Children and adults often find it difficult to learn basic foreign language vocabulary through conventional teaching methods. This is especially true for blind learners, who lack the benefit of environmental cues. While sighted individuals gain valuable information by noting the position of objects and their association with other objects (e.g., clock on the wall, chairs with the table, etc.), such cues are unavailable to blind learners. We have developed an orientation assistant for the blind that allows both blind and sighted individuals to learn basic vocabulary in their own or different languages while simply exploring their environment. Our device consists of a sensor module and a portable computer, and requires the generation of a 3D model of a specific indoor environment. A database is created which names all objects of interest in several different languages. The user can point the sensor module in any direction, press a key, and the closest object within the modelled environment is announced via text-to-speech engine. Thus, blind children, as they explore their surroundings, gain the environmental cues that facilitate vocabulary development. Blind and sighted individuals of all ages can utilize our device to learn foreign vocabulary, with sighted learners benefiting from the pairing of auditory and visual cues. Additionally, our orientation assistant allows blind individuals to navigate independently and safely within the modelled environment.