Promova releases free lessons with English loanwords to inspire learners learn a new language
- The U.S. Census Bureau reports that only 1 in 5 people in the United States speaks a language other than English at home. And this is at the same time that the vast majority of them have ancestors who spoke languages other than English.
- With this course update, Promova aims to inspire people to learn the language of their ancestors to honor their cultural background or simply master a new foreign language by showing how much of the vocabulary they already know from English.
- Promova’s new topic in their general English course includes 6 lessons with words from different languages that are used in English.
November 10, 2023 – Thanksgiving is almost here, and Promova is releasing a new free topic in their general English course called Language Fusion, which consists of loanwords used in English. It was created to inspire Americans whose ancestors spoke Spanish, French, German, Italian, or Portuguese, or people who are just interested in learning another language, by showing them how many words from other languages they’re already using. Promova aims to demonstrate how much easier it would be for their 12 million learners to get started with Spanish, French, German, or even Portuguese, since they already know some of the vocabulary from speaking English.
The general English course update is a perfect present for those Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving Day, which occursred this year on November 24th.
“The U.S. is called a land of immigrants for a reason. The New World became a home for millions of people from all over the world over the last centuries. So, the absolute majority of the modern U.S. population has their citizenship from immigrant or enslaved ancestors. Nonetheless, as people from different countries managed to find a common language (literally and figuratively) in the US, many of them lost touch with the language of their ancestors,” says Andrew Skrypnyk, CEO and co-founder at Promova. “They might not realize that more than a few loanwords have migrated to English. That’s why Promova decided to highlight that Americans already know some vocabulary from other languages. That fact might push them to start learning the mother tongue of their ancestors or just a language they resonate with. Moreover, I believe that English learners can also benefit from a new topic. Once they recognize they already know a few words in other foreign languages, they might decide to learn Spanish, German, Italian, or Portuguese next.”
Since the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863, it’s become an annual event that gathers together the people who came to the U.S. to change their lives. These immigrants had a huge impact on the English language by bringing words and phrases from their mother tongue into the lexicon. So, English as it’s currently spoken in the U.S. has been heavily influenced by the arrival of immigrants from different countries and the resulting language exchange that has occurred over the past few centuries. Promova’s new topic is a reflection of their contributions.
The Language Fusion topic includes 6 free bite-sized lessons. Each teaches loanwords from one language at a time — Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, plus one that contains a mix of words from different languages. It takes only thirty minutes to complete the topic. Afterwards, the learner will be able to form a rough idea of which language, other than English, they might be interested in learning. The topic is a perfect way to sample several language learning courses available on the Promova platform.
About Promova
Founded in 2019 as a simple flashcard app, Promova is now a one-stop solution for all language learning needs. Promova offers a variety of tools, such as bite-sized lessons, a community of learners, tutoring, conversation clubs, and progress tracking. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create custom learning plans, Promova helps over 12 million people worldwide live their best lives by achieving their language learning goals.
The Promova team is made up of 100+ lifelong learners passionate about languages, from philologists to professional educators and language learning advocates. They work from Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. and employ best-in-class teaching methodologies to make language learning accessible to people everywhere.