We've designed Lingumi to make it more fun, more effective, and cheaper for children around the world to begin learning English. We want parents to join in the learning with your children...and you don't need to speak English. Instead, imagine yourself as their 'playmate' or 'co-learner', beginning to learn English with them.
Here are some tips on using Lingumi if you don't speak English:
1.) Set the parent language in the app
Our app should automatically detect your language, but, in case the app doesn't know what language you speak, you can set the parent language inside 'Settings' in the app.
The app is offered in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian Bahasa, Portuguese, Thai, Vietnamese, German, Italian and French. If your language isn't available yet, don't worry! You can still start with Lingumi, but might need to use online translation sites to read some of our parent emails and support materials.
2.) How to talk to your child while playing
Parents often ask if it's ok to use your mother tongue to talk to your child while they're playing, or whether to translate words. Here's our advice:
Using mother tongue phrases is ok, but try to integrate the English words your child is learning. For example, a German parent might say "das ist ein dog" or "kannst du ein dog finden?". That might sound strange, but this is actually better than using the German word, Hund. Your child won't be confused - they can easily separate out the languages in their heads.
Encourage repetition and speaking during lessons: saying things like 'What's that?' in English (best), or in your mother tongue (still ok), or 'Can you repeat that?' all make the games more interactive for your child. Try repeating words with them, or asking them to 'remind you' what a word is. Children love showing off what they've learned! 😉
Learn some key English phrases. Even if you only speak a tiny bit of English, learning and using phrases like 'What's that?' or 'Where is the...?' are all really helpful, as they will 'activate' your child's English, and make the lessons more immersive.
3.) Our customer support team is multi-lingual
If you have any questions or problems, you can contact our customer support team in your native language. We speak English, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese and French. And, of course, Google Translate can help us with other languages too! Contact us on [email protected] with your question.
4.) Join the community group for your language
We have parent community groups on Facebook for several languages. In this article, you can find the right group for your language or country.