listing, in this variant, you have entered a Czech sentence, the translation of which must be entered in the prepared boxhim window. Translation in spirit is another option to complete the exercise, you have entered a Czech sentence, which you only translate in your mind, then click on the picture and the sentence will be read to you in English. The opposite of this method is Translation to Czech. Whatever you choose, the sentence is always read to you in English, and that's it native speakers. The voice is recorded very well, the speaker has no "crazy" accent and personally reminds me a bit of Donald Trump's voice, so I smile every time I practice.
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It has probably happened to everyone who did exercises in a foreign language that they marked the wrong answer because they did not understand a word in the assignment, but this cannot happen with the Landigo application, because you can click on any word and view not only the translation, but also other details. These include, for example, example sentences with translation, pronunciation, the WordNet meaning dictionary, but also how much the word is used in English, so you can get an idea of how useful the word will be for you. In addition, you can save the given word and return to it later by clicking on one of the images offered. This trick is invaluable when learning a new language.
When you have completed the entire exercise, it will be shown to you again and you can review both your correct answers and the wrong ones, which you can also save and be tested again later. I personally can't praise this function enough, because it's a way to practice words that you don't like over and over again and remember them better.
Grammar video course
As I mentioned above, the Landigo application also includes a video course, which, in my opinion, is the biggest challenge of the entire project, at least as far as the English version is concerned. There is a total of eight hours of video in 129 lessons, from the lowest to the B2 level, but the recordings seem to have been copied from the original DVDs, and the quality of the voices, especially the female one, corresponds to this. All videos in English and German, from the lowest to the B1 level, are conducted in the form of a dialogue between a man and a woman, which is supplemented by text depicting the phenomenon being discussed. These two people will guide you through the chosen topic in a slow voice that at times sounds like a hypnotic robot. Beginners probably won't notice it, but the clearly audible Czech accent of both characters does not add to the quality of the videos at all. Unfortunately, it could be worse.
The English video course also includes B2 level lessons. In those, you will meet Ondra, who does not blink once during the several-minute lessons, and whose intonation, which is still the same in both languages, would put even a person who has just drunk a barrel of coffee to sleep. His pronunciation can be confusing for students, as he tries to imitate an American accent. However, if you get past all this, you will get interesting and useful informace.
In German, seven hours of video are available in seventy-seven lessons, the highest level here is B1. As in the English version, here too we will encounter outdated execution and lulling voices, but at least the pronunciation and sound quality are better.
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One more thing…
The last but not the least useful thing in the Landigo app is the dictionary. You can find it right at the beginning of the home page. You can type basically any word into it and it will show you the translation, example sentences, pronunciation and other details, that is, provided that the word you are looking for is in the Landi dictionary, in which case the word can also be saved. If not, the application will at least show you an entry from the WordNet explanatory dictionary.
How much does it cost?
The Landigo app is completely free until November 27.11.2020, 19 due to the closure of schools in the Czech Republic due to the ongoing COVID-XNUMX pandemic. Normally, only a few sample exercises and a dictionary are free. If you register, you will also receive three free exercises per day by email, registration can be done via email or Facebook.
The PREMIUM version, which unlocks access to all functions, can be purchased for various lengths of time. There are frequent discount events, now a one-year license can be purchased for 1200 CZK, a three-month license for 750 CZK and a monthly license for 300 CZK. Licenses can also be purchased as a gift certificate, which is definitely a valuable option. The PREMIUM version also allows you to choose how many exercises should be sent to you by email in the application settings.
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Evaluation
Landigo is definitely one of the best language learning apps out there. There are several options for doing exercises that are definitely worth highlighting, so you don't just fill in the missing words boringly. If you don't understand a word, it's easy to find out the meaning and get to know the vocabulary in detail. A big plus is also the possibility to save your mistakes and let them test you later. However, what takes away points from Landig is definitely the processing of the video course and the necessity of an Internet connection. However, it would be difficult to find other complaints. So if you want to learn a new language or improve in it, it is worth it the Landigo app definitely for the exam. I'm sure it will benefit you as much as it did me.
