Hello-Hello World (for iPad)

One of the earliest language-learning apps to reach the Apple iPad, Hello-Hello World (free for app; subscription plans for content starting at $9.99 per month) aims to get you learning a new language through reading, listening, and speaking both with the software and with other learners around the world. Hello-Hello World takes a hybrid approach by blending typical language software content, like flashcards and fill-in-the-blank exercises, with crowd-sourced interaction. The crowd, made up of language enthusiasts around the world, upload voice recordings of them practicing their new language, and if you happen to speak that language, you can give them feedback. And vice versa, of course. It's a lot like Livemocha (2 stars, from $29 per month for online access) in this respect. There are inherent problems with seeking feedback from inexperienced pseudo-teachers, although Hello-Hello does a much better job of mitigating those problems than Livemocha, which is why it's better.

The Hello-Hello World iPad app may not be an ideal way to learn a new language through and through [try Editors' Choice Rocket Languages Premium (4.5 stars, $99.95 for lifetime Premium membership) for that] but it does serve as a good way to study and practice words and phrases on the go.

Languages to Learn
The Hello-Hello World iPad app has 11 languages that you can learn: Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Indonesian, and English.

Hello-Hello uses a crowd-sourced approach that relies on users helping out other learners. For example, seeing as my native tongue is English, I can review audio recordings that speakers of other languages who are trying to learn English have uploaded. I listened to a few recordings from people around the world who wanted feedback on their English. The problem?as I learned from Livemocha, which has a similar feature?is that if I write or record a verbal response in English, the learner may not be able to understand it. His or her grasp of English may not be good enough yet. Likewise, I may be able to practice my rudimentary German using Hello-Hello, but if a fluent speaker gives me a detail response to my pronunciation in German, I'll have no idea what she or he is trying to tell me. This cross-lingual feedback only works when the replies are "Good!" or "Keep practicing!" but not when you want to share more detailed instruction with a beginner.

Hello-Hello does make a very noble attempt to always have at least one professional person give feedback when users upload an audio file. I did see some user-uploaded content that had zero replies for at least a week, so some may slip through the cracks, but the idea is right. In my experience with Livemocha, I never saw professional replies from in-house experts. Another problem with Livemocha is that I sometimes saw errors, like incorrect translations or grammar (they're easy to spot when the words are inconsistent on the same page). I hardly saw this at all in Hello-Hello. Once, I noticed some odd feedback to a Spanish language learner saying the double 'l' can be pronounced as 'j' or 'zh' (Argentine accent) or 'l,' but she neglected 'y,' which is the most common pronunciation.

App Structure
Hello-Hello has some good content, mostly for practicing words and phrases, but it's not structured in a way that's easy to access over many months. When using software to learn a new language, it's critical to know what path you will take and where you are on that path?your progress?at all times.

The hodge-podge of different learning components in Hello-Hello makes it impossible to see your path or progress. You can jump around at any time, which some people may like, but when you're new to the app, it's impossible to know where to start or turn next after you've completed a module. Additionally, there are no markers to remind you when you have completed a lesson, nor which lessons you've started but haven't yet completed.

This lack of structure is the primary reason I don't think Hello-Hello World for iPad would be of much value to anyone trying to learn a new language for the first time. For first-time learners, Rocket Languages Premium, Rosetta Stone TOTALe, and Pimsleur Comprehensive are better options.

The pick-up-and-put-down nature of Hello-Hello World, however, is valuable for reviewing a language you already know to some extent. You can move around at your leisure and hit areas that seem interesting.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/fpCtBGrY9w0/0,2817,2401091,00.asp

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