Glibzter - GlibTalks #Vocabulary

The Business and Pedagogic Rationale Behind "Word of the Day" Articles

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:47:01 +0530

As I scroll through my curated news feed on my Android phone when I tap on the Google icon these days, I am enamored by the clutch of online article suggestions that are presented to me. For the uninitiated, much of our feed on Google or even on social media channels like Facebook or even LinkedIn is determined by our online behavior of what we have searched for or what content we have engaged with in the past.

As the founder of an EdTech venture which has developed a patented AI-powered digital tool called Glibzter Immersive aimed at helping students and young working professionals enhance their spoken English skills by improving their contextual usage of English words and phrases; my news feed these days is replete with "Word of the Day" articles appearing on online portals of The Times of India, The Economic Times, Moneycontrol.com, Jagran Josh, The Sunday Guardian, The New Indian Express, and off course The New York Times.

Sample these screenshots:

R.I.P the Good Old English Dictionary?

For millennials like me, as well as for the generation of people born before the 80's who were keen to improve their proficiency in English, the Oxford English Dictionary was our go-to resource if we did not know the meaning of a word while reading a book or an English daily newspaper that would be a staple diet for our minds.

All this at a time when we had no smartphones and neither the internet.

To pass time or to even enrich our minds, we'd rack our brains trying to solve the Crossword puzzle or even play the board game Scrabble if we had friends or relatives over. The blue covered Oxford dictionary was that ally we could bank on whenever we found ourselves stuck while engaging in such activities. Voila! We'd even discover a new word or two in the process.

Post the turn of the century, we saw the Dictionary evolve into its online avatar. Sites such as Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster and TheFreeDictionary.com became prominent along with the online versions Oxford English Dictionary (oed.com), Cambridge, and Collins. Once smartphones became ubiquitous, the tech-savvy lot began Googling the meanings of words instead of downloading a Dictionary app or referring to the physical book.

The Evolving Business Model of Dictionary Publishers

If people are no longer referring the physical dictionary, and if there is a marked shift towards Googling the meaning of a word or phrase, then what explains the business rationale of keeping the online avatars (be it apps or websites of dictionaries) running?

While most are advertisement-backed and display programmatic ads (banner ads especially) to high intent visitors, brands will be willing to display and pay for these ads only if there are a sizeable quantum of visitors. That explains why you have the annual ritual of such dictionary publishers coming up with the Word of the Year for boosting traffic and to get brands on board to advertise on their platforms.

In an increasingly AI-powered world we are living in, dictionaries sell access to their APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to developers of Large Language Models (LLMs) and translation software catering to their need for high-quality, structured linguistic data to train their algorithms.

Here's the surprise! When you search for a meaning of a word on Google, it gets the definition from licensed companies that compile dictionaries. Oxford Languages in this case. Oxford University Press pricing of enterprise level APIs start at £5,000 ($6,300) per year, per language.

Dictionaries also make money by licensing their data to power "meaning of the word " searches on search engines like Google; word puzzles and games on mobile gaming apps; as well as enabling digital references to word and phrase meanings on devices such as Kindle. Such licensing makes dictionary publishers pocket an estimated US$ 1 - 5 million on a yearly basis.

All in all, the business model of dictionary publishers has undergone a tectonic shift from selling a physical product to a service of selling data and access making it an estimated US$ 4.39 billion industry growing at a CAGR of 13%.

Pedagogical significance of "Word of the Day"

Most of you Anglophiles reading this blog I believe would have at some point in time subscribed to a "Word of the Day" daily email or have a mobile app equivalent for this.

Learning new words enables us to better articulate ourselves through writing and speech. The "Word of the Day" helps us not just expand our vocabulary, but also keep ourselves in sync with new slangs and cultural shifts in terms of the contextual usage of the words.

Most of these ''Word of the Day" emails would have these in common:

Definition - Meanings of the word according to its usage in different parts of speech (as a noun, verb, adjective etc.)
Etymology - Word origin
Pronunciation - Syllabification i.e. breaking words into smaller, spoken parts based on vowel sounds and often accompanied with an audio feature
Imagery - Though not common, it is a wonderful addition that aids in word and context retention and recall.
Synonyms & Antonyms - Words having the similar meanings (synonyms) and words which are opposites (antonyms)
Usage examples - 2-3 sentences as per its different meanings and part of speech.

For dictionary publishers, it creates daily engagement and site visits to boost advertisement revenue. As language learners, it offers a daily learning cadence without much of a cognitive load. The only challenge however is retention and recall, which unless we consciously use the word in a daily work or social environment, be it in writing or through speech, would prove to be a challenge. This is where EdTech players like Duolingo (which introduced the concept of spaced retention) and other vocabulary building apps that generate flashcards come in handy.

However lexical research also shows that unless there is contextual relevance (the right occasion, mood, environment etc.) for us to continually apply the word in daily life, our ability to retain and recall a newly learnt word will diminish with time. This is why reading books and newspapers continues to be emphasized upon by organizations such as English Language Teachers Association of India (ELTAI) to be developed as a lifelong habit to prevent cognitive decline and aid in improved writing and spoken English proficiency.

Online News Portals and the "Word of the Day" Syndrome

This blog started with screenshots of "Word of the Day" article recommendations I get in my Google news feed. The first question that hit my mind was "Why are news portals getting to reinventing the wheel so to say, when readers have other options for digital references of words and phrases?"

Portals such as The New Indian Express explicitly mention that their "Word of the Day" feature has been created collaboratively by AI and human editors to ensure originality, clarity, and meaningful learning. Most of the other Indian news portals have an editorial name associated with each article.

They seem to be following the lead of The New York Times which started its "Word of the Day" vocabulary offerings in the year 2021 with definition content and quizzes sourced from Vocabulary.com.

Having been a Media Relations professional for nearly a decade, I can tell you that what's at play over here is a masterclass in modern digital retention strategy to fight hyper peer competition and the plague of doom-scrolling.

Analysis of the Business Rationale

#1 Better Digital Discovery through SEO, AEO and GEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) secures better rankings on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), and traffic to the website
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) targets snippet answers on Search Engine pages for questions such as "What is the meaning of ?"
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) shows content from your website in responses to queries on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and other GenAI platforms.

Search Engines reward news websites which churn out new authoritative content with better search rankings, and enable news sites capture "top-of-funnel" traffic. I'd love to see tailored vocabulary offerings based on professions (medical, legal, business etc.) that these news portals can cater to.

#2 Word Games as Engagement Magnets

The New York Times today earns a significant chunk of its advertisement and subscription revenues more by being a gaming company than a news media publisher. The acquisition of the Wordle game validates the immense value of this product-led GTM, which generated a massive, engaged user base without any traditional advertising.

Add to the portfolio other word based games and puzzles such as Connections, Strands, and the vocabulary-building Spelling Bee, you get a great set of engagement magnets which create a habit loop for the users who'd visit The New York Times not just to read news, but also get a dopamine kick by engaging in games. The upshot? Better retention, better ad or subscription based revenues that go Ka-ching!

My prediction? Don't be too surprised to see publications and portals of The Times of India and The Economic Times to come up with word games and puzzles that go beyond the traditional Crossword puzzle, Scramble or the Spellathon.

In conclusion, words form the building blocks of the languages we speak and play a significant role in determining the impact we create through our communication. While the "Word of the Day" articles and subscription mails do help readers expand their knowledge and improve the contextual usage of words on one hand, online news portals are transforming themselves to become 'One-Stop' digital destinations for self improvement through information (news), knowledge (vocabulary) and entertainment (games).

From a pedagogic standpoint, it is my belief that the efficacy of such engagements would be high provided there is application in the form of creating practical opportunities for the usage of words which you as a reader pick up while reading news or even while streaming online videos.

Install Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder web browser extension on your Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Perplexity and Ulaa browsers to enhance and assess your English vocabulary while reading online news and streaming online videos with subtitles.

Education Technology Integration: Applying the SAMR Model for English Vocabulary Building

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 19:40:55 +0530

Propagated by Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura, SAMR is a model that helps educators make informed decisions about integrating technology in classrooms to provide improved digital learning experiences for students, in addition to better learning outcomes. In this blog, we explore the application of this model on our product Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder.

Understanding the 4 levels of SAMR

The four levels of education technology integration are Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition. As the educator progresses through each level, the role of technology becomes more transformative.

The first two levels of Substitution and Augmentation are meant to 'enhance' the learning experience while the latter two stages of Modification and Redefinition are meant to transform it i.e. by enabling teachers and students to perform activities that couldn't have been otherwise performed.

This 8 minute video by Analisa McMillan is the best I have seen to explain the 4 levels with utmost clarity and simplicity.

SAMR Model for Glibzter Immersive

Glibzter's browser extension and web app - Glizbter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder works on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers while users access the internet via a laptop or personal computer (PC).

It enables users to build and expand their vocabulary in English through real-time curation of words and phrases for AI-powered contextual practice when they stream videos with English subtitles/ closed-captions on Netflix and YouTube, and also read online news articles from select media portals such as BBC, CNN, MSN News, The Times of India etc.

Let's dive into how this product offering can be integrated into a classroom setting using the SAMR model of technology integration.

1. Substitution

Think vocabulary building, and the image of a physical dictionary comes to mind. You come across a new word and the dictionary becomes a port of call for finding out the meaning. Likewise with idioms, phrasal verbs and connotations. Now imagine substituting the physical dictionary with an online dictionary app, say TheFreeDictionary.com. Or key in the word or phrase into the Google Search box to find its meaning, along with usage examples, pronunciation audio, synonyms, antonyms etc.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: In place of physical books, teachers can curate educational content such as YouTube videos (with subtitles / closed captions in English) and online news articles (e.g. Editorials, Long form news articles on a specific subject), and ask students to watch/ read them on their laptops/ PCs with Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary builder as a browser extension.

2. Augmentation

When you come across a new word or phrase, say in a book, magazine or newspaper, you would ideally underline it, jot it down in a notebook, refer the dictionary (online or physical one), jot down the meaning along with the usage sentence/s. What if all this takes place automatically at the back end as and when you are streaming a video on YouTube with subtitles/ closed captions in English or reading an online article without you having to pause the video or break your reading tempo for jotting all these down?

The enhancement is in terms of automatic real-time curation of the most relevant words and phrases (e.g. 20 words and 15 phrases from a 1000 word article) and unhindered content consumption experience for the learner.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: Glibzter Immersive will extract and present to students the most relevant words and also phrases from the curated YouTube videos and online news articles you provide them, for contextual practice. Based on the presented words and phrases, the teacher can create in-class assessments in the future.

Read: Glibzter Immersive v/s Dictionary v/s Google Search

3. Modification

This is the phase where technology is used to design interactive and dynamic tasks that go beyond the limitations of a traditional classroom. (Source: 3P Learning.com). It would redesign the learning activity.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: Glibzter Immersive leverages the power of Generative AI to enable students to better remember the usage of English words and phrases trough contextual relevance i.e. by knowing in what situation and in what emotions can the words/ phrases suggested be used. Add to this 'Word Combinations' i.e. Collocations and 'Synonyms', and students will get a well rounded practice session with translations in 7 Indian languages (soon to be opened for all languages) and audio feature for aiding in better pronunciation.

4. Redefintion

Redefinition is a phase where technology can make new learning opportunities, hitherto considered impossible, possible.

As an English Vocabulary Builder, Glibzter Immersive caters to the 'What to Speak' aspect of communication. Going forward, we will be looking to building the 'How to Speak' component with voice based assessments. We will also be looking to improve the assessments for contextual usage of words and phrases.

Application of Glibzter Immersive for Teachers: With these features, teachers can assess communication skills of students, be it in terms of vocabulary application but also in terms of confidence to verbally use the words and phrases in writing and speech.

This blog will be updated once these features are worked on. Until then, do share your views on this blog and our product offering Glibzter Immersive in the comments section below.

Glibzter Opines: Effectiveness of PLRRPAR Framework to improve your English skills

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:15:00 +0530

Study by Dr. A Amala Arokiaraj, Prof. D Francis Xavier and Dr. S John Kaviarasu of Loyola College, Chennai published in ELTAI's Journal of English Language Teaching (Aug 2024)

The PLRRPAR framework offers a dynamic learner-centered approach empowering English learners to acquire and confidently apply language skills in the real-world contexts. This microblog explores each of its seven phases in relationship with Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder to assess how it addresses challenges related to language acquisition, motivation to learn, holistic skill development and confidence in application.

P for Pre-learn by building background knowledge

Learners are exposed to authentic materials in the form of texts, dialogues and multimedia resources, promoting immersive learning and nurturing interest and motivation for further language exploration.

This foundational phase is meant to equip learners with context setting, thus prepping their minds to know what to expect and experience. It is tantamount to watching the trailer/ teaser of a movie or the headline/ sub-head/ abstract of a news article. It aims to bridge prior knowledge about a subject and its associated vocabulary, grammar, sentence structures and pronunciation with new language components in the new materials.

L for Learn by active engagement and instructional delivery

The second phase is about the learners' active engagement with the learning resources in the form of acquisition of words and phrases, observing how they are pronounced along with studying sentence structures, exploring the context in which they are used and their meaning. The aim is to enhance comprehension while consuming the content in the materials (be it multimedia resources, books, newspapers or magazines).

R for Reflect through metacognitive awareness

During the third phase, learners interpret the content they consume from the resource materials (OTT videos with subtitles and online news articles as in the case of Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder) and link situations they come across as well as the newly acquainted English words and phrases with self experienced real-life situations and emotions. Facilitating this metacognitive awareness will ensure the 'stickiness' of the newly acquired words and phrases.

R for Relate components of English language skills

English language skills include components such as listening, speaking, reading and writing besides vocabulary and grammar. How you read will determine how you express yourself through speech and writing. How you listen will determine how you comprehend and respond to what is said to you.

While learning new words and phrases using Glibzter Immersive browser extension (available for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge) and web app, you will learn by context, situation and emotion through usage examples in the form of sentences. Through listening to these sentences (audio feature) and reading them, you understand the application of grammar in the sentence structure. Learners can make the most of this phase by reading the usage example sentences of words and phrases, listening to how the sentences sound, writing them out and finally speaking them during social interactions, thereby improving their LSRW skills.

P for Practice - Repetition improves accuracy

While using Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder, once the words and phrases are automatically curated and presented to you, you need to practice them contextually - i.e. by situation and emotion, besides acquainting yourself with word substitutes (synonyms) and word combinations (collocations).

Most language learning apps like Duolingo have introduced the concept of 'spaced repetition' i.e. being presented with the word or phrase, its meaning and usage example along with a couple of gamified assessments spread across a period of time e.g. the next day, 3 days later, 10 days later, 15 days and 30 days later so as to improve mental retention. With increased practice, learners will start using the words and phrases more accurately, leading to greater comfort and confidence in real-life communicative situations.

A for Apply - Real-life communication situations

The sixth phase will need the learners to apply their knowledge of the topics they have learn as well as the language skills they have amassed in their personal, social and professional environments. The biggest challenge however is that of hesitation or lack of initiative to engage despite knowing what to speak or write.

The more qualitative and frequent the practice, the better would be the outcome in this phase.

If you use Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder, we encourage you to share usage examples in the form of social media posts (text posts on Facebook or X.com, and then graduating to reels on Instagram). This is more of a shadow practice application before getting to engage with a larger audience through speech.

R for Reinforce - Making it a lifelong learning process

Reinforcement involves revisiting and creatively applying previously learnt language skills (especially contextual usage of words and phrases) through recall while watching other movies, reading news and taking part in assessments (solving word puzzles or playing word games). This is the phase wherein, if you are used to using a particular word to describe a situation, you should tune yourself to using synonyms of that word to become more creative and engaging in spoken English.

This phase should also make learners realize that English language learning is a lifelong cognitive process, wherein it should be an objective to learn something new everyday.

Glibzter's Take

As you can see, our product, Glibzter Immersive has been developed based on the PLRRPAR framework for the most part. The framework provides a systematic language acquisition path for learners, while being complemented by Glibzter Immersive serving as their digital English vocabulary coach curating words and phrases of relevance from the content they consume online.

The role of English language teachers in this process is pivotal to the successful implementation of the framework, thereby going to highlight the fact that both edtech and AI can best complement and can never ever replace the central role played by teachers as facilitators.

Read:Comparison - Glibzter Immersive v/s Dictionary v/s Google Search

Read:How Glibzter Immersive helps you build and expand your English Vocabulary

Using the Open Internet for Language Learning

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:53:01 +0530

Glibzter Opines are microblogs within GlibTalks, where members of the Glibzter Team share their thoughts and opinions on trending topics of relevance. This one is an observation on the rise of the Open Internet and OTT consumption in India and how the rising usage could present itself as an opportunity for language learning.

For the uninitiated, the term 'Open Internet' refers to over-the-top (OTT) and connected TV (CTV), music streaming, online gaming, and news websites with no 'walled gardens' - a term used to define an internet environment with restricted access to websites. 8 out of 10 users in India are increasing their time on the open internet in 2024, as per a research report released by global advertising agency - The Trade Desk.

The Open Internet surpasses social media in terms of engagement. The same agency had released a report in 2023 stating that consumers are spending 52% of the average 307 hours in a month browsing the Open Internet with 48% spent on social media, user generated content and online live streaming platforms.

Even in terms of engagement, the Open Internet comprising OTT video and music streaming, Connected TV and news websites enjoy a better engagement rate (34%) as against social media (30%). Younger Indians are 27% more likely to choose OTT/Connected TV over social media for their content consumption.

The usage habits are very different. Users of the Open Internet actively seek information while those on social media passively consume auto-generated content feeds. This is a very useful consumer insight to have.

Internet usage in India

Internet users currently number 820 million in India. What is interesting to observe in the chart below are the activities they perform on the internet.

Key observations from the IAMAI Kantar Report:

On the topmost rung is OTT (audio/ video) consumption with 86% (702 million) internet users in India using streaming services.
OTT consumption via smart devices (Connected TV - Smart TV, Chromecast, Amazon Firestick etc.) has increased by 58% from 2021 to 2023. 208 million Indians consume video content on such devices overtaking the 181 million conventional TV consumers.
65% (533 million) internet users in India access online news.
While majority of internet users (even in urban India) - 57% prefer to consume content in Indic language, it can be conversely inferred that 43% would prefer content consumption in English.
Online learning is accessed by only 3% (24 million) of India's internet users.

(Source: Link to the Business Standard article | Link to The Indian Express article)

Glibzter's Take

Being an EdTech meets Consumer Tech venture, it is the lowly 3% (24 million) internet user number in the online learning space that catches our attention. Having launched Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder, a web browser extension and web app for building and expanding English vocabulary while streaming online videos with English subtitles/ closed-captions and reading online news articles, there is the potential of converting a significant chunk of 533 million internet users who consume online news content and 702 million users of OTT video streaming services to become online language learners, starting with English and later using the same technology application for Indian regional languages and foreign languages.

Read:How Glibzter Immersive helps you build and expand your English Vocabulary

With videos on YouTube and Netflix (the OTT Platforms Glibzter Immersive is programmed to work on) having English subtitles / closed-captions, they serve as an immersive mode for language learning. The trend we are looking at is the implementation of Same Language Subtitling (SLS) for entertainment/ infotainment content on these platforms particularly for Indian regional language learning (e.g. Watching a Rajanikanth movie in Tamil or a Junior NTR movie in Telugu to learn new words and phrases in that language) which we see as a potential business opportunity to explore in the future.

Read:Same Language Subtitling - A boon for language learning via videos

This can also be applicable to reading regional language content via online news portals for users keen on learning them in the future. Currently, users can still watch Indian regional language video content with English subtitles/ closed-captions to build and expand their English Vocabulary.

Lastly, the trend of increased usage of connected devices indicates the need for Glibzter Immersive to be made adaptive for usage on mobile and such devices, beyond laptops/ PC. While gamification is already prevalent in the space of EdTech with spaced repetition for language learning, integration of online gaming with language learning is a new dimension to explore.

5 ways how reading helps improve your Spoken English communication skills

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 19:13:29 +0530

What you communicate is directly related to what you read. Your confidence to communicate in English is a function of the quantum and subject diversity of your reading. This blog covers the secrets of how reading plays a pivotal role in improving your communication skills in general and Spoken English in specific.

Search Google for quotes on reading and you will find many. The one which truly strikes a chord with me as being the most relevant for this blog post has been that of the legendary American animator Walt Disney

- “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

While books today have taken an electronic form, the emphasis is more on the activity of reading with many tangible and intangible benefits of reading being referred to as the 'treasure'. Let's get down to explore some of these benefits from a communication skill building standpoint.

Fodder for Conversations, Speeches and Presentations

Reading is an activity of amassing knowledge in the form of information, insights and perspectives. These can be shared in the form of expressing views during social or professional conversations. While venturing an opinion, they can be used to support your argument besides opening your mind to presenting new ideas and concepts.

If you see yourself being 'Tongue-tied' or 'Not knowing what to speak' on certain social occasions, then reading the news is the solution to give you the needed talk points to 'break the ice'. Reading induces confidence in speech!

Observe and replicate the 'Art of Story Telling'

Whether it is a work of fiction, a news article, a social media post or even an advertisement; what you read is a story that is published. How information is structured and pieced together to convey something so that it creates the desired action from you - the reader is the 'Art of Storytelling'.

If it is a work of fiction, the objective would be play on your sentiments or emotions. A news article is meant to enlighten you through information dissemination. An advertisement is meant to compel you to realize a need and convince you that the product or service advertised best solves the need for you.

Through conscious observation while reading, you'd pick up the skills of how to build and deliver a story effectively to apply them in your life. The more diverse your reading material, the better would be the variety of stories that you'd get acquainted with. The more unique the story, the more interesting you'd be as a communicator. Lastly, always tailor your story for the intended recipients for greater impact.

Apply Critical Thinking and Empathy in Communication

Unlike a fleeting video, written text affords you more time to comprehend the content better. You can, to borrow a phrase, 'read between the lines' to understand what the writer has not communicated but hinted instead. There is more time to analyse the cause and effect, make inferences, thereby facilitating critical thinking.

By reading differing perspectives on the same topic, you will be able to appreciate the respective arguments and practice empathy while communicating.

Learn the application of English Grammar and Sentence Structure

The more you read, the more you are acquainted with how sentences are framed. While having a strong understanding of English grammatical rules, will help you not only comprehend what you are reading, but later enable you to express yourself in a more compelling and seamless manner; by reading, you will observe the practical application of grammar without getting boggled by the specifics of nomenclature (whether a sentence is in present perfect or present continuous tense).

Reading enables you to imbibe grammar through observation and the more you read, better would be the way you'd construct your sentences.

Build and expand your English Vocabulary

Reading makes you an explorer and sets you off on an adventure where you uncover not just new knowledge, stories and information but also new words and phrases. The more you read, the more the likelihood of you finding more words and phrases that you could use in your day to day conversations.

If you are a student of biosciences, then reading a scientific journal will acquaint you with words and phrases relevant to that subject. Similarly, if you are a salesperson in the field of field of technology, reading tech focused media publications would fine tune your tech parlance and help you ace your client presentations by using trending words and phrases in your domain.

Adding new words and phrases to your vocabulary arsenal through reading will benefit you in the following ways:

More creativity in expressing yourself (due to vocabulary diversity)
More confidence in speech (once you master contextual knowledge of what word or phrase to use for what situation)
More engagement (create greater influence and impact through improved diction)

This is where Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Buildercomes in to assist you as your digital English Vocabulary coach.

About Glibzter Immersive

Glibzter Immersive is a browser extension and web app that helps you improve your communication skills in English through vocabulary building and expansion. What makes Glibzter Immersive truly unique is its ability to curate or select relevant words and phrases from the content you read in online news articles (from select media portals) as well as the videos with English subtitles/ closed captions that you stream online (on YouTube and Netflix), and present them to you for contextual practice.

Read: How Glibzter Immersive helps you build and expand your English Vocabulary

Glibzter Immersive functions on both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers on laptops and desktop/PCs.

Download for Google Chrome

Download for Microsoft Edge

Are you ready to Glibzter today?

Know more about its Features, Benefits, Use Cases, and Pricing. Share your views on the product in the comments section below.

How Glibzter Immersive helps you build and expand your English Vocabulary

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 21:10:47 +0530

Glibzter Immersive is a web browser extension (for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers) and web app that helps you learn the contextual usage of not just English words, but also phrases from the digital content you consume online such as Netflix and YouTube videos with subtitles and news articles from select online media channels. This microblog focuses on how it curates these words and phrases for you.

Your English vocabulary immersion journey

You begin your work day by opening your laptop / PC. Click on a browser of your choice which opens a home screen recommending news articles tailored to your reading interests. You open one that catches your fancy and begin reading it. As you read, you come across a set of new words, some interesting idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs - some of which you are well acquainted with, while others seem relatively new to you.

If you are someone yearning to become a better communicator in Spoken English by improving your vocabulary, what you'd look to do is:

Take out a diary or a notepad
Pen down the words and phrases
Open a dictionary or Google Search them for meaning etc.
Jot them down in the notepad along with the way in which they are used in the article
Commit them to memory by revisiting them (Learn by rote or association with the news you read)

Likewise if you are streaming a video with English subtitles/ closed-captions on YouTube or Netflix, you might do the same activities when you encounter new words and verbal expressions, although it may seem a lot more difficult without having to pause the streaming, jot down the word/ phrase and then press 'PLAY'.

Without a physical notepad and pen in hand, you may choose to type them into the notepad of your mobile. Come to think of it, this way of acquiring vocabulary appears a tad tedious, hampering your video watching experience.

Automatic 'Real-time' curation of words and phrases with Glibzter Immersive

What if there was a way to help you identify, collect and present to you these words and phrases - be it from the videos with English subtitles you stream or the news articles you read online - without you having to pen them down?

Imagine reading a news article without having to underline words and phrases or watching a movie without having to hit the pause button to jot them down!

This is one of the benefits of using Glibzter Immersive - English Vocabulary Builder. It automatically selects the most relevant English words and phrases from the online article you are reading (only on select media channels) and online videos you stream on YouTube and Netflix (with subtitles/ closed-captions in English) for you to practice contextually.

Let's get down to understanding, how?

Vocabulary acquisition through the Glibzter Immersive browser extension

When you install the Glibzter Immersive English Vocabulary Builder browser extension on Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser, it would appear like this on the browser.

Click on it and it opens the browser extension interface. Open an online news article (from any of the media channels Glibzter Immersive is programmed to work on), and give the browser extension the permission to 'Extract text content from this site'. This will be needed if you are using Glibzter Immersive for the first time for that particular portal.

What you'd then see (after refreshing the screen) is some Glibzter 'Magic'.

What you see are a total of 146 estimated words and phrases which are categorised under three categories:

Basic: These would be English words and phrases which anyone with basic foundational knowledge of English is likely to know. Basis the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels of language proficiency, this would cover words and phrases relevant to those having A1 (Beginner), A2 (Elementary) and B1 (Intermediate) level proficiency. In the example above, Glibzter Immersive has identified 130 basic words and phrases. By default, it will not recommend them for practice. Users who are interested in knowing these words and phrases can unlock them by clicking a button in the web app.
Essential: These would be English words and phrases which Glibzter Immersive considers most relevant for you and recommends to you for contextual practice. These would come under the B2 (Upper Intermediate), C1 (Advanced) and C2 (Proficient) categories.
Uncategorized: These would be only English words (no phrases) which may not be part of our dictionary database, which would be proper nouns (names of people, places), words in languages other than English, words relevant to different domains that are not part of daily use vocabulary. They are still recommended to you for contextual practice.

Overall, you will be recommended not more than 15% of the total words and phrases in the digital content source for practice in the Glibzter Immersive web app.

Let's now see the usage of Glibzter Immersive browser extension on videos with subtitles/ closed-captions.

The browser extension would work slightly differently on Netflix videos, with 'Estimated words and phrases' being updated every 5 seconds as the video streams.

Manual acquisition of words and phrases through the Glibzter Immersive browser extension

The browser extension comes with the feature of manual entry, where you can identify and manually enter words and phrases that are new to you that you come across while reading or listening something offline or from a media channel that is not associated with Glibzter Immersive. This feature is particularly helpful while reading e-papers, e-magazines, PDF files etc.

Vocabulary practice through the Glibzter Immersive web app

Move down the browser extension interface and you will see a summation of the words and phrases acquired from the MSN news article (with 12 Essential + 4 Uncategorised) and the YouTube video of the US Presidential Debate 2024 (14 Essential + 3 Uncategorised)

You can then click on this interface to open the dashboard of the Glibzter Immersive web app, which gives a quantified overview of the words and phrases acquired, practiced and already known. It also gives you an overview of the words and phrases acquired by type (Basic, Essential, Uncategorised) and by source (Online Videos, Online News Articles and Manual Entry)

Click on 'Start Practice' (for either words or phrases and you will be taken to a page called the Card of 5. This will contain a card with 5 words/ phrases from the Essential and Uncategorised set. You can select the ones you wish to practice while ignoring those you know.

When you tap on a word or phrase, it opens up an interface which helps you practice the usage of the word/ phrase by:

Context (Contextual usage examples)
Situation (When to use the word/ phrase)
Emotion (Usage of the word/ phrase across 5 basic human emotions)
Word Combinations (Collocations)
Synonyms (Substitute words)
Test (Multiple choice question with answer. The word/ phrase is considered to be practiced only if the Test button is clicked)

You press the green 'NEXT' button only after all the 5 words or phrases you see in the card are known to you.

Read the blog: "Comparison: Glibzter Immersive v/s Dictionary v/s Google Search" to know how you can benefit from this contextual learning aided by an audio feature for pronunciation as well as translation feature in 7 Indian regional languages. We will soon be introducing a voice based speech analysis feature so that you can orally practice the usage of words and phrases.

Besides the tech-enabled feature of automatic curation of English words and phrases from videos with English subtitles/ closed-captions and news articles online, Glibzter Immersive will also have a daily word and phrase list compiled called 'Daily Dozen' for words and 'Take 20' for phrases, (both currently in test phase) making it the most engaging, systematic and fastest way for you to build and expand your English vocabulary.

Download Glibzter Immersive

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Are you ready to Glibzter today?

Know more about its Features, Benefits, Use Cases, and Pricing. Share your views on the product in the comments section below.

Comparison: Glibzter Immersive v/s Dictionary v/s Google Search

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 18:02:26 +0530

"Why use Glibzter Immersive when I can simply use an online dictionary or Google search the meaning of a word or phrase for free?" This blog gets down to answering this question of yours.

You come across a word "nuanced" in a sentence 'They appreciated her nuanced performance' while reading an online article. The word is familiar to you. You've heard it before but somehow you are unable to recall the meaning of it. What is it that you'd do?

If you have a dictionary app on your mobile or can access a dictionary website, you will open it, key in the word and get the following: (This is what appears when I key in the word 'nuanced' into TheFreeDictionary.com website)

Dictionary usage

A dictionary's use case is predominantly to help you understand the meaning of a word or phrase. It was very rare for dictionaries in their print/ offline versions to have usage examples. Usage examples are key to better comprehension of the meaning and also aid in improved retention. If the sentence sticks in your mind, then you'd always associate the usage of a particular word or phrase with that sentence.

Online dictionaries come with a feature of audio pronunciation assistance in addition to a pronunciation key. This is indeed a nifty tool for English language learners to use in order to help them get their pronunciation of the word or phrase right.

In the example above, we also see the dictionary helping out with the word origin. Language purists swear by etymology (study of history and origin of words) as an effective way to remember them better.

[French, from Old French, from nuer, to shade, cloud, from nue, cloud, from Vulgar Latin *nūba, from Latin nūbēs.]

[French, from nuer to show light and shade, ultimately from Latin nūbēs a cloud]

An online dictionary could also double up as a Thesaurus, providing you with synonyms (associated words having the same meanings that can be used to substitute the word being referenced) and antonyms (words having the opposite meaning of the referenced word). Some dictionaries also help provide a visual representation of the word (more so for tangible objects) to aid in better association, retention and recall.

Google Search the meaning

In the absence of a physical dictionary or a dictionary mobile app, Google Search comes in handy to search for the meaning of the word. This is usually actioned by prefixing 'meaning of' or 'define' to the word you'd want to search.

Pronunciation assistance, meaning, usage examples and word origin are covered similar to what other online dictionaries cover. Additionally, Google Search yields a very interesting feature of 'word usage over time' as denoted by the graph.

In the 'Usage examples' section, we see 3 sentences. In total, there are 5 usage example sentences including 2 in the 'Overview' section. Moving on to the 'Similar and opposite words' section, you have a list of synonyms (and antonyms when applicable).

The last segment of 'Pronunciation' has a visual depiction of mouth movement while pronouncing the word with audio assistance. Users can select pronunciation in Indian English, American accent and British accent. What's more? Users can adjust the pace of the pronunciation to 'Slow'.

Using Glibzter Immersive

Glibzter Immersive is a powerful web browser extension that helps you build and expand your English vocabulary in an 'Immersive' manner replicating how we naturally learn a language. i.e. by watching movies, TV shows, web series and by reading online news articles.

Glibzter Immersive assumes the following roles to aid you in your English communication skills improvement journey through vocabulary building:

Digital Magnet for Words and Phrases

Download the Glibzter Browser extension for Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser.

Open a web page of any of the media channels we currently support for online news or videos on YouTube and Netflix with English subtitles/ closed captions.

Glibzter Immersive will work its magic as a digital magnet of words and phrases for that news article or video. The browser extension will show you an estimation of the words and phrases in an article or video.

Words and Phrases are categorised as Basic, Essential and Uncategorised.

Basic: These would be words/ phrases which anyone with foundational knowledge of English is likely to know.

Essential: These would be words/ phrases which Glibzter recommends to you for practice.

Uncategorised: These would be words/ phrases which could be proper nouns, words from other languages or those which are newly coined (neologisms).

In the example above, out of the 275 words in the news article; Glibzter curates and suggests only 24 words for practice. That is the role played by Glibzter Immersive as a digital magnet for words and phrases.

Digital Diary for Words and Phrases

After reading a news article or streaming a video with subtitles/ closed captions online, you now move on to practice the words and phrases that have been acquired. The Glibzter Immersive browser extension has a segment which records how many words and phrases have been acquired and practiced, categorized by sources i.e. from videos and online articles. This section can be clicked to move on to the practice section.

Glibzter Immersive's browser extension also comes with a very handy manual entry feature. You come across a word or phrase offline or on a media channel that is currently not part of our offering, all you have to do is manually enter it into the section below to keep it ready for practice.

This shows you have Glibzter Immersive serves as a digital diary for recording all the new words and phrases relevant to you.

With helping you with English Vocabulary building and expansion as the main objective, Glibzter Immersive takes on the role of a digital gym to enable you to develop your verbal ability.

Digital Gym for Building Verbal Ability

A gym is where you go to in order to build muscle or increase your levels of fitness. As a digital gym, Glibzter Immersive's web app enables you to build and expand your English vocabulary through practice of contextual usage of words and phases (which would include idioms, phrasal verbs and collocations).

Much like how running on a treadmill will show you the distance covered and the calories burnt, Glibzter Immersive helps you to quantify your word power in terms of quantifying the number of words and phrases acquired, already known and practiced by the period of time you select (i.e. Today, Yesterday, Last week, Last Month, Last Year, Till Date etc.)

Click on 'Start Practice' (for either words or phrases and you will be taken to a page called the Card of 5.

You can select which words/ phrases you want to practice on that card. This opens up an interface which helps you practice the usage of the word/ phrase by:

Context
Situation
Emotion
Word Combinations (Collocations)
Synonyms
Test

As can be seen, Glibzter Immersive enables you to gain a deeper understanding of the context of usage of the word 'nuanced' by giving you situations when the word can be used along with examples. The latest version of Glibzter Immersive will also provide 'Word Combinations' which are essentially collocations (e.g. nuanced performance, nuanced portrayal etc.).

These can be translated into 7 Indian regional languages. We will be looking to offer this facility to international languages in the future. There is also an audio feature enabled to read out these usage examples to enable you to pronounce the words in the sentences right.

Also, get to know the usage of words/ phrases by 5 basic emotions: Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Surprise and Anger

There is also a 'Test' feature to test your contextual understanding of the word/ phrase usage.

Quantifier of your Word Power

As a user of Glibzter Immersive, you get to know exactly how many words and phrases you have acquired (from videos, online articles and manual entry), practiced and already known for any selected time frame.

Vocab Coach - Daily Word and Phrase Lists

With Daily Dozen (Word list with 12 words) and Take20 (List of 20 phrases), you can accelerate your English vocabulary building and expansion by practicing these curated theme based word and phrase lists; in addition to acquiring and practicing via content from digital media consumption.

All this makes Glibzter Immersive the most engaging, systematic and fastest way for you to build your English Vocabulary and hone your communication skills.

Voice enabled practice - Coming Soon

In the future, Glibzter Immersive will come integrated with AI-enabled voice practice to help you by recording the usage examples of words and phrases in your own voice. This will boost your confidence in applying what you have learnt through Glibzter Immersive.

Summarizing the observations

Quite clearly, Glibzter Immersive is more than just a word meaning reference tool which an online dictionary or a Google search would cater to. Its use case is very different as it is more focused on being your digital vocabulary coach acquiring, curating and presenting relevant words and phrases from the digital content you consume online as well as through daily thematic lists; for contextual practice.

	Online Dictionary	Google Search
Real-time curation of words and phrases from digital content (YouTube/ Netflix videos and online news)	No	No	Yes
Quantify your Vocabulary	No	No	Yes
Audio assistance for pronunciation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Context (Situation and Emotion) based usage practice	No	No	Yes
Voice based practice	No	No	Coming soon!

Are you ready to Glibzter today?

If so, download the Glibzter Immersive browser extension and web app for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

Know more about its Features, Benefits, Use Cases, and Pricing. Share your views on the product in the comments section below.

Same Language Subtitling: A Boon for Language Learning via Videos

Fri, 17 May 2024 16:40:13 +0530

This blog has been authored with inputs from Deetshidha Murali

The day was Saturday. 2^nd April, 2022. The beginning of the weekend, and I had the crisp weekend edition of Business Standard on my table. It was through adman and media entrepreneur Sandeep Goyal’s article ‘Same Language Subtitling as a driver of literacy’ in his weekly column – Yes, But… that I was introduced to this simple yet interesting concept to promote literacy in India at scale through reading.

The brainchild of Dr. Brij Kothari, founder of PlanetRead and lead at Pondicherry-based BIRD project, Same Language Subtitling or SLS in its abbreviated form entails creation of subtitles and closed captions in the same language as that of the original audio in the entertainment content. If it is a movie in English or a web series in Hindi, the videos need to have subtitles in English and Hindi respectively.

Back in March this year, Dr. Kothari had posted on LinkedIn that India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) mandated that all applications for film certification will need to submit, "the same language subtitles, same language audio description, or same language closed captions... and any other accessibility features as may be notified... by the Central Government."

While SLS has been leveraged for media access among the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) across many countries, the objective of implementing it in India by the BIRD project is for inculcating a daily and lifelong reading practice among people, particularly among young girls and women in rural areas.

The evolution of subtitles

Back in the era of silent films filmmakers came up with this concept called intertitles. They're like little frames of text that pop up during the movie to let the viewers know what the characters are saying or what's going on. Imagine you are watching a Charlie Chaplin movie and there are no dialogues but you find the intertitles in between the scenes telling you what exactly is happening. It's like reading a comic book but on the big screen!

Moving on to the era of Talkies, when cinema had audible dialogues. The intertitles didn't disappear completely. Instead, they found a new role of translating movie dialogue into different languages for global audiences. This was the earliest form of the subtitles we know and experience today.

Over the years, subtitles have become superheroes of accessibility! For people who are hard of hearing, subtitles (in the same language as the original audio) are like a lifeline, helping them follow the dialogues and understand the storyline more meaningfully than just connect the dots through visual imagery. With closed captioning, even sounds like music or footsteps are textually conveyed on screen, giving them a more wholesome cinematic experience.

With advanced speech to text technology, subtitles can be generated during live video broadcasts such as a sporting event in real-time!

How Same Language Subtitling aids in Language Learning

At Glibzter, we see the implementation of Same Language Subtitling to be a game changer in the space of language learning.

While we are currently focused on helping users like you improve communication skills in English through vocabulary acquisition and contextual practice, SLS can help us in diversifying this offering into learning other Indian regional languages.

In our earlier blog we delved into three reasons why learning English from video subtitles is effective. There are certain key insights from Dr. Brij Kothari that reinforce our reasons:

People like to read what they hear. With closed captions, you can also see textual descriptions of sounds, music and emotion.

Encouraging learning through video content the viewers find interesting can improve their language skills. A reason why the sitcom FRIENDS is such a hit among non-native speakers of the English language.

SLS as a solution combines entertainment content on accessible mediums, integrating subtitles and the viewers’ passion for that content.

Reading activity will not require additional time and effort as it automatically takes place while watching the video content.

Learn English from Video Subtitles on OTT Video platforms

India has 481 million OTT users and 102 million paid subscriptions (Source:Ormax Report 2023). With an estimated 462 million YouTube users, India has more YouTube users than any other country. Netflix on the other hand has around 6.5 million subscribers in India, as per a report by analysts at AllianceBernstein in October 2023. (Source:Moneycontrol.com).

With Glibzter Immersive, a browser extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge and available as a web application for use on laptops and desktops, we are helping our users like you to hone communication skills in English through vocabulary building.

How?

Glibzter Immersive is a digital tool that presents you automatically curated sets of words and phrases for you to practice acquired from the video content you stream from Netflix and YouTube.

AI-powered contextual practice for better retention of word and phrase usage.

Word power quantification: Get to know the words and phrases acquired and practiced by day, week, month, year and till date.

Download for Google Chrome

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So go ahead and give Glibzter Immersive a try and let us have our feedback on the following:

What pain point of yours does it still not address?
What media channels should we include going forward? (OTT Video platforms and news platforms)
What features would you like to see in it?
At what price point would you find value in it?

We’d be ever grateful for your feedback and inputs which will help us build an even more robust offering.

Provide Feedback

To end this blog, let me borrow Dr. Kothari’s quote – “Passion plus SLS is the solution”. Let’s just add Glibzter Immersive to it and make it a wholesome solution that meets the objectives of literacy through reading and communication skills enhancement through vocabulary building.

Article credits: Mint Lounge – Aisiri Amin | The Better India – Aruna Raghuram | Business Standard – Sandeep Goyal

Gain Verbal Finesse: 5 ways you can build and expand your English Vocabulary

Mon, 13 May 2024 13:30:48 +0530

This blog has been authored with inputs from Deetshidha Murali

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” is a quote by Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein I often borrow when I meet up with college students and young working professionals to impress upon them the constant need to work on their communication skills.

Come to think of it, a limited vocabulary in any language is akin to an artist having a limited palette of colors or an archer with limited arrows in the quiver. One can paint the canvas, but it may lack a kaleidoscopic allure. As for the archer, more the arrows, greater the probability of striking the target.

This limitation hampers the application of communication skills across reading, listening, writing and speaking. While reading a book or listening to a speech, a limited vocabulary could hamper comprehension of the communicated message. When it comes to writing and speaking, communication skills which require the highest application of one’s faculties, a limitation of vocabulary could possibly hinder the way in which a thought or opinion gets expressed.

The goal of every communication you send out is to elicit a desired response from the recipient. The more expansive one’s vocabulary gets, the greater the likelihood of being more creative with your communication and thereby higher the probability of engagement to get the desired response.

As enriching as it gets, vocabulary building can seem quite overwhelming for many of you. Imagine having to read up a dictionary from cover to cover or an online word list from A to Z! You start on day one learning the meaning of the word ‘Abaft’, and by the time you are at day ten, chances are you may not quite remember it.

Why?

There could be several attributable reasons for it. Lack of context, rote learning and lack of application come to mind as the top reasons. While spaced repetition in a gamified format is a great effective technique adopted by most English learning platforms, at Glibzter, we are building a new immersive vocabulary building learning experience with Glibzter Immersive.

5 ways to expand your English Vocabulary using Glibzter Immersive

Let’s dive straight into the 5 best ways to help you build your English vocabulary.

1) Streaming movies, web series and documentaries from OTT Video platforms with English subtitles

Nothing can be more fun than this! Imagine you are watching your favourite English web series and you come across a word or a phrase that is new to you. (Hmm.. this is assuming you are self-driven to improve your Spoken English skills and love to amass new words).

You’d first ‘PAUSE’ the video, take a notebook and jot it down (If you are like me.. an 80’s kid) or do so on your mobile. You’d then proceed to open a physical dictionary or just Google search the meaning. Jot it down along with usage examples and then press ‘PLAY’.

Imagine doing this for 20-30 words during the run time of the show! Hampers the viewing experience doesn’t it?

What if you have a tool that automatically curates these words (along with phrases) from the show and saves them to a digital diary for you to practise later? That is what Glibzter Immersive does for you.

While watching English videos of movies and web series (Check out this article on how the sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S has enabled many around the world to learn English) is indeed fun; making it a worthy learning experience needs active engagement as a viewer in the form of listening, observation and reading of subtitles.

Benefits:

· You know how the word or phrase was used in the show i.e. situational and contextual understanding.

· You get a visual point of reference

· Unhindered video viewing experience while the curation takes place in the background.

Download Glibzter Immersive (For Google Chrome | For Microsoft Edge) - Only for Laptop/ Desktop users

2) Reading online news articles

News discovery today takes place the moment you switch on your mobile, open a browser on your laptop or via social media.

Reading is a fundamental skill in language learning as it helps you discover new words and phrases apart from learning sentence structure. It is a skill that demands dedication, commitment and focus from you, the reader.

The benefits of reading news is that apart from vocabulary enhancement, it helps you stay updated on what’s trending and gives you enough fodder to maintain a flow during social conversations.

With Glibzter Immersive, you can build your English vocabulary while reading articles on your laptop from the online websites of The Times of India, MSN News and Scroll.in.

Benefits:

· Automatic curation of words and phrases from the news content you read.

· News aggregator (MSN News) lets you access news from multiple other online news portals such as India Today, The Indian Express, and WION among others.

3) Reading books, magazines and newspapers (Be it the physical or their e-versions)

“Today’s reader is tomorrow’s leader” is what my mentor at B-School and ace Corporate trainer Dr. Krishnamurthi R would often say. “The way you communicate is a direct function of your reading. You are therefore what you read.”

Glibzter Immersive offers a manual entry feature on its browser extension user interface for registering any new word or phrase you come across while reading an e-book or a physical magazine or newspaper for practising at a later date.

Benefit:

· A digital diary for words and phrases you come across via other mediums.

4) Tuning in to Podcasts, FM Radio, and Sports

Listening - an often overlooked skill, is important to improve your English fluency. Listening to English every day reinforces speaking. It significantly helps enhance not just your vocabulary, but also helps you hone your verbal delivery.

We are today living in an era of podcasts. Pick your favorite niche and listen to podcasts that you find interesting on a regular basis. Likewise, FM radio is also a great medium to listen to radio jockeys as they interact with audiences and speak 'on-the-fly'.

If you are a sports fan, then listening to sports commentary pre, post and during the match would dish out interesting words and phrases.

Benefits:

· With Glibzter Immersive’s manual entry feature, you can now add words and phrases you come across while listening to podcasts, FM radio and sports commentary to your vocabulary learning list.

5) Theme-based Word and Phrase Lists

Students appearing for competitive entrance examinations with a verbal ability component would be aware of ‘Word lists’. A list of random words they need to be acquainted with to improve their chances of clearing that exam.

Similarly, man English learning apps and platforms have introduced flash cards which are gamified and presented with spaced repetition (i.e. the same word flash card presented to the user after a gap of a few days to enable better retention). Each flash card would contain the word, its meaning, an image representation along with one or two usage examples.

While flashcards have proved to be more engaging than a list of random words, we at Glibzter have introduced theme based word and phrase lists (Daily Dozen for Vocabulary Building and Take 20 for Phrases) as part of Glibzter Immersive’s Web application.

Benefits:

· Acquaint yourself with a list of words and phrases centered around a theme for ease of understanding and application.

· Practise usage of these words and phrases by context, situation and emotion.

· Glibzter Immersive is integrated with a translation feature in Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bangla.

· Glibzter Immersive also has an audio feature to guide you with pronunciation.

Download Glibzter Immersive (For Google Chrome | For Microsoft Edge) - Only for Laptop/ Desktop users

In Conclusion

Vocabulary enhancement and knowing the contextual usage of words and phrases will constitute 80% of the confidence you’d need to articulate yourself in any language. It sets a strong foundation for improved reading comprehension and expressing your thoughts, ideas and opinions through writing and speaking more vividly.

I started this blog with a quote, and let me end it with one by televangelist Joel Osteen - “You can change your world by changing your words. Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Do share your thoughts on this blog and post your feedback on Glibzter Immersive after using it, in the comments section below. We shall strive to improve.

3 Reasons Why Learning English from Video Subtitles is Effective

Thu, 16 May 2024 19:18:34 +0530

This blog has been written with inputs from Deetshidha Murali

In our last blog - Gain Verbal Finesse: 5 ways you can build and expand your English Vocabulary, we had made a passing reference to an article in The New York Times about how the sitcom FRIENDS is helping people around the world to learn English, even after two decades since the last episode was aired on television.

What could be the reason for it to become such an engaging and effective teaching resource for English language learners? The article goes on to mention that “Friends” is a near-perfect amalgam of easy-to-understand English and situational relatability with themes that speak to everyone, even those who live worlds away from Manhattan’s West Village.

The article ends with a question of whether aspiring learners of the language could hope to reach the same level of English proficiency as that of the actors in the sitcom. “Just watch ‘Friends’ and try to imitate the characters” was the advise given by Ms. Elif Konus, an English teacher from Turkey whose pedagogy of incorporating the sitcom in her English classes was featured in the article.

Subtitles and Closed Captions: Facilitating Language learning

This is the point where we delve deeper into the effectiveness of watching videos for improving your communication skills in English (or any other language). While Ms. Konus is spot on in suggesting her students to imitate the way the characters in Friends speak, it would help mostly with improving pronunciation and getting the accent right. But will it help in making students confident in speaking the language?

As indicated in our last blog, we at Glibzter lay emphasis on the importance of building and constantly expanding your vocabulary to meet that objective. And this is where a nifty feature comes in handy - Video Subtitles.

Videos which we stream online via OTT video platforms like Netflix and YouTube, come with subtitles and /or closed captions (CC). [Refer this article to understand the difference between subtitles and closed captions]] For the purpose of this article, we will consider Closed Captions (CC) as Subtitles without getting into technicalities.

So let's get down to exploring the 3 benefits of language learning by watching videos with subtitles:

1) Immersive learning with audio visual context

Subtitles and captions are both textual representations of the spoken words and sounds in a video. When you watch a video, both your visual and aural senses are engaged. When you hear a word or phrase being used in a scene, coupled with reading it in the subtitles/ captions, you can mentally tag it to a particular situation and emotion.

It helps you create a visual, audio and contextual frame of reference, that has the potential of 'making it stick' when compared to acquainting with a word or phrase purely in a textual or audio format.

Glibzter Immersive is our browser extension and web app that can be used to not just acquire new words and phrases while streaming videos on Netflix and YouTube, but also to help you with context based practice - i.e. knowing in what situation and with what emotion can you use the word or phrase.

Download for Google Chrome

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2) Promotes reading as a habit

Did you know that in a Glibzter survey conducted in 2021, over 75% respondents had indicated their preference to consume English video content with English subtitles? The overwhelming reason attributed was to overcome challenges related to spoken English in other accents.

The beauty of adding subtitles/ closed captions to a streaming video is that it makes video watching a non-passive activity where you engage in reading the subtitles. With most of us preferring to consume content in audio visual format (videos and podcasts) rather than plain text (newspapers, magazines or even books), subtitling is one way to keep the reading habit alive in all of us.

While reading is a way to acquire new words and phrases and remember their contextual usage; the larger your vocabulary bank, better would be your level of reading comprehension and thereby communicating.

3) Build and expand Vocabulary by learning new words and phrases

While subtitles help in cultivating a reading habit and provide an audio visual and contextual reference point, they are a great source of acquiring and expanding your English vocabulary - whether you choose to watch a movie or web series in any language with English subtitles.

So if you are watching a video in an Indian regional language but have English subtitles turned on, Voila! Even better as you now identify the words and phrases with your native tongue.

Glibzter Immersive works like a digital diary that automatically collects and curates English words and phrases for you to practice from the video content you choose to watch on Netflix and YouTube. When you practice, you get to learn the usage of the words and phrases in context, with audio elements to aid in pronunciation in addition to a translation feature in select Indian regional languages.

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So the next time you binge your favorite web series or stream a movie, ensure the subtitles / closed captions are turned on to reap these three benefits. Glibzter Immersive will be your partner doing the heavy lifting at the backend to give you a curated list of words and phrases for you to practice and improve your knowledge in contextually using them.

Signing off with our catch line, "Don't just Netflix and chill! Use Glibzter Immersive to enhance your communication skill."