Product Reviews

Review of WeLearnDutch for Beginners

Michael — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 09:15:28 +0000

Editor’s note: Thanks for stopping by our WeLearnDutch, Dutch course review! This review is up to date as of Aug 4th, 2022. This article contains affiliate links however please rest assured that we only recommend products that we actually use and believe in.

Contrary to what you might believe, the Dutch language (language from the Netherlands and part of Belgium) is still considered one of the easiest languages to learn for native and non-native English speakers.

At first, Dutch might seem like a very difficult language, but it’s surprisingly easy for English- and German speakers. Dutch has even been described as a combination of the English and German languages! This makes it one of the easiest languages to learn for speakers of either language. That said, learning Dutch will take some time and effort, no matter what your native language is.

Many people study Dutch simply to have the ability to connect with natives and explore the Netherlands. People who are going on a holiday, studying, having relationships with Dutch people, or working in the Netherlands need a basic grasp of the Dutch Language.

With a large selection of Dutch language-learning books, programs, and apps out there, how do you know which one is best for you? When it comes down to paying for Dutch Online Language Courses, we know you want to find the very best.

So, without further ado, let’s jump right into our unbiased review of WeLearnDutch (a popular option for many students of Dutch).

Already decided and want to try WeLearnDutch Dutch for free?

WeLearnDutch Dutch Review: Overview

WeLearnDutch is an Online course so you can listen and watch, meaning you simply watch and follow the videos, there are different kinds of modules: Listening, Reading, Pronunciation, Vocabulary, Grammar, Culture, and Quizzes.

The course has been expanded over the years and now is 14 hours and a total of 150 lessons, however, the overall teaching methodology has remained consistent.

The course is based upon a method namely the Dutch Communicative Language Teaching Method: This system is based on the idea that learning a language successfully comes from having to communicate REAL meaning. When you are talking about things that happen in your day-to-day life your natural strategies for language acquisition and learning are much more activated. And this will allow you to learn to use the language faster and better.

The Goods

Comprehensive online course for complete beginners
Teaches useful words and phrases
Well-designed and engaging learning structure
Lots of additional Dutch cultural information
Based upon proven Communicative Language Teaching Method
A lot of focus on speaking, listening, and pronunciation guide
Lessons can be downloaded for offline learning

The Bads

Limited writing practice
Gets you to an intermediate level only

What are the lessons like?

As mentioned, each lesson introduces some kind of authentic real-life dialogue and then proceeds to break down each phrase into vocabulary, grammar points, and cultural nuances. The lessons are participatory, meaning you are expected to actually speak when prompted to, which really helps hone in the new words and refine your pronunciation. You are encouraged to fully engage in conversational-style video lessons.

Each module ends with a complete understanding of the target language

By the end of each module (a set of videos), you should be able to understand all the dialogue and recall the new language on demand – in fact, the instructor does test you constantly throughout the lesson.

So does the method actually work? And can it help you learn Dutch? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the program to help you decide.

PROS of WeLearnDutch Dutch

Pro #1: Bite-sized Lessons

Each module has several lessons/videos. Those videos are on average 15 minutes or less and are completely video and audio-based, meaning that you can watch and listen. Whether you are on your smartphone, tablet or computer, or notebook, you can listen to the lesson whenever and wherever it best suits you.

Pro #2: Learn Through Speaking and Listening

The instructor is a native Dutch speaker and instructs all the lessons in a clear manner and the lessons are well paced. The program is based on a communicative approach, which means that humans acquire a new language by listening to and talking about daily life situations. Sounds simple, right? Many students like the fact that it’s very easy to follow and the program essentially spoon-feeds you a new language at a comfortable pace. Since a native speaker is your instructor, you’ll learn the most authentic dialect with accurate pronunciation.

Pro #3: Strong Emphasis on Pronunciation

Words are broken down syllable by syllable so that you can truly understand how to pronounce them. Unlike other language courses that expect you to pick up fast and unfamiliar sounds, WeLearnDutch starts from very simple phrases and meticulously demonstrates how to pronounce every individual sound. WeLearnDutch really excels in this regard, with many students commenting on how much their pronunciation has improved since taking the course.

Pro #4: Teaches Functional Language From the Very Start

Some language programs spend ages dragging out lessons on vocabulary and grammar before actually teaching you anything useful. WeLearnDutch is the opposite, it starts teaching you useful phrases from the very beginning. This makes it an excellent resource for those looking to quickly build up a functional knowledge of spoken Dutch for work or travel in the Netherlands or Belgium.

CONS of WeLearnDutch

Con #1: Brings you only to intermediate level

The course is a beginner course. The 14 hours give a very good foundation for beginners to start from. But people who have already been speaking Dutch for several years and want to go to an intermediate, upper intermediate, or advanced level will have good practice of the basics but won’t become upper intermediate with this course.

Con #2: Limited writing practice

There are not so many exercises where the focus is purely on writing. Of course, you can do this at your own convenience with the provided PDF materials. Though this is not generally a problem because of the way Dutch is structured. The Dutch pronounce a word exactly in the same way as a word is written. So, if you know how to speak and read, it’s fairly easy for you to write it too.

WeLearnDutch Dutch Review: Key Features

Here’s an overview of the structure of the course. You will get 14 hours and 100+ video lessons of spoken English to Dutch lessons. In every lesson, there are:

Listening lessons and exercises:

This helps to develop good listening comprehension, the other skills will become more natural as listening is the start of natural language learning, the speaking will come, even your grammar, your accuracy will get better with listening.

Reading Lessons and exercises:

This helps to develop an understanding of the words and other related skills like grammar, vocabulary, and writing.

Speaking lessons and exercises:

This helps you to develop the ability to speak fluently and interactively.

Pronunciation lessons and exercises:

These help you make sure you sound clear and easy to understand. By using the correct sounds when you speak, others can quickly understand what you’re trying to say.

Vocabulary builders:

These exercises help to build a strong vocabulary that improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Language insights:

These Dutch Grammar lessons and exercises form, develop and improve language skills and abilities.

Cultural Insights of the Netherlands and the Dutch language:

These lessons help you to understand the culture and the way people live and communicate.

Who Would Benefit From a WeLearnDutch online course?

We think the WeLearnDutch online course would be a great asset for those who:

Are absolute beginners or those with very little knowledge of the Dutch language
Require a complete, comprehensive “brush-up” of the basics of the Dutch language
Would prefer to learn Dutch from scratch through speaking and active involvement rather than studying rules and lists.
Are either vacationing or moving (study, work, relationship) to a Dutch-speaking country and need to acquire a practical use of basic Dutch as quickly as possible.

Who Should Stay Away From WeLearnDutch?

However, the WeLearnDutch course is not for everyone. We feel that those who might NOT benefit from this course are those who:

Have extensive experience with Dutch already and are looking to go to an (upper-) intermediate level
Are looking to ONLY learn the Advanced Dutch writing system
Do not learn well from an online course

Cost of the WeLearnDutch Online course

WeLearnDutch only offers a one-off payment ($99.95), you can access all lessons immediately after the payment (Full lifetime access). They also offer a few lessons for free if you use the “Preview” option.
Enrolling in the WeLearnDutch Online Course for Learning the Dutch Language gives you full access to all the features, including:

Online learning – access anywhere
Learning games and flashcards
Quizzes
Cultural lessons
Ability to download lesson PDFs
Access to the mobile app
Progress from scratch to an intermediate level in Dutch
Full lifetime access
Speaking, listening, reading, grammar, pronunciation, lessons, and activities

WeLearnDutch Review: Conclusion

Though it’s not one of the most well-known Dutch language programs out there (yet), we do feel WeLearnDutch Dutch has a lot to offer beginners in Dutch. By following the program, you will certainly learn to communicate in Dutch quickly. We feel that for the price this is a very complete package and is perfect to start from. If you’ve finished the course and decide that you want to learn more in real classes or from books you have a very thorough foundation to work from. So, in conclusion, highly recommended!

Michael

Michael has been an avid language learner and traveler for many years. His goal with LanguageTsar is to discover the most fun and effective ways to learn a language. He is currently learning Japanese, French and Indonesian.

languagetsar.com/

The 10 Best Language Learning Apps for Kids

Josiah Eyeington — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 15:13:02 +0000

Screen time you can feel good about! A proven teaching method for 1-6 year olds using short & engaging videos.

Immerse your 3-7 year olds in a series of interactive dual-language books, translated into over 28 languages

A more structured app for ages 5+ that covers over 5000 phrases in 34 different languages (and 62 mother tongues).

Editor’s Note: This article featuring the best language learning apps for kids is up-to-date as of October, 2021.

With kids today growing up in an ever more globalised & multicultural society, learning a second language has never been more valuable.

Learning languages from an early age takes advantage of that magic window when the human brain is most malleable, and when kids are naturally soaking up new information like a sponge.

In fact, more and more parents nowadays are choosing to teach their kids a second language. And with dozens of great apps on the market there’s an almost endless possibility for learning, but sorting through them all and choosing one that’s most suitable can be very overwhelming.

In this article we’ve done all the hard work for you and detailed the very best language learning apps for kids.

Children are extremely different from adults when learning languages. They are tech-savvy and need constant engagement and challenge, otherwise they quickly become bored.

When assessing each app we considered the following factors:

Gamification – to keep them engaged & having fun
Stimulative & Immersive – creates strong language associations by using songs, music, video etc.
Easy to use – how easily the child can navigate the app independently
Reviews and tracks what they’ve learnt – how well the app allows the parents to monitor their progress

We’ve also prioritized apps with a long list of available languages, so kids can easily switch languages and get a wide experience of different languages.

So with all that in mind, let’s dive right into some really great apps!

Best Language Learning Apps for Kids

1. Little Pim

(iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon FireTV, Apple TV, and Android TV)
$9.99/month, or $69.99/year

Age range: 1-6
Number of languages: 12 languages (including Korean, Hebrew, Portuguese, Japanese and Russian)

Got some littlies at home and looking for something super simple? Little Pim is about as basic as it gets, with a popular series of highly engaging video clips on a wide range of topics. The method was developed by Julia Pimsleur, the daughter of Dr. Paul Pimsleur (the creator of the Pimsleur Method, a revolutionary language learning program for adults). She sought to create a program to teach her own kids foreign languages from an early age, and hence the Entertainment Immersion Method® was born.

The method harnesses the child’s natural love of play and channels it into language learning. There’s no reading involved, only short video episodes introducing the language in a very visual and auditory way, followed by a series of fun games. These games use spaced repetition techniques to drill home the words and phrases learnt in the videos.

Generally, you only need around 500 words to be considered ‘conversational’ in a language, and Little Pim does a great job at laying this foundation from an early age, teaching over 360 words and phrases in 12 different languages.

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Stories by Gus on the Go

(Android, iPhone, iPad, kindle)
Free, additional stories are $1.99 each

Age range: 3-7
Number of languages: 28+ languages (including Spanish, French, Hebrew, Armenian & Hindi)

We’ve been telling stories for tens of thousands of years. A good story stays with us for life, teaching us valuable life lessons and allowing us to live out our favorite characters. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that stories can be used as a very effective language learning tool (there’s a reason you can still remember the nursery rhymes and fairytales you learnt in school!)

Children have an innate ability to resonate with and become immersed in a story. With this in mind, Gus on the Go offers a series of well-known childrens stories in an interactive format, translated into over 28 different languages (and from 21 mother tongues).

The app offers a series of animated e-books in the target language, and uses four types of interactive activities to build fluency of the words and phrases used throughout the story. Each story is well known and common across most cultures, making it easy to follow along to – the hare and the tortoise, for example. Colorful animations, interesting sound effects and a user-friendly interface make this a great app for kids to get their teeth into. They’ll be reciting their favorite stories in different languages in no time at all!

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 4/5

 5/5

3. FunEasyLearn

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, Premium: $2.99/month (one language), $5.99/month (all)

Age range: 5+
Number of languages: 34 languages (including Catalan, Arabic, Japanese, Croatian, Greek and Slovak), 62 mother tongue languages

FunEasyLearn is one of the more comprehensive options in this article, with over 6000 words and 5000 phrases being taught for each language. Though the app is generally better for older children and adults, there’s a pretty nifty ‘child mode’ in the settings which changes up the whole interface and activities for a much more child-friendly theme. Unlike other apps (like Gus on the Go, for example) all languages are available within one app, so switching between them is a breeze.

The vocab and phrases are taught systematically, grouped into topics and introduced through a variety of different games & activities. Beautiful illustrations and human pronunciations make the content much more memorable. We especially love how the app automatically reviews what they’ve learnt from previous lessons.

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 4/5

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$3.99

Age range: 2-5
Number of languages: 7 languages – English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, or Spanish (as either primary or secondary language)

Another story-book style app, but focusing only on one very popular story – The Very Hungry Caterpillar! This best selling children’s story is packed full of farm animals, food and family vocabulary, great for language learning. The animated interface simulates a real book, so it’s very easy to find your way around. 3D Images pop up magically from each page as the book reads to you the rhyming narration in the language of your choice.

Tap on a picture and the word will be spelt out and said aloud for you to hear again. This way your child can explore the many different animals and objects in the target language, forming associations and reinforcing what they already know. The final page features a quiz that tests them on their newly acquired knowledge. All the words are generally grouped into categories, from farm animals to clothing and family.

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 3/5

 5/5

5. Studycat

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$14.99/month, or $59.99/per year, 7 day free trial

Age range: 3-8
Number of languages: 5 languages – English, French, Spanish, German and Chinese

Of course, we all know that kids learn best through games and play, and no other language-learning app knows this better than Studycat. It’s a heavily gamified app that’s specifically designed for younger kids, as young as 3 years old. The app has a clear structure to it, yet it’s filled with a wide variety of interactive games, so the kids don’t even realise they are learning.

The app is split into three main levels, each containing 24 units. You can choose a specific learning path for your child to follow (building upon what they’ve previously learnt) or simple do free play. Familiar characters guide them through the lessons, starting with vocab (which is introduced with flashcards) then onto comprehension activities, songs and games. By the end of the course, you can expect your child to be able to speak and spell up to 350 words or phrases in their target language – not bad!

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 3/5

 4/5

6. Learning by mindsnacks

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, $4.99 for the full version

Age range: 4-12
Number of languages: 7 languages – English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish

MindSnacks is a series of apps for each of the 7 languages on offer. Each of them involve playing games and completing different activities to eventually master all 1000 words and phrases. The first 3 levels are free, however beyond this (up to 50) you must pay. What’s nice is that you don’t have to complete each level in sequence, allowing you to jump around and focus on the topics that are most interesting or useful, however as a parent, this could be hard to monitor for your children.

Overall, the colorful touchscreen interface, playful music, and quiky characters make it a pleasurable learning experience that I could see even younger learners getting engaged with. It feels more like an adult language course (with dashboard, spaced-repetition etc.) but packaged up in a childrens game-like design.

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 4/5

 3/5

7. Mondly for Kids

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free with limited content, Pro account is $9.99/month or $47.99 for one year

Age range: 6-8
Number of languages: 33 languages (includes Dutch, Norwegian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Hebrew, Farsi and Afrikaans)

Mondly is a well known app for adults, however they have now developed an app for kids too. It’s a great little app that’s packed full of exercises, covering reading, writing, listening and speaking. Vocab is introduced through themed flashcards and the child can intuitively pick up with the grammar through their sentence building activities.

There’s also interactivie conversations to practice speaking and a built-in verb conjugator feature. In total, the app covers 400 words (each with illustration & audio) and 75 phrases. Topics range from parts of the body to numbers and food.

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 3/5

 4/5

8. Unuhi

(Android, iphone, ipad)
First book is free, after that it’s $0.99-$2.99 per book

Age range: 2-10
Number of languages: 20 languages (including Filipino, Finnish, Hindi, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian)

By now you’ve guessed we are a big believer in stories. They are so powerful for kids, plus they are great fun, developing creativity and imagination. Unuhi offers 11 different bilingual children books in a wide range of languages. They’ve now started adding flashcards to the app too, making is much easier to now learn the vocab from the stories.

The books are beautifully illustrated and great for kids. You can toggle the languages however you want, so you can translate from your mother tongue and other languages. Though the audio is not yet available for all the languages, those that have it are very clear and high quality.

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 2/5

 4/5

9. Peg and Pog

(Android, iphone, ipad, kindle)
$1.99, or each individual language for $0.99 each

Age range: 0-5
Number of languages: 5 languages – English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Mandarin

This app is awesome for learning vocabulary. Kids can learn 170 new words in each language as they join Peg and Pog (and their cute cat cosmos) around the world, discovering new things as they go. You can click and interact with the objects, from under the sea to outer space, even dress them up in your favorite clothes!

There’s also some free printables like coloring pages and support exercises to accompany these language learning apps, which is a cool perk.

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 4/5

 3/5

10. Droplets

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free, Premium costs $8.49/month, $5.00/month (annual) or $149.99/lifetime

Age range: 7-16
Number of languages: 37+ languages (all included in the same app as separate courses)

Droplets is the kids version of the adult language app Drops (created by the teacher-favorite Kahoot). It consists of short (5 mins of less) lessons or games that covers only vocabulary. Whilst, it doesn’t cover anything beyond vocab, it does teach the vocab very well using spaced repetition and fun activities to keep children engaged.

The free plan allows for only 5 minutes of gameplay per 10 hours, so a premium account is necessary to be honest, though you can at least try it out for free.

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 4/5

Best Language Learning Apps for Kids: Conclusion

Do note that our ranking system is rather arbitrary, after all it is only our opinion – every child learns in different ways and resonates with different methods. Therefore, it’s a good idea to try out a bunch of them and see which ones work best for you and your kids.

Generally, the list can be grouped into different functions. There’s storybook apps (like Gus on the Go and Unuhi), video-only language classes (like Little Pim), vocab builders (like Droplets) and more comprehensive language courses (like FunEasyLearn).

You should also bear in mind what it is you hope to get from the learning. Some apps don’t teach much beyond a basic level, but expose the child to a massive range of languages. On the contrary, you might want to go deeper into a language and progress towards complete fluency.

Whatever your language goals, we hope this list has been very useful for you.

Good luck and have fun!

P.S. What are your favorite language learning apps for kids? Let us know in the comments below!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

Best Apps for Learning Turkish

Josiah Eyeington — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 10:33:06 +0000

The best option for learning Turkish. A comprehensive course that’s catered to your specific need and interests.

The 50 Languages app is great for those on a budget, providing everything you need to get started.

An affordable option to start practicing with native speakers straight away, fitting around your busy lifestyle.

Editor’s Note: This article featuring the 10 best Turkish apps is up-to-date as of September, 2021.

So, you’re embarking upon the study of the Turkish language, and you’re now hunting around for some great language apps to include in your study routine.

First of all, what a worthy endeavor to pursue! Turkey is home to some of the oldest civilisations on the planet, some dating as far back as 7000 – 6000 BCE. Therefore, it’s of no surprise that Turkey is actually one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, a vast melting pot of exotic cultures, music, food, and of course language.

Whether you are learning Turkish for business reasons, a personal interest, or simply to get some tourist phrases under your belt, our list of Turkish language apps will get you up to speed with all the best options to help you to understand and speak this beautiful language.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s dive right in!

Best Apps for Learning Turkish

1. TurkishClass101

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Monthly subscription starts from $8/month, 7 day free premium trial

This first app on our list is a brilliant option for complete beginners, and we think deserves its title as one of the best apps for learning Turkish. It not only walks you through the entire alphabet & basic phrases, but each lesson is also accompanied by authentic line-by-line dialogues that you’re likely to encounter whilst in Turkey. Couple this with an entire suite of additional learning tools (flashcards, most common word lists, grammar banks etc.) and you have the recipe for one excellent language learning app.

The lessons are mostly video based, with some lessons having only an audio podcast (plus all the lesson notes etc.) They are all delivered by professional native speakers in bite-size chunks, ideal for those with busy schedules and for squeezing in extra language practice here and there. Most of all, we love that they give you the ability to customize your own syllabus based entirely upon your own language goals and personal interests, something that is very rare among most other language courses.

This app is definitely worth checking out for serious language learners, plus you can snap up a very generous discount by using our unique coupon code (applied automatically).

Click here to read our full review of TurkishClass101

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Learn Turkish - 50 languages

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free

This next app is one of our personal favorites, and guess what – it’s free! For anyone on a budget, you’re going to want to check this one out. It’s an app you can download offline and contains 100 lessons, grouped by topic and delivered through lists of phrases. You can learn the vocabulary separately also, by playing their matching games & by taking their writing tests.

Do bear in mind that advanced learners may find this app a little limiting, however for beginners it’s got everything you need, from the alphabet to animals, numbers to names.

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 5/5

 3/5

3. italki

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, tutor prices vary

Ahh, where would we be without italki? One of the most well-known apps for language learning, italki allows you to connect with a wide variety of native tutors at an affordable price. One of the best ways to learn a new language quickly is to start communicating with locals from day one. For this, italki is perfect.

You can book free trial lessons with a number of different tutors until you find someone you gel with. Then you can book lessons that fit around your schedule and start practicing what you’ve learnt with your new tutor straight away. It’s as easy as that! The app even has a built-in learning platform that allows the teacher to make notes, share their screen, use a whiteboard, and more.

For anyone learning Turkish I strongly recommend using italki alongside their regular syllabus, to give yourself a chance to develop conversational skills and practice what you already know – especially if you live outside Turkey!

Click here to read our full italki review.

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 4/5

4. Pimsleur

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$119.99, or $21.95 for 5 lessons

Perhaps you’re a mega introvert and the thought of speaking with anyone over a webcam is enough to make you shiver. Then fear not, this next app will very effectively teach you all the conversational phrases & speaking fluency you need, but without speaking to another human being. It’s called the Pimsleur method, invented by Dr Pimsleur in 1963, based upon a set of principles he discovered during his linguistic research.

The course is purely audio-based. So you can learn whilst out on a walk, or doing anything, really. Each 30-60 minute lesson breaks down a dialogue into its individual phrases, words and sounds, and then puts it all back together again, whilst prompting you to repeat and recall things throughout the lesson. It’s not just memorisation, but a kind of training that gets you to naturally identify the grammar patterns and words that are effectively the building blocks of the language.

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 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

5. Duolingo

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, Duolingo plus costs $6.99 per month

Did you know that you can even learn Turkish with Duolingo? In case you didn’t know, Duolingo is a super fun app that teaches you the basics of a language through a series of short quizzes – by matching words to pictures, filling blanks in sentences and so on. In fact, Duolingo claims that their Turkish course is the most popular way to learn Turkish online, so it might be worth taking a look at.

Turkish is definitely not an easy language to learn through the Duolingo method, with all it’s unfamiliar grammar concepts and consonant mutation (yeah that’s right, the vowel must agree with the consonant before it), however they’ve done a pretty good job all things considered. The app generally gets a lot of stick for being overly simplified and translator heavy, however with Turkish they’ve built the curriculum tree from the ground up and put a lot of effort into creating new and interesting sentences. Overall, it’s worth checking out.

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 5/5

 2/5

 4/5

6. 6000 Words - Learn Turkish Language for Free

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free

A language isn’t a language without all it’s vocabulary. Thankfully this next app provides a great way to broaden your knowledge of the Turkish vocabulary, the missing piece of the puzzle. It’s free, available offline, and has over 6000 words for you to add to your arsenal. They have a series of games to teach you new words (grouped by topic), and then review what you’ve learnt.

The app is split into three levels and is great fun to use. Plus, the images and voice clips really help to cement the new words into your memory. Why not give it a try?

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 5/5

 3/5

7. Memrise

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free with limited content, premium plans are $9/month

Memrise is like Duolingo, but ten times better! Their video clips for each dialogue are absolutely brilliant, breaking down exactly how native Turkish people speak. The Turkish app is actually made up of a series of courses that are tailored to a wide range of levels and learning needs. We found the vocabulary lessons (especially the ‘Hacking Turkish’ lessons) to be really fun and effective.

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 3/5

 4/5

8. Busuu

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$69.99 for an annual membership, or $9.99/month

Busuu is another very popular option for Turkish language students. Unlike most of the other apps here it gets you writing from the very start – something that’s very useful to help you learn and remember more words. Another really cool feature is the ability to connect with native speakers in a language exchange. In fact, this language exchange feature is incorporated right into the lessons where you’ll be prompted to speak and write – very cool!

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 3/5

 4/5

9. Turkish Tea Time

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free with limited content, $10/month

When learning a new language, studying new words and phrases simply is not enough. It’s important to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible, even if you don’t understand everything. This helps your ears to become accustomed to the individual sounds, as well as the overall flow and rhythm of the language.

For this, we recommend a podcast-style app such as Turkish Tea Time. There’s hundreds of lessons, podcasts, and voice recognition exercises at lots of different levels of difficulty to help you improve your listening and even speaking skills. You can get access to a bunch of episodes for free by just signing up.

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 4/5

 2/5

10. Google Translate

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free

Our final app is a must-have for anyone learning Turkish. When reading new texts, listening or studying new material in Turkish, it’s always handy to be able to quickly find a definition of a word or phrase. The google translate app allows you to quickly scan with your camera and translate in real time, type in yourself, or even transcribe a voice or audio recording. I find myself using this app all the time. The chrome extension is pretty good too!

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 4/5

The Best Apps For Learning Turkish: Conclusion

The Turkish language is a deep and intricate language that can provide endless satisfaction and fulfillment for those who endeavor to pursue it. It opens doors to understanding Turkey’s great archaeological treasures from way back in ancient Greece, and the mighty Roman and Ottoman Empires.

But it’s certainly not easy. Using the right resources can make a world of difference to your language progression and in your confidence using the language. We hope that this list of top 10 apps has helped you to choose a study program that’s right for you. Whether you opt for an all encompassing app like TurkishClass101, online tutoring with italki, or a flashy gamified app like Duolingo, we wish you the best of luck.

Know any other great apps for learning Turkish? Let us know in the comments below!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Arabic

Josiah Eyeington — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 05:06:55 +0000

A flexible Arabic course, catered to your specific needs and interests, delivered by energetic & professional tutors.

A solid choice for those looking for a more structured syllabus that teaches through real-use dialogues.

An affordable option to start conversing with native speakers from day one, fitting around your busy lifestyle.

Editor’s Note: This list of our 5 Best Apps for Learning Arabic is up-to-date as of August, 2021.

Arabic is arguably one of the world’s most beautiful languages, known for its intricate poetry and ancient entrenched culture & beliefs.

For instance, did you know that Arabic has around 14 words for ‘love’? Each specific word describes a different stage of ‘falling in love’, from هواة (hawa) – the initial attraction, to عشق (ishq) – a passionate & blind desire.

Arabic is also notoriously difficult to learn. However, more people are becoming fluent than ever before in this widespread and unique language, opening the doors to communicate with over 300 million people (the average number of Arabic speakers worldwide)!

The reason for this boom in language learning is down to technology. Today we have access to hundreds of interesting, engaging and immersive apps to connect with native speakers and start learning Arabic, something that was never before possible.

These apps allow you to study completely on your own time, zoning-in on your specific passions and interests – a supercharged way of learning that’s fun, interactive and accessible to anyone with a smartphone.

In this article, we’re going to take a close look at what we believe to be the best apps for learning Arabic. We’ll show you how they work, and why. So without further ado, let’s go!

Yalla!

5 Best Apps for Learning Arabic

1. ArabicPod101

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Monthly subscription starts from $8/month, 7 day free premium trial

The Most Comprehensive & Flexible App

ArabicPod101 is an app that was created by Innovative Language, a company that has a reputation for creating high-quality and highly comprehensive language programs. They are unique in the fact that they allow the learner to customize their own learning syllabus based upon their learning needs and interests. You can filter their vast library of lessons by skill type or category and add specific learning ‘pathways’ to your dashboard, where your learning will be tracked.

Each lesson has either a video or podcast (hence the name), delivered by native speakers in a fun & professional manner, with lots of cultural notes and examples. You are then provided with a line-by-line dialogue, vocab list, and comprehensive lesson notes. Additionally, you’ll find that the app includes flashcards, word banks, common word lists, and a dictionary – super useful!

Click here to check out our full review of ArabicPod101.

Pros

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Rocket Arabic

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$19/month, $99.95 for lifetime access, 60-day refund policy

Best Alternative to ArabicPod101

For those who prefer a step-by-step pre-made syllabus that they can easily follow along to, Rocket Arabic may be the app for them. The lessons are very thorough, starting off with the absolute basics (including the alphabet) and working their way towards longer and more complex sentences.

Like ArabicPod101, they use dialogues a lot to show you the language in context. Plus, you can even take part in the dialogue by recording yourself and listening to the other voice – almost like a real conversation!

Do note, however, that they focus solely on the Egyptian dialect which differs from other forms of Arabic. In our opinion, this is actually a big advantage since the vast majority of Arabic media is in the Egyptian dialect.

Despite some attempts to gamify the app by using streaks and activities (like Duolingo), in general, Rocket Arabic is a bit more bland, with lots of information and generic lesson layouts. However, for some learners, this is exactly what’s needed.

Click here to check out our full review of Rocket Arabic.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

3. italki

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, tutor prices vary

Best for Conversation Practice

Itali is the absolute go-to for when you know some phrases down already and are ready to start practicing! Even if you don’t know much, it’s a great idea to start speaking with native speakers as soon as possible to get a feel for the sounds and culture. Italki is a brilliant option for this – it pairs you up with a tutor who can fit around your lifestyle to teach you/talk with you in Arabic. As long as you have internet & your smartphone you can practice what you’ve learnt and get instant feedback from a native speaker.

The only thing to bare in mind is that your tutor might not always have a clear plan for your learning – it’ll normally be a bit of back and forth. So come to your sessions prepared with maybe a topic or set of vocabulary you’d like to practice and use within your conversations. Your italki tutor will be more than happy to accommodate your needs.

Click here to read our full italki review.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

4. Write it! Arabic

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free

Best App for Mastering the Arabic Alphabet

For many new students, learning the Arabic script is the biggest hurdle. With its 28 unique characters, and being a cursive script, each letter effectively has up to 4 different forms. It’s the most widely used alphabet in the world so it’s of surprise that there’s some amazing apps available to really master this difficult script in a fun & enjoyable way.

‘Write it! Arabic’ is a clever little app that slowly introduces each letter in all its forms, associating the script to its accompanying sound and example words. You are eventually pushed to write the characters all by yourself, using your finger as a stylus. They have a fun, game-like system to keep you motivated and eager to push onto the next level. Many learners have reported to have learnt the entire alphabet in days – far more effectively than any other mainstream language course like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone.

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 5/5

5. Memrise

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, or $18.99/month or $8.99/month (annual) for Memrise Premium

Most Fun/Gamified

Memrise is not too dissimilar to Duolingo, but far higher quality. Whilst Duolingo can’t be beaten as a free resource, the usefulness of Memrise is well worth the price. Firstly, they have a massive range of books at just the right level for you, in addition to frequency word lists, writing exercises, and more. And we haven’t even mentioned the official course yet!

The app is generally very well designed, effortlessly guiding you onwards between levels and learning resources. It’s been gamified, just like Duolingo, so beware – it can get very addictive! The main difference with Duolingo is the large amount of videos and dialogues, rather than isolated sentences. This really puts the language into context and shows you how everything is used in real-life scenarios.

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

Runners-up for Best App for Learning Arabic:

This list is by no means exhaustive – there’s just so many good apps out there we had to include these additional runners up. Enjoy!

HiNative

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, $5.68/month for Premium

The Best App for Getting Quick Answers From Native Speakers

Often the best resource for learning a new language is not language courses, nor dictionaries. Not even books or podcasts – but real native speakers. Why? You see language is not like a static book, but more like a wiggly tangle of forever evolving sayings, phrases, words and sentence patterns. Often you might be grammatically correct but to a native, it’ll simply sound off or incorrect.

HiNative is the holy grail of error correction and for getting clarification on how native Arabic speakers actually speak. Within the app you can ask any question and get an answer in real-time on any topic, from grammar to idioms. You can even record yourself and get feedback on pronunciation and accent – for free!

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 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

Pimsleur

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$350 for levels 1-3, or $150 per level

Best App to Develop Conversational Speaking Skills

The Pimsleur course, with its accompanying app, is a proven program to get you speaking from day 1 and absorbing the language through an intuitive step-by-step approach. The course is entirely audio based (good news for those who do sports or can listen on their daily commute) and is based entirely upon scientific research by Dr Pimsleur.

Each 30-60 minute lesson first immerses you in an authentic dialogue by native speakers, and then proceeds to break it down line-by-line, then each word, and each individual sound. This way, you can ensure that your pronunciation is spot on, as you memorize entire phrases within a real-use dialogue. By the time the lesson is up, you’ll find yourself recalling useful phrases in Arabic with accurate pronunciation.

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 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

Hans Wehr (English-Arabic Dictionary)

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free

Best Dictionary App for Arabic

For Arabic learners, having a good dictionary app on hand is crucial when looking up the meanings of new words and how to use them properly. As your level increases, you can no longer rely on google translate with its oversimplifying algorithm, but rather we recommend the Hans Wehr app, developed by Gibreel Abdullah

Unlike other online dictionaries, Hans Wehr allows you to search using only the root letter of the word – perfect for understanding the conjugations and tenses. Furthermore, the app will indicate the vowels and prepositions – something that’s very useful for all Arabic students at any level.

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

Learn Arabic with Sam (Podcast)

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free

Best Beginner-level Podcast for Arabic Students

Sam is an experienced teacher and has a brilliant podcast dedicated to those who are learning Arabic. Despite him not being a native speaker himself, he’s dedicated years of his life to learning this beautiful language, and his podcast is very popular. He speaks mostly in English, which is very useful for those starting out, though more advanced learners might be eager to find something more immersive.

He has a massive library of episodes of all different lengths, so you can find something perfect for at the gym, or when driving to work. Through his podcast you learn about how the grammar works, learn tongue twisters, and read the book Aladdin.

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 5/5

 3/5

The Best Apps For Learning Arabic: Conclusion

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this digital rollercoaster ride, showcasing to you a ton of different mobile apps to help you learn Arabic – from podcasts (ArabicPod101) to games (Memrise), from forums (HiNative) to dictionaries (Hans Wehr).

Each app has its own use and function, for example ‘Write it! Arabic’ is designed solely for teaching you the Arabic script (and does a very good job at it).

Overall, we recommend commiting to one main course-type app such as ArabicPod101 or Rocket Arabic, and then using the others alongside as supplementary tools as you see fit. But most of all, we hope you have lots of fun along the way!

Good luck!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Russian

Josiah Eyeington — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 06:46:31 +0000

The best option for anyone serious about learning Russian. A vast library of professional video & podcast lessons by native tutors.

A super-fun gamified app for learning new vocabulary through videos, dialogues and quizzes. Our recommended supplementary tool.

A non-nonsense approach to learning the Cyrillic alphabet at your own pace. This app features fun explanations and practical voice clips.

Looking to brush up on your Russian language skills and don’t know where to start? Fear not, there’s a huge variety of very useful apps out there to help you learn Russian, catering for every level and learning style.

Traditionally, the only way to learn Russian was to painstakingly sit through tedious classes, study from boring textbooks, and complete endless homework assignments. Sound familiar? Well nowadays, everything has changed…

Whether you are still learning the Cyrillic alphabet or you are already forming complex sentences, there’s an app for you.

So where to start?

To help you we’ve narrowed all the apps down into our picks for the 5 best apps for learning Russian, providing you with only the very best options to choose from (and a few more).

Here you’ll have everything you need to make the best use of those spare moments in your busy schedule. Customized learning on your own time is only a click away!

So let’s get started.

5 Best Apps for Learning Russian

1. RussianPod101

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Monthly subscription starts from $8/month, 7 day free premium trial

Most Comprehensive All-round App

Hitting our number one spot of Russian apps is RussianPod101, in our opinion the most comprehensive language course out there for learning russian, and the perfect app for those looking to learn on a flexible schedule. RussianPod101 is unlike other language courses in that it allows you to pick and choose from per-made sets of lessons (which they call lesson ‘pathways’), so you can study only the topics and target language that is most relevant to your interests and learning goals.

Their lessons consist of professional videos or podcasts by native tutors, line-by-line dialogues, vocab lists, grammar banks and lesson notes. The lessons are short, easily digestible and cover lots of fun and interesting topics, from online dating to Russian films. It’s a great option for anyone of any level who is serious about learning Russian.

Click here to check out our full review of RussianPod101.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Memrise

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, or $8.99/month for Memrise Premium

Best App for Building Vocabulary Fast

Memrise is the perfect tool for building up a wide range of vocabulary in a very memorable way. It’s true, there’s a lot of similar apps out there like Memrise, but we feel Memrise goes above and beyond to create as much of an immersive experience as you can get from a a digital app. For every new phrase and vocab item, you’ll be walked through a video clip of native speakers using it in context, making it far more memorable than just learning isolated words or phrases.

The app goes further still to test your speaking, listening and overall comprehension in their gamified tailor-made app. It’s similar to Duolingo, but better. It’s worth noting that Memrise isn’t the best resource for learning grammar. However, as a supplementary tool to a more comprehensive course like RussianPod101 it can be used to really skyrocket your learning, equipping you with new vocabulary to use in your newly acquired range of sentence structures that are taught in the RussianPod101 syllabus.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

3. TenguGo Cyrillic (Russian Alphabet)

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, donations disable ads (min $1)

Best for Learning Cyrillic

Perhaps you’re a complete beginner to the Russian language – what should you do first? Learning the alphabet and specifically the individual sounds should be the highest priority for anyone learning a new language. The sooner you can identify all the sounds the easier it will be to distinguish specific words and phrases, and the easier it’ll be to memorise new vocabulary. We personally recommend the TenguGo app because it has voice clips for every letter and detailed explanations of each sound. The history lessons, quizzes and flashcards are an added bonus.

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 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

4. HelloTalk

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, ad-free membership costs $6.99/month

Best App for Real Conversation Practice

So you’ve now got a bunch of useful phrases under your belt, you can introduce yourself and read the Russian alphabet, so what’s next? It’s now time to start interacting with real native Russians. That’s why you started learning in the first place, right? HelloTalk allows you to do just that. It pairs you up with Russian speakers who are also interested in learning a language that you know already. Through a language exchange, you can correct each other’s mistakes and stumble your way through your first Russian conversation.

It may seem a little awkward at first, but you can search for partners based on your specific interests and hobbies. You’ll even get automatic prompts and conversational starters so you’ll never be without anything to say. Through HelloTalk, you’ll get an immersive cultural experience without even leaving the country! We recommend making use of this app as soon as possible and start putting what you’ve learnt into practice.

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

5. Speechling

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, or $19.99/month for Speechling Unlimited

Best App for Fine Tuning Your Pronunciation

One of the most daunting things about learning Russian is it’s nightmarish pronunciation. It can feel like landing on another planet with a whole new array of voiced/unvoiced vowels, hard/soft consonants, and of course the famous Russian “r” or alveolar trill sound. RussianPod101 does a fairly good job at teaching pronunciation but not as good as this next app – Speechling. Speeching is an awesome resource for getting your speaking up to scratch. It gives you the chance to speak the target language, model the native speakers, and receive detailed feedback in a timely manner.

The free version is enough to supplement your learning, granting you access to the entire curriculum and up to 35 coaching sessions per month. The process is very simple: You first listen to the native speaker (of either gender) say a sentence, you record yourself in the microphone, and get feedback from a real language tutor within a day. The app also has a tonne of listening exercises, diction practice and flashcards.

Click here to read our full review of Speechling.

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

Runners-up for Best App for Learning Russian:

Here’s our list of runners-up that didn’t quite make it into our top five, but are still worth adding to your Russian language toolkit.

Russian Cases

(Android only)
Free

Best App for Learning the Cases

If you wish to go beyond knowing basic phrases and reach a decent level of fluency then you’d better get comfortable with the different Russian cases. To understand each case and when to use them we recommend the ‘Russian Cases’ app. The theory section has tables, examples and rules; and the practice section has a series of multiple choice questions with translations and Russian audio.

Note, this app is only available for android. For iOS users we recommend Russian Cases Trainer LITE (an equivalent app for iphone/ipad).

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

Rocket Russian

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$19/month or $99.95 for lifetime access

Best Alternative Structured Language Course App

For an alternative to RussianPod101 we recommend Rocket Russian. It has a far more structured syllabus than RussianPod101 so it’ll suit learners who prefer a more linear learning path. The cultural notes are nice to have and it’s jam-packed with learning material. The only reason it didn’t make it into our top 5 is that it can be a bit boring at times. The exercises are also quite repetitive and there’s no video content or interactive games.

Click here to check out our full Rocket Russian review.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

Write-it Russian

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free, or $5.99 to remove ads

Best App for Learning to Write in Cyrillic

For learning Japanese or Chinese, Skritter is the normal go-to app for learning the characters. For Cyrillic there’s been no equivalent, until now. ‘Write-it Russian’ is the first writing recognition app for the Russian language. You can follow the guides for fast and stress-free learning, and then test yourself through their interactive quizzes. The lessons are short and fun, convenient for anytime you have a spare moment.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 4/5

Pimsleur

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$150 per level, $575 for levels 1-5, 7 day free premium trial

Best for Becoming Conversational Fast

Pimsleur is a completely audio-based language program that’s based upon research by Dr Paul Pimsleur. Each 30-60 minute lesson introduces you to a new dialogue and then uses spaced repetition to break down everything into its most fundamental parts and perfect your pronunciation. By the end of each lesson you will have taken part in the dialogue and can say each phrase confidently and clearly. Many students can testify to its effectiveness to reach a basic conversational level in a short period of time, making it a valuable tool for anyone who needs to communicate in Russian for work or leisure.

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Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

The Best Apps For Learning Russian: Conclusion

So there you have it! Our list of recommended apps for learning Russian. Explore and try some of them out for yourself. After all, everyone has their own unique learning style, for some that might be listening to podcasts (like RussianPod101), playing games (like Memrise) or having conversations with native speakers (like HelloTalk).

Whatever level you’re at in Russian, we hope you’ve found something valuable from this list, from learning the Cyrillic alphabet to brushing up on your Russian vocabulary & grammar.

Good luck and have fun! Dasvidaniya!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning English

Josiah Eyeington — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 06:13:23 +0000

Our number one choice for a high-quality structured learning program that’s based entirely upon your own interests and learning needs.

A must-have app to listen to English words and phrases in their natural context, understand their meaning and perfect the pronunciation.

Make lifelong friendships, improve your speaking confidence and have meaningful cultural exchanges with this brilliant language exchange app.

English is everywhere, from entertainment to world politics. We certainly live in an overwhelmingly English-dominated world. In fact, there’s never been a better time to master this fascinating (and sometimes confusing) language, making up an estimated 70+ percent of all internet content.

Nowadays, in the age of smartphone technology, pretty much any app on your phone can now be transformed into a learning experience. However, there’s some English-learning apps out there that’ll blow your socks away, and sky-rocket you on your path towards fluency,

But beware – some are better than others, and so we’ve taken the time to list our personal favorites. The apps listed in this article get a big thumbs up from us, and get our seal of approval as the best apps for learning English.

So, without further ado, let’s jump right in!

5 Best Apps for Learning English

1. EnglishClass101

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Monthly subscription starts from $8/month, 7 day free Premium trial

The Most Comprehensive Language Course App

First on our list is EnglishClass101. This language course (& dedicated app) is created by a company called Innovate Languages who’ve been around for decades, offering over 30 other languages. Their learning platform has changed somewhat over the years but their core teaching style remains the same – highly engaging video and podcast-style lessons with native speakers on a wide range of interesting topics.

They have a massive library of lessons for their EnglishClass101 course, giving the ability to jump around and explore the many topics and teaching styles on offer until you find a learning pathway that suits you and your specific interests. Along with the customisable library of lessons, you’ll also gain access to core word lists, flashcards, dialogues, interactive learning tools, downloadable lesson notes & cheat sheets, and more! It’s all available through their easy-to-navigate app.

Click here to check out our full review of EnglishClass101.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

2. YouGlish

(accessible from mobile browser)
Free

The Best Pronunciation App

This next app is a must-have for any English learner to have in their toolkit of language resources. Unlike EnglishClass101, YouGlish is not a language course but rather an enormous database of millions of YouTube clips that allow you to listen to the pronunciation of a given word or phrase in its natural context. Sometimes there’s literally hundreds of thousands of videos for one search term, allowing you to get a solid grasp of both the meaning and pronunciation.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

3. HelloTalk

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, ad-free membership costs $6.99/month

The Best Conversational App

One of the very best methods to rapidly improve your English speaking skills is to get talking with real native speakers asap. HelloTalk allows you to do just that, with their well-designed and clever language exchange system. You can connect with thousands of other enthusiastic language learners who share your interests and are ready to help you with your English in exchange for some help with another language you already possess.

Feeling shy? Don’t worry, HelloTalk also has a messenger option (with optional voice clips) so you can text away to your heart’s content, and even correct each other’s mistakes with their built-in error correction feature. italki is another popular option, though this is not a language exchange app but a paid tutoring service.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

4. Quiz your English

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free

The Best App for Exam Prep

‘Quiz your English’ by Cambridge English is a great new way to test your English by playing games and competing with other English learners from around the planet. Created using official content from the creators of IELTS, you can now revise for your exam whilst earning coins and challenging your friends. They even have in-app Cambridge exam packs and cover a wide range of topics whilst teaching you new vocabulary and grammar. Studying for exams just got a whole lot more fun!

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 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

5. Beelingu

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, or $1.99/month for all unlocked content & no ads

The Best App for Reading

Beelingu is a brilliant little app that focuses specifically on reading comprehension. It enables you to read a series of short stories, news items or songs alongside your native language whilst also listening to the audiobook. You can save certain phrases, pause at any time to listen again, and finally you have a language quiz to test your understanding. The app now incorporates a new pronunciation recording feature which is cool to see. And lastly, they offer access to 14 languages!

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 5/5

 4/5

Runners-up for Best App for Learning English:

Want to improve your everyday English, writing and grammar? Then check out these very close runners up…

BBC Learning English

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free

The best app for everyday English

Looking to get some exposure into how native English people actually speak? The BBC Learning English app has a load of completely unscripted videos of natives talking about everyday topics and trending news items, brilliant for improving your listening skills. Each video comes with a full lesson, focusing on a specific grammar point, vocab & pronunciation. You’ll also be able to read the full transcript and download all the videos so you can access them offline. It’s never been easier to be immersed in British culture!

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

Grammarly

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free

The Most Useful App for Writing

The word you are looking for is right at the tip of your tongue but you just can’t quite remember what the word is… sound familiar? Grammarly is more than just a spellchecker, it’s a clever little personal assistant that’ll suggest better words for you to use. Swap ‘very scary’ for ‘terrifying’, or ‘interesting’ to ‘fascinating’. Your English writing will improve in no time as you start to incorporate a wider range of vocabulary into your emails, text messages and blog posts. Did I mention it fixes your grammar too?

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 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

Duolingo / Duolingo ABC

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free, or $12.99/month for Duolingo Plus

Most Fun / Addictive

Have you heard of Duolingo? Chances are you have – it’s one of the most popular language apps out there, exploding into popularity in the last 10 years or so. They use a variety of short quizzes to teach you various sentences in your target language and they keep you motivated through their gamified reward systems and easy-to-use interface. There’s no doubt it’s a load of fun, but can it be useful for learning English. In fact, they do have an English language course but currently only for French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish. So if you are a native Chinese speaker then it won’t be all that helpful and you’d be better off using a more immersive platform like Rosetta Stone.

However, Duolingo offers a beginners app that caters for young learners called ‘Duolingo ABC’. It’s perfect for learning how to read & write – they use a variety of short stories and games to introduce the alphabet and teach you how to write all the letters correctly. They even have speaking exercises and voice recognition software. It’d be perfect for anyone who is homeschooling or even adults who are just starting to read, plus it’s great fun! LingoDeer is another option that uses gamified quizzes to teach English, and it’s also free.

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 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

The British Council Apps

(Android, iphone, ipad)
Free

The British Council has a series of well-designed apps that are definitely worth checking out. The podcast app is great for when on the go but we personally liked the ‘LearnEnglish Grammar’ app for it’s interactive practice activities to help you learn. The app covers dozens of grammar topics, from beginner level right through to advanced. The lessons incorporate 10 different activity types such as word reordering, fill-in-the-blanks, drag and drop etc. Every question is based upon an image, text or audio to keep things interesting, and you can check your understanding with regular level quizzes.

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

The Best Apps For Learning English: Conclusion

We hope this list has sparked some inspiration in you to go out there and tackle your English head on! With these apps you now have everything you need to find speaking partners (with HelloTalk), learn from native speakers completely on your own time (with EnglishClass101) and dive right into English reading (with Beelingu). Learning English has never been so fun and easy!

But of course, learning any language still takes work and effort. Even with all the best tools in the world, the apps won’t do the learning for you. So we hope you take advantage of this great opportunity and discover just how far the English language can take you. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Good luck, and have fun!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Italian

Josiah Eyeington — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 11:26:53 +0000

A video/podcast style course with a vast library of customizable lesson ‘pathways’ covering a range of trendy topics.

A comprehensive beginners Italian course based upon an innovative new teaching method known as ‘story learning’.

A sleek new app that teaches Italian through short video dialogues, clever memory techniques & gamified quizzes.

In this article we’ve handpicked our top five best apps for learning Italian, to help you progress towards Italian fluency. You may want to use a variety of these apps in parallel to get the best from each one and to work on each language skill at the same time, from listening to speaking, vocab to grammar – it’s entirely up to you.

Traditionally, learning a new language has always been a struggle to get the right resources, to find the right teachers, and to get in contact with native speakers to practice with. We relied far too often on repetitive grammar exercises and old-fashioned classroom drilling.

But the advent of the smartphone has now made language learning much easier and more fun! You can now practice with native speakers whenever you want, you can play addictive new games to memorize vocab, phrases & dialogues, and you can get instant access to a vast array of authentic content from the convenience of your own phone.

Whether you are learning Italian for the workplace or simply just for fun, you can download these apps directly on your smartphone, allowing you to pick up this beautiful romantic language completely at your own pace, wherever you are, using a teaching style that suits your own interests and specific learning style.

So without further ado, let’s dive right in.

Andiamo!

5 Best Apps for Learning Italian

1. ItalianPod101

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Monthly subscription starts from $8/month, 7 day free premium trial

Most Comprehensive

Taking first place on our list is ItalianPod101, an app that’s stood the test of time for being one of the most comprehensive, flexible and engaging language apps to help you learn Italian, completely on your own time. Their unique system of customizable ‘learning pathways’ allows you to focus solely on the topics and learning points that you wish to study most, thus tailoring the syllabus to your own specific learning needs.

They have a vast library of content, starting from a complete beginner level right through to advanced. Each lesson focuses on a specific topic or language point, with the content being delivered through a short and highly engaging video presentaions (or podcasts), followed by a line-by-line dialogue, vocab list, lesson notes and lesson quiz. ItalianPod101 excels in providing you with lots of bonus features too in their well established app; you’ll find flashcards, frequency word lists, vocab lists, grammar banks and more.

Personally, we think it’s well worth the investment and something we’ve personally got a lot of value from (plus, you can use our unique discount code to get an additional 30% off).

Click here to check out our full review of ItalianPod101.

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Effectiveness:

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Italian Uncovered

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$297 up front or 3 x $99 monthly installments

The Most Effective Italian Course Out There

Ok, we cheated a little with this one – Italian Uncovered is not strictly an app but can still be accessed through the browser on your phone, or better yet, you can download all the audio files for you to listen to offline.

Italian Uncovered, in our opinion, is the best method we’ve ever come across for learning Italian in a really enjoyable and methodical way. It’s an all-encompassing language course that’s best suited for complete beginners, though all levels will find it useful. So how does it work? It consists of a series of 20 chapters all tied together through the story of L’uomo col cappello (The Man In The Hat). You are taught through immersion right off the bat with helpful video lessons that meticulously break down the essentials to help guide you on your path, presented by native tutor Martina.

The unique teaching method is the brainchild of polyglot and well-acclaimed author Olly Richards. Unlike most other courses, everything connects together into a really well written story, making the learning process both fun and effective, motivating you to continue and unwravel the meaning of the story. And with years of experience of Olly personally using this exact method to become fluent in over 7 languages, you can be sure it works.

Click here to read our full review of Italian Uncovered.

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 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

3. Babbel

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$12.95/month, with increasing discounts for 3, 6 or 12 month subscriptions

Most Convenient & Fun

Babbel is certainly not an app to be overlooked. It’s become a very attractive option for Italian language learers due to its bitesize (15 minutes, on average) lessons and handy dialogue-style teaching method. It’s very enjoyable to go through each lesson whenever you have a spare minute. Unlike Rosseta Stone, for example, Babbel has loads of short video clips, images and dialogues to really set the scene and make the language more memorable with context-based dialogues. Hints for the grammar and sentence structure further glues everything together.

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 4/5

4. HelloTalk

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, ad-free membership costs $6.99/month

Best App for Conversation Practice with Native Speakers

We all know deep down that the best way to learn Italian is to actually start interacting with Italian people as soon as possible. “But what if there’s a global pandemic and I can’t just catch the next flight to Rome?” I hear you say. Well, you’ll be glad to know that there’s an app (several actually) that’ll pair you up with real life Italians and get you speaking straight away.

Some, like HelloTalk and Tandem are language exchange apps and so are free – you pay only with your time in speaking an equal amount of English with your newfound language partner. Others, like italki, offer a more formal paid tutoring service.

Feeling shy? HelloTalk will find you partners based upon your interests and hobbies, and even provide prompts and conversation starters so you’ll always have something to talk about. Through HelloTalk you can have as much of an immersive cultural learning experience as possible without ever having to take a single step into Italy. The app uses text, audio messages and video calls, in addition to built in translation and error correction tools.

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 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

5. FluentU

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$20/month or $240/year, 14 day free trial

Best Option for Building Vocabulary and Listening Practice

FluentU is an awesome little app to help supplement your listening skills and to bolster your range of vocabulary. It is essentially a cover software on top of a massive library of short youtube videos that allow you to pause the video and get an instant translation of the subtitles simply by hovering over a word with your mouse (or finger). The entire library is sorted by level, content type and theme or topic – a great way to immerse yourself in level-specific authentic content that you find interesting.

The content itself ranges from vlogs to music videos, all designed for an Italian audience, so you can be sure to get exposure to a wide range of different accents and applications. But the best part of FluentU is how you learn new vocab. You see, after every video there’s a gamified quiz to teach you the words you don’t know. The system uses spaced-repetition to understand what you do and don’t know in order to prompt you at the right time to revise the new words again and again.

Click here to read our full review of FluentU.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

Runners-up for Best App for Learning Italian:

Our list wouldn’t be complete without at least mentioning these runners up that didn’t quite make it into our top five list.

Duolingo

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, ad-free pro version costs $12.99/month

Best Budget Option

Duolingo is one of the most popular free language apps out there. It consists of a series of short, gamified quizzes to introduce you to a new language and test you on new phrases again and again. The syllabus follows a logical order, and you’ll take a placement test to determine how much you already know. As mentioned, it’s free, but is it any good?

In our opinion, it’s not a bad introductory app to teach you some new phrases but beyond that it’s better to go for a more comprehensive language course like Italian Uncovered or ItalianPod101.

The reason being is that the app is not tailor made for the Italian language and often has mistakes. It can be great fun but it can be very slow to progress to higher levels. Furthermore, you won’t learn any new grammar and the phrases are based upon direct translations, which isn’t the most helpful.

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Effectiveness:

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 5/5

 3/5

Rocket Italian

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$19/month or $99.95 for lifetime access

Best Alternative to ItalianPod101 or Italian Uncovered

Perhaps the other apps just don’t take your fancy? Why not give Rocket Italian a try? It’s up there with ItalianPod101 and Italian Uncovered in terms of its comprehensiveness & level of content, but delivered in a different style. The course is broken down audio lessons that do well to explain the culture through dialogues. We love how you can effectively take part in the dialogues and the software will record your voice to playback and compare your voice against a native speaker.

Click here to check out our full Rocket Italian review.

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 3/5

Pimsleur Italian

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$119.95 per level, $550 for levels 1-5, 7 day free premium trial

Best App for Pronunciation and Becoming Conversational Fast

Pimsleur is one of the big names in the language learning world, alongside Rosetta Stone and perhaps Duolingo. The method is based upon Dr. Pimleur’s principles of memory and language learning, from his career-long research. It’s primarily an audio-based course which makes it useful for driving, at the gym, or when out and about. It’s main focus is on getting your pronunciation up to speed through a series of real-use dialogues.

Each lesson is around 30 minutes long and uses SRS to help you memorise an entire dialogue during this time. Many students can testify to the effectiveness of the method, with a massive boost in speaking confidence and the ability to converse with native Italians. However, do bear in mind that you won’t learn any reading or writing, and the grammar is only taught intuitively, so it may not suit everyone. But for getting up a conversational level in the shortest time possible, Pimsleur’s got your back.

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 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

Busuu

(Android, iphone, ipad)
$9.99/month for Premium, or $13.99/month for PremiumPlus

Best Option for Complete Beginners

Busuu is a great app that has a similar format to Babbel or Duolingo, however Busuu stands in it’s ability to connect you with native speakers, almost like HelloTalk does. As you progress through the lessons, you can submit speaking and writing exercises that’ll be corrected for you by native tutors on the platform – pretty neat!

Unlike many other language apps, Busuu focuses heavily on speaking with some pretty advanced speech recognition software. You can also choose to study a specific course with a fixed purpose in mind, perhaps for travelling or for ordering at a restaurant (similar to ItalianPod101). To get the most out of their lessons you’ll need to pay a subscription since the free version is unfortunately very limited in its scope.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

The Best Apps For Learning Italian: Conclusion

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our top list of Italian apps. With these recommendations you can’t really go wrong. You now have plenty of choices for improving every aspect of your Italian language skills – from listening to speaking, reading to writing.

We first recommend that you work through one of the more structured language apps to begin with, like ItalianPod101 or Italian Uncovered, and only then can you start to supplement your learning with speaking practice (HelloTalk) and immersion into new material (FluentU).

All in all at the very least we hope this list has inspired you to know what’s out there to discover in terms of language apps. Each one has its own specific advantages and disadvantages – plus everyone learns differently anyway. So have a play around, try some out, and most of all have fun!

Buona fortuna!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Spanish

Josiah Eyeington — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 16:13:37 +0000

Our best choice for Spanish learners of any level, SpanishPod101 has an enormous library video & audio lessons.

An effective & completely immersive teaching method that centers around the central story “El Hombre Del Sombrero”.

An audio-only language app that uses authentic dialogues and spaced repetition techniques to develop effective conversational skills.

Has the coronavirus got you stuck at home, wondering what to do with yourself? Dreaming of travelling to Spain or South America when travel finally opens back up again? Why not use this new-found time to brush up on your Spanish skills!

Learning Spanish doesn’t have to be boring. For some, the phrase ‘language learning’ conjures up drab ideas of school classrooms, grammar textbooks, or mindless repetition drills…

If you cringe at the idea of hitting the language books, then you’ll be very glad to know that there’s plenty of very affordable apps for your smartphone to learn Spanish very effectively and completely in your own time. Heck, it might even be fun!

So let’s jump right in. Here are the best apps for learning Spanish from the comfort of your own home.

Vamos!

1. SpanishPod101

Best Overall

SpanishPod101 takes our number one spot for the best all round Spanish-learning app. It’s a great option for anyone of all levels and it’s engaging video and podcast teaching style keeps the lessons varied and interesting enough to avoid getting bored whilst still immersed in learning new phrases, vocab and grammar. The hosts are all native speakers with very likeable personalities. Overall, the lessons are very laid back and fun with lots of insightful cultural tangents thrown in to spice things up.

It’s a very different methodology to most apps, with a completely flexible syllabus that allows you to pick and choose what you wish to learn. And the learning time doesn’t just stop at the lessons, the app also includes integrated SRS flashcards, an entire library of vocab lists, a most common 2000 words list, among other features. You can sign up for a free premium trial or take advantage of our discount codes to get up to 77% off.

Click here to check out our full review of SpanishPod101.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

2. Spanish Uncovered

Most Effective

Unlike SpanishPod101, Spanish Uncovered doesn’t have a dedicated app, however the course (on teachable) can be accessed through any mobile device, and all the content can be downloaded for offline learning. Spanish Uncovered takes second place on our list due to it’s proven teaching method that’s based on Olly Richard’s (the founder) unique StoryLearning® concept.

The 20-module course takes a complete beginner and gets them right up to an intermediate level through a series of video lessons & exercises that each focus on a chapter in an overall story. Weaving a central plot throughout the entire course is an excellent way to keep you gripped – every chapter finishes on a new cliffhanger! There’s a heavy emphasis on immersion, allowing you to develop your own fluency through the test & audio, without a bunch of grammar rules and translations being forced down your throat.

Click here to check out our full review of Spanish Uncovered.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

3. Pimsleur Spanish

Best Speaking, Listening & Pronunciation App

The Pimselur method has been around for decades, now a well-known name in the language learning space. Although several other Pimselur courses are often criticised for the content being too formal or inauthentic, Pimsleur Spanish is one of their best courses, with many raving reviews of students who have successfully completed the course and quickly achieved an intermediate level of speaking and listening.

It’s convenience is a huge factor, with everything being (mostly) audio only, allowing you to learn when travelling, exercising, washing up or on a daily commute. The lessons are around 30 mins on average and first expose you to a natural dialogue. The tutors then proceed to break everything down into its most basic components, getting you to repeat each phrase and perfect the pronunciation.

The method, based upon Dr Paul Pimselur’s research, uses spaced repetition to solidify what you learn, continually testing you throughout each lessons.

Click here to read our full review of Pimsleur Spanish.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

4. HelloTalk

Best for Conversation Practice

Maybe you can’t get to a Spanish speaking country right now. After all, the best way to learn Spanish is to be surrounded by the language and speak with locals on a daily basis, no matter how basic the conversations are. So what’s the next best thing? HelloTalk is our best pick for the most effective and affordable language exchange app (in fact. it’s free!)

HelloTalk pairs you up with a native speaker who is also seeking some language pactice for a language you already possess (perhaps English or French). You can meet regularly over voice call or chat to talk about different topics and correct each other’s language through their built-in error correction feature. They make it nice and easy to schedule time and ensure you spend equal amounts of time speaking each other’s target language. If you are looking for options that focus purely on Spanish then we recommend italki, or preply, though bear in mind that these are paid tutoring services.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

5. FluentU

Best for Immersive Listening Practice (& Vocab Building)

Another brilliant supplementary tool that would be great to use alongside a more comprehensive course like SpanishPod101 or Spanish Uncovered. Besides listening to podcasts, FluentU is my go-to app for getting exposure to a new language and culture, by exploring a wide variety of authentic Spanish videos that are designed for a Spanish audience. What’s great about FluentU is that the app is so easy to use. You can filter by level and the type of media you’re after, whether it’s sports or cooking, music videos or how-to videos.

You can toggle on/off the subtitles to test out your listening skills, and selecting a word will give you several example videos of where that vocab term is used in other contexts. You can then add a word to a flashcard deck or your personal word bank. After each video is a gamified quiz to test you on your newly acquired vocabulary. The app will prompt you to review these words over time to engrain them in your mind. Very cool!

Click here to read our full review of FluentU.

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Cons

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 4/5

 5/5

Runners-up for Best App for Learning Spanish:

Still hungry for more? Here’s some of our favorites that didn’t quite make the cut.

Rocket Spanish

Rocket Spanish is great for those who like to follow a linear syllabus that teaches you everything from the very beginning. The lessons are varied with a mix of dialogues, culture, vocab and grammar. One of the main things that stands out with the rocket courses is the voice recognition software. It’s rare to find a course that focuses enough on speaking so it’s great to see the ability to record yourself, get feedback and essentially take part in the dialogues & role plays.

However, the exercises can be very long. Whilst there are quite a few different styles of exercises, they are all based on pure memorisation through flashcards etc. For those who can stick with the course, they’ll get a load of value from it, however I suspect most people quit due to boredom from the lack of videos, stories or authentic material to keep you engaged and motivated to continue.

Click here to check out our full Rocket Spanish review.

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Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 3/5

Ouino Spanish

Ouino, pronounced ‘we know’, is an affordable all-round language app that provides Spanish practice in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Each lesson contains a mixture of videos, audio lessons, exercises and games. We like that you have the freedom to choose which skill you wish to work on, so you don’t have to follow their linear syllabus if you don’t want to. The layout is also very nice on the eye and it’s very easy to navigate.

Perhaps Ouino takes inspiration from duolingo with it’s built-in games & motivational features. Some of the games we felt were a bit too gamified, however. For example, we found ourselves under a lot of stress to complete the exercises before the clock finished, to the extent that we were sometimes answering randomly instead of taking the time to think through the answer properly. Overall, it’s not a bad app to learn Spanish. For those who like to have interactive features and games it could be a great option.

Click here to read our comprehensive Ouino Spanish review.

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

Duolingo

Everyone’s heard of duolingo. The app has sprung into the limelight in recent years for being one of the most gamified free language apps on the market. It’s certainly fun to play with, but is it any good? We’ve included it on our list because it’s not a bad option for anyone looking for a taste of the language without any upfront investment, however if you are serious about learning Spanish then we recommend leaving it alone and instead following a more comprehensive tailor-made language program like Spanish Uncovered.

The problem with Duolingo is that many of the phrases are automatically translated, allowing for errors and unnatural sounding phrases to sneak in – not good! However, there’s now a bunch of additional features on the app which we like the look of, such as short audio lessons & podcasts. It’s worth downloading the app just to check these out.

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Cons

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Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

Linguee

Last on our list is not a language learning app but rather a useful tool to help you along your journey to Spanish fluency – a dictionary app. It’s important to have somewhere to quickly look up words when learning a new language, and although google translate does the job there’s much better apps out there that are specifically designed for language learners. Linguee is one of them. It’s much more than just a dictionary, it’ll remember all the words you look up and send you a notification a few days later to test you on the definition. It’s search feature is great too. It’ll not just provide the definition but lots of example sentences from a range of contexts, each with accompanying audio file for pronunciation.

The app can be used in conjunction with othr apps or when browsing the internet. You can just highlight the word or phrase and select Linguee to search or ponounce the word/phrase. Plus, it’s free and there’s no ads! Awesome.

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Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

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The Best Apps For Learning Spanish: Conclusion

So there you have it, now you know all of our top picks of Spanish learning apps. Why not try some of them out? After all, it’s important to find which method works best for you. Some people can binge watch FluentU all day, absorbing new words & phrases, whereas other people prefer a more structured syllabus like Spanish Uncovered or Rocket Spanish. Or you might want to just focus on a particular skill, for example by improving your speaking with HelloTalk, or conversational skills with Pimsleur Spanish. Whatever you choose to go for, you can’t really go wrong with this list.

Have fun & buena suerte!

Josiah Eyeington

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.