FAQs About Fabulingua
Are you open to feedback?
Always! We always want to hear back from you 👂👂👂, be it positive or negative feedback. Please emails us with comments (good or bad!) at support@fabulingua.com
Why use a mobile game to teach a language?
Mobile Games are Compelling
Mobile Games are Entertaining
Mobile Games are Fun!
…imagine if you could feel all that in a language class! 🤯
Not only would you have a great time …you would learn so much more!
FabuLingua is what is known as a ‘serious mobile game’ – a game designed to be educational… and yet it feels anything BUT serious! Extensive game design and gamification is built into our story-based app to entertain and reward your child into the most fun language learning journey of exploration and adventure!
However, FabuLingua has been designed to be more than just a ‘serious mobile game’. It is the first technology platform based on modern language learning science, on what is known as the ‘comprehensible input’ hypothesis. Read here to understand more about the patented method and scientific underpinnings of FabuLingua.
How many profiles can I have on one account?
Where is the Parent Portal and what's in it?
There is a Parent Portal in the app. To get to it, tap the Parent Portal icon – it is on top right of the screen and has the outline of a parent and child side by side.
In the Parent Portal there are four tabs that run along the bottom:
-The ‘Account’ tab allows you to add a 4 digit parent pin so that you kids cannot access the Parent Portal without your knowledge (Highly recommended!) And you can edit your email address.
-The ‘Explorers’ tab allows you to add and delete new profiles (you can have up to 6 profiles).
-The ‘FAQ’ tab leads to the FAQ page.
-The ‘Logout’tab allows you to log out of the app.
How can I can add new profiles for my other kids? How do I edit and delete their profiles?
When you go through the FabuLingua onboarding you will be prompted to make ONE player profile. If you want to add additional profiles you add them in the Parent Portal in the app. Open the Parent Portal and tap the ‘Explorers’ tab, and tap ‘Add Explorer’ to add new profiles. Select a profile avatar and give them a name. Then a button will appear that says ‘Create’ – tap it to create that new profile. To edit a profile tap the profile and then the field you’d like to edit. Note: If a player wants to change their profile avatar, it cannot be done in the Parent Portal, the explorer can do it by tapping their profile in the app and following the prompts.
You delete player profiles in the same Explorers Tab. Once deleted, all progress made in that profile will be lost and cannot be retrieved. Note: You cannot delete the ‘Active Profile’. If you want to delete the ‘Active profile’ go back out of the Parent Portal, tap the profile on the top left and choose another profile to be your ‘Active profile’. Go back into the Parent Portal and you are now you can delete that other profile that is no longer the ‘Active profile’
How do my kids select their profile in the app so they don't work on their sibling's profile?
On the top left of the screen is the profile avatar and name of the ‘Active profile’. That is the profile that is currently playing the game. To change which profile is the ‘Active profile’, tap the avatar or name on the top left of the screen and tap ‘Switch Explorer’ to select another profile.
Note: If a child accidentally works on another child’s profile, all the progress metrics and rewards (gold and diamond keys, stickers and playing cards) will go to that other child. We cannot ‘re-set’ the progress stored in that profile or move stickers between profiles. So tell your children to double check they are playing on their own profile before the start of each session.
How do my kids edit their profile avatar or name?
Kids can edit their profile avatar themselves in the game as often as they like! They first need to select their own profile so it’s the ‘Active Profile’ (see FAQ above). Then they tap their profile avatar on the top left of the screen and tap the image of their avatar. It will pull up the other avatars they can select instead.
To edit their name, however, the parent needs to open the Parent Portal (see FAQ above), and tap ‘Explorers’ and select the profile to edit.
What is the ‘Spanish Only’ toggle in the Settings area?
In the Settings area (gear icon at top right of the screen), you will find a ‘Spanish Only’ toggle. When you toggle it ‘on’ you will no longer hear the Magical Translation® when you go through the first mode of any story. This is recommended for children who already have an advanced level of Spanish and already understand the stories.
However, if a child comes across a word they don’t understand, they can still touch the word to hear its syllabic breakdown in Spanish and its translation into English.
I have just arrived at FabuLingua island, now what?
Once you have arrived at the island of FabuLingua (that is, you can see an image of the island), the next step is to go into one of the locations to find characters that want to tell you their story (characters that are ready to tell you their story have a speech bubble above them).
Initially, the only location that is unlocked is Location 0, or “Tutorial Beach”.
*Tap that location to be taken to the beach, and then tap the fox to open the tutorial story.
*Complete the story, you will see a rewards screen at the end.
*Tap the keys to collect them (first time you complete the Tutorial story you will earn a gold key and a diamond key).
*Then go to the Fabled Shop (tap the treasure chest icon at the bottom of the screen) and use the diamond key you just earned to open a Discovery Chest. Tap the chest to open it. To collect the rewards in the chest, tap each one as it comes out. You will have collected one Magical Compass, which is all you need to now go back to the island (tap the map icon on the bottom of the screen).
*You will see Location 1 is now unlocked. Tap it, and the Magical Compass you just earned will slide into its slot and Location 1 will open up!
If you have subscribed, you’ll find a number of characters waiting to tell you their stories. If you have not yet subscribed, one of the characters will tell you their story for free. Tap a character and you’ll see the Learning Path for that story.
Initially, only the first step of the Learning Path is available. Complete that step, earn keys for it, and it will open the next step. There is a lot going on at each step of the Learning Path, make sure to read about it, and there are increasingly valuable rewards to be earned for each increasingly challenging step on the Learning Path.
We encourage completing each step many times to earn more rewards (and benefit from repetition)! As you progress through the stories in one location, you’ll eventually collect enough diamond keys to be able to unlock enough Discovery Chests to collect enough Magical Compasses to unlock the next location!
I tapped a character and it opened a Learning Path, but only one of the steps is available. Why are the rest grayed out? How do I unlock the other steps?
We suggest that you read about the Learning Path to understand all the steps in it. You must complete one step in the Learning Path and collect your rewards for completing that step before the next step gets unlocked. Each step becomes progressively more challenging and will earn you more rewards. Each story has a Learning Path.
What happens at each step of the Learning Path, what does it teach and what rewards do I earn for completing each step?
The best place to get a good understanding of the Learning Path for each story, and have a detailed understanding of each step is in the Learning Path tab of our website (it has pictures and a picture is worth a thousand words!). Similarly, the best place to understand the rewards that you get for completing each step is the Mobile Game tab of our website. But if you want to get your answer right here in the FAQ, in words with no pictures, here goes:
The Learning Path for each story consists of 8 steps: 4 modes that run along the top, and 4 mini-games that run along the bottom. We’ll describe the modes first, in the order in which they unlock, then the mini-games in that same order.
Why isn't pronunciation correctd in CopyCat Mode? Is it okay not to be corrected? Will kids still learn to say words the right way?
We deliberately don’t explicitly correct – instead we play back the child’s recording of the phrase and the narrator’s recording they were trying to imitate. The difference (where they were close and where they were far apart) is instantly apparent and kids feel uncomfortable when they don’t sound like the narrator. So in the subsequent pages and stories they then do CopyCat with a lot more focus and careful listening and gradually sound more and more like the native narrator. All with no explicit “you got it wrong” corrections that if heard repeatedly can cause anxiety in children and make them disengage and thwart language acquisition.
Children’s hearing is very attuned, and their speech is highly moldable depending on what they are repeatedly exposed to – they are designed to sound like their tribe. Our process of providing instant playback side by side with the audio they were tasked to imitate, gives them all the tools they need to develop excellent pronunciation naturally with no stress.
The feedback we get from teachers and parents is that over time CopyCat mode is an extremely effective tool to develop native-like pronunciation in kids! But Rome wasn’t built in a day, it takes time. Just keep with it regularly for six months or a year and you’ll see!
How do I earn gold and diamond keys?
The best place to get a good understanding of the rewards and progression system is in the Mobile Game tab of our website (scroll down for a detailed description).
You earn gold keys every single time you complete a mode on the Learning Path. You earn more gold keys for the harder modes. Repeat modes often to earn more gold keys!
-Magical Translation Mode – earns you 2 gold keys
-CopyCat Mode – earns you 3 gold keys
-Spanish Only Mode – earns you 4 gold keys
-Read by Myself Mode – earns you 5 gold keys
You earn diamond keys each time you complete a NEW mode.
Your wallet, with all your gold and diamond keys, is visible at the top left of the screen.
What do I do with my gold and diamond keys that I've earned? Where do I spend them?
Keys open treasure chests which can be found in the Fabled Store. (To get to the Fabled Store, tap the treasure chest icon on the bottom of the screen.)
The Fabled Store has many different kinds of treasure chests, with different amounts of rewards in them, and each treasure chest has a different cost.
Your wallet, with all your gold and diamond keys you have earned, is visible at the top left of the screen. Which treasure chest can you afford to ‘buy’? Will you complete more modes and save up your keys to be able to open a more valuable chest with more rewards?
Gold keys open wooden, bronze, silver, gold and magical chests. The rewards in these chests consist of different amounts of stickers and playing cards.
Diamond keys open Discovery Chests. They are the only chests that contain Magical Compasses (these are required to unlock new locations in FabuLingua Island).
After you have ‘purchased’ a chest it will jiggle. Tap it and a reward will appear. Tap to collect it, and the next reward will appear.
Check out the Mobile Game tab of our website to get more details.
Where do my rewards that I have collected (my stickers, playing cards and Magical Compasses) go to?
Most of your collectibles (stickers and playing cards) will automatically go into your backpack.
To look inside your backpack, tap the backpack icon at the bottom of the screen.
You will see two collections – your sticker collection and your playing card collection.
Very soon you will be able to play with your stickers in a sticker book (which will also be located in your backpack). And soon after you’ll be able to use your playing cards in a card battler. Until then, collect as many as possible of each!
Magical Compasses that you have collected from opening Discovery Chests will go straight into the relevant ‘compass slots’ for the next location that you are trying to open. They will stay in their slots until you’ve collected enough Magical Compasses to unlock that next location.
Most of the locations in the island are locked - how do I unlock them?
To discover new locations on the island of FabuLingua you must acquire the necessary amount of Magical Compasses.
Location 0 (Tutorial Beach) is always open, you don’t need a Magical Compass to get there. Location 1 is relatively easy to get to, you only need one Magical Compass to unlock it. All the other locations require 3 Magical Compasses to be unlocked.
You acquire Magical Compasses in the Fabled Shop when you ‘purchase’ Discovery Chests. (To get to the Fabled Shop, tap the treasure chest icon on the bottom of the screen.) Discovery Chests can only be ‘purchased’ with diamond keys, and diamond keys are only earned when you complete a NEW mode in the Learning Path of a story.
If you want to see how many Magical Compasses you are still missing to open your next location, tap on that next location. You’ll see three compass ‘slots’ indicating you need to acquire three compasses to unlock the next location. Immediately after these slots will fill with the compasses you have collected. If you only have one compass, only one slot will fill in, and two slots will remain empty.
Note: The price of a Discovery Chest becomes more expensive as you go deeper into FabuLingua island and you’ve explored more locations. A Discovery Chest in Location 1 costs 1 diamond key, in location 2 it costs 2 diamond keys, in location 3 it costs 3 diamond keys etc.
What is the Comprehensible Input Hypothesis?
Our patented Magical Translations® method aligns with the model of comprehensible input by Dr. Stephen Krashen, the preeminent academic in second language acquisition. His research shows that new languages are most efficiently acquired not by memorizing grammar rules or vocabulary lists but when the learner is exposed to ‘maximum comprehensible input’.
Read this blog to learn more about the Comprehensible Input Hypothesis and how it differs from traditional language instruction.
What is ‘comprehensible input’ and how is it related to FabuLingua?
It is new-language input into the brain which is ‘comprehensible’, which means that you more or less understand it even if you don’t understand it perfectly.
When interacting with FabuLingua, your child will see only the Spanish text, but hear the narrator’s rhythmic alternation between Spanish and its English translation. This Magical Translation®, is what makes the new-language input (or the story) ‘comprehensible’. Basically, it will enable your child to understand and follow the story in a relaxed and engaged way, which is the ideal state for language acquisition.
The more stories your child is exposed to in this way, and the more often they’re exposed to them, the more ‘comprehensible input’ they’re exposed to. When you have your child regularly use FabuLingua, you are creating a program of ongoing ‘maximum comprehensible input’ for him. And this creates the perfect conditions for acquiring a new language.
Read this to learn more about Comprehensible Input, the science of second language acquisition and how FabuLingua is based on all these key insights.
