Chatterconf 2021

Language Learning and the Science of Memory

In this lecture, Gabriel Wyner delivers a humorous take on why children are better than us at learning - and how we can be better than that! What’s at the root of this is a myth that children learn faster than adults - in fact, it’s far from true. But, they have very little else to do when they are learning to walk-and-talk. With this myth debunked, Gabe invites the audience to imagine - what would you learn, if you could learn as efficiently and as fast as we think children do? And how can you learn a language without spending 15,000 hours of time on it? At the heart of these answers is one crucial fundamental of neuroscience. In this talk, Gabe will open your eyes to the tiny changes that cause something to get retained forever, versus something that gets forgotten instantly.

Language Learning Trends Around the World

The Tandem language learning community is made up of millions of members from all over the world. Based on how they use Tandem and the results from a study of 15,000 community members, we will look at some facts, figures and trends in language learning around the globe. What are the most popular languages learned in different countries? Are certain languages on the rise? How are proficiency levels distributed? In which countries do people correct learners the most? What are the main learning motivations and goals? What learning resources are most popular? Is there seasonality in language learning? We will also take a special look at constructed languages, sign languages, and emojis.

How Online Language Tutoring Became a Lifeline for Refugees

Aline Sara, CEO and Co-Founder of NaTakallam, will have a discussion with Hadiya, online language tutor at NaTakallam, about how technology - and NaTakallam in particular - has given her the platform to tutor her native language online. This has provided her (along with 200+ displaced people) with sustainable livelihoods and work opportunities.

The End of Forgetting

The brain, with its over 80 billion neurons, empowers us to do astonishing things like build skyrockets, clone Dolly the sheep, and learn multiple languages. Yet we can’t remember where we put our cell phone, or our neighbors’ names. Learning a language is a persistent battle against our brain’s stubborn tendency to forget. What are the levels of processing in our brain and how can we learn to never forget?

The Transition to Blended Digital Language Learning

Traditional classrooms have moved closer to blended learning over the past decade, seeking to complement their face-to-face learning with digital tools and course materials. Now language learning apps are going through a similar trajectory, bringing live online teaching into the self-study experience. This talk will look at some of the drivers leading to blended digital offerings and showcase some of the ways Busuu has been dealing with the challenges of bringing real teachers into our self-study ecosystem.

Language x Tech: Getting Started with Computational Linguistics

Computational Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that brings key changes to our lives. Manipulating language is one of the earliest applications of computation, with cryptanalysis for translating dating back to 9th century arabic scholars, and also one of the most exciting applications of modern technology, like language generation models such as GPT-3. Research in this field powers machine translation systems like Google Translate, interactive dialogue systems like Siri, helps us learn more about the nature of language by investigating large amounts of data, and much more. In this talk I'll cover details about what exactly is Computational Linguistics, what you can do with it, why study it, how to break into this field, how it's applied in language learning, and where to find resources to learn more about it.

How These Five People are Keeping their Languages Alive

Two-hundred years of genocide and forced assimilation drove half the world’s 7,000 languages to the brink of collapse, but people are fighting back. Around the world, communities are reawakening mother tongues and rebuilding cultures, proving that language extinction isn’t inevitable. At Wikitongues, we help people get started with language documentation and revitalization. Join us on a journey across five countries as we explore how people in vastly different social contexts are kickstarting mother-tongue projects in their communities, finding ways to keep their languages alive.