Latest news with #languageLearning
SBS Australia
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
MiniPod: Ep 3 Splitting the bill English on Repeat (Easy)
This lesson is designed for easy-level learners. In this episode, we practise saying the following phrases: How much do we owe? Shall we split the bill? It's my shout. I'll pay half. This episode is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts . Credits: Host: Shannon Williams Written by: Sonia Saraullo Graphic Design: Yudai Urushima Sound Design: Mickey Grossman Music Composition: Adam Hulbert Produced by: Josipa Kosanovic
Al Bawaba
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
Georgetown DC Students Deepen Arabic Skills and Cultural Understanding During Debate Exchange in Doha
A group of Arabic heritage learners from Georgetown University's Washington, DC, campus recently completed an immersive academic and cultural visit to Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q), culminating in their participation in a university-level Arabic debate competition hosted by Qatar weeklong exchange, aligned with Georgetown's commitment to multilingual and cross-cultural learning, offered the visiting students a chance to deepen their Arabic fluency while engaging with regional peers on critical issues. As part of their preparation, the team took part in five days of intensive debate workshops at GU-Q led by Dr. Seerwan Hariry, Assistant Teaching Professor of Arabic. The sessions focused on the fundamentals of Arabic debating, including mock debates on timely topics such as environmental taxes and university admissions policies. Through these simulations, students practiced speaking formally in Arabic and refined their critical thinking Shady Makhlouf, an International Politics major (SFS 2025) studying in the United States, the trip was an incredible learning experience. 'The National debate competition we took part in was very special, as we combined teams from both campuses to form four teams. Although our campuses are thousands of miles apart, it felt as though we were competing as one university,' he said. His classmate Adelina Stulen (GU-Q'26), added: 'I could never imagine myself competing in Arabic debates, so it was certainly a new and challenging experience - but the energy and support of our Georgetown team made that day exciting for me!'Beyond the classroom, students had a chance to see how Arabic is used across Qatar. 'We explored some of Qatar's most iconic institutions — from Al Jazeera to the Qatar National Museum, Qatar University, Qatar National Library, QF Headquarters, and many other places,' explained Dr. Hariry. One of the highlights was an exclusive tour of the Al Jazeera Media Network headquarters in Doha, where students observed live news production in both English and behind-the-scenes experience made a lasting impression on the students, who regularly practice their Arabic by watching excerpts from the media network, among other resources. Justin Liu, (SFS '28), who is studying Comparative Regional Studies in DC shared: 'Seeing the actual set and the place that produces the Arabic media I use to learn was a great experience.' For Yinzhe Liu (SFS '28), the experience exposed her to a new career possibility in news: 'Witnessing live newsroom interaction and backstage operations taught me a lot,' she to Dr. Hariry, the exchange and site visits helped students move beyond the classroom and into real-world application of the Arabic language, while engaging with fellow enthusiasts across continents. 'The students were delighted to host their DC peers and support a growing culture of collaboration between campuses,' he said. Shady agreed, saying 'The students we met were so kind and welcoming. I made new friends and reconnected with old friends that had visited the DC campus on past exchanges.'Although the Georgetown team did not place in the final rounds of the debate tournament, the experience of competing in Arabic against native speakers left a lasting impact. Students returned home with improved fluency, stronger debate skills, and greater cultural confidence—an experience that will continue to shape their academic and professional goals. The initiative underscores Georgetown's dedication to fostering intercultural dialogue and providing platforms for global learning across its campuses. As GU-Q celebrates its 20th anniversary, programs like this highlight the university's vision for producing ethically grounded, globally minded graduates.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Duolingo CEO walks back AI-first comments: ‘I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do'
A week after declaring that AI would eventually replace contract workers at the language-learning app, Duolingo's CEO said the company was 'continuing to hire' and would support its existing workers in getting up to speed on the technology. It follows buzzy startup Klarna in backing off an AI-first promise. Language-learning app Duolingo has become the latest company to publicly temper its AI enthusiasm after a series of bold proclamations on AI replacing humans garnered severe criticism. Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO, took to LinkedIn on Thursday to walk back a previous stance pushing AI use over human employees. 'To be clear: I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do (we are in fact continuing to hire at the same speed as before),' he wrote. 'I see it as a tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality. And the sooner we learn how to use it, and use it responsibly, the better off we will be in the long run.' He added, 'No one is expected to navigate this shift alone. We're developing workshops and advisory councils, and carving out dedicated experimentation time to help all our teams learn and adapt.' The clarification is a 180-degree turn from the company's position a week ago, when it declared it would 'gradually stop using contractors to do work AI can handle,' evaluate AI fluency in workers' annual reviews, and only add new employees 'if a team cannot automate more of their work.' Von Ahn also appeared to throw his weight behind AI over human teachers in a podcast appearance. Speaking on No Priors with Sarah Guo, he predicted that AI would soon be able to teach any subject, at a greater scale, and create 'better learning outcomes' than human teachers, but added that schools would continue to exist 'because you still need childcare.' The criticism flew in. On the company's popular TikTok and Instagram accounts, commenters piled on to bash AI on every recent post. (On one video where a baby owl plushie asked 'mama, may I have cookie,' the top comment read: 'mama may I have real people running the company 💔') The company even put von Ahn in his own TikTok, opposite a masked, hoodie-wearing person to explain that 'AI will allow us to reach more people.' A Duolingo spokesperson told Fortune: 'We're still growing our team, and we're training and developing our talent so they benefit from using AI.' He added, 'All AI content is created under the direction and guidance of our learning experts. We have rigorous quality standards in place to ensure that any content we publish is safe, accurate and aligned with the CEFR,' referencing an international standard to measure language ability. Duolingo's self-correction is just the latest in a recent trend. Fintech app Klarna had its own turnaround on AI last month. After publicly touting the superiority of its AI chatbot, saying it hadn't hired humans in a year, the company's CEO revealed that the 'lower quality' of the chatbot meant it would start hiring humans again after all. Shopify faced similar criticism after a memo essentially said that AI-driven productivity would replace new hires. The backlash to Duolingo is the latest evidence that 'AI-first' tends to be a concept with much more appeal to investors and managers than most regular people. And it's not hard to see why. Generative AI is often trained on reams of content that may have been illegally accessed; much of its output is bizarre or incorrect; and some leaders in the field are opposed to regulations on the technology. But outside particular niches in entry-level white-collar work, AI's productivity gains have yet to materialize. An IBM survey of 2,000 leaders found that 3 in 4 AI initiatives fail to deliver their promised ROI. A recent National Bureau of Economic Research study of 25,000 workers in AI-exposed industries found that the technology didn't make workers massively more productive and had next to no impact on earnings as well as hours. That 'this tool that's been adopted so fast, where the expectations are so high, [was] not making a difference in earnings was a surprise to me,' University of Chicago economics professor Anders Humlum, one of the NBER study authors, told Fortune. 'It seems it's a much smaller and much slower transition than you might imagine if you had just studied the technology's potential in a vacuum.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Parkview senior earns perfect score on national Spanish exam
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- Learning a foreign language and mastering how to speak it became a high-scoring achievement for one Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School student named Jayden Bledsoe. 'I knew I was going to have trouble on the listening part, and I heard that they had different accents and stuff,' Bledsoe said. 'I didn't know that I was going to get a 100, though.' Two Pulaski Academy musical theater students head to NYC for national competition Bledsoe earned a perfect score on the national Spanish exam and is the only student in Arkansas to have done it. His teacher, Robin Kratzke, was also taken aback by how well he did. 'I truly never knew there could be a 100%,' Kratzke said. 'When I took it, I didn't score that.' Bledsoe says it took many hours of studying with his teacher helping to lead the way. 'I would want to come to class, like I wouldn't skip, it would be fun, the different projects and stuff we would have to actually speak,' Bledsoe said. Otter Creek Elementary School teacher named 2025 Arkansas Fine Arts Teacher of the Year He now wears the gold medal he earned with honor and has a full scholarship to Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he'll be majoring in computer science. 'When you work hard, you can accomplish anything,' Bledsoe said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Entrepreneur
23-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Duolingo CEO Clarifies AI Stance After Backlash: Read Memo
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn said he has already spoken to employees internally but wanted to share the summary with the public. In late April, language-learning app Duolingo made a series of AI-related announcements. CEO Luis von Ahn wrote a memo to employees detailing the company's official "AI-first" approach and how, through "advances in generative AI," it was able to double its course offerings in record time. Duolingo also said it would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle." Naturally, the news didn't go over well with some Duolingo employees and contract workers. After several weeks of pushback, von Ahn has clarified his previous comments (while still committing to being "AI-first") with a post on LinkedIn. Related: 'Make Chess as Accessible as Possible': Duolingo's Next Move Is Teaching Users How to Play Chess "One of the most important things leaders can do is provide clarity," von Ahn wrote. "When I released my AI memo a few weeks ago, I didn't do that well." Duolingo's CEO noted that he has "taken time to follow up internally with Duos (our employees)," and then wrote a summary of those conversations for the public. "I don't know exactly what's going to happen with AI, but I do know it's going to fundamentally change the way we work, and we have to get ahead of it," he wrote. He noted that Duolingo has always embraced new tech ("why we originally built for mobile instead of desktop," he said), and that the company is "taking that same approach with AI." Related: Klarna's CEO Used an AI Clone of Himself to Report Quarterly Earnings. Here's Why. "To be clear: I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do (we are, in fact, continuing to hire at the same speed as before)," von Ahn wrote. He ended the post stating that the company is providing AI training for employees on how to use the tech as a "tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality." While Duolingo's CEO may be trying to calm employees' fears of being replaced by AI, Fiverr's CEO is definitely not. Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman wrote in an internal email last month (and since on X): "AI is coming for you." "It does not matter if you are a programmer, designer, product manager, data scientist, lawyer, customer support rep, salesperson, or a finance person," Kaufman wrote. In a 2023 report, Goldman Sachs estimated that AI could automate 300 million full-time jobs. McKinsey, meanwhile, predicted that up to 375 million workers may be displaced by AI by 2030. Related: These 3 Professions Are Most Likely to Vanish in the Next 20 Years Due to AI, According to a New Report
