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Author name: Alex

Alex is a freelance writer from Brussels. He is fluent in several languages and enjoys traveling frequently. He's fluent in a few languages and has an intermediate level in several more.

Lingoda Review – Positive Experience But Room For Improvement

Lingoda

Rating 4.0
★★★★★

Summary

Lingoda is an online language learning platform where you can take private or group classes at any time of the day. They offer lessons in Spanish, German, French, and English. There are a large number of lessons available for everyone from absolute beginners to more advanced levels. It’s a good option to get the structure of a course with the guidance of a teacher, at an affordable price.

Quality 4.0
★★★★★

Both the platform and the content itself are easy to use and presented well.

Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★

Although there are hundreds of lessons, they could use a bit more variety and you’ll need to study them with a teacher to get much benefit.

Value 4.0
★★★★★

It’s an affordable option that gives you access to good teachers and a comprehensive course.

I Like
  • The flexible hours mean that you can pretty much take a class whenever suits you – whether that’s 3am or 3pm!
  • Right from the start, the teachers speak almost entirely in the language that you’re learning.
  • There are hundreds of different classes covering different subjects for all levels.
I Don’t Like
  • The quality of your class and how much content you cover relies to a large extent on the other students. This also impacts how much time you actually get to speak.
  • The lesson materials all look quite similar and there is not much variation between lessons.
Price

There are lots of different plans available whether it matters how many classes you want to take or if you want to do individual or group.

For group classes, it is $399.99 a month, which gives you access to 40 class subscriptions.

For private classes, the plan is $799.99 a month for 40 classes.

There are a lot of smaller plans than these so take a look as to what is interesting to you.

There are also “marathon” plans for three, six, or twelve months that offer lower per-class rates and a chance to earn cashback if you attend 90% of your classes.

VISIT LINGODA

It’s an affordable option that gives you access to good teachers and a comprehensive course.Lingoda is an online language learning school where classes take place 24/7 and native speakers teach you either English, French, German or Spanish (depending on what you sign up for). The lessons progress in difficulty following a course and the teachers help you out along the way in both private and group lessons where you’ll be with up to four other people.

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Lingoda Review – Positive Experience But Room For Improvement Read More »

An Honest Review of Rocket Arabic With Image of Arabian Architecture

Rocket Arabic Review – Not Worth The High Price

Rocket Arabic

Rating 2.5
★★
★
★★★

Summary

Rocket Arabic has over 120 hours of audio and reading lessons that are aimed at helping beginners learn Egyptian Arabic. While the lessons offer up numerous opportunities for users to improve their reading, writing, speaking and comprehension skills, I think the content is severely lacking and is not very well thought out. Unsuitable for intermediate and advanced learners, beginners will definitely learn some Arabic, although I think they would have to use the resource alongside a couple of others to really make any headway.

Quality 3.0
★★★★★

While the platform looks great and is easy to use, the actual content of the lessons isn’t very good.

Thoroughness 2.5
★★
★
★★★

The lessons could cover a lot more grammar and use more Arabic, although the cultural explanations are quite good.

Value 2.0
★★★★★

The content doesn’t warrant the price as you’d have to use other language learning resources alongside it.

I Like
  • Lots of practice opportunities, though they rely too heavily on memorization.
  • It’s a pretty well-designed and easy-to-use product.
I Don’t Like
  • The audio lessons are uninspiring to listen to, don’t cover all that much content and are mainly in English.
  • The extra features are all very similar, quite repetitive and are unlikely to get you speaking and writing Arabic to a very high level.
  • It’s too expensive for what’s included.
Price

It’s a one-time purchase that costs $149.95. You can also use their six-month payment plan which costs $27/mo. There do seem to be regular sales which lower the price to under $100.

Visit Rocket Arabic

Having previously tried out Rocket Portuguese and come away feeling disappointed, I was very eager to see whether Rocket Arabic was any better. Unfortunately, I found many of the same issues facing the Arabic version and consequently can’t recommend Rocket Arabic to the beginners it is aimed at.

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Rocket Arabic Review – Not Worth The High PriceRead More »

Rocket Arabic Review – Not Worth The High Price Read More »

An Honest Review of PortuguesePod101 With Image of Portuguese City

PortuguesePod101 Review – Great for Beginner and Intermediate Students

PortuguesePod101

Rating 4.0
★★★★★

Summary

PortuguesePod101 is a great option for anyone looking to learn Portuguese. The platform offers its users a wide range of lessons (in podcast format) that delve into Portuguese grammar and explore the rich culture of Brazil. While the Beginner lessons are mostly in English and focus on grammar and vocabulary, the Advanced options are entirely in Portuguese. A downside is that there is no speaking involved unless you pay for the Premium Plus plan.

Quality 3.5
★★★
★
★★

It’s confusing to navigate on all the interfaces (PC, mobile and app), but the high production value makes up for it.

Thoroughness 4.5
★★★★
★
★

A huge range of lessons explore a plethora of subjects as the presenters explain the vocabulary and grammar.

Value 4.0
★★★★★

Great value for vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening and learning about the culture. Not so good for speaking and writing.

I Like
  • The in-depth exploration of grammar points is very useful.
  • You learn a lot about Brazilian culture in a short period of time.
  • They look at a huge range of topics and real-life situations that will come up.
  • Good progression from the Beginner modules to the Advanced lessons.
I Don’t Like
  • I found it quite hard to use the platform. It often took me a few tries to find what I wanted.
  • There is no way to practice speaking unless you pay for the Premium Plus plan.
Price

The free version allows access to most features but is limited in some ways. Paid subscriptions vary by length and type; the monthly plan is $4 for Basic, $10 for Premium, and $23 for Premium Plus. Monthly prices drop for longer subscription plans.

Use the coupon code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to get 25% off your subscription.

Try a free 7-day trial to PortuguesePod101

Another great feature is that below each audio lesson, you will find a list of the vocabulary used. If you are struggling to remember some of the words or find some of them particularly useful, you can simply add them to one of your ‘word banks’ where you can then memorize them later on.

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PortuguesePod101 Review – Great for Beginner and Intermediate StudentsRead More »

PortuguesePod101 Review – Great for Beginner and Intermediate Students Read More »

An Honest Review of Clozemaster With Image of Boy on Computer

Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow Vocab

Clozemaster

Rating 4.2
★★★★
★
★

Summary

Ideal for people who are already at an upper beginner/intermediate level, Clozemaster will help you build your vocabulary and learn new words and sentences in context. While you won’t learn much grammar or improve your speaking and writing much, it is great at what it does and the videogame aspect makes it fun and addictive to work though. Although the exercises are all pretty much identical, there are various ways in which you can increase the difficulty and Clozemaster’s free account is almost as good as the Pro User one.

Quality 4.0
★★★★★

Very easy to use with thousands upon thousands of sentences for you to work through, Clozemaster’s main exercises are well-designed though some features are a bit hit and miss.

Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★

Although you aren’t given any explanations, Clozemaster’s huge database of sentences allows you to learn words in context.

Value 4.5
★★★★
★
★

The free version offers a ton of value, but for those who use Clozemaster regularly, it may be worth upgrading to a Pro account.

I Like
  • There is an insane number of words and sentences for you to learn, and you’re exposed to them within the context of a sentence.
  • Just using the free account you are sure to learn a lot with only some extra (and undoubtedly useful) features being included in the Pro plan. This makes learning accessible to everyone.
  • Lots of languages available to learn, and you can do so from a wide range of languages, making it very useful for non-native English speakers or those who want to study two languages at once.
I Don’t Like
  • A couple of features such as the Cloze-reading and the speaking exercises seemed like they could have benefited from a bit more thought and effort put into them.
  • There is no real progression and you are basically given an endless array of different words and sentences to work through and the various exercises are all pretty much identical.
  • Sentences are sourced from
Price

The free version is very useful, but you can upgrade to a pro account for $8/month or $60/year.

visit clozemaster

Having never heard of Clozemaster before and having no idea what it was all about, I was immediately taken by its videogame-looking aesthetics and fun fill-in-the-missing-words exercises.

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Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow Vocab Read More »

An Honest Review of Language101.com With Image of Woman on Computer

Language101.com Course Review – The Worst I’ve Ever Tried!

Language101.com Course

Rating 0.6
★
★★★★★

Summary

Language101 (not to be confused with LanguagePod101) is the worst course I’ve ever tried. The platform has ten different languages for you to choose from and focuses on teaching speaking and comprehension. Consequently, you likely won’t learn how to spell, write or translate the language, or even learn any of the grammar. I found the courses to be poorly designed — each ‘lesson’ is identical in form, and the fast-paced learning method seems inefficient; it is doubtful whether even beginners will learn much. To make matters worse, the price is obscenely expensive.

Quality 1.0
★★★★★

Easy enough to use, but I thought the content was severely lacking.

Thoroughness 1.0
★★★★★

There are virtually no explanations at all. You just learn to parrot and memorize words and phrases.

Value 0.0
★★★★★

Terrible value in my opinion. It honestly feels like a scam. Not worth using even if it were free.

I Like
  • They provide you with a literal translation of the phrase you are asked to produce.
  • Despite coming away thinking this is a terrible product (and it is), I liked being asked to produce words and phrases.
I Don’t Like
  • I don’t agree with their ‘teaching’ method which basically asks you to produce words and phrases in a language you have never learned before as quickly as possible.
  • The ‘courses’ are a muddled mess, I didn’t see any logical progression, and there is only one exercise for you to do ad infinitum until you lose your mind.
  • It is insanely expensive. My god. It is insulting how much money they are charging for a product this terrible.
Price

Language101 has lots of different subscription plans for you to choose from. A one-time payment for access to all of its languages costs $727 or $97/month if you opt for the monthly installments option (that would end up working out at $1,164 if you chose the latter!!).

For ‘1 Package’ of the language of your choice it is then $227 for lifetime access or $527 if you want all 3 packages in a given language.

VISIT LANGUAGE101

Alternatives: Literally anything else on the Internet (or in a bookstore) would be better!

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Language101.com Course Review – The Worst I’ve Ever Tried! Read More »

An Honest Review of Spanish With Paul Course With Image of Spanish Architecture

Spanish With Paul Course Review – Solid Content But Not Very Exciting

Spanish With Paul Course

Rating 3.8
★★★
★
★★

Summary

Spanish with Paul is a video course that has over eighty hours of content to work through. The in-depth explanations will certainly give you a great foundation and understanding of Spanish grammar, vocabulary and sentence structures. While the course is not that fun and you don’t get any speaking practice, I’d say it is definitely an effective way of learning the language if you are a serious and dedicated learner who doesn’t get bored easily.

Quality 3.5
★★★
★
★★

The videos look a bit basic and aren’t all that fun to watch but the audio is perfect and the concepts are clearly explained.

Thoroughness 4.5
★★★★
★
★

Very in-depth explanations on everything from grammar and vocabulary to sentence structure and pronunciation.

Value 3.5
★★★
★
★★

Not the cheapest or most exciting option but there’s a lot of good content.

I Like
  • Paul gets you to think and engage with how Spanish is spoken so you understand how to use the language.
  • He goes into great depth on all of the grammar points that come up as well as the texts or stories which he asks you to translate.
  • The course gradually progresses in difficulty and towards the end gets pretty advanced.
I Don’t Like
  • It isn’t all that fun to work through and every single video is almost identical to the one before it.
  • You are not asked to produce much Spanish other than by saying words or phrases out loud to yourself.
  • There are no native speakers featured in the course and lots of English is used throughout – even at the highest levels.
Price

For one year access, the ‘Course Only’ is $99.95 and ‘Course + Weekly Updates’ costs $199.95.

Visit Spanish with Paul

We’ve had a few readers ask about our opinion of the Spanish with Paul course. So, naturally, and several months later, I’ve finally gotten the chance to try out his course.

…

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Spanish With Paul Course Review – Solid Content But Not Very Exciting Read More »

An Honest Review of Drops App With Image of Woman on Phone

Drops App Review – Decent As A Supplementary Resource

Drops App

Rating 3.9
★★★
★
★★

Summary

Drops is a phone app for iPhone and Android that covers 33 languages. Daily games test the user on thousands of vocabulary words, and many of these words are ideal for everyday use. Drops has an entertaining, user-friendly interface, but it also lacks grammar lessons, and it works better for some languages than others. For anyone looking to supplement their vocab lessons, this app is worth considering; however, the free version might be more worthwhile than the paid version.

Quality 4.0
★★★★★

Though cute and easy to use, some visuals are hard to distinguish.

Thoroughness 3.0
★★★★★

Drops will teach you thousands of words and phrases, from transport and hobbies to astronomy and spices. Some languages, such as Japanese, have extra modules for culturally specific vocabulary.

Value 3.0
★★★★★

The free app is a great supplementary tool to help round out your vocabulary, but the paid app doesn’t offer many useful extras.

I Like
  • The daily reminders keep me accountable.
  • If you already know a word, you have the option of swiping up and removing it from your lessons.
  • Though the app works better for some languages, the sheer amount of languages is a plus.
I Don’t Like
  • It can be difficult to tell certain images apart, which means you’ll likely identify them incorrectly during your review.
  • Some of the categories seem to include random, unrelated words.
  • In languages where a noun’s grammatical gender or case isn’t obvious from the article, you won’t learn that information.
  • Drops only teaches you vocabulary, not grammar.
Price

A monthly subscription costs $9.99, a yearly subscription is $69.99, and a lifetime subscription is $159.99. You can use the app up to five minutes every ten hours for free.

Visit Drops

I’d previously heard about Drops on Reddit, where it achieved rave reviews and some pointed criticism.

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An Honest Review of Red Kalinka's Russian Course With Image of Russian Architecture

Review Of Red Kalinka’s Russian Course – Exceptionally Comprehensive

Red Kalinka

Rating 4.7
★★★★
★
★

Summary

The ‘Largest Russian School in the World’, Red Kalinka has lots of different products that will get you learning Russian. Its main course – Sistema Kalinka – is very well thought out and will certainly improve the reading, writing and comprehension skills of beginners and intermediate learners. While it may not be the most entertaining thing in the world, the videos and exercises are exceptionally thorough. Your Russian will almost undoubtedly improve if you stick to this course.

Quality 4.5
★★★★
★
★

The Sistema Kalinka videos and exercises might not be that innovative or entertaining, but you’ll learn a ton.

Thoroughness 5.0
★★★★★

Sistema Kalinka goes into a lot of depth when it comes to vocabulary, grammar, and cultural explanations – possibly too in-depth!

Value 4.5
★★★★
★
★

It’s not the cheapest course you’ll find, but it’s worth the cost.

I Like
  • Right from the start, you are encouraged to read, write and listen to Russian.
  • The lessons all build upon each other, and I imagine it would be very motivating to progress to lessons that are conducted almost solely in Russian.
  • Reading and writing aren’t neglected as they are with some other Russian language platforms.
  • It’s easily the most comprehensive online Russian course I’ve tried.
I Don’t Like
  • As all of the lessons follow the same format and go into such great depth, it can get a bit monotonous and boring.
  • The exercises aren’t very exciting to work through and could all likely be found in any run-of-the-mill textbook.
Price

The Sistema Kalinka Russian Course costs 29 euros a month. Through the link below, however, you can save 20% on the subscription cost each month, making it only 23 euros per month.

They also have a bunch of different products such as audiobooks, one-to-one lessons and online exercises for you to sign up for.

Visit Red Kalinka

At All Language Resources, we’ve tried tons of different resources for learning Russian. As we’ve often found, the best course for learning any language is rarely the most well-known.

…

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Review Of Red Kalinka’s Russian Course – Exceptionally Comprehensive Read More »

An Honest Review of Rocket Russian With Image of Russian Architecture

Rocket Russian Review – Uninspiring And Overpriced

Rocket Russian

Rating 2.8
★★
★
★★★

Summary

Rocket Russian provides a course that supposedly, “Takes you from beginner to intermediate.” While its audio, reading and writing lessons do get you practicing different skills, the content is actually quite boring and repetitive to work through in my opinion. The course is probably best for beginners and those that like a mix of audio/visual content, but more advanced learners, those on a budget, or anyone interested in engaging content should probably look elsewhere.

Quality 3.0
★★★★★

It’s got a sleek design and is easy to navigate, but content doesn’t feel well thought out.

Thoroughness 3.5
★★★
★
★★

While you do learn some vocabulary and grammar, you don’t really learn how to piece the language together.

Value 2.0
★★★★★

There are much cheaper alternatives out there with better content.

I Like
  • Rocket Russian is very nicely designed and easy to use so you’ll never have trouble knowing what you’re meant to do next.
  • I enjoyed the Travelogue series as they used a lot more Russian and show what it would be like traveling through various parts of Russia.
  • In the Language and Culture Lessons, you get to learn about everything from the 2018 World Cup in Russia to Russian loan words.
I Don’t Like
  • Rocket Russian is not very entertaining, and the various exercises become quite monotonous.
  • You’ll mostly learn words and phrases in isolation.
  • The vast majority of the content you work through is in English.
Price

Level 1 costs $149.95, Levels 1 and 2 cost $299.90, all three levels together costs $449.

Visit Rocket Russian

Having previously tried out both Rocket Portuguese and Rocket Arabic and come away pretty disappointed both times, I didn’t have very high hopes for Rocket Russian before trying it out.

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Rocket Russian Review – Uninspiring And Overpriced Read More »