iKnow! launches open learning platform
Having knowledge of more than one language (and to be clear, this is about spoken and written languages, not programming languages) is an increasingly important and valuable skill. The problem is of course, the older we get, the harder it can be to pick up another language. This is why the Internet is so awesome. It can make the challenge of learning a new language or even picking up a few key phrases much easier and more intuitive.
In that vein, last week, Tokyo-based Cerego launched content creation tools for its open language platform, iKnow! to the public. These tools allow users to create learning modules in 188 languages of study and then collaborate with other users to make corrections, add additional items and discuss the process.
iKnow! isn't just about lists of words and phrases, flash card style. It also leverages the semantic web and lets you "remix" the web. You can add content from Google, Flickr and YouTube to supplement the items you are studying -- a picture from Flickr to represent a term, a video from YouTube to help show something in use -- making the process more engaging. There is also text to speech translation, so you can hear how something sounds and then select the correct context and usage.
There are also courses, although right now they are limited to English and Japanese, that let you study terms. You select what level language you are and what format you want to use and a number of items to study. The web app will then show you words, let you hear them, define them and then move on. After a few words, you will be asked if you "know" a word and you are quizzed and asked to choose what a word means and what it means in the context of a sentence. Very cool stuff.
You can create your own courses and share your lists with the site. This is where the collaborative aspect comes into play. A native speaker can make changes to the course, discuss items with you and you can engage with others in a much more social way than just flipping through flash cards. So this isn't just sterile Google translations -- actual speakers can comment and interact too.
iKnow! initially started in Japan and its focus was to help users learn English. More than 340,000 Japanese users used the service, and now the service is open to users from 188 different languages. I talked to Andrew Smith Lewis, the founder and chairman of Cerego Japan Inc. last week and was super impressed not only with the technology behind the platform, which is impressive (and has an open API developers can access to build applications on top of iKnow!), but with the service's overall vision and understanding of how learning works.
The service, which is free, is still in the early stages, but what it promises is really impressive. The idea of a social learning platform has possibilities beyond just language and it will be exciting to see where this type of technology leads us in the future.
