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Copywriter Uses Instagram to Teach People How to Speak Foreign Languages

Otavio Barbon, a copywriter at AKQA New York, has launched a personal project. It's called @The Polyglot, a profile on Instagram (and sister Web site) that teaches people how to spell and pronounce the most common words in six different languages.

All voices used in the project -- which is a side gig and not associated with AKQA -- were recorded by native speakers, allowing for pronunciations that are accurate and natural...very different, Barbon says, from the robotic voices of most translation platforms.

Of the project, Barbon said: “Instagram is actually a perfect platform for quick learning. Our idea with The Polyglot is to bring something useful to people’s feeds. It’s a simple, friendly way to introduce people to new languages and hopefully inspire them to learn more.”

So the next time you have a meeting with a foreign client or overseas outpost of your agency, check out @The_Polyglot.

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