The latest in Kiwi innovation: An interactive language learning app

A new app designed by Kiwis is taking the language world by storm. Lingogo, the brainchild of three Kiwi women, is a new digital bookshop app filled with interactive, dual-language stories to help users learn a new language.

Users can download the app for free, and then select specific stories to buy. Every month a new interactive, dual-language 'Lingogo Story' is added to the virtual shelf.

There are three interactive modes to read and listen to it: Get Started, Get Focussed and Get Fluent' The stories can be read or listened to in the user's native and target languages side by side, in the target language with the ability to tap any sentence and bring up the translation, or fully in the target language.

The creators recommend users to read and listen to the stories multiple times and advance through all of the three modes.

"As Kiwis I think we like to challenge the status quo. The hardest part of learning any language isn't actually academic. It's finding fun ways to keep motivated, practise, and use what you're learning. That's exactly what Lingogo is for and there's nothing else like it on the market," says Lizzie Dunn, Lingogo creator and director.

According to Dunn, Lingogo stories have an emphasis on beautiful design and entertaining plots. "Language learning stories can be pretty dry! Ours are exciting and tend to have a unique twist for adults of all ages to relate to," she says.

Dunn and her team are aiming to hit download numbers in the millions. Already, the team has entered relationships with language learning institutions across the globe including Australia, France, UK, US, Argentina and Mexico.

"It's been so great to finally hit the market and the feedback we've received from language learners and language schools has been overwhelmingly supportive - we're already lining up more languages," Dunn says.

At present, Dunn runs the business from her Mount Maunganui home, while her mother Shelley Dunn and designer Hannah Craig work remotely from Auckland and London respectively, and also work full time.

The Lingogo app is currently available from the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad and will be releasing on Google Play for android devices soon.