Classic Language Learning Website Re-Launches With a New UI and AI-Powered Voice Chat
LINDSAY, Ontario, February 20, 2024 (Newswire.com) - My Language Exchange, the website that put "language exchange" into the mainstream consciousness over 23 years ago, has re-launched with a modern UI and an AI-powered voice chat.
According to the owner/developer and co-founder Dan Yuen, the features in the new voice chat reflect what he wished he had when he was working toward fluency in French while living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
"Listening comprehension was a big struggle of mine. So I wished I had a device that could record everything said by my native speaker partners without recording all the silence in between."
"I also wished I had a bilingual friend with me who could instantly whisper into my ear something said by my partner that I didn’t quite catch. That would allow me to continue in the French conversation."
Thanks partly to AI, his new voice chat does just that. In automatic mode, the voice recording is activated by speech. AI recognizes the speech in real time and provides text equivalents in both the language spoken and the learner’s native language. Producing speech bubbles of small audio files labeled by AI-generated text, the conversation will be easy to review. A learner will never miss a sound bite and can easily find a sentence, to re-listen or ask her partner for help.
The system supports over 100 languages.
Aware of no other chat app that automatically records only the speech, Yuen is proud to say his website is uniquely able to help language learners achieve fluency.
Unlike voice chat on other sites, Yuen’s is fully supported on practically all modern devices - mobile or not. For example, one can have a conversation on a phone with a partner on a laptop. Later, you can review that conversation on a desktop.
Yuen’s voice chat is accessible and protects privacy at the same time. When entering voice chat, members can choose to be visible to others and receive live messages or be invisible.
It is remarkable that My Language Exchange has thrived all these years, signing up over 4.5 million members since it launched in 2000. It is one of the longest running web properties out there.
Yuen credits its success to its focus on language learning. The site provides guidance and activities created by a language teacher specializing in language exchange. (To his knowledge, no other site offers this, even today.)
In 2013, it partnered with the international homestay organization that was initially promoted by ex-US president Jimmy Carter: Friendship Force International. Along with FFI, Yuen was invited to speak at the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, an office that is responsible for protecting language rights in Canada and reports directly to the office of the Prime Minister of Canada.
Source: My Language Exchange Inc.
