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Author name: Tara

Tara is a passionate Taiwanese-Canadian language learner and aspiring polyglot. She speaks French, Mandarin, and Spanish to varying degrees of fluency, and has a basic foundation of Japanese. She is particularly fascinated with researching the most effective language-learning techniques and applying them to her own studies.

Write Me Mini-Review: Learn Basic Scripts

Write Me

Rating 3.2
Price:

One language costs $9.99, Access to all languages costs $67.99

Summary

Write Me seems to be a decent app to learn different scripts, especially for lesser studied languages like Bulgarian and Khmer. Each character in a given script is accompanied by a sample word that contains those characters. You will watch an animation of the proper stroke order before having the opportunity to write by yourself. Later you will be quizzed in various formats to help you retain what you have learned. Write Me seems to support the act of writing and recognizing individual characters — however, similar to Write It! and Scripts by Drops, it doesn’t seem to give much background about each script. You won’t learn that Korean Hangul consists of morphosyllabic blocks, or that its consonants are pronounced differently at the beginning of a word than in the middle. You also won’t learn that Khmer stacks consonant clusters, or that you are writing Hebrew cursive script but receiving a print script prompt (which gets confusing without a little research). You can test out Write it! (free), Write Me (paid lifetime access), and Scripts by Drops (monthly or lifetime access) to see which app best suits the language you are learning. For more comprehensive apps, check out Eggbun for Korean or Skritter for Chinese and Japanese.

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Write Alphabet Mini-Review: Try Our Other Recommendations Instead

Write Alphabet

Rating 1.5
Price:

Free

Summary

Write Alphabet seems to be a less developed version of Write It! Its purpose is to help users learn to write in different languages, guiding you through the alphabet of several scripts and allowing you to practice by drawing the characters with your finger. Like Write It!, Write Alphabet is free, but it has a lot of advertisements without an option to buy them off. Additionally, the app does not recognize your attempt to replicate each language’s script unless you start and finish within the lines of the template. Instead of this app, you can test Write it! (free), Write Me (paid lifetime access), and Scripts by Drops (monthly or lifetime access) to see which one best suits the language you are learning. For more comprehensive apps, check out Eggbun for Korean or Skritter for Chinese and Japanese.

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Optilingo Mini-Review: Use if You Absolutely Love Slideshows

optilingo

Rating 1.5
Price:

$11.99/mo, $23.97/quarter, $41.94/half-year, $71.88/year

Summary

Optilingo is essentially a phrase-bank in slideshow form. Each of the 20 languages available includes 100 lessons, none of which contain information about the topic or learning goals during the writing of this review. You can expect to listen to a series of phrases, and then review (what seems like) the last 45 phrases you have learned before moving onto the next lesson. The phrases are not in flashcard form — instead, they are in a slideshow with both the English and the target language displayed together. Optilingo advertises learning and practicing with over 29 hours worth of phrases, and while you can surely practice with their phrase-bank, actually learning to speak any of the languages offered using their platform is questionable. If you are keen on language learning, check out our bank of reviews for other resources.

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Korean GG Mini-Review: Great Reference App With Some Bugs

Korean GG is an app that helps you learn Korean pronunciation and Hangul. While it’s not a complete resource for learning Korean, it does offer some interesting features.

Korean GG

Rating 3.3
Price:

$3.99

Summary

Korean GG has a lot of potential, but because of some bugs in its programming, you may want to make sure they have updated the app before purchasing full access. On the first page, you will be able to tap on every possible combination of Korean consonants and vowels, receiving audio pronunciation by native speakers and an example word. You can also dive deeper into every jamo (the characters that make up the Hangul alphabet) to learn their pronunciation, stroke order, origin, and example words. Moreover, the app offers information about the history and principles of creating Hangul and includes mnemonic devices to support your learning. Korean GG is a comprehensive reference guide, but its in-app courses are probably not as effective as in other apps. There is a section on “text reading,” which contains dozens of phrases that incorporate a specific jamo, but the audio recording doesn’t allow much time to repeat after each sentence. Their course sections are useful tools to familiarize yourself with Hangul, but are probably not enough to support you in learning to speak the language.

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Lingbe Mini-Review: Instantly Voice Chat With Native Speakers

Lingbe

Rating 4.5
Price:

Freemium, Add-ons start at $0.99

Summary

Lingbe is like chat roulette for language learning, instantly initiating voice calls between users who want to practice or help others learn different languages. After your call with another user, you can choose to become friends on the app and continue to message or call each other (although calling them still requires Lingos). As this app was created for Spanish and English speakers, learners of other languages may have more difficulty finding someone to practice with. However, the community is growing, so it may not be difficult for long. Although it may be an introvert’s nightmare, this app might be the fastest way to practice languages with native speakers. By helping other users learn your native language, you can earn ‘lingos’ and then trade them in to practice your target language. You receive more lingos per minute by answering calls in your native language than in a practice language. Because making calls costs the most Lingos, you will probably spend more time speaking your native language than practicing your target languages. However, you can also earn lingos by answering questions or by increasing your level (through helping more people). The Pro version seems to give you access to unlimited calls, take away ads, and let you know who you are talking to as soon as the voice call starts.

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Mandarin Companion Mini-Review: Engaging for Beginners

Mandarin Companion

Rating 4.5
Price:

$6.84 and up

Summary

Mandarin Companion was developed from one of the founder’s experiences in drastically improving his Chinese through extensive reading. Jared read 10 graded readers in 3 months and discovered that, after 2 years of trying to learn Chinese, he could finally hold a conversation with his colleagues. Like Jared, through Mandarin Companion’s graded readers, learners can start to understand grammar in context and enjoy the process of reading. The books are written using 98% of the words you probably know, with new words gradually introduced as the story progresses. You should only find about one new character or word for every 40-50 characters you have read, and new words will include a footnote with definitions. You will be sure to find engaging story plots with this series, as many of the books are based on the works of famous authors, such as Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. The readers come in three levels: The breakthrough level (150 unique characters), Level 1 (300 unique characters), and level 2 (450 unique characters). Those who want to go beyond the levels of these books can check out Pleco’s graded readers or The Chairman’s Bao for more extensive reading material.

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SpanishDict Mini-Review: Doesn’t Get Better Than This

SpanishDict

Rating 5.0
Price:

Free, Premium subscriptions start at $12.99/mo

Summary

There is no online dictionary better at supporting Spanish learners (or Spanish speaking English learners) than SpanishDict. When you search for a word on the website, you will find a series of definitions, examples of how to use the word in context, conjugations, synonyms, and common phrases that include the word. For those of you who create SRS flashcards in Anki or other apps, each dictionary entry contains a relevant picture that you can save to your decks. You can add dictionary entries to their Spaced Repetition System flashcards, find quizzes and flashcards for the most common Spanish textbooks, watch video pronunciations of thousands of words, or engage in video lessons and exercises for various grammar topics. There are also extensive articles on grammar, vocabulary, tongue twisters, and language learning that contain clear explanations, audio pronunciations, and links to related articles. Both the mobile app and website are worth your attention, but the website contains significantly more features and pronunciations by native speakers. The website is free and supported by advertisements, but by subscribing to their Premium membership you can get some extra features and remove the ads.

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Anki Mini-Review: The Go-To SRS Flashcard App

Anki

Rating 4.1
Price:

Free

Summary

It is the go-to app for free (except on iOS) Spaced Repetition System (SRS) flashcards. It has a simple user interface with various features that more hard-core users can dive into if they choose. Your flashcards will appear according to your natural forgetting curve; the app will test you in increasingly spaced out intervals, with more difficult cards appearing more than once in a session, while easier cards spacing out over weeks — or even months and years. An SRS system is the most effective way to drive information into your long-term memory. The cards can sync between the web, desktop app, and mobile versions to keep your flashcards updated and with you at all times. You can add images and audio clips to your cards and change the text formatting (if you use it on your computer). One feature unique to Anki, as opposed to other SRS flashcard apps, is the “Cloze deletion” function, which allows you to block out parts of your card and create a “fill-in-the-blanks” type card format. If you want a resource for how to make effective flashcards, check out the book, FluentForever. The author leaves a whole section dedicated to understanding how to use your Anki deck to advance your skills quickly.

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Paul Noble Mini-Review: Great for Beginners

Paul Noble

Rating 4.2
Price:

Complete Audiobooks start at $14.95 on Audible, or 1 Audible credit

Summary

Paul Noble’s audiobook series is for beginners or upper-beginners who want to gain confidence in their target language. There are also crash courses for those who will soon be heading off on a business trip or holiday. The series focuses on cognates (words that are similar in both English and your target language) in order to build your vocabulary more efficiently. It also seems to have been inspired by Michel Thomas’ courses (with a few improvements). Paul introduces vocabulary and gets you to make new sentences through problem solving. For example, he may introduce a sentence, then ask you to make a new sentence using your current knowledge and the new words you have just learned. Although the narrators move a bit slowly, the consistent interaction between you and the material ensures that you won’t get bored. Because Paul breaks down the rules of each language in such a simple and concise way, you can feel confident in building new sentences by yourself.

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Mandarin Corner Mini-Review: Well Organized, Engaging Content

Mandarin Corner

Rating 4.5
Price:

Free, $10 for premium benefits

Summary

Eileen, the founder of Mandarin Corner, provides a variety of content for beginner and intermediate learners to train their listening comprehension, improve their grammar, expand their vocabulary, and help them understand Chinese culture. She sometimes dedicates episodes to specific grammar points or interviews locals about different topics. Because she speaks with so many different people, you will be able to train your ear to understand different accents. Eileen will help you understand the nuances of the language, must-know sentence structures, and even spend an hour helping you understand the many different measure words. You can watch videos that focus on conversation, HSK content, slow intermediate Chinese with literal translations, stories, and reading practice. On the website you can also listen to audio episodes with a PDF transcript, use flashcards, download the Youtube videos, or watch videos without English translations. Some of this content is only available with a one-time $10 donation, but after the donation you will have access to the content forever. Overall, Mandarin Corner is an excellent resource with a variety of high-quality and engaging material.

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