A mobile app created by two Vietnamese and one Spanish developers to help English language learners improve their pronunciation has won an education startup competition in the US.

ELSA’s looks on an Android phone. Photo credit: VnExpress

ELSA‘s founders Van Dinh Hong Vu, Ngo Thuy Ngoc Tu, and Xavier Anguera were honored at the Texas-based education event SXSWedu on Thursday, after beating nine other finalists of its Launch startup competition.

Available on both Google Play and Apple Store, the free app allows non-native speakers to interact with a virtual assistant named ELSA, who would detect and fix their pronunciation mistakes.

Since users can choose their native languages, the app can help them reduce their accents as well. Besides Vietnamese, the app is also tailored for other accents, such as Japanese, Korean and Portuguese.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, Tu said ELSA has been downloaded 7,000 times since it was available in December.

Repost from Thanh Nien News

—

Read original article here.