Author name: Hunter

First, and most importantly, ALR is different because we have an incredible team of language learners working on this together. You can learn more about our team here. 

Backstory

All Language Resources was started out of frustration. 

I had moved to Beijing and was looking for language learning resources to study Mandarin. But, nearly every website I came across was recommending the same handful of resources. 

Many of the ‘reviews’ read more like sales pages. And, in fact, many language resource reviews still are nothing more than thinly-veiled sales pages. 

Besides the frustration of not being able to find honest information, some of the best resources, which weren’t available in lots of different languages, were being completely ignored. 

So, All Language Resources was born out of a desire to make it easier to figure out which language learning resources are available and worth using.

The inherent bias of reviewing language learning resources

Pretty much every website that writes reviews of language learning products earns money from affiliate commissions. 

This basically means that if a reader clicks on one of the links and goes on to buy the product, the person whose link you clicked will earn a fee or percentage of the sale. 

This creates a very clear and direct incentive to push users to buy certain products that the site owner can earn a commission from. 

It causes a massive conflict of interest where the person reviewing a product is also the person getting paid if people buy that product. It’s the reason why reviews are often so hard to trust. 

All Language Resources also earns money from affiliate commissions, but we’re proactive about not allowing that to impact our reviews. 

How we address the issue of bias

There are two main types of bias that we’re working hard to prevent on ALR. 

The first type of bias is the most obvious and harmful. It’s the monetary incentive to recommend certain products even if they aren’t the best option. 

We prevent this by not allowing our reviews to be influenced by our potential to earn money from a company. Whoever is testing and writing about a resource has the complete freedom to write what they want and has the final say in any review. Writers are also not told which companies have an affiliate program, nor are they pressured or incentivized to write anything that they don’t believe. Writers are paid the same whether they love a resource or hate it.

The second type of bias is much more innocent but still needs to be addressed – personal bias. 

Everyone has different learning styles, preferences, etc. when it comes to language learning resources. It’s not uncommon for one person’s favorite language-learning resource to be a poor fit for the next person. 

There are far too many resources out there for one person to try them all, so there’s a natural risk of ratings fluctuating wildly depending on the person writing the review. To combat this, we’ve created Review Guidelines for rating resources that all reviews follow. 

Additionally, we’ve had team members try out several of the same resources and rate them. This has helped keep our reviews consistent regardless of who’s testing the resource. We’ll also often have more than one person look at a resource to get a second opinion on our ratings. 

We recognize that we can only provide value to readers if we’re honest and proactive about keeping our content free of bias. 

We’ve Tested More Language Learning Resources Than Anyone

We’ve taken a deep dive into testing and writing full reviews of over 100 language learning resources. Additionally, we’ve more briefly tried out and written about hundreds more. These numbers are constantly growing and we work hard to keep our content current and updated.

The point of this is to demonstrate that we know what we’re talking about. You’ll often find people recommend a certain resource, but if they’ve only tested out a handful of other options, how can they be so confident in their recommendation?

Because we’ve tested so many language learning resources, we often find gems that are largely unknown to most people. These gems can be far better than the more well-known resources that have huge marketing budgets. However,  not many people are aware of them yet. We do our best to help people find the best resources, even if not many others are talking about them yet.

At All Language Resources, we love hearing about new and exciting resources in the language learning space. 

However, this also means that we receive lots of requests from companies to review their products. 

Our reviews take many, many hours between testing the resource and publishing the review. As such, we don’t have enough time or money to create a full review of every interesting resource we come across. 

So, we have developed a MINIREVIEW format that can get you started with us — get your basic info published and in front of our Readers.

From there, we may enhance the relationship to write a full REVIEW and / or become an Affiliate helping to feature your Brand’s language learning products.

Submit your resource using the other menu entry under “About”, or menu at the bottom of the page.

Important: Having an Affiliate Relationship does NOT get you any special treatment in the review process. Our reviewers are independent and free to give their opinion; they may even hate your product. 

Review Process – First and foremost, it’s important to understand that any reviews on our site are based on our own experiences trying the product and are our own opinions. 

This means that our reviews will not be influenced by outside factors (such as a company paying us). It also means that you might disagree with some of our reviews and ratings. 

How we rate resources

Resources are rated on the combined score of 3 criteria: Quality, Thoroughness, and Value. Each of the 3 criteria is scored from 0-5. The average of these scores is the overall rating of the resource. 

Quality

• The resource is designed well and is intuitive to use
• The content seems to be thoughtfully created and designed to promote learning
• It’s enjoyable to use

Thoroughness

• The resource teaches the material it sets out to teach
• The content structure and organization makes sense
• There aren’t any glaring gaps of content within the scope of the resource

Value

• The resource offers a lot for the cost
• It’s a productive way to spend studying time
• It compares favorably to other resources teaching the same language(s)

Language learning is highly personal. One person’s favorite resource might only be so-so for another person. While there’s a certain amount of personal subjectivity in any review, we do our best to ensure that ratings remain as consistent as possible regardless of who is testing the resource. 

We’ve done this by having ALR team members try out the same resources, give their ratings and reasons,  and compare with others. Writers also edit each other’s reviews which helps keep everyone on the same page with regards to scoring and what resources are available. 

It’s also worth noting that even if a resource receives a lower score, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth considering. As an example, Glossika is a favorite resource of one ALR team member. But, despite this, he only rated it as a 3 out of 5 stars. It’s the most effective resource for him, but the resource itself has a lot of room for improvement. 

On the flip side of this, just because a resource has a high rating, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to love it. 

Everyone is unique, learns differently, and are at different points in their language learning journey. We do our best to objectively look at the various language learning resources available and make it easier for readers to figure out what might work well for their own unique situation. 

Most importantly, whether or not you agree with everything we say, you can be sure that it’s our own opinion.

The All Language Resources team is comprised of language lovers from all around the world with different experiences and different reasons to love learning languages. Take a minute to learn about each one of us.

The founder of All Language Resources, Nick.

Although I started All Language Resources, the other members of our team are far more accomplished with languages than myself. Previously, I spent a few years living and traveling around Latin America, and eventually reached a fairly high level in Spanish despite doing most things wrong (i.e., assuming living abroad was the only thing necessary to become fluent).

I’m currently living in Beijing and sometimes feel guilty about not studying Chinese as much as I should. I really enjoy trying to constantly improve ALR so that it can be an invaluable tool for language learners. When I’m not working on the site, I’m often starting and abandoning side projects, playing games with my wife (It’s Mario Time!), reading outside if the weather is nice, or generally living what would look like a pretty boring life to most people.

Language Learning Tip: There’s no one-size-fits-all or ‘correct’ way to learn a language. It’s important to explore, have fun, and figure out what works for you.

Brian says — Foreign languages have been a constant presence in my adult life. A degree in Spanish Language and Literature, an introduction to cubicle life as a project manager in a translation agency, several years teaching English as a foreign language, and the ever-growing list of countries I’ve lived in have kept languages and language acquisition steadily on my mind.

The foreign language I’m most proficient in, by far, is Spanish. I’ve also got a foundation in Italian, and have picked up survival-skill proficiency in Vietnamese and Albanian. I’m currently most interested in learning more Japanese, French, and German.

When I’m not obsessing over languages, I spend most of my time playing music — I have a habit of collecting instruments and fear it will never stop — as well as reading and seeking time in nature.

Language Learning Tip: Find a way to personalize your relationship with your target language! A pen pal, TV show, podcast, blog, news source, or YouTube channel that you’re genuinely interested in is a great way to get meaningful input.

Tanya says — After five tiresome years of secondary-school French, I was convinced that languages were not my thing. No way. They were boring, challenging, and it wasn’t like I ever used French anyway. A couple of Old English modules at university, while interesting, did little to persuade me otherwise.

But then I moved to Japan and threw myself into the world of kanji and conjugations. And in doing so, I discovered just how fascinating languages could be.

Fast-forward to today and I speak Spanish, study Basque, and as a digital nomad, am constantly trying to pick up the essentials of the language spoken wherever I happen to be that month. I make terrible Spanglish and Euskellano puns; geek out about the relationships between history, culture, and language; and wish I had enough time to pick up Japanese again and study Portuguese.

When not sightseeing or scribbling short stories in my target language, I spend my time dancing, writing about dancing, and hiking.

Language Learning Tip: Languages are hard, so have patience with yourself, don’t dwell on mistakes, and take pride in your achievements.

Tara says — In Grade 4, I was expected to learn two new languages: French and Japanese. I processed nothing for the first month — my brain totally rejected the possibility of speaking something other than English. Then, my friend taught me how to say the date in Japanese, and something clicked. I realized that languages are a fun puzzle, you just have to put the pieces in the right places. That same day, to my teacher’s great surprise, I answered a question in Japanese correctly for the first time.

Since then, I have made several moves with the primary purpose of gaining fluency in different languages. I am now fluent in French, I can confidently converse in Mandarin, and I can communicate almost entirely in Spanish. At the same time, I am fascinated with the process of language learning and analyzing which techniques are the most efficient.

Language Learning Tip: Make sure to pair language learning activities with everyday habits — a podcast while doing the dishes, flashcards while eating breakfast, or maybe a book for winding down before bed.

Michelle says — Writing and learning languages have been part of my life since I was very young. During my school years, I studied French, Spanish, Irish, Italian, Latin, German, and Mandarin Chinese. I spent nights and weekends writing stories.

A few years after I earned my degree in foreign language studies, my life took a long detour into an IT career. Eventually, I found my way back to writing — this time, writing online content, primarily about education and language learning.

Most of my dream job here at ALR is writing “one-stop guides” for learning languages like Armenian, Bengali, and Croatian. I also help out with designing templates for ALR’s social media images.

In my free time, I enjoy music, reading, cat herding, and learning languages. Currently, I’m working on Esperanto, German, French, Romanian, and Welsh, with occasional forays into Irish and a few other languages.

Language learning Tip: Don’t be afraid to be silly when it comes to language learning. Find goofy, memorable ways to learn vocab and other essentials. Languages are a delight — enjoy playing with them!

Ferolino says — I am not an enthusiast of language learning, I remember how hard learning Spanish in college because it was part of the curriculum I was enrolled in but because I was hooked on watching Korean dramas I am now actively learning Korean (because I have a very short attention span, watching and reading subtitles is pretty hard for me). I am still a beginner in speaking Korean and way far from turning off those subtitles but I can now read and write Hangul! A huge part of this is because of ALR, I edit every review so I get to read and compare language learning apps first hand!

When I am not watching Korean dramas, I’m usually in the kitchen cooking. I love cooking because let’s face it, eating is one of the best pleasures in life.

Language Learning Tip: Watch tons of movies and TV shows in the language you are learning!!

Hunter says — My language learning journey really started when I was in college when I pursued a degree in French. This experience has led me to live extensively in both Canada and France as well as study additional languages such as Spanish and German.

My main language goal is to perfect my skills in one language before diving too deep into another, no matter how long that takes.

When I’m not working with All Language Resources I enjoy creating websites, SEO and writing for my site Frenchplanations.com.

Language Learning Tip: Language learning is as much of a physical process as it is a mental one. Practice speaking as much as possible to build up muscles that you didn’t have previously.