Introduction

Apps like Duolingo offer the tantalizing promise that learning a language will be easy. And fun! And fast! The playfulness of the apps turns language learning into a game to be mastered; on social media, you will find people flexing their streaks on the app. But do these apps work, and if not, what do we get out of it? We talk about learning a language with an app and hear whether an app has helped you gain some new words, phrases or conversation skills in a new language.

Guests:

Maria Carreira, executive director, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese - Carreira was formerly a professor of Spanish at CSU Long Beach and the co-founder and co-director of the National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA.

Joshua Hartshorne, assistant professor, psychology, Boston College - Hartshorne directs the Language Learning Lab at Boston College

Andrew Moseman, writer, Moseman's latest piece for Slate is titled "What Do We Even Want from Duolingo?" Moseman is a former editor of "Popular Mechanics" and has written for The Atlantic, Fortune, Scientific American and Esquire

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