Smartphone vs the classroom

智能手机 vs 传统课堂

We know it’s good to learn another language. It opens doors, makes you more employable, helps you make new friends, and it’s fun too. But to improve our linguistic skills, many of us have to endure hours of school lessons or evening classes, with our heads buried in textbooks. It’s no wonder then that technology appears to be providing a better and more accessible way of learning.

我们知道学习另一种语言是有好处的。它为你打开大门，让你更有就业机会，帮助你结交新朋友，而且它也很有趣。但为了提高我们的语言技能，我们中的许多人不得不忍受数小时的学校课程或夜校，埋头于课本。因此，技术似乎提供了一种更好、更方便的学习方式也就不足为奇了。

There is certainly a huge demand for language learning, and having a smartphone means you can have a virtual teacher with you wherever you go. Many app developers are keen to cash in on the demand, and there are numerous learning apps available – including our own, free, BBC Learning English app! One of many popular apps, Duolingo, offers 91 courses in 30 languages and has more than 300 million users.

当然，学习语言的需求是巨大的，拥有智能手机意味着无论你走到哪里，都可以有一个虚拟老师。许多应用程序开发人员都热衷于利用这一需求，现在有许多学习应用程序可供使用——包括我们自己的免费BBC英语学习应用程序!作为众多受欢迎的应用程序之一，Duolingo提供30种语言的91门课程，拥有超过3亿用户。

Some educational apps offer languages not popular enough to be taught at evening classes, or at most universities. And others offer ‘invented’ language courses in Esperanto, Elvish and Star Trek's Klingon – lessons you might not find in a traditional classroom. Whatever you want to learn, apps allow you to go at your own pace and fit learning around other commitments. But they’re not perfect – you might not get your head round the grammar and will lack the peer support you could get in a classroom environment.

一些教育应用程序提供的语言不够流行，无法在夜校或大多数大学教授。还有一些学校提供世界语、精灵语和《星际迷航》中的克林贡语的“发明”语言课程，这些课程你可能在传统的教室里找不到。无论你想学什么，应用程序都能让你按照自己的节奏学习，并在其他任务的基础上学习。但他们也不是完美的——你可能不懂语法，也缺乏在课堂环境中可以得到的同伴支持。

So, does technology spell the end of traditional classrooms and teachers? Guy Baron, head of modern languages at Aberystwyth University, thinks not. He told the BBC that apps should be used alongside classroom methods, not to the exclusion of traditional teaching. And he adds: "The apps are very conversational... they're not designed for degrees, but they could be additional resources."

那么，技术是否意味着传统课堂和教师的终结呢?阿伯里斯威斯大学(Aberystwyth University) 现代语言系主任盖伊?巴伦不这么认为。他告诉BBC，应用程序应该与课堂教学方法一起使用，而不是排斥传统教学。他补充道:“这些应用程序非常口语化……它们不是为学位设计的，但它们可能是额外的资源。”

Certainly technology is going to help in and outside the classroom. But attending a real lesson, facing a real teacher, probably forces you to be more committed.

当然，技术在课堂内外都会有所帮助。但是参加一个真正的课程，面对一个真正的老师，可能会迫使你更加投入。

Motivation can be a problem when using an app. But if you have a genuine and practical reason to learn another language, you will no doubt stick with it.

使用应用程序时，动机可能是个问题。但如果你有一个真正的和实际的理由去学习另一门语言，你无疑会坚持下去。