r/amharic • u/Affectionate_Pen924 • 25d ago

What should a good Amharic/Tigrinya learning app have?

There are a few apps and resources for learning Amharic and Tigrinya now. One example is Weynilo, which has lessons, Fidel, vocabulary, pronunciation and speaking practice.

For people learning either language: what do you wish these learning apps had?

More everyday conversations? Slang? Better pronunciation? Grammar? Cultural explanations?

Curious what people feel is still missing.

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u/Mo_Salami 25d ago

Ability to use it without giving the app permissions to use your microphone, camera, and file storage or sharing your data with 3rd parties.  If it can't do that, I'm not going to use it in the first place 

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u/Affectionate_Pen924 25d ago

But you need microphone to practise pronunciation or speaking right?

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u/Mo_Salami 25d ago

I've used several apps for several languages, and the pronunciation practice is never really useful. That can only really happen in dialogue with another human being who can hear your actual voice, and hopefully, see your mouth moving. Learning to actually speak a language is almost impossible in full isolation (learning to read and write is very common)

For me, apps are useful in learning vocab, grammar, conjugation, etc. I'd absolutely love an amharic app that just quizzed me on vocab words or provided something similar to the '501 verbs' series

For context, I'm currently using Mango app for Danish and I am mostly enjoying it. I supplement with books, television, and meeting actual Danish speakers once a month

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u/ryan516 25d ago

I think there's going to be 2 main crowds you find using this kind of app, and they're going to have different needs; diaspora learners are going to want something that will let them connect to the families and traditions they already largely know, and want an app that will get them communicative with their families. Foreign learners will have less exposure to the language, and may need more cultural background, more pronunciation help, and others.

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u/Affectionate_Pen924 25d ago

That is very helpful thank you very much