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Speechling

Quick Review

4.3 

Summary:

Speechling is a website and app that makes it easy to improve your speaking skills in several languages. The free version is an incredbily valuable resource that makes it easy to practice mimicking native speakers. The Unlimited Plan provides unlimited corrections of your recordings by a teacher.

Quality

Speachling makes it easy to improve your speaking rhythm and pronunciation.

Thoroughness

Lots of different ways to practice speaking.

Value

The free version is better than most paid resources and the paid version provides outstanding value.

Price

The Forever Free Plan is complete free. A monthly subscription to the Unlimited Plan costs $19.99 per month.

Click the link to save 10% on Speechling’s Unlimited Plan.

Visit Speechling

Languages: American English, British English, French, Latin American Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Chinese, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese.

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By Nick Spanish

The Best Apps To Learn Spanish – We’ve Tested 40+ Of Them

 

Learn Spanish AppS

There’s an absurd number of apps available for studying Spanish, and searching through the options in the Apple or Android app stores can be overwhelming. The apparent quality of a lot of these apps, however, can be discouraging.

Luckily, a quick scroll through the app store doesn’t accurately represent the quality of Spanish learning apps available today. There are actually a lot of excellent apps out there that can teach you nearly every aspect of the Spanish language – though it does take some mix and matching. 

The apps will be loosely organized into categories, based on what they do best. A lot of them could fall into a few different categories, so I’ll try to put them into the section that makes the most sense.

Let’s see what we’ve got…

GENERAL COURSES available as apps

Best for Oral Communication Skills: Pimsleur

Best Lessons in the Style of a Podcast: SpanishPod101

Best for Finding a Tutor: italki

Best Lesson Structure: Babbel

apps for READING AND LISTENING practice

Best Latin American Listening Practice: Lupa

Best Reading Content: LingQ

Best Free Reading Content: Manga Method

Best for Side-By-Side Reading Practice: Beelinguapp

Best  Audio Course: Pimsleur

apps for SPEAKING AND WRITING practice

Best for Feedback on Writing: italki

Best for Feedback on Pronunciation: Speechling

VOCABULARY AcQUISITION apps

Best Dictionary App: SpanishDict

Best for Easy Vocabulary Practice: Memrise

Most Customizable Vocabulary Practice: Anki

Best for Free Practice in Context: Clozemaster

Best for Learning Words in Context: Lingvist

apps for TUTORS AND LANGUAGE EXCHANGES

Second-Best for Finding a Tutor: Verbling

Best for Language Exchange: HelloTalk and Tandem

Top overall spanish apps

Pimsleur

PimsleurPimsleur is an old-school course that began long before apps were even a thing. 

My favorite thing about the course is that it gets you speaking Spanish right away. The lessons mostly ignore the written language and grammar, focusing on listening and speaking instead.

This means that students who use Pimsleur’s courses will almost certainly develop oral language skills more quickly than with other resources. Considering most people studying Spanish want to be able to use it in conversations right away, that makes it pretty appealing. Review.

Visit Pimsleur

SpanishPod101

SpanishPod101 could potentially belong in the general courses category because it offers practice in a variety of skills. I’ve put it here because the lessons are mostly audio and the course structure isn’t completely linear.

The app contains a ton of content — there are nearly 2000 lessons ranging from absolute beginner to advanced levels, though the majority of content is designed for learners at a lower level.

Lessons are presented in a podcast-style format. Two hosts discuss and translate a dialogue, providing plenty of grammar notes and cultural information. There’s quite a bit of English happening at the lower levels, but this phases out as you progress to more advanced material. Review.

Save 25% on a subscription by using the coupon code ‘ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES‘.

Visit SpanishPod101

FLUENTU

FluentU is a language-learning platform that uses real-world videos and interactive subtitles to create an immersive learning experience. The videos take on a variety of forms, including commercials, music videos, interviews, and more. Accompanying quizzes give users the chance to practice language used in videos.

FluentU offers videos in nine different languages and is available for iOS, Android, and on the web. Most of its content is beyond the beginner level, but it has videos for learners at all levels. Check our full review here!

Visit FLUENTU

ITALKI

italki is the most flexible and affordable place to find a tutor for the language you’re learning. They have a huge number of teachers offering classes to students of over 100 different languages. As a learner, you’ll be able to find a tutor that best fits your learning style, schedule, and personality. Teachers are able to set their own prices and make their own schedule. Check our our full review here!

Visit ITALKI

 


A few of the resources mentioned in the video aren’t available as apps, but can be found in our post about the best Spanish courses. Be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for the second video where we cover 12 more good apps and courses for learning Spanish.
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By Nick Mandarin Chinese

Best Apps for Learning Mandarin Chinese: We’ve Tried Them All

There are a ridiculous number of apps out there for learning Chinese, and, while having plenty of options is certainly a good thing, finding the ones that are best for you can seem daunting.

Hopefully, we can help with that. We’ve tested dozens of them, and have included the standout performers in this list. These are apps that will help you improve a number of language skills, and we’ve categorized them based on whether they’re best for speaking, listening, reading, or writing.

The major benefits afforded by language apps are that they’re convenient and inexpensive, often free. Since this post focuses on apps, it will leave out some great resources that simply aren’t available as apps.

General Courses Available as Apps

Best Communication Skills App: Pimsleur

Best Interactive App: HelloChinese

Best Reading Practice for Beginners and Up: Du Chinese

Best for Writing Feedback: italki

Apps for Learning Vocabulary and Grammar

Best Dictionary App: Pleco

Best Easy-to-Use Way to Learn Vocabulary: Memrise

Best for Learning Words in Context: Clozemaster

Best Customizable Study Tool: Anki

Best for Grammar Practice: Chinese Grammar

Apps for Reading and Listening Practice

Best for Learning Chinese Characters: Outlier Linguistics

Best for Reading About Current Events: The Chairman’s Bao

Best Interactive Reading Practice: WordSwing and M Mandarin

Best Audio Lessons in a Podcast Format: ChinesePod

Apps for Speaking and Writing Practice

Best for Learning to Write Chinese Characters: Skritter and TOFU Learn

Best for Pronunciation Feedback: Speechling

Apps for Tutors and Language Exchange

Best for Finding an Affordable Tutor: italki

Best for Structured Lessons: TutorMing

Best for Language Exchange: HelloTalk and Tandem

Best Q&A App: HiNative

Top overall chinese apps

Pimsleur

The Pimsleur course has been around for a very long time, but its app is refreshingly user-friendly and visually appealing. In addition to the nice design, this course is good for the amount of speaking and listening practice it offers.

The 30-minute audio lessons in the Mandarin course are designed to get you thinking and participating in Chinese right away. You’ll get lots of practice repeating dialogue and answering questions aloud. Immediate speaking practice this in-depth isn’t something you’ll see in a lot of other apps, and it’s what makes this one stand out. Review.

Visit Pimsleur

ChinesePod101Improve your Chinese listening comprehension with ChinesePod

ChinesePod is one of the biggest names in the industry, recommended by nearly everyone, and remaining a solid option for over a decade. They have a massive library of lessons across all difficulty levels that make for a great way to improve your listening skills.

Material at higher levels is taught entirely in Chinese, and an appropriate amount of English is used at the lower levels. Though this scales well, the lessons don’t necessarily build on each other intentionally. Following along with a textbook or another course will help make sure you don’t end up with gaps in your knowledge.

You can get $50 off an annual Premium subscription to ChinesePod by using the coupon code “ALLLANG50”. Review.

Visit ChinesePod

italki

It can be hard to find good places to get feedback on your writing. Most apps don’t offer any chance for feedback, and those that do frankly don’t often do a very good job.

italki, better-known as a place to find an online language tutor, has a community feature called Exercise that makes a great solution for getting writing feedback. The feature allows users to publish a piece of writing in their target language on any subject they wish. Other users can then freely offer corrections and feedback. This tool is free to use! You can also help other users out by providing feedback on writing done in your native language. Review. Right now get a $10 credit with your first purchase.

Visit italki

FLUENTU

FluentU is a language-learning platform that uses real-world videos and interactive subtitles to create an immersive learning experience. The videos take on a variety of forms, including commercials, music videos, interviews, and more. Accompanying quizzes give users the chance to practice language used in videos.

FluentU offers videos in nine different languages and is available for iOS, Android, and on the web. Most of its content is beyond the beginner level, but it has videos for learners at all levels. Check our full review here!

Visit FluentU

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By Nick Italian

Ripeti Con Me

Quick Review

4 

Summary:

Think In Italian (formerly “Ripeti Con Me”) by Italian polyglot Stefano now offers two libraries of online lessons. The first one is a course that’s similar in style to Glossika but fixes many of the problems I have with it. It teaches the language intuitively and requires you to speak throughout the lessons. Not everyone will love the lesson style but it’ll definitely improve your speaking rhythm and understanding of Italian.

The second one is a huge collection of bilingual readings with audio that could replace LingQ if you are frustrated by its organization of the library.

New features include live tutoring, a community forum, and a mobile app.

Quality

The lesson materials are fairly basic but well-structured.

Thoroughness

Previously taught materials are reviewed frequently in new sentence patterns.

Value

The price is fair for what’s included in the lessons and on the website.

Price

Starts with a 7-day free trial and is then $39.80/month or $357/yr

Use the promo code “ALRRCM” to save 5%

Visit Ripeti Con Me
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By Nick German

SmarterGerman

Quick Review

4.5 

Summary:

SmarterGerman is much different than every other language learning resource I’ve tried. Its Everyday German Course is made up of 12 parts that are five lessons a piece, each of which correspond with a chapter from a German crime story. Through these lessons, and lots of exercises, the course will help you reach the B1 level. Unlike most courses where there’s a lot of spoonfeeding of information, this course pushes you to use your critical thinking skills.

Quality

Michael, the course creator, is an excellent teacher

Thoroughness

There are abundant exercises to practice every aspect of German.

Value

Each level is $249 excl. VAT/GST. Up to 40% off with bundles.  Ongoing Live Q&A sessions, completely free of charge.

Price

The Magnificent German Course Bundle (A1-C1) costs $749+ excl. VAT/GST. Or each level for $249. This comes with Live Q&A sessions with Michael himself.

Buy SmarterGerman Risk Free
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By Nick Mandarin Chinese

Yoyo Chinese

Quick Review

4.7 

Summary:

Yoyo Chinese is probably the most established and popular website for online Chinese courses. Yangyang has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn Chinese and her videos have been viewed millions of times. There are several different video-based courses available which include interactive quizzes, clear explanations, and tons of practice, with each progressing in difficulty. I think the conversational courses are especially good value.

Quality

Video lessons and interactive quizzes are very well done.

Thoroughness

The content is explained very clearly and covers a wide range of topics.

Value

The course bundles help to lower the price.

Price

Yoyo Chinese offers subscription options and the Lifetime one-time purchase option. If you want to test out the program, try a monthly full-access “Learn” subscription for $19.99/mo. Or an annual subscription for $11.99/mo. Lifetime one-time purchase is $299 (don’t forget the 10% discount with the discount code ALR10!!). From November 2022, Yoyo Chinese offers a new “Watch” subscription for a smaller monthly fee. This gives learners access to video lessons, which might suit some learners who wish to use Yoyo Chinese as a supplemental resource.

You can save 10% on any course or bundle by using the promo code “ALR10”.

Try Yoyo Chinese Risk Free
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By Nick Korean

14 Best Korean Courses: We’ve Tested Them

For many, there’s just something irresistible about Korean culture. K-Pop and its die-hard fans span the globe, Korean food classics like kimchi and bulgogi tempt millions each year, and Korean cinema attained broader global recognition with Academy Award-winning film, Parasite.

There are plenty of reasons to learn Korean, and there are just about as many ways to learn it. if you’re interested in online courses, you’re anything but starved for choice. This is mostly a great thing — a course that fits your budget, learning style, and specific needs is almost definitely out there.

On the other hand, it can be difficult to sort the good from the bad; many online reviews are clearly biased or simply don’t consider the fact that what works for one may not work for another. 

We’ve gone through our extensive list of online Korean courses, selecting only those that we’ve rated 3.5 stars or higher, and compiled them into this collection of high-quality resources. It’s our hope that this guide points you in the right direction and gets you closer to your ideal course.

Sort By:

90 DAY KOREAN

4.7/5
Price: From $30/month or $150/year
A Quality Course With Straightforward Instructions

At first glance, this may seem too good to be true. After all, no one’s going to become fluent in 90 days, right? Luckily, this course isn’t promising the impossible. Instead, it breaks the overwhelming goal of learning Korean into four 90-day modules. This more manageable timeline makes for a less intimidating study plan and can do great things for daily motivation. 

The modules in this course do an excellent job of providing in-depth coverage of grammar and vocabulary concepts. The lessons are presented one week at a time, though you can proceed to the next week’s material whenever you feel comfortable doing so.

The course benefits from straightforward explanations and challenges that push you to apply what you’ve learned in practical situations. For a higher subscription price, there’s the option to have access to coaching, which means you’ll get feedback from a Korean tutor as you progress through the course.

Pros

  • Explanations are clear and easy to understand
  • Challenges give you the opportunity to use what you’ve learned 
  • Great course structure

Cons

  • There are less expensive options
90 Day Korean Review
Visit 90 Day Korean

Teuida

4/5
Price: $9.99/month, Less for Longer Subscriptions
POV-Style Conversation Practice

Teuida isn’t your standard language resource. It’s full of super engaging conversation practice where you take part in POV-style videos, responding when prompted. You’ll find yourself in a variety of situations and will be tasked with responding in real-time to your video conversation partner.

Lessons in Teuida build on each other nicely, and each culminates with a video conversation that tests what you’ve learned in the corresponding unit. This type of practice is highly interactive and is great for building speaking confidence. It could be especially useful for learners that are intimidated by the prospect of speaking to real people at their current level.

While Teuida is fun to use and provides good listening and speaking practice, it won’t teach you much grammar or how to read and write. It’s also not a very good option for learners that are beyond the beginner stage.

You can use the coupon code ‘ALR003‘ to get the 3-month subscription for $18.99.

Note that iOS users will need to enter this code as the “Referrer ID,” either when signing up or under Settings > Account > Referrer ID.

Pros

  • Video conversation practice is highly engaging
  • You’ll get practice with realistic, practical language
  • It provides lots of speaking practice

Cons

  • There isn’t material for intermediate and advanced learners
  • You won’t get in-depth grammar practice or learn to read and write
  • Review opportunities are limited
Teudia Review
Visit Teuida

PIMSLEUR

4/5
Price: $14.95-$19.95 per month
Tried-And-True Audio Lessons

Pimsleur isn’t exactly a new arrival on the language-learning scene. Using a method developed by linguist Dr. Pimsleur in 1963, this course is packed full of high-quality audio lessons that are well structured and provide ample opportunity for participation.

Although the claim on the Pimsleur website that you’ll reach an intermediate speaking level within 30 days of using the course may be a stretch, the audio lessons are packed full of useful information and build on each other nicely. You’ll spend just enough time in each new lesson reviewing what you’ve already learned in order to take on new concepts with confidence.

The Pimsleur audio lessons aren’t meant for passive listening. Instead, the Pimsleur Method encourages learners to frequently speak aloud during lessons. You’ll be frequently prompted to speak and will have to do more than listen and repeat to keep up.

Visual learners may struggle with the mostly-audio content, and this may not be the best resource for learning to read and write Hangul.

Pros

  • The course is well structured
  • Audio from a variety of native speakers
  • The app and desktop platform are well designed

Cons

  • This isn’t the best resource for visual learners
  • It isn’t the best place to find reading and writing practice
Pimsleur Review
Visit Pimsleur

KOREANCLASS101

4/5
Price: $8 – $47 a month
Tons of Listening Practice

It wouldn’t be easy to find another resource with as much listening material as you’ll find with KoreanClass101. There are thousands of listening lessons here, and they’re accompanied by transcripts, quizzes, extra notes, and some videos. 

While the amount of content is certainly a good thing, there is a lack of clear structure to the course. This might be nice if you’re the type of learner that likes to skip around as you please, but some might end up feeling lost and without enough guidance.

The bulk of the huge lesson library is most-suitable for learners at the beginner to pre-intermediate levels — advanced learners won’t find as much relevant practice material. This is also probably not the best resource if you’re looking for a course to really strengthen your speaking or writing skills.

Pros

  • There is a great deal of listening content for learners at the beginner and intermediate levels
  • Accompanying lesson notes are useful

Cons

  • There isn’t as much content for advanced learners
  • There isn’t a clear course structure
  • It isn’t the right place to get speaking, writing, or advanced practice

Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 25% on a subscription to KoreanClass101.

KoreanClass101 Review
Visit KoreanClass101

LINGODEER

4.3/5
Price: $11.99 a month, $29.99 a quarter, $55.99 a year, or $119.99 for a lifetime subscription
Thorough and Gamified Introductory Course

There’s certainly no shortage of language-learning apps out there, but Lingodeer stands out in terms of quality. This is especially true for Asian languages like Korean, which are often neglected by other popular apps.

Lingodeer combines gamification and app-friendly, convenient practice with a well-structured course to provide something truly valuable. Lessons build on each other nicely, and it’s a great place to get a solid foundation in Korean. Interactive practice activities test how much you’ve retained from the lessons and keep things interesting.

Keep in mind when considering Lingodeer that there isn’t as much material available for advanced learners. It’s also probably not the best place to improve your conversational skills.

Pros

  • Great for engaging, convenient practice
  • Well-structured lessons

Cons

  • Not much practice for learners past the intermediate level
  • You’ll need to look elsewhere to fully develop conversational skills
Lingodeer Review
Visit Lingodeer

The Cyber University of Korea

4.3/5
Price: Free
Comprehensive Video Lessons

The Cyber University of Korea (CUK) offers an impressive amount of thorough content for free. Material is presented in the form of free video lessons that are accessible through a number of video platforms, including YouTube.

There are four levels of lessons in the CUK library. The first two levels deal largely with basic communication skills related to everyday activities, and levels three and four teach casual conversation skills. By completing level four, CUK hopes students will be able to achieve a 3.5 score on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK).

Many of the lessons include teachers, slides, animations, and dialogues, and you’ll get pronunciation practice by responding to speaking prompts. The material in the third and fourth levels of the CUK course are slightly less engaging, as they don’t include animations or images, but there’s a lot of learning to be had here for free.

Pros

  • Lots of free content
  • Video lessons are especially engaging at lower levels
  • Instruction is clear and well thought out
  • It’s especially good for beginners

Cons

  • Lessons at higher levels aren’t quite as engaging
The Cyber University of Korea Mini Review
Visit The Cyber University of Korea

FSI and DLI

4.3/5
Price: Free
Dated, But Free and Thorough Courses

The Foreign Services Institute (FSI) has developed a number of language courses, including for Korean. These courses were originally developed several decades ago and were designed to help get diplomats to a professional working proficiency in a language as quickly as possible.

Given their origin, the FSI language courses definitely err on the dry side of things and are far from the most engaging options out there. They consist of PDF scans of typewritten pages and come with accompanying audio. If you can get past the lack of color, pictures, and games, however, you’ll find yourself with an extremely thorough course. It’s worth noting that you won’t get exposure to the most modern Korean usage, but it should still provide you with a fully usable foundation.

Courses created by the Defense Language Institute (DLI) are similar in that they’re exceptionally thorough but also dated. One difference between the two is that the DLI courses have a slight emphasis on military terms at higher levels.

Pros

  • Well-structured, comprehensive courses
  • They’re free

Cons

  • Courses aren’t very engaging
  • The material is dated
FSI Mini Review
DLI Mini Review
Visit FSI Courses
Visit DLI Courses

TALK TO ME IN KOREAN

4/5
Price: Freemium, lessons from $7
Entertaining, Free Practice

Since 2009, Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK) has offered both free and paid content to Korean learners that is often engaging, fun, and entertaining. The main educational content revolves around grammar concepts presented in audio lessons, but there are also some video lessons. Additional practice involves sentence-building and learning various idiomatic expressions.

TTMIK usually does a great job of striking a balance between educational and entertaining, and the assortment of interviews and drama breakdowns are great for learners looking for learning material that’s more lighthearted. 

It’s worth noting that their content occasionally strays too far into entertainment, providing less educational value as a result. You also might not find as many opportunities to put what you’ve learned into practice with this resource. That said, it’s hard to beat the amount of material that’s available for free here.

Pros

  • There’s a ton of free content
  • Lessons are more entertaining than many alternatives

Cons

  • Some lessons focus more on entertainment than educational value
  • There aren’t many opportunities to practice what you’ve learned
Talk to Me in Korean Review
Visit Talk to Me in Korean

How to Study Korean

4/5
Price: Free, Add-Ons Start at $5
A Thorough Guide for Beginner and Intermediate Learners

With 175 in-depth Korean lessons, each accompanied by audio recordings, grammar explanations, and quizzes, How To Study Korean is a resource with enough material to keep you busy for quite some time. Its fairly academic approach may not appeal to those that prefer gamified, interactive practice, but the price tag isn’t likely to turn anyone away.

At the beginner level, lessons come with YouTube videos that provide extra sentence practice as well as dictations and reading practice. There are also additional materials available for purchase at each level. These include workbooks, vocabulary lists, short stories, and more. Each lesson includes 20 or 30 vocabulary words that have all been placed into Memrise decks, making for super-efficient practice. Another benefit of this course is that the materials at lower levels offer instruction in a number of different languages.

Pros

  • Lots of free content
  • Thorough grammar explanations
  • Vocabulary is available for practice in Memrise
  • Instruction is available in multiple languages

Cons

  • It isn’t the best option for those looking for interactive, gamified practice
  • The grammar explanations may be too in-depth for some
How to Study Korean Review
Visit How to Study Korean

Eggbun

4/5
Price: Freemium, Premium Subscriptions Start at $17.99/month
Learn Korean With a Chatbot

If you’re looking for a unique, casual way to learn Korean, Eggbun certainly fits the bill. Practice takes place in short lessons where you chat with Lanny, an enthusiastic, animated egg bun. It’s cheeky, fun, unintimidating, and contains a surprising amount of content. 

The format may be bizarre, but the content is of pretty high quality and covers multiple aspects of the language. Absolute beginners will be able to start with learning Hangul and will be typing it by the end of the first lesson. The course also includes cultural notes, dialogues, and interactive exercises like multiple-choice questions, role plays, and fill-in-the-blank activities

This app is mostly useful for beginners, but lesson topics are varied and provide a wide range of quality information. You’ll get to experience both formal and casual Korean while learning about pronunciation, verb conjugations, and more.

Pros

  • It’s got a great design and is fun to use
  • It’s a good option for those that prefer more casual study
  • There’s a variety of practice activities

Cons

  • It doesn’t have as much useful material for more advanced learners
  • Some learners may not enjoy the chat-based learning format
  • The premium subscription is more expensive than alternatives
Eggbun Mini Review
Visit Eggbun

MEMRISE

4/5
Price: Free or $8.99 a month
Free Flashcard Platform and Official Korean Courses

This incredibly popular resource helps users learn languages largely through its Spaced Repetition System (SRS) and flashcards. Part of the reason it’s so popular is that much of the material is free to use. Anyone can create their own flashcard decks on Memrise, and these user-created courses are totally free to use. 

The quality of the courses varies, but you’ll be able to find tons of different topics to study, such as Korean slang, the 1000 most common Korean words, grammar concepts, and more. While all of these courses benefit from SRS, some will have audio, pictures, words, and example sentences, while others will only have some of these.

If you’re looking for material that will reliably be of higher quality, you’ll want to check out the official Memrise courses. These include quality audio, pictures, and even some videos, but you’ll have to pay a subscription fee to get full access.

Pros

  • SRS is great for efficient practice
  • Practice is enjoyable
  • There’s a great deal of available content

Cons

  • You’ll need more than Memrise to learn to communicate effectively in Korean
  • The quality of user-created courses may vary
  • The premium version doesn’t offer much more than the free version
Memrise Review
Visit Memrise

Live Lingua

3.8/5
Price: From $24.99/hour for Private Classes
Live Lingua Logo
Personalized Live Lessons

Live Lingua is an online language school that connects learners of 11 different languages with teachers for one-on-one or group classes. It stands out from similar resources like italki or Verbling by taking more of a personalized approach: by registering with the platform, you’ll be assigned your very own class coordinator who will pair you with a teacher that best fits your needs. This teacher will develop a curriculum to help you achieve your personal language goals.

The three types of lessons currently available are standard Korean, exam prep, and group lessons. The exam prep lessons are the most expensive, and you’ll have to get in touch with Live Lingua to get the group lesson price.

While there are cheaper ways to take live lessons online, Live Lingua could be worth the price if you want a dedicated teacher that understands your goals, past experiences, and learning style. Some potential downsides are that you’ll have to use a third-party video call platform for lessons and that scheduling happens via email.

Pros

  • You should be able to find a teacher to help you with your specific goals

Cons

  • Limited flexibility in choosing a teacher compared to other options
  • Scheduling lessons via email can be inconvenient
Live Lingua Review
Visit Live Lingua

MANGO LANGUAGES

3.5/5
Price: $7.99/month for one language, $17.99/month for all languages
Phrase-based Practice for Beginners

If you aren’t afraid of a little language drilling — okay, a lot of drilling — Mango Languages could be worth checking out. It won’t be very useful to learners beyond the intermediate level, however, as there’s just not much in the way of advanced content.

The design of the Mango Languages app is appealing and makes for more enjoyable practice, and you’ll be exposed to lots of Korean phrases. Learning new words this way is helpful in getting used to the way the language works in context and how to use it yourself.

Lessons build on each other nicely and will provide you with loads of speaking practice by prompting you to repeat what you hear. This is something that could become overly repetitive for some. You also won’t get in-depth grammar practice or explanations here.

If you’re interested in Mango Languages, be sure to check whether it’s available for free in a public library near you.

Pros

  • The design is appealing and easy to use
  • There are useful cultural notes
  • Learning full phrases will help you understand common language structures

Cons

  • There isn’t much in-depth grammar practice
  • Phrase drilling can become overly repetitive
  • Learners at higher levels will have to look elsewhere
Mango Language Review
Visit Mango Language

90 DAY KOREAN

4.7/5
Price: From $30/month or $150/year
A Quality Course With Straightforward Instructions

At first glance, this may seem too good to be true. After all, no one’s going to become fluent in 90 days, right? Luckily, this course isn’t promising the impossible. Instead, it breaks the overwhelming goal of learning Korean into four 90-day modules. This more manageable timeline makes for a less intimidating study plan and can do great things for daily motivation. 

The modules in this course do an excellent job of providing in-depth coverage of grammar and vocabulary concepts. The lessons are presented one week at a time, though you can proceed to the next week’s material whenever you feel comfortable doing so.

The course benefits from straightforward explanations and challenges that push you to apply what you’ve learned in practical situations. For a higher subscription price, there’s the option to have access to coaching, which means you’ll get feedback from a Korean tutor as you progress through the course.

Pros

  • Explanations are clear and easy to understand
  • Challenges give you the opportunity to use what you’ve learned 
  • Great course structure

Cons

  • There are less expensive options
90 Day Korean Review
Visit 90 Day Korean

FSI and DLI

4.3/5
Price: Free
Dated, But Free and Thorough Courses

The Foreign Services Institute (FSI) has developed a number of language courses, including for Korean. These courses were originally developed several decades ago and were designed to help get diplomats to a professional working proficiency in a language as quickly as possible.

Given their origin, the FSI language courses definitely err on the dry side of things and are far from the most engaging options out there. They consist of PDF scans of typewritten pages and come with accompanying audio. If you can get past the lack of color, pictures, and games, however, you’ll find yourself with an extremely thorough course. It’s worth noting that you won’t get exposure to the most modern Korean usage, but it should still provide you with a fully usable foundation.

Courses created by the Defense Language Institute (DLI) are similar in that they’re exceptionally thorough but also dated. One difference between the two is that the DLI courses have a slight emphasis on military terms at higher levels.

Pros

  • Well-structured, comprehensive courses
  • They’re free

Cons

  • Courses aren’t very engaging
  • The material is dated
FSI Mini Review
DLI Mini Review
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The Cyber University of Korea

4.3/5
Price: Free
Comprehensive Video Lessons

The Cyber University of Korea (CUK) offers an impressive amount of thorough content for free. Material is presented in the form of free video lessons that are accessible through a number of video platforms, including YouTube.

There are four levels of lessons in the CUK library. The first two levels deal largely with basic communication skills related to everyday activities, and levels three and four teach casual conversation skills. By completing level four, CUK hopes students will be able to achieve a 3.5 score on the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK).

Many of the lessons include teachers, slides, animations, and dialogues, and you’ll get pronunciation practice by responding to speaking prompts. The material in the third and fourth levels of the CUK course are slightly less engaging, as they don’t include animations or images, but there’s a lot of learning to be had here for free.

Pros

  • Lots of free content
  • Video lessons are especially engaging at lower levels
  • Instruction is clear and well thought out
  • It’s especially good for beginners

Cons

  • Lessons at higher levels aren’t quite as engaging
The Cyber University of Korea Mini Review
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LINGODEER

4.3/5
Price: $11.99 a month, $29.99 a quarter, $55.99 a year, or $119.99 for a lifetime subscription
Thorough and Gamified Introductory Course

There’s certainly no shortage of language-learning apps out there, but Lingodeer stands out in terms of quality. This is especially true for Asian languages like Korean, which are often neglected by other popular apps.

Lingodeer combines gamification and app-friendly, convenient practice with a well-structured course to provide something truly valuable. Lessons build on each other nicely, and it’s a great place to get a solid foundation in Korean. Interactive practice activities test how much you’ve retained from the lessons and keep things interesting.

Keep in mind when considering Lingodeer that there isn’t as much material available for advanced learners. It’s also probably not the best place to improve your conversational skills.

Pros

  • Great for engaging, convenient practice
  • Well-structured lessons

Cons

  • Not much practice for learners past the intermediate level
  • You’ll need to look elsewhere to fully develop conversational skills
Lingodeer Review
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PIMSLEUR

4/5
Price: $14.95-$19.95 per month
Tried-And-True Audio Lessons

Pimsleur isn’t exactly a new arrival on the language-learning scene. Using a method developed by linguist Dr. Pimsleur in 1963, this course is packed full of high-quality audio lessons that are well structured and provide ample opportunity for participation.

Although the claim on the Pimsleur website that you’ll reach an intermediate speaking level within 30 days of using the course may be a stretch, the audio lessons are packed full of useful information and build on each other nicely. You’ll spend just enough time in each new lesson reviewing what you’ve already learned in order to take on new concepts with confidence.

The Pimsleur audio lessons aren’t meant for passive listening. Instead, the Pimsleur Method encourages learners to frequently speak aloud during lessons. You’ll be frequently prompted to speak and will have to do more than listen and repeat to keep up.

Visual learners may struggle with the mostly-audio content, and this may not be the best resource for learning to read and write Hangul.

Pros

  • The course is well structured
  • Audio from a variety of native speakers
  • The app and desktop platform are well designed

Cons

  • This isn’t the best resource for visual learners
  • It isn’t the best place to find reading and writing practice
Pimsleur Review
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KOREANCLASS101

4/5
Price: $8 – $47 a month
Tons of Listening Practice

It wouldn’t be easy to find another resource with as much listening material as you’ll find with KoreanClass101. There are thousands of listening lessons here, and they’re accompanied by transcripts, quizzes, extra notes, and some videos. 

While the amount of content is certainly a good thing, there is a lack of clear structure to the course. This might be nice if you’re the type of learner that likes to skip around as you please, but some might end up feeling lost and without enough guidance.

The bulk of the huge lesson library is most-suitable for learners at the beginner to pre-intermediate levels — advanced learners won’t find as much relevant practice material. This is also probably not the best resource if you’re looking for a course to really strengthen your speaking or writing skills.

Pros

  • There is a great deal of listening content for learners at the beginner and intermediate levels
  • Accompanying lesson notes are useful

Cons

  • There isn’t as much content for advanced learners
  • There isn’t a clear course structure
  • It isn’t the right place to get speaking, writing, or advanced practice

Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 25% on a subscription to KoreanClass101.

KoreanClass101 Review
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TALK TO ME IN KOREAN

4/5
Price: Freemium, lessons from $7
Entertaining, Free Practice

Since 2009, Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK) has offered both free and paid content to Korean learners that is often engaging, fun, and entertaining. The main educational content revolves around grammar concepts presented in audio lessons, but there are also some video lessons. Additional practice involves sentence-building and learning various idiomatic expressions.

TTMIK usually does a great job of striking a balance between educational and entertaining, and the assortment of interviews and drama breakdowns are great for learners looking for learning material that’s more lighthearted. 

It’s worth noting that their content occasionally strays too far into entertainment, providing less educational value as a result. You also might not find as many opportunities to put what you’ve learned into practice with this resource. That said, it’s hard to beat the amount of material that’s available for free here.

Pros

  • There’s a ton of free content
  • Lessons are more entertaining than many alternatives

Cons

  • Some lessons focus more on entertainment than educational value
  • There aren’t many opportunities to practice what you’ve learned
Talk to Me in Korean Review
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MEMRISE

4/5
Price: Free or $8.99 a month
Free Flashcard Platform and Official Korean Courses

This incredibly popular resource helps users learn languages largely through its Spaced Repetition System (SRS) and flashcards. Part of the reason it’s so popular is that much of the material is free to use. Anyone can create their own flashcard decks on Memrise, and these user-created courses are totally free to use. 

The quality of the courses varies, but you’ll be able to find tons of different topics to study, such as Korean slang, the 1000 most common Korean words, grammar concepts, and more. While all of these courses benefit from SRS, some will have audio, pictures, words, and example sentences, while others will only have some of these.

If you’re looking for material that will reliably be of higher quality, you’ll want to check out the official Memrise courses. These include quality audio, pictures, and even some videos, but you’ll have to pay a subscription fee to get full access.

Pros

  • SRS is great for efficient practice
  • Practice is enjoyable
  • There’s a great deal of available content

Cons

  • You’ll need more than Memrise to learn to communicate effectively in Korean
  • The quality of user-created courses may vary
  • The premium version doesn’t offer much more than the free version
Memrise Review
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Teuida

4/5
Price: $9.99/month, Less for Longer Subscriptions
POV-Style Conversation Practice

Teuida isn’t your standard language resource. It’s full of super engaging conversation practice where you take part in POV-style videos, responding when prompted. You’ll find yourself in a variety of situations and will be tasked with responding in real-time to your video conversation partner.

Lessons in Teuida build on each other nicely, and each culminates with a video conversation that tests what you’ve learned in the corresponding unit. This type of practice is highly interactive and is great for building speaking confidence. It could be especially useful for learners that are intimidated by the prospect of speaking to real people at their current level.

While Teuida is fun to use and provides good listening and speaking practice, it won’t teach you much grammar or how to read and write. It’s also not a very good option for learners that are beyond the beginner stage.

You can use the coupon code ‘ALR003‘ to get the 3-month subscription for $18.99.

Note that iOS users will need to enter this code as the “Referrer ID,” either when signing up or under Settings > Account > Referrer ID.

Pros

  • Video conversation practice is highly engaging
  • You’ll get practice with realistic, practical language
  • It provides lots of speaking practice

Cons

  • There isn’t material for intermediate and advanced learners
  • You won’t get in-depth grammar practice or learn to read and write
  • Review opportunities are limited
Teudia Review
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How to Study Korean

4/5
Price: Free, Add-Ons Start at $5
A Thorough Guide for Beginner and Intermediate Learners

With 175 in-depth Korean lessons, each accompanied by audio recordings, grammar explanations, and quizzes, How To Study Korean is a resource with enough material to keep you busy for quite some time. Its fairly academic approach may not appeal to those that prefer gamified, interactive practice, but the price tag isn’t likely to turn anyone away.

At the beginner level, lessons come with YouTube videos that provide extra sentence practice as well as dictations and reading practice. There are also additional materials available for purchase at each level. These include workbooks, vocabulary lists, short stories, and more. Each lesson includes 20 or 30 vocabulary words that have all been placed into Memrise decks, making for super-efficient practice. Another benefit of this course is that the materials at lower levels offer instruction in a number of different languages.

Pros

  • Lots of free content
  • Thorough grammar explanations
  • Vocabulary is available for practice in Memrise
  • Instruction is available in multiple languages

Cons

  • It isn’t the best option for those looking for interactive, gamified practice
  • The grammar explanations may be too in-depth for some
How to Study Korean Review
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Eggbun

4/5
Price: Freemium, Premium Subscriptions Start at $17.99/month
Learn Korean With a Chatbot

If you’re looking for a unique, casual way to learn Korean, Eggbun certainly fits the bill. Practice takes place in short lessons where you chat with Lanny, an enthusiastic, animated egg bun. It’s cheeky, fun, unintimidating, and contains a surprising amount of content. 

The format may be bizarre, but the content is of pretty high quality and covers multiple aspects of the language. Absolute beginners will be able to start with learning Hangul and will be typing it by the end of the first lesson. The course also includes cultural notes, dialogues, and interactive exercises like multiple-choice questions, role plays, and fill-in-the-blank activities

This app is mostly useful for beginners, but lesson topics are varied and provide a wide range of quality information. You’ll get to experience both formal and casual Korean while learning about pronunciation, verb conjugations, and more.

Pros

  • It’s got a great design and is fun to use
  • It’s a good option for those that prefer more casual study
  • There’s a variety of practice activities

Cons

  • It doesn’t have as much useful material for more advanced learners
  • Some learners may not enjoy the chat-based learning format
  • The premium subscription is more expensive than alternatives
Eggbun Mini Review
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Live Lingua

3.8/5
Price: From $24.99/hour for Private Classes
Live Lingua Logo
Personalized Live Lessons

Live Lingua is an online language school that connects learners of 11 different languages with teachers for one-on-one or group classes. It stands out from similar resources like italki or Verbling by taking more of a personalized approach: by registering with the platform, you’ll be assigned your very own class coordinator who will pair you with a teacher that best fits your needs. This teacher will develop a curriculum to help you achieve your personal language goals.

The three types of lessons currently available are standard Korean, exam prep, and group lessons. The exam prep lessons are the most expensive, and you’ll have to get in touch with Live Lingua to get the group lesson price.

While there are cheaper ways to take live lessons online, Live Lingua could be worth the price if you want a dedicated teacher that understands your goals, past experiences, and learning style. Some potential downsides are that you’ll have to use a third-party video call platform for lessons and that scheduling happens via email.

Pros

  • You should be able to find a teacher to help you with your specific goals

Cons

  • Limited flexibility in choosing a teacher compared to other options
  • Scheduling lessons via email can be inconvenient
Live Lingua Review
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MANGO LANGUAGES

3.5/5
Price: $7.99/month for one language, $17.99/month for all languages
Phrase-based Practice for Beginners

If you aren’t afraid of a little language drilling — okay, a lot of drilling — Mango Languages could be worth checking out. It won’t be very useful to learners beyond the intermediate level, however, as there’s just not much in the way of advanced content.

The design of the Mango Languages app is appealing and makes for more enjoyable practice, and you’ll be exposed to lots of Korean phrases. Learning new words this way is helpful in getting used to the way the language works in context and how to use it yourself.

Lessons build on each other nicely and will provide you with loads of speaking practice by prompting you to repeat what you hear. This is something that could become overly repetitive for some. You also won’t get in-depth grammar practice or explanations here.

If you’re interested in Mango Languages, be sure to check whether it’s available for free in a public library near you.

Pros

  • The design is appealing and easy to use
  • There are useful cultural notes
  • Learning full phrases will help you understand common language structures

Cons

  • There isn’t much in-depth grammar practice
  • Phrase drilling can become overly repetitive
  • Learners at higher levels will have to look elsewhere
Mango Languages Review
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By Nick Hebrew

8 Best Podcasts For Learning Hebrew In 2022


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By Nick Greek

8 Best Podcasts For Learning Greek In 2022

On the lookout for Greek language learning tools? If so, have you considered podcasts?

Podcasts can be a great resource for learning languages, as they allow you to discover beginner, intermediate and advanced language concepts all at your own pace, wherever, whenever.

Many, if not most, are free to enjoy and there are literally hundreds of podcast episodes out there, all with the aim of teaching you to read, write, speak and understand the Greek language.
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By Nick Dutch

Seven Best Podcasts For Learning Dutch In 2022

Want to learn Dutch? There are many reasons you might want to do so. Maybe you’re taking a trip to the Netherlands this year. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn a foreign language and Dutch seems like a great fit for you. Maybe you have Dutch heritage, or you’re studying abroad in Europe this semester.

Whatever the case might be, learning Dutch can be a lot easier when you start listening to Dutch podcasts, whether those are podcasts that are created with the sole purpose of teaching you Dutch or podcasts that are simply in the Dutch language.

Podcasts are a readily available, affordable language learning tool that are easy to incorporate into your daily schedule. Plus, many language learning podcasts also offer additional resources to help with your language learning goals, such as flashcards or worksheets.

While they may not be as comprehensive as a Dutch course, they’re still a great addition to any study routine.

Interested in giving podcasts a try as you learn Dutch? Here are seven to consider.

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