Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow Vocab

Clozemaster

Rating 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 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 $8/month or $60/year.

visit clozemaster

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.

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HelloTalk Review – Make Friends & Practice Languages

HelloTalk

Rating 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.

Quality 5.0

★★★★★

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

Thoroughness 4.0

★★★★★

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

Value 4.5

★★★★

★

Both the basic and VIP membership provide great value. The paid audio lessons probably aren’t worth it however.

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

Price

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

HelloTalk VIP is available for:

$6.99/month and $45.99/year or $175.00 for lifetime access

visit hellotalk

Learning a new language when you’re nowhere near other speakers of that language can be tricky. For example, I’m currently in Nepal and trying to learn Italian. I don’t exactly get a lot of opportunities to practice Italian here.

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Memrise Review – Useful But Don’t Overuse It

Memrise

Rating 4.0

★★★★★

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 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:

$8.99/monthly $59.99/annually $119.99 – lifetime subscription

Signing up for a free account with Memrise automatically gives you access to limited versions of their official courses.

Visit Memrise

What do you get when a Grand Master of Memory and a Princeton neuroscientist team up to create a language learning app?

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uTalk Review – For Beginners Who Want To Learn Key Words & Phrases

uTalk

Rating 3.7

★★★

★

★★

Summary

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

$11.99 a month that can be cancelled anytime. 6 months costs $59.99 and for one year it is $99.99.

VISIT UTALK

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.

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RomanianPod101 – Better as a Supplementary Resource

RomanianPod101

Rating 4.0

★★★★★

Summary

RomanianPod101 offers audio and video lessons (though they’re mostly audio) for learning Romanian. 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 Romanian, rather than a standalone course.

Quality 4.0

★★★★★

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

Thoroughness 4.0

★★★★★

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

Value 4.0

★★★★★

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: $4/mo Premium: $10/mo Premium Plus: $23/mo

Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 25% on a subscription to RomanianPod101.

Visit RomanianPod101

Here at All Language Resources, we take great pride in writing comprehensive reviews of language learning resources.

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Transparent Language Review – Not Exciting, But Language Offering Is So Vast That You May Need It

Transparent Language

Rating 2.3

★★

★

★★★

Summary

Transparent Language markets itself as “the most complete language-learning system for independent learners.” While there are lots of different exercises for you to work through in their Essentials Course, I thought that the material wasn’t all that helpful and that it got very repetitive. Although the courses might not be all that useful or in-depth, with over a hundred languages on offer it might be worth checking out if you want to learn the very basics of a more obscure language such as Buriat, Kazakh or Turkmen.

Quality 2.5

★★

★

★★★

While the exercises are for the most part well-designed, diverse and easy to use, it is the core material itself that I found lacking.

Thoroughness 2.0

★★★★★

I hardly came across any explanations at all; practice was almost exclusively memorizing words and phrases.

Value 2.5

★★

★

★★★

I would only consider using if I was studying a very rare language.

I Like

I really like the fact that they offer up courses in languages that are usually overlooked.
It’s pretty well-designed, easy to use and has lots of different activities to work through.

I Don’t Like

The core material is severely lacking in my opinion; it’s hard for me to imagine you’ll learn much grammar or how to form even a basic sentence yourself.
It gets very repetitive and so I didn’t find it that fun to work through.
You learn virtually nothing about the different cultural contexts of the languages you’re learning.
Their teaching methodology was the biggest issue for me, leaving you memorizing lots of words and phrases in isolation.

Price

There is a free two-week trial period for you to try it out. Otherwise, it is $24.95 per month or $149.95 for a whole year if you just select one language. If you want access to all of the languages it is then $49.95 per month and $249.95 a year.

Visit Transparent Language

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