A nationwide language challenge tasking students to learn 1000 words in a foreign language has exceeded the 10,000-user mark, making it the largest free language challenge for learners in the United Kingdom.
The 1000 Word Challenge was launched in January this year by award-winning online vocabulary learning application, Vocab Express, Oxford University Press and language campaign, Speak to the Future. Supported by the British Council, the challenge aims to ignite interest in language learning. The popularity of the challenge has led to an increase in the languages involved, which has even been expanded to include Mandarin, Polish and Italian, in addition to French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
“We wanted the challenge to encourage learners to try a language they’d never experienced before, so that they could see the difference just 1000 words can make,” says Vocab Express’ managing director, Justin Sycamore. “To pass such a significant milestone and know that so many students are embracing the challenge is incredibly rewarding. I’m also over the moon to see so many participants taking part from 79 different countries, from Albania all the way to Zimbabwe according to our latest reports! So far, the UK, United States, France, Poland and Bosnia Herzegovina have the most students taking part and the increasing international nature of the challenge may well allow for an interesting bit of international benchmarking, so fingers crossed the UK does well.”
Bernadette Holmes, campaign director for Speak to the Future adds, “We couldn’t be more delighted to hear that 10,000+ learners have taken part in the 1000 Word Challenge. Challengers from across the generations are showing just how keen they are to improve their language skills; this is just the kind of passion for languages that we want to encourage nationwide. Congratulations to all the challengers! Let’s keep up the good work and double the 10,000 milestone by the end of the year!”
Vineeta Gupta, head of children’s dictionaries at Oxford University Press says, “With a reputation for publishing the world’s most trusted bilingual and multilingual dictionaries, we’re pleased to be a part of such a worthy campaign and are passionate about supporting language learners of all ages.”
To find out more, visit www.vocabexpress.com
