[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6408\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EStatistics and nuance \u2013 the new secrets behind learning a foreign language\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Mait M\u00fcntel, CEO and co-founder of EU-backed start-up Lingvist, is an unlikely language-learning entrepreneur. He was working as a physicist at the CERN lab in Switzerland, part of the team that discovered the Higgs boson, when he had the idea that he has developed into a growing business.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I was really bad at learning languages at school,\u2019 Dr M\u00fcntel, originally from Estonia, said. \u2018It was the most amazing time to be at CERN but I realised that I\u2019d been there quite a long time and didn\u2019t speak French. I wanted to do something about it quickly.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr M\u00fcntel set about researching language learning and uncovered outdated textbooks and software programmes that he found did not take account of statistics \u2013 so decided to create his own programme.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Language learning is so traditional at school, there\u2019s so much potential to improve it with software programmes.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Mait M\u00fcntel, Lingvist\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I knew that if I could take into account some statistical principles then I could potentially save a lot of time,\u2019 he said. \u2018I made some calculations, counting how many words you need, how quickly you can absorb new information, of what would be the shortest time to learn a language and I got to 100 hours. It was so much shorter than I had previously spent for English and I got obsessed with the idea.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFilm subtitles\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr M\u00fcntel made a test programme that took into account language statistics and measured his own memory processes, optimising how the programme worked. He compiled a database of film subtitles \u2013 because they only contain conversational, direct speech \u2013 and he was ready to go.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When I had been learning a month I had this amazing moment when I was driving a car and I turned on the radio and I realised I was understanding everything. When I started learning English it took several years before I was able to understand the radio,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPersonalisation is what sets apart Lingvist, now in a test phase with 10 language pairs available to learn \u2013 and a goal of exceeding 20 pairs by the end of the year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We have all the data about students so we can measure in great detail how people memorise things and how strong their memory is. We can measure whether they learn better when they type or speak,\u2019 Dr M\u00fcntel said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If you have a little bit of a shorter memory, it makes a huge difference. If you review those words you learned too infrequently you can\u2019t have long-term results but if you adjust the time-steps just a little bit, you would only need one or two additional repetitions to have the same result.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EArticle continues below\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022 Lingvist is personalised to each user based on their progress and memory patterns. Image courtesy of Lingvist\u0022 height=\u0022673\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/Lingvist-UI.png\u0022 title=\u0022 Lingvist is personalised to each user based on their progress and memory patterns. Image courtesy of Lingvist\u0022 width=\u00221200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003ELingvist is personalised to each user based on their progress and memory patterns. Image courtesy of Lingvist\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETraditional\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome students are using the programme in conjunction with traditional language courses and reporting good progress, Dr M\u00fcntel says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Language learning is so traditional at school, there\u2019s so much potential to improve it with software programmes.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team is focusing on adult language learning for the moment, but once the technology is fully up and running will aim to roll it out to children and even to other disciplines too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe European Union alone has 24 official languages, highlighting the importance of being able to communicate \u2013\u0026nbsp;and with big opportunities for linguists in an increasingly globalised world, the study of languages is gaining more and more attention.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne area under investigation by Dr Tamar Degani, of the University of Haifa in Israel, is how ambiguous words \u2013 words which have more than one possible translation \u2013 can have an effect on a person\u2019s ability to learn a language.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In terms of the main hypothesis that ambiguity can influence learning, we\u2019ve definitely found supporting evidence for that: if you encounter words that map in an ambiguous way to your first language, it\u2019s more difficult to learn,\u2019 said Dr Degani, who is lead researcher on the EU-backed Ambiguity in Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn practice, that means students need to learn to distinguish all the different nuances of an ambiguous word in their mother tongue and then learn the different words in another language that can translate it \u2013\u0026nbsp;and vice versa.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe findings of Dr Degani and her team could have an impact on how languages are taught.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Our earlier work with learners suggests that the way these words are typically taught in classes is not really the optimal way. Teachers tend to teach one translation of an ambiguous word and postpone the others to reduce the complexity of what they present to students. In fact, what our data from adult learners in the lab shows is that presenting the complexity early on, teaching both translations together, makes for better learning.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Degani also has another goal \u2013\u0026nbsp;to find out whether learning a second language can have a backward influence on the first language. In the case of the study, that would mean that learning Arabic would have an impact on a native Hebrew speaker\u2019s Hebrew.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA third goal of the project is to look at how previous experience with multiple languages affects learning a new foreign language. The researchers are comparing how Russian-Hebrew bilinguals learn Arabic, compared with how native Hebrew speakers are learning Arabic and expects to have the results soon.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon.cartodb.com\/viz\/35fa636c-3470-11e6-ba7c-0ecfd53eb7d3\/embed_map\u0022 width=\u0022100%\u0022 height=\u0022520\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIn Hungary, only 35 % of the population speak at least one foreign langugage, whereas in Luxembourg almost everybody - \u0026nbsp;98 % - does.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-halo-eyledcj5kkvfuknasf88bbynkffjaghilntcem\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-hAlo_EyLeDcj5kKvfUkNaSf88BBYNkffjaGhILntCeM\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]