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Latin

Quizlet Mini-Review: A Flashcard/Quiz App for Many Languages

Quizlet

Rating 3.2
★★★
★
★★
Price:

$ 0.00

Summary

Quizlet is a flashcard-based learning system. Community-contributed flashcards are available for numerous languages. These vary in quality, but you can preview them to see how well they meet your needs. Each set of flashcards powers other activities: In Learn mode, you demonstrate your mastery of each word or phrase by using multiple choice to select the correct definition. There are also spelling and writing exercises. The spelling exercises can be frustrating, as they sometimes require the addition of alternate word endings that are not always pronounced by the speaker. A space-themed word game and a “Concentration”-style matching game inject some extra fun into your study time. Recent changes to Quizlet mean that you are now required to sign in to use the flashcard sets. As Quizlet is now promoting two premium plans — the modestly priced “Quizlet Plus” and the less-expensive “Quizlet Go” — you may encounter several promotions for these paid versions. We have not tried the paid tier at this time. Overall, Quizlet can be a fun, effective way to learn new vocabulary. It has the tools to help with auditory comprehension and spelling in your target language. It covers many languages, even some harder-to-find ones. However, not all of the flashcard sets are high quality.

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An Honest Review of iTalki With Image of Man Working on Computer

italki Review – The Good, The Bad, & The Just Alright

italki

Rating 4.5
★★★★
★
★

Summary

italki is the most flexible and affordable place to find a tutor for the language you’re learning. They have a huge number of teachers offering classes to students of over 100 different languages. As a learner, you’ll be able to find a tutor that best fits your learning style, schedule, and personality. Teachers are able to set their own prices and make their own schedule.

Quality 4.5
★★★★
★
★

You’ll find everyone from long-time professionals to brand new teachers.

Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★

The overall platform has tons of useful features but also some room for improvement.

Value 5.0
★★★★★

Huge number of teachers, low prices, and flexible scheduling.

I Like
  • There are large numbers of teachers available even for less common languages.
  • You can find skilled teachers even at low prices.
  • The flexibility to schedule lessons whenever convenient. The huge number of teachers guarantees you’ll find someone to fit your schedule.
  • The extra features in the italki Community make it easy to ask questions, get your writing checked, and find a free language exchange partner.
I Don’t Like
  • Community features are only available through the app.
  • You may need to try several tutors before finding one that fits your learning and personality style.
  • It’s easy to not take classes as often as you should.
Price

The prices vary by teacher and language with some being as low as $5 and others as high as $60 per hour. Most will fall somewhere near the $10 per hour range. Right now italki is offering a $10 credit with your first purchase.

BUY 1 ITALKI LESSON GET 1 FREE

It’s very rare for me to recommend a particular resource for everyone, regardless of the language that they’re studying. Usually each language will have their own unique resources that are great specifically for students of that language.

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Bluebird Languages Mini-Review: Over 160 Languages Available

Bluebird Languages

Rating 2.5
★★
★
★★★
Price:

Free, Premium subscriptions cost $13.99/mo, $144.99/year

Summary

Bluebird Languages has several types of lessons you can choose from, including a daily lesson, core vocabulary, essential verbs, creating sentences, powerful phrases, and conversation. Each topic seems to have a beginner, intermediate, and advanced lesson, although it’s not clear how advanced “advanced” is. In each lesson, an English-speaking narrator will ask you to listen to and repeat translations of various phrases. The recordings in each language seem to use native speakers’ voices, which is quite the feat considering they have lessons in over 160 languages. Bluebird Languages’ phrases don’t construct a replicable dialogue, so the phrases don’t seem to have a lot of context other than the topic at hand. Furthermore, the topics seem to be identical in all languages, so most of the phrases will not be culture-specific. They also don’t break down complicated pronunciation, but you can try to break it down yourself by slowing down the recording to 0.5x speed. Bluebird Languages seems similar to Pimsleur but appears less organized and will probably not improve your communication abilities as quickly. Nevertheless, it may be a good free alternative for beginners, and the program will probably help you develop some confidence in speaking languages that have less challenging pronunciation. The conversation and personalized lessons require a monthly membership, but there is enough free content that these add-ons may not be necessary.

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Lingua Latina Mini Review: Entertaining and Educational

Lingua Latina

Rating 4.3
★★★★
★
★
Price:

$ 14.00

Summary

The wildly popular Lingua Latina departs from traditional, grammar-heavy Latin teaching methods and instead teaches you through humorous stories about everyday Romans. Each chapter also contains a brief grammar section and some exercises. By the end of the first book, you are supposed to have picked up nearly 2,000 pieces of vocabulary and a basic understanding of beginner-level grammar.

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Brainscape Mini-Review: Adaptive Flashcards

Brainscape

Rating 4.0
★★★★★
Price:

Freemium, Premium subscriptions start at $9.99/mo

Summary

Brainscape is a flashcard app that uses a Spaced Repetition System, also often referred to as ‘adaptive flashcards’, to help you memorize new vocabulary and facts. It has a team of scientists, engineers, and education experts working to optimize their program for effective learning. Brainscape is quite similar to Anki, but has a more modern and colourful interface. They also have Certified Classes, which are decks that seem to have been developed by experts in the chosen topic. The app adds what they call Intelligent Cumulative Exposure (ICE) to some of their Certified Classes; it seems to combine a Spaced Repetition System with gradually introducing new concepts, increasing the difficulty of the concepts, and providing context so you can build your own sentences. It has several Certified Classes for various languages (and other topics), and many more decks created by users. Unlike Anki, edits that creators make to user decks seem to sync up even after you have downloaded the deck. With the free version, you have limited access to premium decks but unlimited access to user-made decks.

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Learning Latin

How To Learn Latin On Your Own – A Self-Study Guide That Will Get You Started

Latin: it’s the language of the Roman Empire, the bedrock of many modern languages, and essential to European history and culture. Wander through any large city in Europe, and you’re likely to come across Latin on monuments and in mottos. Flick through a book or a newspaper, and you might see it: status quo, alter ego, carpe diem, quid pro quo, ad hoc, alibi, bonafide…

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LatinTutorial Mini Review: Latin Grammar Made Accessible

LatinTutorial

Rating 5.0
★★★★★
Price:

Free

Summary

Latin grammar has a reputation for being challenging, but the YouTube channel LatinTutorial sets out to make it simple. It starts off with the absolute basics – what is a noun, adjective, and verb? – and works its way up to the covering declensions, cases, and moods in detail. There are over 200 videos and the channel is regularly updated.

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SPQR Latin Mini-Review: An App-Based Latin Reader

SPQR Latin

Rating 4.5
★★★★
★
★
Price:

$4.49

Summary

SPQR Latin contains an extensive range of Latin texts for you to read, ranging from Medieval Latin one such as Bede to the famous Classical Latin works of Cicero and Caesar. It also has a built-in dictionary, a couple of textbooks so you can double-check your grammar, grammar quizzes, and flashcards. As well as using the app’s ready-made flashcard sets (which include options for British GCSE and A-Level syllabi), you can create your own ones.

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Early Indo-European Online Mini Review: Translation-Heavy

Early Indo-European Online

Rating 3.0
★★★★★
Price:

Free

Summary

The University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center offers 10-lesson classes in Albanian, Armenian, Armenian – Romanized, Baltic, Old English, Old French, Gothic, Classic Greek, New Testament Greek, Hittite, Old Iranian, Old Irish, Latin, Old Norse, Old Russian, Sanskrit, Old Slavonic, and Tocharian. They are focused on translation and can be dull but will support you through reading short extracts from the classics.

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