DinoLingo: Languages for kids

Dinolingo is very well presented with quality animations and audio features that will captivate you and your children, drawing them into a world of dino-centric language learning. As well as growing their imaginations and motivating them to earn as many stars and unlock as many new dinosaurs as possible, it will enrich their language development and vocabulary-base. The app, with its instructional videos, immersive games, stories, and songs is an immersive experience, offers a range 50 different languages options, with each having a free ‘sample’ lesson, but the remaining will require in-app purchases to unlock.

The app is geared at regular, immersive, interval learning, whereby little and often’ will reap the greatest rewards, with each language to be studied broken down into various, easy-to-navigate topics and subtopics. 

Dinolingo is available free on the App and Play Stores, as well as having a more comprehensive, dedicated website, with in-App purchases ranging from $14.95 per month or $149 per year for an individual language bundle.

What we love about Dinolingo

Dinolingo is an extremely well-presented app that is clear and effective in what it sets out to do, as it guides learners through the practical skills-base required in learning a new language – divided into easy-to-navigate topics and sub-topics. 

From initial sign-up, the user either creates an account or logs in to an existing one, allowing all content to be personalised. The app in itself is free to install and use, but a subscription is required to extend beyond ‘sample’ lessons. Subsequently, the user can easily choose his/her language pairings for study and then will embark on their language-learning adventure. To which I have previously alluded, there are some fifty languages from which you can choose, each with well-structured topics, broken down into instructional videos, interactive, learning, games, and culminating in the option for a quiz. 

Dinolingo offers an easy-to-follow progression, divided into core topics, which comprise of the 200 most common words and phrases in a given language – you can choose from categories such as greetings, numbers, name, colours, animals, food, routine, house, and more – and, subsequently, complete a range of reinforcement activities aimed at gradually increasing familiarity and, thereby, accuracy of use and understanding. Many of the videos and interactive content use a group of friendly dinosaurs as the core theme, guiding you on your language-learning journey. The motivational ‘carrot’ that accompanies each activity is the chance to unlock a new dinosaur and win stars, allowing you to gauge your improvement and effort until you have found all the dinosaurs available. 

Study sets or ‘topics’ usually begin with a ‘lesson’ video, whereby you get an overview of the core language to be covered seeing it contextualised, such as numbers being used with animal, for example. This may not seem like much, or hugely significant, but it does aim to naturally instil grammar and syntax awareness, without going into technical detail. The positive it that the vocabulary and phrases are being learnt in a natural way; however, anyone looking to explanation as to why language is structured in certain ways will be left none the wiser. For example, why do most adjectives follow a noun in many European languages and why in Arabic do numbers change according to case and gender?  Such questions will go unanswered, yet it must be pointed out that this is not the intent or scope of Dinolingo – here, this platform seeks to introduce the basics in an interactive and engaging way that feels natural and accessible. 

The same is true for the other instructional elements, comprising of a video simply outlining the core vocabulary and allowing time to repeat and practise the language, to a story showcasing the language in a relevant situation, for example a trip to the zoo.  Once you have exhausted the enjoyment of the video content, there are a range of interactive games to showcase understanding and retention, culminating in an end-of-topic quiz.  Your game options include a digital pairs game against the clock, a type of ‘duck-shoot’ game, an interactive vocabulary reading activity, and a ‘true or false’ game, all with only a limited number of wrong answers permitted.  Each activity is an effective and engaging tool to reinforce the prior learning process and recap the words and/or phrases that the user has recently come across.

The initial learning process for your words and/or phrases is simple, intuitive, and effective, in that you will see a term or phrase presented with a blend of animations and real-life images/video – although, some aspects of the stories are a little difficult to follow and understand, due to the demanding language level.  The variety of tasks on offer allow for fun and interesting engagement with the language, without the inevitable boredom that occurs with repetition of the same phrasing over and over again.  Each piece of content is presented as an egg, and the premise is simple, if you complete the task the egg hatches and you unlock a new dinosaur, each with their own personal biography, meaning you can easily find your favourites.  There is no obligation to complete the activities in a set order, nor is there a pre-requisite that content needs to be gradually unlocked.  Once you take out your subscription all content is immediately available.

Beyond the core content instruction is the option to access a variety of songs, stories, and books, something which for me is a big asset of this platform.  Many of the aforementioned reinforce the core language content; however, there are plenty of cultural gems to be found here as well.  From much loved children’s songs and bedtime stories to learner-lead books that patiently take you through the language basics.  As I have said before, this is a real asset and one of the true enjoyable features that simply must be explored; and it is in such elements that true, genuine immersion can be achieved.

The interaction, itself, goes nicely beyond the digital plain with printable worksheets linked to the dinosaur content, so your hours of enjoyment do not have to be solely screen-based.

Another strong feature is the app’s useability, functions, and control settings for parents.  The app is incredibly straightforward to use and is clearly designed for small children.  Scrolling is completely intuitive, there are no unnecessary buttons or add-ons, and the basic, parental control on the settings option will ensure that your child will only remain on the content of your choosing; this content is secured by a simple security algorithm whereby a numerical code must be entered in order access that part of the app.  Further parental settings allow for change of language features and accessing the dedicated support website.  Within settings you can also find the ‘My Reports’ section whereby you can track what content your children have been accessing, how long they have spent on the platform, and how much has been completed – on a daily and overall basis.

Overall, it is an extremely well-presented app with quality visual and audio features that will not only enrapture but also support your child’s emotional and cognitive development. 

Is Dinolingo easy to use?

Dinolingo is neatly and attractively designed and is extremely easy to select the content that they wish to watch / their child to watch.  Users will see that both the apps and website are intuitive and very easy-to-navigate.

What can Dinolingo improve on?

There are some minor areas for improvement as the audio and video elements are of very good quality, in my opinion.  The app interface is effective and easily navigated.  The only content errors that I could find were to do with incorrectly placed capital letters and some terms being misspelled, for example in the French book section for ‘Animaux doméstiques’ a rabbit appears as “Rabbitun lapin”; however, such errors are rare and not repeated elsewhere.

There are, also, some aspects of the content – especially the instructional videos – where the content in inaccessible to language novices.  Yes, the videos carry a very accurate and conversational tone, portraying authentic interactions, but there are no prompts or support resources to enable users to understand what is being said at certain moments.  The platform is very much geared towards progressive learning through repetition and immersion in the content; yet this cannot function in isolation of support elements when needed.  Perhaps, subtitles allowing users to find out meaning for themselves, or an additional tab containing a transcript would put more elements of these videos within the reach of more users.

I would, also, like to see some more range of interactivity with the dinosaurs and stars, once your have earned them.  While the motivation to earn as many as you can is a selling point, older children may begin to lose interest – I feel there is a bit of a missed opportunity here for the developer.  Even to have the bio for the dinosaur in both languages, as opposed to just English would be a start.

How much does the app cost?

Dinolingo is available free on the App and Play Stores, as well as having a more comprehensive, dedicated website, with in-App purchases ranging from $14.95 per month or $149 per year for an individual language bundle.

Is Dinolingo safe to use?

Yes, Dinolingo is safe to use, with it being ad-free and options to amend settings and make additional in-app purchases having basic parental controls (keying in four digits) which can be accessed via the ‘settings’ cog wheel.

Overall rating of the app

In conclusion, I would easily give Dinolingo a rating of 5-stars, according to Educational App Store ranking system.  It effectively introduces users to the 200 most common words and phrases in some 50 different languages.  The immersive intent, whereby videos and activities are repeatedly accessed will help young learners gradually and effectively learn and retain vocabulary, interspersed with authentic sounding language.  The games, stories, books, songs , and worksheets allow plenty of scope for a young audience to explore in engaging and pleasing ways.

You can download DinoLingo: Languages for kids on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the DinoLingo: Languages for kids app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.