Review: LingoPal – Fun Multilingual Phrasebook
It would be great if I was charming, confident, and authentic when speaking other languages, but I ‘m not. Good thing there ‘s LingoPal then. This useful little app features translations of common things you might need to ask as well as authentic-sounding recordings in 41 different languages. I don’t know how all the speakers in the app sound, but I know the Tagalog, German, Cantonese, and French sound authentic. We ‘ve seen other programs like this, but what makes LingoPal so noteworthy is the presentation and the hilarity of some of the lines in the app “ especially the massive focus on flirting in foreign languages. The app isn ‘t really a LingoPal so much as it is a LingoWingman.
Quick Look
Strictly Business
The app is organized by situations. Looking for something, need to say a number, or need help at the bank? LingoPal has you covered there. You can tap on a situation and then tap on the text you’d like to see translated to see the information slide out. You can also tilt the phone sideways to view the app in landscape mode, but I didn’t really see much of a point in doing this — nor could I figure out the controls in that orientation. There’s also a search feature along the bottom of the app, but I found it much easier to navigate via the categories or by marking phrases as favourites.
It’s Business Time
The flirting section of the app takes up approximately half of the list of available content, so it ‘s pretty clear where the priorities lie. It ‘s kind of like a mullet, I guess. Business in the front, party in the back. The flirting sexions (oops) are also organized by situation (beach/1st move/compliments), but they’re also the real meat of the application because they can be absolutely hilarious. I really want to say the line “Your hair is so soft…Do you use organic products?” in Russian, but I guess if it came down to it I could just show the person the line in the app with a big grin on my face.
A little too authentic
Ironically, the problem I have with LingoPal is that I can’t really mimic certain phrases l because I don’t speak the language. I can listen to the Russian recording over and over again, but it just plays back too quickly for me to learn it phonetically. What’s more, the text of the translation is also in Russian lettering, so I can’t even try to stumble my way through reading the text. You can imagine how much more impossible that gets if you’re trying to say something Japanese but don’t know how to read the Kanji. It would have been really useful to have a second recording for each phrase that was spoken much more slowly, like those automated “learn to read” books where you can guide a pen along a page and have the book say things back to you slowly.
Conclusion
While I believe there are still a few key lines missing from the app (where is “Shaken, not stirred”?!), LingoPal offers quite a lot of content with a huge range of languages to choose from. The slick, animated presentation is also a cool bonus, especially considering some of the cheesy things you’ll be saying with it. LingoPal is a good phrase book that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and as long as you don’t either, you’ll have a lot of fun with it.
You can buy LingoPal on the AppStore for $4.99 — link here.
Thanks for the great review. A couple of points you make are worth commenting on:
1) Landscape view – the reason we have this are for those situations where you might be in a noisy setting and it's difficult to hear the sound. So you can just show it to the person and they very quickly get the idea. I used this on a Japanese girl who was standing several metres away from me (I hadn't even met her). But it was cool because she cracked up laughing and came over – exactly as I intended
2) Non-Latin alphabets (Russian, Greek, Japanese, Chinese etc) – yes, you're absolutely right, this is a weakness in the product. We have plans to add in Latinised versions to appear alongside so users can attempt to learn the lines more easily.
That's an interesting idea you make about an option to play the lines slowly. We'll look into it.
In the meantime we're making a few changes, adding some languages and more content. Hopefully that should be out in a few weeks.
Thanks again.
Richard
CEO, Lingopal
Thanks for stopping by, Richard — looking forward to what you've got in store for the app, especially the latinisation (new word!)
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I travel to Spain often and got this handy little phraseapp from a language center called Eton Institute (they’re pretty big in Asia and Europe). My Spanish friends are pretty impressed with my accent! And I can already hold little conversations with business partners and in shops and things like that. Totally worth it! and only cost me about $2!