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This Spanish-language podcast and YouTube series will support your beginner- and lower intermediate-level Basque studies, although complete beginners are probably better off looking elsewhere. After one episode of pronunciation, the self-described A1-level podcast jumps straight into verb declensions and other elements of Basque grammar. If you don’t already know some Basque, you’ll probably be overwhelmed. Some of the YouTube videos are more accessible but are better suited as supplementary materials. Despite this, Euskara Satorra seems like it could be a good resource for false beginners looking to improve their grammar and pick up some new vocabulary.
To see all of our self-study guides, favorite programs, online subscriptions, apps, podcasts, and YouTubes for the language you’re learning, look for your language in the table below.
Egun on! (Good morning!) is a free beginner’s course from the University of Deusto and the Basque newspaper El Correo. It’s taught in a mixture of Spanish and Basque, and after completing it, you can also do Eguerdi on! (Good midday!) and Arratsalde on! (Good afternoon!). Egun on! is divided into 16 topics and 107 lessons. Most topics contain a short series of lessons, each with one or two exercises; a longer “self-evaluation” set of exercises; and the answer key. The lessons don’t come with much explanation, but they’re accessible for beginners. Some lessons also have audio files.
To see all of our self-study guides, favorite programs, online subscriptions, apps, podcasts, and YouTubes for the language you’re learning, look for your language in the table below.
Cudoo is an online learning platform that offers courses in over 160 languages. The platform also offers courses teaching soft skills and other professional development courses. Certificates are available upon course completion, and courses are provided to libraries and non-profits for free. We feel that the quality of the language courses is quite low, and that the prices are relatively high.
Quality 1.0
★★★★★
It’s nice to have native speaker audio, but I personally found the course to offer very little learning potential.
Thoroughness 1.0
★★★★★
The course didn’t cover everything listed under “Course Content” and offers no explanations.
Value 0.0
★★★★★
This course is way overpriced in my opinion. I wouldn’t even use it if it were free.
I Like
Audio by a variety of native speakers.
I Don’t Like
I wanted more explanations
Practice opportunities felt severely limited
I found the material unengaging
Content doesn’t build on itself logically.
Price
Price varies by course, from $4.99 to $24.99, with language bundles costing up to $199.
17 Minute Languages is a language-learning program that uses spaced repetition and native-speaker audio to teach a wide variety of languages. In our opinion, the courses aren’t very engaging; the courses we tried included significant errors and didn’t offer any language-specific explanations. There are leaderboards for comparing your progress with other users and a language forum that’s available after four days of use.
Quality 1.5
★
★
★★★★
Native speaker audio is the only thing that impressed me in the courses I tried; mistakes and glitches were many.
Thoroughness 1.5
★
★
★★★★
Explanations are lacking, which I found made some material misleading.
Value 1.5
★
★
★★★★
I think there are far better ways to spend your time and money studying a language.
I Like
It uses native-speaker audio.
I Don’t Like
I came across several bad translations.
I didn’t find any helpful explanations.
Site navigation wasn’t easy or enjoyable for me.
I didn’t find the exercises engaging.
Price
The Beginner’s Course is $59.95 and the Complete Package is $127. For the whole package and all languages it is $197. There is a free 48-hour trial.
Superlearning technology? Fluency in 50 hours? Courses in 80 different languages? This is either the greatest language-learning resource of all time or it’s a painfully overpriced language site making absurd claims. Let’s find out.
Speaky is a social language-learning app for people interested in language exchange. It’s available for iOS, Android, and the web. Users can chat with other language learners, share photos, leave voice messages or even have voice calls. The basic features on Speaky are free to use, but access to more than five translations per day requires a subscription.
Quality 3.0
★★★★★
There are some dedicated language learners on Speaky but not as many as similar apps.
Thoroughness 3.5
★★★
★
★★
The platform is easy to use but lacks advanced features.
Value 4.5
★★★★
★
★
Speaky is mostly free to use, extra features are available for a subscription.
I Like
It’s mostly free.
It’s easy to use.
There are a lot of users.
There are tons of languages
I Don’t Like
Many community members don’t actually seem interested in language exchange.
The web version doesn’t work well.
There are no extra social features.
Price
The basic features on Speaky are free to use. A premium membership is available for a subscription.
Speaky is a language exchange app. It facilitates exchange by allowing users to chat with others in the language they’re learning. Its function is pretty simple and straightforward — search for a partner with a reciprocal language combination and say hello.
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 $15.07/month or $81.19/year or $185.59 Lifetime.
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.
Memrise is a super popular language-learning app available online and on mobile. It functions much like a gamified flashcard app, and it offers a lot of content for free. A lot of the content is user-created, and there is a premium subscription that provides access to additional features. Memrise can be a great tool in your arsenal, but you’ll need more to learn a language seriously.
Quality 4.0
★★★★★
The mobile app looks great and is easy to use, but the website is clunky. Works very well for memorization.
Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★
There are quite a few official Memrise courses, and the number of user-created courses is massive, but you’ll benefit from using additional resources.
Value 4.0
★★★★★
The free version of the app provides a lot of value, but the paid version doesn’t offer much more.
I Like
The spaced repetition software is effective for memorization
The huge range of available content
It’s more interactive than other flashcard apps
I Don’t Like
It’s not enough for continued language learning
Website navigation is clunky
Premium version isn’t much more valuable than the free version
Price
For the full version of Memrise, the subscription prices are: $39.99/monthly $61.99/annually $329.99 – lifetime subscription. Signing up for a free account with Memrise automatically gives you access to limited versions of their official courses.
uTalk is a software program and mobile app offering learning material in over 140 languages. Its approach is based on learning keywords and phrases through gameplay. It covers a wide range of phrases, each spoken by a female and male native speaker, consequently offering listening and pronunciation practice.
uTalk is most useful for beginners who want to get started in a language by learning key phrases. It could also be useful for intermediates looking to fill gaps in their vocabulary and pronunciation, but it does not offer any in-depth language instruction or grammar explanations.
It’s also worth mentioning that for some languages, such as Basque, the occasional overly literal translation leads to small errors and unnatural phrasing creeping in. However, we haven’t seen instances in which this would result in you being misunderstood, and there’s no denying uTalk’s value for languages with fewer learning resources.
Quality 3.5
★★★
★
★★
The app is very user-friendly, and the content is mostly useful, but little variation in practice activities can become repetitive.
Thoroughness 3.5
★★★
★
★★
The app does a good job of teaching key words and phrases, but review opportunities aren’t as transparent or comprehensive as they could be.
Value 4.0
★★★★★
The price is very low, there’s a lot of content, and the right learner could get some serious practical use out of the resource.
I Like
The number of languages on offer is staggering.
Each phrase is recorded by a male and female native speaker. This was especially helpful in learning pronunciation.
You frequently get to hear recordings of yourself producing the language. I found this motivating and informative.
I Don’t Like
The Memory Game exercise felt like a waste of time. It’s difficult to get a perfect score even if you know the language well.
I kept wishing there was a way to choose which phrases I could practice in games instead of them being randomly selected.
Price
Prices vary. For access to all languages you pay $11.99/month that can be cancelled anytime. $59.99 for a 6-month subscription and $99.99 for a Yearly subscription.
This was my first encounter with uTalk, so I didn’t know what to expect before trying it out. A quick search on the internet showed third-party reviews saying everything from “It’s just ok” to “Become fluent in another language with uTalk.” My experience was something much closer to the former.
