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Finnish

Avatalks Mini Review: Conversational Practice for All Levels

Avatalks

Price:

Freemium; $19 .99/Month, $119.88/Year

Summary

If you’re looking for a way to practice conversation, but have no access to native speakers, you might like Avatalks.

Avatalks aims to immerse learners in conversations through interactions with AI avatars to make speaking practice engaging and help you build confidence. With over 20 languages to choose from, Avatalks is well suited for beginner to advanced learners who are looking to sharpen their conversational skills.

The platform offers conversation practice with emotionally expressive AI characters that guide and correct you in real time, making practice feel more natural. Instead of simply memorizing words, you’ll have conversations about topics that interest you, receive feedback, and build your speaking confidence. Interactive grammar & vocabulary lessons are integrated directly into the chats. For vocabulary, Avatalks uses a Spaced Repetition System to help you build and retain vocabulary. You can also save words that need more attention and revisit them later. For grammar, sentence rules are presented through bite‑sized tips and practice drills. These lessons allow you to apply what you’ve learned in conversations immediately. During the conversations, the platform uses a speech recognition system to provide pronunciation feedback instantly. Furthermore, Avatalks adapts to your level, pace, and learning style to ensure your learning experience is more personalized and efficient so as you progress, the content adjusts accordingly. You can also track your progress with Insights to monitor your improvement over time.

What sets Avatalks apart from similar resources like Duolingo, LingoChamp or Speakly, is the dynamic back-and-forth conversations with emotive AI avatars. The combination of grammar and vocabulary lessons along with real-time feedback offers a more interactive and immersive experience.

The app is still new, so while its core features are robust for major languages, some language-specific content, like advanced Korean grammar, is still in development. It also requires a stable internet connection to function. Nevertheless, Avatalks provides an engaging and personalized way to learn a language without feeling overwhelmed.

Visit Avatalks

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.

ChineseSpanishGermanFrenchItalian
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Other Languages

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All Learning Resources Finnish

60+ Finnish Learning Resources – Mostly Free and Beginner-Friendly!

We have compiled various Finnish learning resources to help you practice and improve your Finnish language skills. Some of these resources for learning Finnish are beginner-friendly and will cater to your preferred learning preference.

Learn Finnish and explore this extensive list, covering many Finnish resources and tools, including numerous free ones to enrich your learning experience.

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60+ Finnish Learning Resources – Mostly Free and Beginner-Friendly!Read More »

60+ Finnish Learning Resources – Mostly Free and Beginner-Friendly! Read More »

LanguagePod101 — All Languages, Pod101 and Class101

Updated November 20, 2023

If you want a language learning podcast that consistently adds new content to keep you motivated, you will find the “Pod101” and “Class101” series quite useful.

One great thing about LanguagePod101 programs is that they do publish new content ALL THE TIME. And their pricing structure allows language learners of any mastery and commitment levels to find contents that are useful. The pricing starts at a mere few dollars per month, and the top subscription called Premium PLUS gives learners personal feedback and a personalized program to follow.

Visit Language Learning Programs in the LanguagePod101 Series

Click the icon to visit the site for the language you want. Purchase or just check it out. Happy Learning!

You can also read ALR independent reviews for each language’s program in the following section.

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LanguagePod101 — All Languages, Pod101 and Class101Read More »

LanguagePod101 — All Languages, Pod101 and Class101 Read More »

Mondly Review

Mondly Review – Is Mondly Worth It?

Rating 2.7
★★
★
★★★

Summary

Mondly is a language-learning app that teaches basic vocabulary and grammar structures. It seems most appropriate for learners with little to no exposure to their target language.

The activities mostly rely on passive recognition of vocabulary and phrases, and therefore are not very challenging. However, they are varied enough that you probably wouldn’t get bored with short, daily practice sessions.

Although I wouldn’t recommend Mondly to anyone looking to seriously learn a language, it may be appropriate for individuals studying languages with less available resources, or for individuals who are preparing to travel abroad.

Quality 3.0
★★★★★

Both the interface and the course itself could be designed better. *Edited on Nov 22* It has made many improvements this year. We will update soon.

Thoroughness 2.5
★★
★
★★★

It’s decent for learning vocabulary, but I thought a lot of the material wasn’t explained very well.

Value 3.0
★★★★★

It’s fairly inexpensive.

I Like
  • Daily lessons, weekly quizzes, and monthly challenges – these functionalities encourage you to practice every day.
  • The vocabulary included is useful and drilled in an effective way.
  • It’s fairly inexpensive.
I Don’t Like
  • The content and exercises are the same for all levels and languages.
  • The exercises are mostly passive.
  • I don’t think the order of lessons and topics is very well thought out.
  • For me, the interface is not user friendly and the platform is visually unappealing.
Price

There are three plans… $9.99 per month for one language $47.99 per year for one language and $89.99 for Lifetime Access to all languages.

Visit Mondly
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Mondly Review – Is Mondly Worth It?Read More »

Mondly Review – Is Mondly Worth It? Read More »

LingQ Review

LingQ Review – Extensive Reading Made Easy

LingQ

Rating 4.0
★★★★★

Summary

LingQ is a language-learning platform that focuses on extensive reading for over 30 different languages. You can import your own content or choose from the community library of books, articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, and more.

The app highlights unknown words across every lesson and makes them reviewable via different types of SRS flashcards. The more you read, the more accurately you will be able to identify content that is suitable for your level.

Although I did not find it beneficial for languages I had never studied before, I think LingQ can be helpful for upper-beginner to advanced language learners who enjoy reading. It is especially helpful if you struggle to find graded readers in your target language.

Quality 4.0
★★★★★

The LingQ reading app is enjoyable in most languages, easy to use, and can expand your vocabulary. However, I found the user content frustrating to navigate.

Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★

With the import function, users can choose to study almost anything they want.

Value 4.0
★★★★★

Now that other apps provide similar functions, the monthly subscription may be a bit overpriced. However, the yearly subscription seems fair.

I Like
  • I can easily import almost any material I want to study.
  • I can use SRS flashcards to quiz new words from a specific page.
  • Each lesson in the library displays the percentage of known and unknown words based on my reading history.
  • There are many dictionaries to choose from for definitions.
I Don’t Like
  • Reviewing words is chaotic. Every word you look up gets added to a huge queue that quickly becomes unmanageable.
  • The extra features are overpriced and can be found other places for cheaper.
  • Very little of the content is original. Much of it was uploaded by users from other places.
  • The free version is extremely limited.
Price

Premium membership costs $14.99/mo, $119.88/year, $215.76/2-years; single-language lifetime membership costs $229

VISIT LINGQ

When I first signed up for LingQ, I wasn’t very impressed. Its seemingly random lesson library, filled with custom cover photos and inconsistent title formats, made me want to click on just about anything to get away from that page.

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LingQ Review – Extensive Reading Made Easy Read More »

AmazingTalker Mini Review: Not Our Top Pick for Web Classes

AmazingTalker

Rating 2.5
★★
★
★★★
Price:

From around $10 per 50-minute class

Summary

AmazingTalker is an italki and Verbling competitor that lets you book classes with language teachers and academic tutors of your choice. It has a lot of attractive features for students, but teachers complain about high commission rates and lack of support. It boasts a 3% acceptance rate for teachers and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you’re not happy with your class, they’ll rebook you another one for free. There are lots of teachers to choose from, or you can also use their AI Matching Service to find a tutor. The teachers’ profiles include videos, reviews, and their résumé. However, AmazingTalker doesn’t seem a great choice for teachers. It charges English and Japanese teachers astonishingly high commission rates of up to 30%. While these rates fall as teachers earn more through the site, they have to make $1,500 a month before the commission reaches levels comparable to italki and Verbling. Making it worse, there’s an additional 8% fee for payment processing and tax that all teachers have to pay, no matter what language they teach.  There have also been complaints on Reddit from teachers claiming to have been harassed by students and fellow teachers. However, we cannot corroborate these. Given all this, we’d recommend trying italki (review) or Verbling (review) first. Alternatively, check out our guide to the best platforms for online language classes.

Visit AmazingTalker

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Verbling Review

Verbling Review: Online Classes With Helpful Revision Tools

Rating 4.6
★★★★
★
★

Summary

Verbling is an online language-class marketplace where you can take lessons with teachers of your choice. It has some student-friendly extra features, including a built-in online classroom, flashcards, homework calendar, and a filing system for lesson materials. There are also useful but disorganized forums where you can discuss languages, share writing for critique, and do free language drills and exercises.

The lessons are generally high quality and well structured, plus the filters make it easy to find teachers who specialize in everything from accent reduction to interview preparation. 

However, it can be slightly pricier than alternatives, so if you’re on a tight budget, you may want to look elsewhere. It also has fewer languages than some of the bigger competitors, so it might not be a good choice if you want to study Azerbaijani, Khmer, or Yoruba.

Quality 4.5
★★★★
★
★

There are some less experienced teachers, but I found the lessons to be more consistently high quality than on italki.

Thoroughness 5.0
★★★★★

The classroom technology, flashcards, and filing system are fantastic for learners and easy to use.

Value 4.5
★★★★
★
★

Some teachers charge more than on italki, but you get better classroom technology, more privacy, and fewer disorganized teachers.

I Like
  • I quickly found great teachers.
  • The platform’s extra features, such as teacher-made, personalized flashcards, help you review the material learned in each lesson.
  • It seems focused on long-term progression as well as immediate student satisfaction.
  • You don’t have to give out your contact details, thanks to the classroom technology.
I Don’t Like
  • Some teachers don’t use the platform’s flashcards and materials system.
  • There are fewer languages available than on italki.
  • You can only pay in US dollars, plus there’s a hidden fee.
  • The forums need more moderation.
Price

Prices are set by the teacher and range from $6 to $75+ for an hour-long lesson. You can get discounts for buying packs of 5 or 10 lessons with a teacher. Every new student gets one free trial lesson, after which they’re $6 each.

Visit Verbling

I’ve got a confession to make: italki is one of my least favorite online language-learning resources. However, it was my go-to option for a long time, and I understand why people love it: it’s cheap, has teachers in nearly every language imaginable, and the app has a bunch of extra community features.

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Verbling Review: Online Classes With Helpful Revision ToolsRead More »

Verbling Review: Online Classes With Helpful Revision Tools Read More »