Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Learning a language as a blind person (self.Blind)
submitted by vadwar
Hi there,
I am writing this not as a question but more as free advertising to the people at Duolingo. Duolingo is a fricken awesome language learning app. You can learn languages like French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and so many more languages with Duolingo. The reason I love the app isn't just because its fun to learn a language with it, but its completely accessible with Voice Over on the IOS line of devices. You learn words and phrases through interactive lessons that tell you to translate words from english to the language you are learning, also, you can accessibly match the sounds of the words, and you can select everything and its completely accessible. I've done about 8 or 9 lessons so far, and its really fun.
I would recommend this app to anyone who is considering wanting to learn a language, they create a course based on what you want to learn the language for whether it be for professional purposes or travel, or if you are just interested and are really feeling like the language is for you. Check it out, Duolingo!
I am writing this not as a question but more as free advertising to the people at Duolingo. Duolingo is a fricken awesome language learning app. You can learn languages like French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and so many more languages with Duolingo. The reason I love the app isn't just because its fun to learn a language with it, but its completely accessible with Voice Over on the IOS line of devices. You learn words and phrases through interactive lessons that tell you to translate words from english to the language you are learning, also, you can accessibly match the sounds of the words, and you can select everything and its completely accessible. I've done about 8 or 9 lessons so far, and its really fun.
I would recommend this app to anyone who is considering wanting to learn a language, they create a course based on what you want to learn the language for whether it be for professional purposes or travel, or if you are just interested and are really feeling like the language is for you. Check it out, Duolingo!
Laser_Lens_4 5 points 3y ago
Last time I tried, the app was still hideously unaccessible. Glad to hear that it's improved on iOS
Prefect316 2 points 3y ago
I'm already a spanish speaker but used this app to brush up on those harder words. I love the app, but wonder if anyone can link me to a good primer on spanish braille? There are a few extra letters in the alphabet and various accent marks, and I'd like to familiarize myself with that
vadwar [OP] 1 points 3y ago
I'm sorry, but I wouldn't know about Spanish braille, I learned when I was in 5th grade and don't really remember much, otherwise I'd be more than willing to help.
KingWithoutClothes 2 points 3y ago
Personally, I don't like duolingo because it teaches foreign languages in an extremely unstructured way. You basically learn a bunch of words but you never properly learn how to put them all together or how they fit into the bigger system of the language itself. I see duolingo mostly as a helpful tool for people who want to learn a few expressions before they go on vacation.
Some people (including you) may feel different and that's of course fine. There are also various styles of learning foreign languages. Myself, I need a highly systematic and organized approach. I want to understand the basic grammatical structure before I go crazy on random vocab. Basically, I want to feel as though I was sitting in a classroom without actually sitting in a classroom. This is particularly important to me because the language I'm intending to learn is one that is A) extremely different from my native tongue and B) one that I want to get fluent at (because it's my wife's native tongue).
For this purpose I've decided to subscribe to Rosetta Stone online. Granted, it's pretty expensive and unfortunately it's not very accessible at all. It works quite a lot with pictures. But for people who still have a little bit of vision left like myself, I definitely recommend this. It's not ideal for the reasons I've stated but so far it's the best tool I've found.
Some people (including you) may feel different and that's of course fine. There are also various styles of learning foreign languages. Myself, I need a highly systematic and organized approach. I want to understand the basic grammatical structure before I go crazy on random vocab. Basically, I want to feel as though I was sitting in a classroom without actually sitting in a classroom. This is particularly important to me because the language I'm intending to learn is one that is A) extremely different from my native tongue and B) one that I want to get fluent at (because it's my wife's native tongue).
For this purpose I've decided to subscribe to Rosetta Stone online. Granted, it's pretty expensive and unfortunately it's not very accessible at all. It works quite a lot with pictures. But for people who still have a little bit of vision left like myself, I definitely recommend this. It's not ideal for the reasons I've stated but so far it's the best tool I've found.
AuroraNebulosa 1 points 3y ago
I would largely agree with this. However, my recommendation for using it is for those who have had experience with another language similar to the one you’re wanting to learn in Duolingo. Before starting to study Italian with Duo, I first studied Latin formally in a class. So, I was easily able to infer various structures even with Duo’s “bare-bones” teaching method.
CloudyBeep 1 points 3y ago
What language is it? I might be able to suggest a more accessible language-learning platform.
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
A few notes:
• The app still has some accessibility issues, but it has definitely come a long way.
• It is advantageous to use a braille display. Sometimes, you have to choose between words that sound very similar or to choose the word with correct capitalisation, using a braille display is faster than reading by character with VoiceOver.
• You complete the same course regardless of your motivation (travel, brain training, work, etc.).
• The app still has some accessibility issues, but it has definitely come a long way.
• It is advantageous to use a braille display. Sometimes, you have to choose between words that sound very similar or to choose the word with correct capitalisation, using a braille display is faster than reading by character with VoiceOver.
• You complete the same course regardless of your motivation (travel, brain training, work, etc.).
jankelleyking 1 points 8m ago
It is asking my visually impaired family member to type in the answers when it speaks a spanish phrase. It does not seem accessible to visually impaired people because they can't see to type the answers. Is there a way to make it audio only?
[deleted] 1 points 3y ago
[deleted]
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