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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.

Learn German DeutschAkademie Mini Review: Grammar Only

Learn German DeutschAkademie

Rating 3.5
★★★
★
★★
Price:

Free

Summary

Learn German by DeutschAkademie is a simple, free app that offers grammar exercises for levels A1 – C1 on the CEFR scale. It was designed by German Language teachers at the DeutschAkademie, a German language school in Germany. The app is not a standalone resource to learn German, but rather a supplement to your current German studies to help you practice grammar. You can choose exercises based on your level, a specific grammar topic, or one of 70 common textbooks.  Beginners may struggle to use this app, as there are no grammar exercises or English translations beyond the home page. Additionally, there are no instructions for how to respond to the questions, so you will have to use context from the multiple-choice answers to understand what the question is asking. Overall, Learn German by DeutschAkademie is a useful tool to practice grammar, but if you are looking for a course that will teach you how to speak, read, write, and understand German, you may want to look elsewhere. Deutsche Welle is another free option with short courses and activities, while Lingoni, and Smarter German offer comprehensive courses. 

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1001 Reasons to Learn Spanish Mini Review: Just Excellent

1001 Reasons to Learn Spanish

Rating 4.3
★★★★
★
★
Price:

Free, Courses cost €60 and €49

Summary

Juan Fernández used to teach Spanish at University College London and has since developed his blog, 1001 Reasons to Learn Spanish. This website offers activities, courses, additional material for his graded reader series, and his podcast, Español con Juan. You will also find videos from his YouTube channel incorporated into various grammar and vocabulary activities. All of his resources are entirely in Spanish, but they support beginner to advanced learners. Juan is an animated teacher who uses props and gestures in his YouTube videos to increase understanding. In his podcasts, he speaks at a relatively natural speed and includes a full transcript of each episode. His recordings from his home have a better sound quality and are more structured than those that are recorded while he is out walking. His free course on improving Spanish in 30 days supports upper A2 learners to improve their Spanish and prepare for the B1 level. It is designed to encourage 20-30 minutes of study per day and provides vocabulary and grammar in context. There are videos, grammar explanations, and quizzes, and the content difficulty increases weekly.  Overall, Juan seems dedicated to improving his viewer’s Spanish, and his years of experience as a Spanish teacher shows in the quality of his material.

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Lingo Mastery Conversational Dialogues Mini Review: Dual-text

Lingo Mastery Conversational Dialogues

Rating 3.5
★★★
★
★★
Price:

Kindle books cost $4.60

Summary

Lingo Mastery provides over 100 short dialogues in a series of advanced beginner books (about A2 on the CEFR scale) for various languages.  Lingo Mastery’s Conversational Dialogues doesn’t take the immersive approach that you will find in other graded readers. Instead, they provide a full English translation of each text. There are no vocabulary lists or comprehension questions like in their Short Stories series, but you will read conversations that take place in over a hundred different scenarios. If your goal is to accumulate vocabulary based on situations that you may encounter in your everyday life, then Lingo Mastery is probably a good investment. If you want to follow real-life conversations that are part of a continuous story, you may want to check out Olly Richards’ 101 Conversations. Also, if you are looking for a series of books that will keep you captivated, Mandarin Companion and ESLC provide graded readers that simplify famous stories into Chinese and Spanish. If you do decide to invest in these readers, make sure to buy the Kindle version, which is about 20% of the paperback price. There are also previews available on Amazon.

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Sejong Korean Mini Review: Great Resources, Annoying Website

Sejong Korean

Rating 4.0
★★★★★
Price:

Free

Summary

Sejong Korean was developed by the King Sejong Institute Foundation in Korea. Their free, high-quality textbooks, mobile apps, YouTube channel, and comics are all excellent supplementary materials for your Korean studies. Unfortunately, the website has some navigation issues that cause some frustration. Sejong Korean’s mobile apps cover beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels on the topics of grammar, conversation, news, and pronunciation. Additionally, the website has many Korean comics with English translations on the side. These offer insight into Korean culture from Korean and non-Korean points of view. There is also a video section with embedded Korean YouTube videos that include game shows, K-Pop songs, and interviews. You can check out the three dozen high-quality textbooks with downloadable audio files available for free on the website. These cover speaking, writing, listening, and reading. Unfortunately, the books must be read online on a finicky interface. You may want to avoid the course section, as these courses are not easy to navigate on the website. You are probably better off following the lessons on their YouTube channel instead. Additionally, although they offer ‘beginner’ courses, these are only for students who have a solid foundation of basic Korean. Overall, Sejong Korean’s website may be frustrating to navigate, but the individual resources are worth the effort.

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StoryLearning Olly Richards Short Stories Mini Review: Practical

Olly Richards Short Stories

Rating 4.0
★★★★★
Price:

Kindle books start at $6.55

Summary

Olly Richards, the creator of I Will Teach You A Language, has written a series of short stories for high-beginners to improve their reading skills in several languages. He also has a 101 Conversations series, but this review focuses on his Short Stories. Most of the languages use the most common words in your target language, with natural phrases that you would overhear locals using while conversing amongst each other. In every language, the plot follows the same characters and adventures, with some adjustments for cultural differences. The intro to each book provides a practical overview of how to maximize your learning. At the end of each chapter, you will see a summary of the plot, a vocabulary list of new words (that are also bolded in the stories), and comprehension questions. The comprehension questions are simple, allowing you to find the responses directly in the text. Overall, the Kindle version of Olly’s short stories seems worth the investment for upper beginners to improve their language abilities. If you’re learning Chinese, check out the Mandarin Companion series. Also, A1 – A2 Spanish learners can enjoy several short novels in the ESLC and Read It! series.

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A.C. Quintero Mini-Review: Graded Reader Adventure Series

A.C. Quintero

Rating 3.6
★★★
★
★★
Price:

Books range from $4.03 – $8.00

Summary

A.C. Quintero has written a series of Spanish graded readers for beginners. Most of the books focus on adventures beyond the everyday norm, which may appeal to mystery lovers. Each book’s language level is not clearly identified, but there seem to be four main books for beginners that gradually increase in difficulty: Las Apariencias Engañan (300 unique words), El Escape (350 unique words), El Armario (400 unique words), and Las Sombras (500 Unique words). Two other books (Las apariencias engañan and El Último Viaje) have unidentified reading levels, but you can read a sample on Amazon to see if they are appropriate for you. A.C. Quintero’s books seem to be effective at helping you review basic concepts, and each book adds a manageable number of new words to increase your vocabulary. They probably aren’t as engaging as the Read It! Or ESLC series, which retell famous plots in simplified Spanish, but A.C. Quintero’s storylines seem to carry more emotion and complexity than those of Paco Ardit or Lingo Mastery.

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Lingo Mastery Short Stories Mini-Review: Lots of Unique Words

Lingo Mastery Short Stories

Rating 3.7
★★★
★
★★
Price:

Kindle Books cost $4.60

Summary

Lingo Mastery provides 20 short stories in a series of advanced beginner books (about A2 on the CEFR scale) for various languages. Each book has a vocabulary list, reading comprehension questions, and a summary in both English and the target language.   If your primary goal is to acquire new vocabulary, then Lingo Mastery’s Short Story series may be helpful to increase your skills. Each chapter has a specific language focus, such as directions, verbs, nouns, or activities. These stories have a considerable number of unique words, so you may find yourself referring to the vocabulary list more frequently than in other graded readers. Keep in mind that the stories are not as engaging as a novel you might read in your native tongue, but the repetition is helpful to familiarize you with different concepts. Other graded readers, like those by Olly Richards, ESLC, and Mandarin Companion follow a single storyline — each chapter in Lingo Mastery, however, follows a separate storyline. Therefore, although the chapters are a manageable length, finishing one may not make you eager to move onto the next. If you do decide to invest in these readers, make sure to buy the Kindle version, which is about 20% of the paperback price.

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Read it! Mini-Review: Famous Stories in Beginner Spanish

Read it!

Rating 4.3
★★★★
★
★
Price:

Kindle books start at $1.26

Summary

Read It! has published a handful of graded Spanish readers for A1 and A2 learners. These readers are more advanced than the A1 and A2 readers by Paco Ardit or Juan Fernandez, so you may want to have a basic understanding of the imperfect and past perfect tense before diving in. You can be sure that Read It! has engaging storylines, as they are all simplified versions of famous novels, including Sherlock Holmes, El Quijote, Moby Dick, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. For the most part, the writing seems to flow naturally — you will probably forget that you are reading to learn Spanish as you become immersed in the story. Read It! does not have a vocabulary list or reading comprehension questions at any point during the books. If you are looking for these tools to accompany your studies, check out the Spanish books by ESLC, Olly Richards, Juan Fernandez, and María Danader. Overall, Read It! is an enjoyable series with which you can confidently begin your Spanish reading journey.

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María Danader Graded Readers Mini-Review: Useful New Words

María Danader Graded Readers

Rating 3.8
★★★
★
★★
Price:

Kindle books range from $2.95 – $3.02

Summary

María Danader’s graded Spanish readers are based on everyday dialogues and expressions. Each book has accompanying audio recorded by native Spanish speakers, a chapter summary in English and Spanish, vocabulary lists, grammar notes, and reading comprehension exercises. Unlike in Paco Ardit’s books, whose vocabulary use at the C2 level feels more appropriate for B1 and B2 learners, María Danade’s vocabulary words become more specialized as the levels progress — you will see words that you may not have considered learning, such as ‘baldosa’ and ‘trastienda’. The storylines may not be as complex as in Read It! And ESLC’s series, but they all involve a mystery that will probably engage you long enough to increase your comprehension and reinforce your current vocabulary. Overall, María Danader’s readers seem like a good investment for your Spanish reading journey.

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VerbSquirt Mini-Review: Use Conjuguemos for Free Instead

VerbSquirt

Rating 2.5
★★
★
★★★
Price:

Freemium, $0.99

Summary

VerbSquirt is a conjugation app for mobile devices that uses multiple choice questions and matching activities to test your knowledge. You can learn by verb group, verb tense, or build your own custom exercises. It also has a summary page that allows you to see how many points you score on average per day, week, and month.
The app doesn’t have a very attractive interface compared to other resources, but if you want to tap on answers to practice recognition rather than active recall, VerbSquirt may be a good option for you. However, you may want to use Conjuguemos instead — it provides free exercises that require you to use active recall and type out the answers. You can also try SpanishDict or Ella Verbs if you are learning Spanish.

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