Busuu.com

Improving our language skills with Busuu.com

Description

Busuu is a learning language website that uses a social network community where the exercises are given by Busuu administrators and the users are responsible for the feedback, correction and suggestions. On the other hand, Busuu is a language spoken in Cameroon; apparently, according to an ethnological study conducted in the 80’s, only eight people can speak this language. The co-funders of this site are Adrian and Bernhard. Adrian is from Liechtenstein and he speaks Schweitzerdeutch, German, English and French, and currently, he is learning Spanish. Bernhard is from Vienna in Austria, he is still learning Brazilian Portuguese but he already speaks German, English and Spanish. They have the dream to contribute to the diversity of languages around the world.

Purpose

This website serves as a community learning language platform where users help each other to improve their languages skills. Moreover, Busuu.com provides learning units for seven different languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, German and Russian. The founders plan to add more languages as quickly as they are able, for example Busuu, which is a language spoken in Cameroon.

How to use it?

After registering in the website, you can start learning. First, you have to choose the language that you want to learn; once you choose a module, you will see a variety of pictures; with each picture comes an audio pronunciation of the word and a sentence containing the word. Subsequently, you review and take a little reading comprehension quiz to see how well you can comprehend what is going on. Next, you can receive feedback on your writing skills from native speakers; you can also choose to chat directly with them.

The site is supported by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The courses cover the levels A1, A2, B1 and B2. Each course is divided into learning units covering more than 150 day-to-day topics.

Characteristics

The lessons units are divided into seven sections. Vocabulary, Dialogues, Writing, Talking and Review are the five free sections, the other two sections are only available for premium users. The contents include more phrases, listening comprehension tests, access to grammar units, audio podcasts and others.

It is important to know that one can get access to lessons (Vocabulary, Dialogue, and Review) through an IPhone application offered by Busuu; the application itself is free but, you only get access to the five lessons of each category. Although the application is not truly free, it provides a true portability because the internet connection is not necessary.

Additionally, this site has a large community of native speakers taking a step beyond traditional methods of languages learning through the use of Busuu multimedia software and language exchange. Busuu gives a fancy garden animation that provides an easy access to the languages and activities that users perform.

Advantages and limitations

Busuu.com brings many advantages. First, you can be prepared for what you really want or need, like a job interview or for a travel. Second, you can learn for free during the beta phase. Besides you can learn directly from native speakers of Busuu community and you can forget the horrible grammar sections traditionally practiced at school or university. Finally, Users benefit from several types of materials such as Vocabulary and key phrases, dialogues, audio, podcasts and PDF’s. Furthermore, users can test their progress through short interactive review offered by each unit. However, there are some limitations in this website. First, the user- interface is not friendly and you have some problems to do your activities; another limitation is the material available in the introductory demo, because once that introductory demo runs out, a large amount of this material become premium content. Finally, Busuu.com will not be much help in filling because all four languages offered by Busuu.com are available in extended courses of LiveMocha (another network community to learn languages).

Uses

Busuu users can learn a lot of vocabulary and grammar just with a simple access to the daily world news updates that is provided by a technological source from guardian.co.uk. However, if they don’t understand a particular word, they just need to search that word in the Macmillan Education’s Online dictionary; a simple double-click on the word will reveal its definition. In addition, the site offers to the users special teaching lessons divided into three levels: Beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each lesson has a photo/audio component that allows users to practice writing, exchange questions with native speakers and keep track of their recordings.

Why is Bussu.com important at the school of language?

Although Busuu.com is not the most complete tool to learn Languages, this is an excellent source to beginners since the website provides enjoyable lessons and an active community interested in sharing their knowledge. Besides, Busuu.com gives us the opportunity to widen our learning social context thanks to the interaction with speakers of other languages because you are not only learning a language but a culture.

www.busuu.com

Written by

Juan Camilo Cardona Muñoz.

Deissy Julieth Galvez Cantillo.