PChome’s Second Collaboration with Skype Founding Team:
Lingvist, Language Learning with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI). Big data. Personalized learning. Lingvist: the first AI smart software for language learning that enables you to master the English language in 200 hours.
LinkTel, as part of PChome (Stock symbol: 8044-TW), launched today (March 7th) Lingvist: AI-aided language learning services (www.lingvist.com.tw). With the launch, LinkTel has become a player in the language learning field and the first overseas partner of Lingvist. Starting today, Lingvist’s English Learning with Traditional Chinese is available. The innovative AI algorithms build every user a personalized digital English learning project, and select suitable learning materials for each and every learner according to their level. Through big data analysis, Lingvist enables users to grasp the most frequently used English words in an efficient fashion. It helps learners master the English language in 200 hours, for free.
“Over the past two decades, the Internet has changed almost every business sector. In the near future, AI will be the key to change the aspects of every industry. It will be ubiquitous. You’ll see its application in language learning of course. In terms of AI-aided language learning, no one in the world has gone faster and further than Lingvist has. Now PChome is working with the founding team of Skype again, to bring AI-aided language learning to Taiwan. Through Lingvist, we hope to promote language learning in Taiwan.”, said Chairman of LinkTel Inc. Hung-Tze Jan.
“Language learning in it’s most familiar form is still a painfully slow process,” said Dr. Mait Müntel, co-founder and CEO of Lingvist. “We’ve turned the devices people learn on into smart tutors who can personalize the study material for each and every learner. This significantly reduces inefficiencies in language learning and makes it much faster,” explained Dr. Müntel. “We chose Taiwan because this is the best place to launch an innovation…The people of Taiwan are fantastic early adopters and will help us shape Lingvist into a product which will reshape the way the world learns languages"
The global language learning market is expected to be worth US$58 billion, of which US$3 billion is from digital language learning, and it’s expected to grow by 22% every year, as it has become a trend to learn languages on digital platforms. In Taiwan, more than 90% of the universities set certain English level as part of the graduation requirements. It is clear the job market now demands higher language proficiency, and language learning has come under the spotlight as an industry. Lingvist features exclusive AI smart learning algorithms, big data analysis, and personalized learning, meeting Taiwanese people’s needs for fast and effective English learning.
Lingvist’s founder and CEO Mait Müntel is an Estonian physicist, winner of 2009 Young Scientist Award in Estonia. In 2013, he used the same algorithms for particle physics to build Lingvist’s unique smart algorithms that, with the input of user behavior data, design personalized review intervals based on the calculations of each learner’s forgetting curve. Lingvist enables users to review what they learn repeatedly on a project basis, retain their learning results in long term memory, and optimize their learning memory efficiency, so as to enhance language proficiency effectively. Lingvist now offers 13 pairs of language learning combinations to over 450,000 users, and has attracted investment from including Skype co-founders Jaan Tallinn and Geoffrey Prentice, and Japan’s Rakuten.
Lingvist features three characteristics: First, AI, or artificial intelligence. The AI algorithms monitor and calculate users learning behavior and adjust review intervals accordingly, so as to help learners memorize words and phrases quickly. Second, big data analysis. Lingvist collects materials from popular videos, news stories, books, and articles and uses big data analysis to select the most frequently used words to teach the learners, and let them learn the most practical words precisely. Finally, personalized learning. Lingvist gives users personalized learning materials according to their level, and presents their learning results in graphs for them to know their learning progress.
In addition to free AI-aided language learning, Lingvist is looking to introduce to the market a paid version for TOEIC learning, and learning English from TV-Series features, to assist users to learn English fast whether when they’re studying for exams or watching series.