App stores are brimming with apps that will help you learn a language from the comfort of your home, but most are focused on the typical textbook style learning experience and don’t make the most of the smartphone operating system (or French humor).
A new application from Parisian-based SwissKiss puts the emphasis on real-world, "urban French" with a series of choose-your-own-French-language-adventure videos that are light-hearted and informative.
"The special thing about DAPHNEE is that as well as being a language learning app, it's also one hour of interactive film (entirely shot in HD) where you follow this young Parisian in real-life places and situations. DAPHNEE will teach you the real Parisian expressions and I guess way of life," explained Daphnee executive producer Pascal Barneville in an email to Relaxnews.
The app stars French actress Anne Sophie Franck (of Inglourious Basterds fame) as Daphnee and features 23 interactive video lessons with karaoke subtitles, extended glossaries, quizzes, and the ability to ask Daphnee your own travel or language questions.
While Daphnee will make sure you don’t look like a total loser when ordering a drink at a nightclub and will certainly come in handy if you ever need to explain to someone that you are "not an easy lay," Google’s recently released Google Translate app might be a more appropriate application choice when you actually need to translate a menu.
Daphnee was originally introduced on Apple’s iOS platform earlier this year and is set to arrive on smartphones and tablets running Google’s Android OS at the end of June.
“We are also considering the Windows phone 7 and the connected TV market,” added Barneville.
For more information about Daphnee or to download the app, head to http://www.daphnee.tv/. To download Google Translate, visit http://translate.google.com/about/intl/en_ALL/tour.html#mobile.
There are no comments yet