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Speaky Review: Better Than Other Language Exchange Apps?

Quick Review

3.7

Summary

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.

Community

There are some dedicated language learners on Speaky but not as many as similar apps.

Features

The platform is easy to use but lacks advanced features.

Value

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.

Languages

There are over 100 languages on Speaky. These include popular languages like Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, etc.

Price

The basic features on Speaky are free to use. A premium membership is available for a subscription.

1-month Subscription	$5.99/month
6-month Subscription	$4.83/month
12-month Subscription	$3.91/month

Visit Speaky

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By Brian Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Belarusian Bengali Bulgarian Cantonese Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Filipino Finnish French German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Kurdish Latin Latvian Lithuanian Malay Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Pashto Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Thai Turkish Ukranian Urdu Vietnamese

HiNative Review: Useful But Not Exceptional Q&A App

Quick Review

3.7

Summary

HiNative is a Q&A app for language learners that want to have questions answered by native speakers. It’s available for iOS, Android and desktop, and it has over three million registered users. A free version is available that offers the basic features of the app.

Features

The app is pretty basic, but it works.

Features

Many users are very helpful, but not all questions receive intelligent responses.

Value

The basic functions of the app are available for free, but you’ll need to pay for audio or video features.

I Like…

The community is active. Most of my questions received quick responses.

The points system is rewarding.

The free version is very useful.

I DON’T LIKE…

Many of the questions in my feed were unanswerable.

The community could be better.

Price

The basic features of HiNative are free to use. A premium subscription is available for $5.68/month paid monthly, or $4.96/month paid annually (a $59.63 payment).

Languages

HiNative supports just about any language.

Visit HiNative

(more…)

By Nick Norwegian

9 Best Podcasts For Learning Norwegian In 2020

Norwegian is spoken by more than 6 million people worldwide, so if you’re attempting to learn Norwegian, you certainly won’t be alone. While the Germanic language shares a lot of similarities with English, that won’t necessarily make it an easy language for you to learn immediately. Learning any language takes a good degree of patience and practice. Thankfully, there are quite a few language-learning resources available to help you in your endeavor. One such resource is podcasts.

Language-learning podcasts are a nice complement to a more formalized language-learning course, as they’re easy to listen to anywhere, any time, and they’re often either free or very budget-friendly.

Want to check out some Norwegian language podcasts? Consider one of these nine. (more…)

By Brian Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Bengali Bulgarian Cantonese Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Kurdish Latin Latvian Lithuanian Malay Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Thai Turkish Ukranian Urdu Vietnamese

Tandem Review: A Tinder-esque Language Exchange App?

Quick Review

4.7

Summary

Tandem is a popular language exchange app with over one million active users. It’s available for iOS and Android and aims to bring language learners from all over the world together. It’s largely centered around its chat capabilities and language tools that facilitate communication, but there is also a tutoring service offered in the app.

Community

There are lots of active language learners, especially those looking to pair with native English speakers.

Features

The interface is intuitive and the language tools are simple and effective, though you’ll quickly run out of free translations.

Value

The free version is all most people will need. Tandem Pro doesn’t add a ton of extra value.

I Like…

There are plenty of language partners

The interface is easy to use and attractive

The free version offers a lot of value

I DON’T LIKE…

You’ll need to use other learning resources as well

Price

There is a limited free version of Tandem and a pro version available at $6.99 for one month, $3.99/month for three months, and $2.92/month for a year’s subscription.

Languages

There are over 160 languages offered on Tandem.

Visit Tandem

(more…)

By Magdalena Azerbaijani Arabic Armenian Bengali Cantonese Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Farsi Filipino Finnish French German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latin Malay Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Thai Turkish Ukranian Urdu Vietnamese

Mango Languages Review – Pretty Good For Beginners

Quick Review

3.5

Summary

Mango Languages is a pretty good resource with numerous languages available along with their regional variations. It’ll work the best for beginners or for those interested in studying a few languages at the same time. Anybody past the intermediate level won’t find Mango Languages very useful.

Quality

It is well designed, has a beautiful interface, and is intuitive to use.

Thoroughness

There are some gaps in terms of writing and grammar, along with a lack of materials for intermediate or higher level students.

Value

The price is fair and will give you access to materials for over 70 languages.

I Like…

It’s very easy to use and has a slick design.

The intense drilling of useful real life sentences and words during lessons will really help you remember them.

Cultural and grammar notes incorporated in the lessons are well-prepared to help you understand the language you’re learning better.

The subscription gives you access to over 70 languages.

I DON’T LIKE…

Most courses finish around the intermediate level with some less popular languages ending before that.

There’s not enough grammar practice.

During drilling, when a student is prompted to complete a task such as coming up with an appropriate translation of a sentence, the command is read out loud. Listening to someone repeat very similar commands over and over again is tedious.

The Google Translate plugin is a rather lazy and disappointing way to give students answers about words or sentences they’d like to translate.

Price

A subscription to Mango Languages costs $7.99/mo for one language or $17.99/mo for all languages.

Visit Mango Languages

Alternatives: Babbel and Lingodeer are somewhat similar but a bit better, while Duolingo is free.

(more…)

By Brian French Danish Dutch English German Indonesian Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish Swedish Turkish

Babbel Review – Not Groundbreaking But Good, Trusted Courses

Quick Review

4.2

Summary

Babbel is an online language-learning platform with over 1 million active users. It’s available on the web, for iOS, and for Android. The app aims to get learners to a conversational level as quickly as possible through the use of a variety of exercises and spaced repetition for review. The courses are well put together and relatively inexpensive; there are 14 different languages available.

Quality

It’s well-designed and the content is immediately useful.

Thoroughness

The material provided is effective and covers a lot, but isn’t ideal for advanced levels.

Value

The price is relatively low for what’s offered, but you’ll have to purchase each language separately.

I Like…

The content is practical for real-life use

It’s easy to use

The lessons are fairly short

I DON’T LIKE…

The exercises can get repetitive

The review exercises don’t include grammar concepts

Speech recognition isn’t the best way to learn pronunciation

Price

Babbel uses a recurring subscription model and offers a 20-day money-back guarantee. Price per month depends on the length of the subscription and only includes access to one language.

Monthly – $12.95/mo
Every 3 Months – $8.95/mo
Every 6 Months – $7.45/mo
Every year – $6.95/mo

Languages: Babbel offers courses for 14 different languages: Dutch, Danish, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Spanish and Turkish.

Visit Babbel

(more…)

By Alex Afrikaans Arabic Armenian Belarusian Bulgarian Cantonese Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latin Latvian Lithuanian Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swedish Turkish Ukranian Vietnamese

Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow Vocab

Quick Review

4.2

Summary

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

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

Although you aren’t given any explanations, Clozemaster’s huge database of sentences allows you to learn words in context.

Value

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 are 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.

The usefulness is primarily limited to learning vocabulary, so you’ll need to use additional resources alongside Clozemaster.

Not very suitable for beginners.

Price

The free version is very useful, but you can upgrade to a pro account for $8/month or $60/year.

visit clozemaster

(more…)

By Brian Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Bengali Bulgarian Cantonese Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Filipino Finnish French German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latin Latvian Lithuanian Malay Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Thai Turkish Ukranian Urdu Vietnamese

HelloTalk Review – Make Friends & Practice Languages

Quick Review

4.5

Summary

HelloTalk is a mobile app for language learners interested in language exchange. It facilitates communication between native speakers and those learning their language with the use of built-in language tools. It also offers audio lessons in 10 languages as part of a separate subscription.

Community

There’s an active community of dedicated learners, but you’ll have to do some searching.

Features

The app is easy to use and the language tools are helpful, but you could end up relying on google translate.

Value

The app is easy to use and the language tools are helpful, but you could end up relying on google translate.

I Like…

It’s exciting to practice communicating with real people

The built-in language tools are helpful

It’s easy to pick up and put down whenever you like

I DON’T LIKE…

It’s too easy to rely on google translate
It can be hard to find good partners
The paid audio lessons probably aren’t worth it

Languages: There are over 150 languages supported for language exchange, and there are audio lessons for 10 languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic, and Portuguese.

Price

The basic features of HelloTalk are free. Audio lessons require a separate subscription after a short trial period.

HelloTalk VIP is available for:

$4.99/month
$2.17/month (12-month contract)
$124.99 for lifetime access

The HelloTalk audio lessons are available for a one-year subscription at prices ranging from $99 to $119 depending on the language.

visit hellotalk

(more…)

By Brian Spanish Arabic Czech Danish Dutch English French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latin Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Swahili Swedish Turkish Ukranian Vietnamese

Duolingo Review: Useful But Not Sufficient – 2 Language Learners Test It (With Video)

Quick Review

3.7

Summary

Duolingo is a super popular free language-learning app. It’s available for desktop as well as mobile and offers over 90 different language courses in over 20 different languages — there are currently 35 languages with English instruction. The Duolingo approach is gamified and easy to use, but the bite-sized lessons don’t offer much in the way of in-depth practice. The Duolingo tag line is “Learn a language in just five minutes a day.”

Quality

It’s easy and fun to use, but some pronunciation and grammar instruction is of low quality, especially for Asian languages.

Thoroughness

The app works well for learning the basics, but there’s no speaking practice and grammar instruction is limited.

Value

It’s a lot of content for free, but you’ll need to use supplementary resources.

I Like…

The short lessons are ideal for quick, convenient practice

The game-like features make the exercises engaging and fun

The community aspect is motivating

I DON’T LIKE…

There’s no speaking element

Grammar instruction isn’t part of the lessons

Text-to-speech audio is sometimes low quality

Languages: Duolingo offers 35 language courses with English instruction, three of which are constructed languages. Courses are available in most popular languages, including Spanish, French, German, etc.

Price

Duolingo is totally free. Duolingo Plus offers a few additional features and is available for:

$9.99/month (paid monthly)
$7.99/month (six-month subscription)
$6.99/month (12-month subscription)

visit duolingo

(more…)

By Brian French Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Belarusian Bengali Bulgarian Cantonese Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Farsi Filipino Finnish German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Kurdish Latin Latvian Lithuanian Malay Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Ojibwe Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Thai Turkish Twi Ukranian Urdu Vietnamese

Memrise Review – Useful But Don’t Overuse It

Quick Review

4

Summary

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

The mobile app looks great and is easy to use, but the website is clunky. Works very well for memorization.

Thoroughness

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

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

Languages

There are currently official Memrise courses for 21 languages.

Among others, these include: Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Italian, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Russian.

If you count the user-generated courses, the list of languages is nearly endless.

Price

For the full version of Memrise, the subscription prices are:

$8.99/monthly
$59.99/annually
$99.99 – lifetime subscription

Memrise also offers a ton of content for free. User-created content is available on their sister site, Decks, and signing up for a free account with Memrise automatically gives you access to limited versions of their official courses.

Visit Memrise

(more…)

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