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In May we launched our first 5 language-learning apps for iOS that are created specifically for travelers. To celebrate July 4th, and because we could, we hired a special forces translator to help us create a version of our app designed for American military workers in Afghanistan (all 94K of them).

Many folks in Afghanistan have their iWhatever's with them, so we figured there are a lot of people that could use it, since learning some of the language can help immensely in building trust and rapport.

We took the Defense Foreign Language Institute's "Survival Guide" for Dari, (about 50 pages of PDF files) and then had the translator update the content and then record audio for each file. It only took some minor changes package it into our app. The biggest change was disabling the "Slang Slider" for many of the phrases- we want to make sure someone knows exactly what you mean when you say "Don't shoot!".

If we included all of the phrases, we couldn't get the app to fit under 20MB without doing something nasty to the audio quality (and if its over 20MB you can't download it over 3G). So we split it up into two- one version is for people in medicine, and one is for everyone else.

In total, the app includes over 750 phrases, 1600 dictionary entries, 600 word-bank entries, and articles about the local culture.

They're the only free apps we have right now (unless you count Pirate?).If you know someone over there, it could be useful to them:

Dari Version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/triplingo-dari/id446506749?mt=8 Dari Medical Version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dari-medical/id447155027?mt=8 Product Page: http://www.triplingo.com/products/afghanistan

Oh, and uh... happy 4th!