We know, we know. Getting home from a long day at work means you only want to have fun and relax. You don’t want to keep working or studying. It’s your free time, after all.
Nonetheless, you know you and your coworkers and employees need to learn a new language. Because it’ll help your company and your individual careers improve.
But how can you ask your work team to study another language when they’re so busy!
You might have been considering apps for language learning. They seem like an easy option. But… Can you learn a language for business just by using apps? Let’s see!
Benefits of Language Learning Apps
It’s entertaining
We use apps in our daily lives for many different things and not only find them useful but also fun. So, you can also find using language learning apps can be entertaining.
Some even have games to learn new vocabulary or improve your second language skills. So this can be fun for you, especially if you love online games.
Some others have a mascot to be your guide. So it’s not only fun but cute as well.
And some more can have cool rewards to motivate you when you pass a level.
It’s more relaxed
Apps can also help you to learn without feeling the stress of failing completely if you don’t get something. Basically, you won’t feel the stress you might have at school.
Even though you still have to put all of your effort into it, you can take the language learning journey in a more relaxed way. If you don’t open your app for a couple of days or miss a question or exercise, you won’t fail the whole subject.
Vocabulary is a priority
Language learning apps often give priority to vocabulary. Yes, they do have listening exercises, and some also add pronunciation practice. But, vocabulary is in every single step of the way; it’s in every level and exercise.
For example: Some speaking exercises are about you repeating and recording a word or phrase you just learned on the app. Which is good!
There’s also frequently more presentations, exercises, and tests about vocabulary than those on any other area of a language.
So, you’ll gain a lot of useful words and phrases to add to your repertoire. And if you’re using a specific language learning app for business or work, you’ll learn a lot of jargon. Which, believe us, you’ll need for your job.
So, your vocabulary for business will be on top.
It’s a great starting tool
When we first want to learn a new language, we’ll face one of the biggest challenges: Conquering our fear of learning something new, feeling ridiculous, and making mistakes.
If you’ve felt like that before, apps could help you start your journey without feeling all that fear and stress.
So, it could be an easy transition towards taking classes. Because once you’re ready for language school you’ll feel like you already have a notion, even if it’s not much.
So, apps are great to start building skills at a basic level.
Time flexibility
Learning a language through an app can allow you to pick which days and at which time of the day you study. You can simply grab your phone during your 30-minute lunch break or even just 10 minutes before going to bed.
So you practice as much or as little as you can and want. This is an advantage if you don’t have much time.
Cons of Language Learning Apps
Lack of exercises for the different language abilities
We just mentioned that you will learn a lot of vocabulary from language apps. Because they often include many lists and exercises for it. They also tend to include many grammar exercises.
But, sadly, they lack more exercises to cover other language skills, like listening and speaking.
Though vocabulary is highly important, so are listening, reading, and speaking. They’re an essential part of communicating.
If you don’t practice those enough, communication will be ineffective when you try to talk to others, especially natives, in your target language. You’ll find many obstacles, from not understanding others to not making yourself understood.
And good and proper communication is highly important for all aspects of life, especially at work and business. A business can fail just by the wrong transmission of messages.
Even when some apps do include exercises for other language skills besides vocabulary, they’re often not enough.
They don’t include all levels
Though there are some important stuff that you can learn on apps, they have certain limits.
Once you finish all the theory and exercises on the app, there’s nothing else for you there. And the thing is they often don’t reach an advanced level. So you can’t keep learning. They might also miss some more complex topics to teach.
That’s why apps are better for basic learners. As well as for those who are truly just starting their journey and know nothing about the language they want to know.
Lack of practice
On apps you can’t constantly put into practice your knowledge. There are some pronunciation, repetition, listening and reading comprehension exercises. But they’re usually not enough, or not that good.
You can find some exercises are very robotic and not how you would do in a real conversation.
When learning a new language, you need constant practice. And it should feel close to a real-life situation. Speaking with a person, like a teacher, is a great example of that.
So you can feel more confident using your second language in real life situations.
Lack of culture
Many apps don’t teach you about the cultures of your target language or not enough. And cultural knowledge is very important when learning a language; they go hand in hand.
And you might wonder, why do I need to learn about international cultures if I want the language for my work and business?
Well, cultural knowledge is highly important to reach new markets and to connect with more people, from business partners to clients.
It’s a great tool if you want to take your business to international waters or get a job in a new country. And if you work with a multilingual workforce, or if you’re an expat.
No personalization
When you study on an app, you don’t get the chance for a personalized curriculum or class.
Even if your app has an approach to learning language for business or work, you may find it’s not enough and you need more personalized lessons.
For example, there might be a lack of vocabulary specifically for your industry or job. Or you might not have the accent training classes you need to be understood in your bilingual meetings.
No routine and not enough time
Like we said before, using a second language learning app will give you time flexibility. Which is great if you don’t have a lot of it throughout your week.
But in order to become fluent and master all aspects of your target language, you need consistency. This comes with a routine and enough study time.
With an app, you can choose to miss 1, 5, 10 or more days and lessons. And come back without having been practicing, which will make it harder for you to advance. Especially if you want to use your new language for something as serious as work and your professional career.
Of course, that’s better than nothing. But we still recommend a serious routine, a plan, and studying more than 15 minutes on an app every now and then.
So, Can You and Your Workforce Learn a Language for Business Through Apps?
Well, not enough to become fluent! But that doesn’t mean you can’t use apps at all. As we saw above, they have some benefits and work as a tool to complement classes and other forms of learning. So keep using that language learning app on your phone if you like it.
But be aware that you and all your employees still need some language classes if you want to become fluent and grow your professional career. Language lessons will bring you more benefits and fulfill the holes that apps leave in your language skills.
And don’t worry, classes can still be as fun and flexible as apps. You just have to find the right teachers and school.
In fact, Fluency Corp offers corporate language training for you and your employees and we know you all will love them.
Our lessons are completely customized to the job and your needs. So you truly learn useful things for business and real life.
We also have native teachers that will encourage you all to speak in your target language in every single class. So you practice all the time. This is the best way to achieve language fluency!
Oh, and we also have flexible schedules to fit your busy agendas.
Want to know more? Contact us for a free consultation!
