It doesn’t take long for lazy people like me to realise that the app is just listening for the target sound, and the phrases are therefore arbitrary. With most activities you see that the target sounds appear in phrases.
The developers could look into this though. It’s awkward that the app is based on one particular model of pronunciation but hey, I suppose you’re opening a can of worms if you broaden the scope to accommodate all acceptable variations of a sound. The progress section (see above images) makes this ‘Native Speaker Score’ fairly prominent. Part of the app’s selling point is the progression towards attaining native-speaker like pronunciation. There is still quite a lot that could be done to this app. It’s fairly priced – I’d say there is enough to keep a user focused if you chose a 3 month signup (about $3.50 a month).
#Elsa speak vs duolingo plus#
The progress record is great, plus in general the app is easy to use, visually pleasing and has been designed intuitively. The app is gamified which definitely adds something – especially if you’re a Brit trying to put on an American accent (hehe). There are a lot of activities that focus on common difficulties such as /l/ versus /r/ and distinguishing between long and short vowels, both of which are useful in my context. You get tips on the articulation of particular sounds, and you get a chance to put this feedback into practice straight away: The instant feedback is the best feature by far. I say promise – on the ELSA Speak site they state that the app has already been used 40 million times, so it’s clearly taken off! I wouldn’t say it’s the finished article yet though. The app maps your progress, records words and phrases you have difficulty with so you can review them, plus it provides an assessment feature too. On the pronunciation side, the dictionary also acts as a phrasebook – you can type in what you want to say and the app will model the correct pronunciation for your phrase: It has a dictionary too, where it provides definitions, pictures and example sentences (plus a pronunciation model) to explain various words. listening tasks for discrimination, plus some of the dialogues are performed as if they’re a real conversation. You can listen back to a recording of your voice, and read/listen to instant feedback on your performance. The app models the correct pronunciation then records your attempt. A bulk of the activities involve recording phrases like the one above. You can choose the skill (sounds) you’re interested in.
The phrases are topic related (introductions, family, business, food and drink, etc) so not only can you improve your pronunciation, you can also learn phrases that are relevant to your own context. Most activities involve recording yourself saying a word or phrase. With ELSA Speak you can work through a wide range of activities which mainly focus on the individual sounds of English. It’s a great use of AI in language learning – it really is amazing what some of these apps can do now! It’s an app that teaches you to ‘pronounce English like an American through real-world conversations’. Now that’s out of my system, here’s a review of ELSA Speak.
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