For many of us who live in western countries and speak English as our first language we may not see this as a desired skill, but there are many people who would love to speak English as we do with the correct pronunciation, grammar and dialect. In countries like China, this is not only a needed skill but it is also an investment in the future for college bound students. Many of these students want to study abroad, but in order for them to do so they must show proficiency in the English language.
Many language companies are taking note of this need and capitalizing on it by offering English as second language training. Most companies are doing so virtually via the internet. One of these companies includes Speak2Me Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lingo Media Corporation which is now offering online service for conversational English lessons. The service combines education and highly engaging contextual advertising, and will first target China’s 40 million university and college students. The service will also be available to China’s more than 210 million Internet users.
Using a virtual language tutor called Lucy, students will be able to have conversation-based English language lessons. The lessons employ speech-recognition and animated avatar technology to converse and interact with the learner on a wide range of practical topics including advertisers products placed directly into Speak2Me’s library of more than 300 English conversational lesson modules.
The lesson will work with the advertiser’s message and product using Conversational Advertising™. Instead of a banner or a commercial being placed on the site, students will learn to converse in English in real-life situations using the context of an advertiser’s product or service. For example, in one English lesson students could learn how to order a major international brand’s cafe latte, or how to select a branded skin-care product. The result is that the sponsor’s message is literally coming out of the user’s mouth for an unprecedented level of message imprinting.
The company is happy to roll out this new product. Lingo Media’s CEO, Michael Kraft commented, “We are excited to be first to market with this breakthrough interactive advertising platform. Speak2Me is not just the next generation of online advertising, it addresses the real market need for learning to speak English in China and across the globe.”
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