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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 Nick Persian

The 7 Best Podcasts to Learn Persian (Farsi) in 2020

Persian, sometimes called Farsi, is a very important language to learn if you plan to travel in or work in the Middle East or Central Asia. It is one of the world’s 20 most widely spoken first languages, with more than 60 million native speakers and another 50 million secondary speakers.

Not only will learning Persian help you to better communicate with all of those people who speak it as their first or second language, but it will also help you to understand the culture, history and current events of the Middle East and Central Asia.

If you’re learning Persian in an in-person class or in an online course, then listening to podcasts can be an excellent complement to your current language-learning efforts. Podcasts are available on a wide range of platforms and are often free, and you can listen to them any time, anywhere, making accelerating your language learning that much easier.

Check out these seven Persian podcasts for more. (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.

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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

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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…)

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 Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean 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

uTalk Review – Learn Set Phrases But Not A Language

Quick Review

3.2

Summary

uTalk is a software program and mobile app offering learning material in over 140 languages. Its approach is based on learning set keywords and phrases through gameplay. It covers a wide range of set phrases and offers pronunciation practice. It does not offer any in-depth language instruction or grammar.
uTalk is most useful for people who want to learn key phrases in a new language and aren’t interested in a more comprehensive understanding.

Quality

The app is very user-friendly, and the content is mostly useful, but the features are limited.

Thoroughness

The opportunities for focused practice are somewhat lacking.

Value

The price is very low, and there’s a decent amount of content, but there are more time-efficient ways to learn.

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.

I’m not a fan of learning a bunch of set phrases. I’d prefer some instruction related to grammar and sentence construction.

Price

$2.99/month on a monthly basis and can be canceled at any time
$1.67/month for a year-long subscription
$1.00/month for a two-year subscription

*This is the price for the more popular languages like Spanish, German, Arabic, etc. Less common languages such as Afrikaans and Tibetan cost slightly more.

VISIT UTALK

(more…)

By Nick Persian

PersianPod101 – Better as a Supplemental Resource

Quick Review

4

Summary:

PersianPod101 offers audio and video lessons (though they’re mostly audio) for learning Persian. They’re similar to a podcast with two hosts teaching the language with the help of natural dialogues. They take the time to explain key grammar points, vocabulary, interesting cultural information, and so on. Their tends to be more content for beginners and the lesson structure could be improved. As such, it’s better as a supplementary tool for improving your Persian, rather than a standalone course.

Quality

The lessons are generally well-made, though quality can vary depending on when it was added.

Thoroughnes

Although there’s a lot of content, it’s not structured particularly well.

Value

Good value for a low cost.

I Like…

It’s extremely useful for getting extra listening practice.

They teach using natural dialogues, while explaining important grammar, vocabulary, and interesting cultural information.

As you move up levels, English is used less.

I DON’T LIKE…

Too much English is used in the lessons.

The platform can be confusing to navigate and the recommended lesson pathways aren’t always the best.

Although there are lots of extra features, only a few of them are actually useful.

Price

There are many subscription lengths available which lower the cost. But, a one-month subscription costs:

Basic: $8/mo
Premium: $25/mo
Premium Plus: $47/mo

Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 25% on a subscription to PersianPod101.

Visit PersianPod101

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By Magdalena English Afrikaans Arabic Bulgarian Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Mandarin Chinese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swedish Turkish Ukranian Vietnamese

Mondly Review – Far From My First Choice For Learning A Language

Quick Review

2.7

Summary:

Mondly is a below average online language learning resource. It does some things right and other things poorly. It’s pretty cheap, and a decent enough crash course that could help you before a trip abroad. Still, it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Quality

Both the interface and the course itself could be designed better.

Thoroughness

It’s decent for learning vocabulary but a lot of material isn’t explained very well.

Value

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 and won’t help you use the language.

The order of lessons and topics isn’t very well thought out.

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 ($4/mo) for one language
$47.99 per year ($4/mo) for all languages

Strangely, I was able to access multiple languages even though I only signed up for one month at $9.99.

Visit Mondly

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