Reviews of Mandarin Chinese Online Language Learning Resources
- 17 Minute Languages Review: I Wouldn’t Recommend Using It
17 Minute Languages
Summary
17 Minute Languages is a language-learning program that uses spaced repetition and native-speaker audio to teach a wide variety of languages. In our opinion, the courses aren’t very engaging; the courses we tried included significant errors and didn’t offer any language-specific explanations. There are leaderboards for comparing your progress with other users and a language forum that’s available after four days of use.
Native speaker audio is the only thing that impressed me in the courses I tried; mistakes and glitches were many.
Explanations are lacking, which I found made some material misleading.
I think there are far better ways to spend your time and money studying a language.
I Like
- It uses native-speaker audio.
I Don’t Like
- I came across several bad translations.
- I didn’t find any helpful explanations.
- Site navigation wasn’t easy or enjoyable for me.
- I didn’t find the exercises engaging.
Price
The Beginner’s Course is $59.95 and the Complete Package is $97. For the whole package and all languages it is $197. There is a free 48-hour trial.
Superlearning technology? Fluency in 50 hours? Courses in 80 different languages? This is either the greatest language-learning resource of all time or it’s a painfully overpriced language site making absurd claims. Let’s find out.
…17 Minute Languages Review: I Wouldn’t Recommend Using ItRead More »
- Assimil Review — A Fresh Look at a Longstanding Resource
Assimil
Summary
Assimil is a French company that has been selling language-learning resources since 1929. Assimil materials are available as books, CDs, and downloadable e-courses; there are a variety of available course types, and instruction is based on interacting with phrases in the target language. The popular Sans Peine or, With Ease, courses are for absolute or false beginners that would like to reach the B2 level, but we think you’ll need to incorporate some other study materials to make this happen.
The language materials are reliable, the audio is high quality, and the program is fairly easy to use after a bit of practice.
Assimil is chock-full of explanations and thorough translations for all material, but you might need more to reach the advertised B2 level.
There are cheaper resources out there, but Assimil provides super solid instruction for the price.
I Like
- The audio quality is great.
- The culture notes add a lot of value.
- There are plenty of grammar explanations, but they aren’t a focus.
I Don’t Like
- The mobile app isn’t super intuitive.
- The pronunciation feedback method could be better.
- The exercises aren’t especially engaging.
Price
Prices vary by course. The Spanish e-course is €49.90, the Spanish With Ease book (no audio) is €26.90, and the Spanish With Ease Superpack is €74.90
Assimil Review — A Fresh Look at a Longstanding ResourceRead More »
- Busuu Review: Some Courses Are Better Than Others
Busuu
Summary
Busuu is a digital language-learning app with over 90 million registered users. The resource offers vocabulary and grammar practice through short, self-paced study exercises. It also has a social aspect that allows users to get writing and pronunciation feedback from native speakers. It is available on the web, iOS, and Android.
The layout is great, and the quality for non-Asian languages is decent, but there were significant errors in the Chinese course.
It has some good explanations but doesn’t often offer much in the way of in-depth explanations.
Busuu is relatively inexpensive, but there are more thorough and efficient resources out there.
I Like
- The layout is easy to use and engaging
- The conversation lessons are especially useful
- The social feature is great
I Don’t Like
- Translations aren’t provided for some exercises.
- The Chinese course is low-quality.
- The grammar explanations and practice could be better.
Price
Premium Subscriptions
One month: $13.95
Six months: $50.70 ($8.45/month)
One Year: $40.70 ($3.48/month)What Is Busuu?
Boasting a user base of over 90 million, Busuu is a heavyweight in the digital language-learning landscape. It was launched in 2008 and has remained a popular and relatively low-cost option for language learners.
…Busuu Review: Some Courses Are Better Than OthersRead More »
- Chinese For Us Review – Comprehensive and Affordable Courses
Chinese For Us
Summary
ChineseFor.Us has impressively well-made online Chinese courses. The content is explained extremely well, in a simple manner, and with a lot of depth. Although they don’t yet offer courses for intermediate and higher levels, the beginner content is excellent.
Every aspect is done really well.
The courses are as comprehensive as you’ll find.
Very affordable given the high-quality and comprehensive courses.
I Like
- The most in-depth courses you’ll find anywhere online. No course will give you as solid of a foundation for learning Chinese as ChineseFor.Us.
- The videos and quizzes are very well-made. It’s clear that they put in the effort to make a quality product.
- It’s very affordable, especially if you’re willing to commit to a six-month plan. A subscription gives you access to all courses.
I Don’t Like
- The content may be overly covered. For a beginner, it may be better to learn some topics “well enough” instead of mastering every detail.
- If you’re just looking to pass an HSK test, some other courses might get you there faster but won’t give you as strong of a foundation.
Price
A subscription to ChineseFor.Us costs $24.99/month. If you commit to six-months up front this falls to $9.99/month. A one-year subscription would cost $8.99/month.
ChineseFor.Us is a newer site offering online Chinese courses. I’m very excited to see how this site comes together in the future. If they continue to put out as high of quality content as they have so far, it could easily become the go-to resource for learning Chinese online.
…Chinese For Us Review – Comprehensive and Affordable CoursesRead More »
- Chinese Learn Online Review – Choose Another Course Instead
Chinese Learn Online
Summary
Chinese Learn Online is an online platform providing progressive Chinese lessons across several levels. The website and app feel very dated and in need of a major upgrade. It’s not necessarily a bad product, but it would be far from my top recommendation for people insterested in learning Chinese independently.
The website and app are both fairly poorly made and in need of an update.
A decent amount of content at various difficulty levels, but falls short of competitors.
Not priced any cheaper than other, better products.
I Like
- The lessons build on each other and can give you some structure.
- The amount of English used in lessons slowly becomes less and less as you move up.
- Lesson notes can provide helpful explanations.
I Don’t Like
- The lesson content is fairly average and forgettable. Lessons aren’t particularly interesting.
- The website and app design are quite bad. You won’t see corrections when you make a mistake on the exercises.
- There are better products priced similarly.
Price
The Self-Study Plan costs $19.95/month, $49.95/3-months, or $149.95/year. There’s also a guided plan with a teacher for $49.95/month, $119/3-months, or $399/year.
Chinese Learn Online (CLO) is an okay option for learning Mandarin. It wouldn’t be my first choice though. Lessons aren’t particularly interesting. The app and website are both pretty poorly designed and in need of an update. There isn’t as much content as several other resources.
…Chinese Learn Online Review – Choose Another Course InsteadRead More »
- Chinese Zero to Hero! Review – A Structured and Affordable Online Course
Chinese Zero to Hero!
Summary
I like Chinese Zero to Hero! a lot. Their courses cover HSK1-6 of the HSK Standard Course textbooks. While it’s not in-depth enough to be the only resource you use, few courses are. It’s a great option for those looking to add structure into their independent study routine or are preparing for the HSK tests. It isn’t meant to be a replacement for a textbook, but those with textbook phobia would really benefit from this course.
The videos are very well made while limiting the amount of English and using appropriate vocabulary.
You’ll need to use other resources for additional practice.
The Ultimate Bundle is absurdly good value.
I Like
- It’s perfect for someone like me that likes to study using lots of different resources but wants to add some structure.
- The videos are well-made with clear explanations. They don’t rely too heavily on pinyin or English.
- Great value at a low price.
- Covers everything from HSK1 to HSK6.
I Don’t Like
- If you don’t use other resources with this course, you’ll struggle to get enough practice.
- Works best used alongside the HSK Standard Course textbooks and not as a standalone course.
Price
There are several different options to buy the courses. You can choose the ultimate bundle which gives you access to everything for $219. The HSK 1 – HSK 4 bundle costs $134 and the HSK 5 – HSK 6 & Path to Fluency bundle costs $109.
You can also purchase each HSK level individually. HSK 1 & HSK 2 cost $29 each, HSK 3 costs $36, and HSK 4, 5, & 6 cost $64 each. As each HSK level is made up of a few smaller parts, those smaller parts can also be purchased separately.
I’m a big fan of Chinese Zero to Hero!
…Chinese Zero to Hero! Review – A Structured and Affordable Online CourseRead More »
- ChineseClass101 Review – Good But Not Great
ChineseClass101
Summary
ChineseClass101 is a pretty good option for people looking to get started learning Chinese. It’s one of the cheaper courses available and has quite a few lessons. It’s not actually my first choice (I prefer ChinesePod), but it’s not at all bad either.
ChineseClass101 isn’t the prettiest or ugliest, but it works as intended.
There are around 1300 lessons ranging from beginner to advanced levels.
The cost is on the cheaper side for Chinese learning resources.
I Like
- The lesson structure works quite well for beginner levels.
- Some of the extra features can be really useful.
- A lot of the lessons include interesting cultural information.
I Don’t Like
- The lesson structure doesn’t change as you move to higher levels; there’s too much English for advanced learners.
- Their marketing style just rubs me the wrong way.
Price
A basic subscription costs $4/month and the premium plan costs $23/month. The monthly cost goes down if you commit to a longer subscription up-front.
Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 25% on a subscription to ChineseClass101.
Initial Impression
I never would have tried ChineseClass101 if I hadn’t decided to start this website. I had a very negative initial impression and quickly wrote them off as not for me. I think this is because you can’t see prices or any of their actual lessons without signing up first. They also send you a free offer for one of their products, written in the style of a used car salesman, right after you sign up.
… - ChinesePod Review – Great for Improving Listening Comprehension
ChinesePod
Summary
ChinesePod is one of the most frequently recommended resources for learning Chinese, and it’s one of the best. There’s no better tool out there when it comes to improving listening comprehension. The lesson library is massive and covers diverse topics and seven difficulty levels. This review will look at both the Basic and Premium Plans.
The hosts explain things in a very clear and easy to understand manner
The lesson library goes back over a decade and lessons are added regularly
The price is competitive with other resources while providing tons of value
I Like
- You can find lessons on pretty much any topic imaginable.
- The Premium Plan includes lots of useful expansion exercises that’ll give you more than just listening practice.
- An appropriate amount of English to Chinese is used in each lesson. As you move up to higher levels, they’re taught entirely in Chinese.
- The hosts are great. They add lots of personality to the lessons.
I Don’t Like
- Access to the app is only included with the Premium Plan.
- It’s not a progressive course. You may want to follow a course or textbook to make sure to avoid random gaps in your knowledge.
Price
A subscription to the Basic Plan costs $14/month or $124/year. The Premium Plan costs $29/month or $249/year. The Premium+ Plan includes tutoring and is really overpriced. You should consider using italki instead if you’re looking for a teacher.
USE THE PROMO CODE “ALLLANG50” TO SAVE $50 ON AN ANNUAL PREMIUM PLAN.ChinesePod is one of the resources most often recommended to Mandarin learners for good reason. Improving your listening skills may be the most important skill in becoming fluent in Chinese. After all, being able to speak isn’t particularly helpful if you have no idea what the conversation is about.
…ChinesePod Review – Great for Improving Listening ComprehensionRead More »
- ChineseSkill Review – A Duolingo Style App for learning Chinese
ChineseSkill
Summary
ChineseSkill is one of the most popular apps for people getting started learning Chinese. There are 45 lessons based on a variety of topics. It’s not the most comprehensive course and it won’t be the only tool you need. But, if you’re a beginner and want a free introduction to Mandarin, it’s worth trying. However, I personally think that HelloChinese is a better overall app.
The app is really well designed and can be a fun way to begin learning Chinese.
It’s freemium, so it’s not really fair to expect it to cover everything you need to know.
It’s freemium and works well.
I Like
- Learning Chinese is intimidating, but ChineseSkill makes it easy to just get started without overthinking things too much.
- They incorporate reading, listening, grammar, and even some writing.
- It’s pretty fun to use.
I Don’t Like
- Pinyin drills are hidden away at the bottom of the menu.
- Not comprehensive enough for serious students.
Price
Freemium, with premium subscription plans from $14.99/month or lifetime access for a one-off fee of $159.99.
I used ChineseSkill when I started learning Chinese
The ChineseSkill app helped me a lot on my first steps in learning Chinese. When I moved to China I still wasn’t sure if I would put in the effort to learn Chinese or just try to get by without it. After all, I had spent a few years in Spanish speaking countries and it took me much longer than I expected to learn Spanish. So, I thought, if learning Spanish was so hard for me, do I really have a chance to learn Chinese? I knew I had to learn the basics but wasn’t sure if I wanted to put in the effort to actually become fluent.
…ChineseSkill Review – A Duolingo Style App for learning ChineseRead More »
- Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow Vocab
Clozemaster
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.
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.
Although you aren’t given any explanations, Clozemaster’s huge database of sentences allows you to learn words in context.
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.
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.
…Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow VocabRead More »
- Coffee Break Chinese Review – Is It Right For You?
Coffee Break Chinese
Summary
Coffee Break Chinese offers a free audio podcast and a premium course. You’ll learn Chinese alongside one of the hosts, Mark, who’s learning himself with the guidance of Crystal, the Chinese host. Together they create a fairly relaxing atmosphere in which to learn Chinese. As Coffee Break Chinese is still producing their first season, only beginners would benefit from this course.
The lessons are well structured – building up from words to sentences to dialogues.
As they’re still producing the first season, there’s a lot of material left to cover.
It’s great that you can listen to the audio lessons for free but the paid course is a bit expensive.
I Like
- The lessons are scaffolded very well. In a single lesson you’ll go from learning new words to being able to put those words together into a full dialogue.
- It’s less intimidating than other Chinese learning resources which will better suit a certain type of learner.
- The audio version of the lessons are completely free.
I Don’t Like
- I think serious learners could progress faster with other resources.
- You’ll need to supplement your learning with other materials.
Price
You can access all of the audio lessons for free as a podcast. The premium course costs $350.
Coffee Break Chinese isn’t for everyone but it wasn’t designed to be for everyone.
…Coffee Break Chinese Review – Is It Right For You?Read More »
- Cudoo Review — I Wouldn’t Even Use it if it Were Free
Cudoo
Summary
Cudoo is an online learning platform that offers courses in over 160 languages. The platform also offers courses teaching soft skills and other professional development courses. Certificates are available upon course completion, and courses are provided to libraries and non-profits for free. We feel that the quality of the language courses is quite low, and that the prices are relatively high.
It’s nice to have native speaker audio, but I personally found the course to offer very little learning potential.
The course didn’t cover everything listed under “Course Content” and offers no explanations.
This course is way overpriced in my opinion. I wouldn’t even use it if it were free.
I Like
- Audio by a variety of native speakers.
I Don’t Like
- I wanted more explanations
- Practice opportunities felt severely limited
- I found the material unengaging
- Content doesn’t build on itself logically.
Price
Price varies by course, from $4.99 to $24.99, with language bundles costing up to $199.
This seems like a reasonable list of goals, depending on the meaning of “…and more!” even if it is a little bit light for the $25 price tag.
…Cudoo Review — I Wouldn’t Even Use it if it Were FreeRead More »
- Drops App Review – Decent As A Supplementary Resource
Drops App
Summary
Drops is a phone app for iPhone and Android that covers 33 languages. Daily games test the user on thousands of vocabulary words, and many of these words are ideal for everyday use. Drops has an entertaining, user-friendly interface, but it also lacks grammar lessons, and it works better for some languages than others. For anyone looking to supplement their vocab lessons, this app is worth considering; however, the free version might be more worthwhile than the paid version.
Though cute and easy to use, some visuals are hard to distinguish.
Drops will teach you thousands of words and phrases, from transport and hobbies to astronomy and spices. Some languages, such as Japanese, have extra modules for culturally specific vocabulary.
The free app is a great supplementary tool to help round out your vocabulary, but the paid app doesn’t offer many useful extras.
I Like
- The daily reminders keep me accountable.
- If you already know a word, you have the option of swiping up and removing it from your lessons.
- Though the app works better for some languages, the sheer amount of languages is a plus.
I Don’t Like
- It can be difficult to tell certain images apart, which means you’ll likely identify them incorrectly during your review.
- Some of the categories seem to include random, unrelated words.
- In languages where a noun’s grammatical gender or case isn’t obvious from the article, you won’t learn that information.
- Drops only teaches you vocabulary, not grammar.
Price
A monthly subscription costs $9.99, a yearly subscription is $69.99, and a lifetime subscription is $159.99. You can use the app up to five minutes every ten hours for free.
I’d previously heard about Drops on Reddit, where it achieved rave reviews and some pointed criticism.
…Drops App Review – Decent As A Supplementary ResourceRead More »
- Du Chinese Review: Learn With Interesting Content, And App’s User Interface Is Top-notch
Du Chinese
Summary
Du Chinese is one of the best resources for learning Chinese. This app will help you to improve your Chinese reading skills as well as listening comprehension. There are articles across six different levels – from Beginner to Master. The design of this app is absurdly good, making it exceptionally easy to use. The biggest weakness is that new content isn’t added frequently enough.
Amazingly high-quality with lots of useful features.
New articles are added fairly slowly, but they age well.
You can read some articles for free.
I Like
- The design is superb, and it’s loaded with useful features. I love how it uses highlighted words to synchronize the audio playback to the text.
- The articles cover interesting content and remain relevant for months after release.
- Articles can be downloaded for offline use.
I Don’t Like
- Content isn’t added frequently enough. For most levels, a new article is only added about once per week.
- Content is added even less frequently for Advanced and Master levels.
Price
A subscription to Du Chinese costs $14.99/month. A six-month plan costs $89.99. A one-year subscription would cost $179.99/month. There is also a limited selection of lessons available for free.
The Du Chinese app is quite possibly the best-designed app out there for learning Chinese. I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best Chinese-learning app overall, but the developers really did an outstanding job.
…Du Chinese Review: Learn With Interesting Content, And App’s User Interface Is Top-notchRead More »
- Duolingo Chinese Review – Free, But Still Not Worth Using
Duolingo Chinese
Summary
Duolingo is one of the most popular tools for learning a language and they finally released their Chinese course. Unfortunately, it’s just not very good. They fail to provide a useful course in every area except one, motivating students to continue studying. If you’re serious about learning Chinese, don’t waste your time with Duolingo.
Duolingo is beautifully designed but the lessons are terrible.
The material is covered very poorly without much for explanations.
It’s free, but your time is valuable.
I Like
- The gamification aspects and quick lessons provides enough of a push to get people to study when they might not otherwise want to.
- It’s free.
- A clean and technically well-designed product.
I Don’t Like
- A large part of the lessons are spent matching sound to pinyin and pinyin to characters. Then, all of a sudden, they expect you to know the meaning of vocabulary without ever teaching it.
- Tones and pronunciation are pretty much completely ignored.
- Recordings for more than one character end up being very choppy and unnatural sounding.
- Even if you complete the course, I doubt you’ll be able to communicate in even the most basic ways.
- Translation exercises don’t include enough variations of correct answers.
Price
It’s completely free. You can pay $9.99 per month to remove the ads and get offline access.
It’s Here!
After years of waiting, the beta version of Chinese for English speakers course was finally released on Duolingo.
…Duolingo Chinese Review – Free, But Still Not Worth UsingRead More »
- Duolingo Review: Useful But Not Sufficient – 2 Language Learners Test It (With Video)
Duolingo
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.”
It’s easy and fun to use, but some pronunciation and grammar instruction is of low quality, especially for Asian languages.
The app works well for learning the basics, but there’s little speaking practice and grammar instruction is limited.
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 opportunity to create your own sentences
- Grammar instruction isn’t part of the lessons
- Text-to-speech audio is sometimes low quality
Price
Duolingo is totally free. Duolingo Plus offers a few additional features and is available for:
$12.99/month (paid monthly) $6.99/month (12-month subscription)
Their family plan is $119.99 a yearWhat is Duolingo?
Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning programs out there. It’s been on the scene since 2012 and offers instruction in 35 different languages. It even offers courses in three constructed languages (perfect for brushing up on your Esperanto or High Valyrian).
…Duolingo Review: Useful But Not Sufficient – 2 Language Learners Test It (With Video)Read More »
- Earworms Review – A Unique Idea But Lacks Substance
Earworms
Summary
Earworms is a unique language resource that relies on audio lessons mixed into music. The theory is that you will find the music catchy and thus remember your lessons easily. The whole idea behind Earworms is the psychological theory of memory association. You would associate some information with the music and thus remember it easily. However, the music used in these lessons will not appeal to everyone, at least it didn’t for me. Moreover, the lack of visual aid and no exercises to assess your skills make it harder. I would only recommend this for people who have failed to learn through other online resources or perhaps someone looking to learn a few phrases before a trip.
With a lack of exercises and visual aids, I can’t really say that it will prove to be a useful resource.
All the lessons are comprised of various phrases that they think will be useful for anyone willing to learn French. Unfortunately, they’re too shallow and poorly structured.
With such low utility, it is important to have a low-price tag. Fortunately, they have followed this idea and thus you won’t be losing out too much if you opt for this.
I Like
- The repetition of the phrases
- Some of the tracks aren’t half bad
I Don’t Like
- Tracks aren’t as catchy as I expected
- Lack of visual aids
- Complete absence of a testing system
Price
Each volume can be purchased as an mp3 download for £10.42 or £31.26.
When I first heard of Earworms, I was quite intrigued mostly because I know what it’s like to get a song stuck in my head. Compared to annoying lyrics, getting a new language stuck in there sounds pretty appealing.
…Earworms Review – A Unique Idea But Lacks SubstanceRead More »
- eChineseLearning Review – Not My First Choice
eChineseLearning
Summary
eChineseLearning is one of the oldest and most popular websites for finding an online Chinese tutor. It isn’t my first choice because it’s more expensive and less flexible than competitors, such as italki. It requires a longer-term commitment which for some might provide the motivation needed to stick with learning Chinese.
Teachers are professional with most teaching full-time.
The platform has a very old feel and lessons are taught on Skype.
Fairly expensive while lacking some flexibility of competitors.
I Like
- The teachers have a lot of experience and background in teaching.
- A commitment to taking weekly classes can prevent some people from abandoning their lessons.
- Lots of unique lesson topics.
I Don’t Like
- With some plans, if you miss a class one week, you lose it and won’t get a refund.
- There are other cheaper options for finding a Chinese tutor.
- It may be hard to schedule lessons only a week or less in advance. A popular teacher’s schedule may fill up quite fast.
Price
Lessons cost between $11-$25 per hour – depending on the number of lessons and length of the plan.
Get one week free if you sign up for a 3-month or longer package
Finding a Chinese tutor or language exchange partner is essential for learning Mandarin. You need conversation practice and feedback from a Native speaker. A skilled teacher can pinpoint your weak areas and significantly speed-up the learning process.
… - FluentU Review — More Expensive than the Competition
FluentU
Summary
FluentU is a language-learning platform that uses real-world videos and interactive subtitles to create an immersive learning experience. The videos take on a variety of forms, including commercials, music videos, interviews, and more. Accompanying quizzes give users the chance to practice language used in videos. FluentU offers videos in nine different languages and is available for iOS, Android, and on the web. Most of its content is beyond the beginner level, but it has videos for learners at all levels.
It’s very straightforward and easy to use, though not especially visually pleasing.
There is a wide variety of videos, but they’re short and disconnected. They also aren’t suitable for absolute beginners.
It is not the most complete way to study a language.
I Like
- The site is easy to navigate.
- Interacting with subtitles is easy.
- The videos are authentic and tied to practice activities.
- Exercises recognize Chinese and Japanese characters.
I Don’t Like
- Flashcards use robotic text-to-speech audio.
- Writing practice is limited, speaking practice is nonexistent.
- Practice activities aren’t very interesting.
- There’s no easy way to filter content by region.
Price
After a 14-day free trial, users can purchase one of two subscription options. Subscriptions grant access to all FluentU languages.
Monthly Subscription: $30/month
Annual Subscription: $360/year
FluentU Review — More Expensive than the CompetitionRead More »
- Fluenz Review – Academic Approach With Thorough Explanations
Fluenz
Summary
Fluenz is a language learning software that is available on most devices and offers offline functionality. Its primary objective is to simulate the one-on-one tutor experience with the use of video tutorials that break down the language you’re learning. There are ample explanations of language concepts in English, and the instruction is very thorough. It’s designed for the user with a bigger budget that’s looking for an in-depth and serious learning experience.
The activities are easy to use and very effective, but they can be a bit dry.
Extremely thorough. Frequent video tutorials and podcasts provide in-depth explanations and lots of practice.
Maybe not the fastest way to learn a language, but there’s a great deal of content. Made for those who prefer an academic approach.
I Like
- I found the thorough explanations to be very helpful.
- The video tutorials were engaging and added a lot of value.
- The podcasts are great for more passive practice.
I Don’t Like
- The pace of the activities can be slow.
- Some of the activities feel too repetitive.
- It’s expensive.
Price
Except for Mandarin, each language is available in five levels of difficulty. The full five-level course is $408 (currently discounted at $378). The Mandarin course contains three levels of difficulty and is available for $322 (currently $308). For each language, you can buy a smaller bundle of levels based on your ability.
Fluenz Review – Academic Approach With Thorough ExplanationsRead More »
- Glossika Review – Not Cheap But Useful
Glossika
Summary
Glossika has learning resources for over fifty languages that impressively range from Armenian and Czech to Icelandic and Tagalog. While not suitable for absolute beginners, lower intermediates could use the resource to familiarise themselves with sentences in their language of choice using Glossika´s intuitive approach. Listening to native speakers and repeating what they say can help learners to improve their comprehension skills and spoken fluency. While it is amazing that so many languages are included, learners would have to use numerous other resources alongside it. The cost is unjustifiably high.
The audio recordings are well made but other aspects could be improved
Glossika covers an impressive number of languages but their method requires you to intuitively learn
Polyglots may find the price to be fair but for most language learners it’s not
I Like
- There are lots of languages available, including many that are rarely covered by other resources.
- The subscription gives you access to all of the languages making it possible to study one language and review another at the same time.
- It will force you to speak the language which will improve your confidence and prosody.
I Don’t Like
- As all of the languages cover the exact same material, the diversity of the languages and cultures are reduced to a simple formula with no cultural context involved in their teaching.
- There are a fair amount of errors in the materials.
- The cost is excessively high compared to other resources.
- There are no explanations of grammar.
Price
You can try out Glossika´s learning method for free with their week-long trial. Their basic subscription is $16.99 a month. The monthly subscription costs $30.99 a month. The annual subscription costs $24.99 a month and will set you back 299.88$ in total.
Click the link below to save $5 on a subscription to Glossika.
Few resources cover as many different languages as Glossika does. Because of this, I was excited to try it out and see what it’s like to use.
… - GoEast Mandarin Online Course Review: Self-Study + Personal Instruction
GoEast Mandarin Online Course
Summary
GoEast Mandarin School offers in-person classes in Shanghai as well as online classes for both adults and kids. This review will focus on their online course, which offers a blended approach with self-study materials and interactive private 1-1 or group lessons. Their teachers are excellent and the self-study content is solid. Despite the initial price point being on the higher side, the comprehensive nature of the courses and the solid result may well justify the investment.
The teacher I worked with was fantastic and the self-study material is solid.
Their blended approach with lots of 1-1 classes ensures students master the content.
An investment in live, personalized instruction with expert teachers and a structured curriculum.
I Like
- The teacher I worked with was fantastic and obviously very experienced.
- The self-study curriculum gives you a chance to learn the material before practicing it with the instructor.
- A private lesson or a small group lesson (1-5 peers) after each self-study lesson ensures you master the material.
- This course gets you talking and fluent in Chinese way more than others.
I Don’t Like
- Private lessons come with a premium price. Group lessons offer a more budget-friendly option.
- The self-study material, while solid, isn’t exceptional.
- Pinyin precedes Hanzi in the exercises.
Price
GoEast Mandarin School is not cheap, but their flexible payment options make it doable for serious Chinese learners. Self-study modules are accessible at $99 per level. Personalized one-on-one classes range from $33 to $36 per hour, varying by package — a solid investment in your language growth. What I like is that they ease the financial load with monthly payment plans, allowing you to spread out the cost for a bit over $300 for 12 class hours of instruction each month.
If you’re looking to use GoEast without the 1-on-1 cost, their small group classes, averaging 3-4 students, are more wallet-friendly at approximately $20 to $24 per hour. Plus, they’ve made group courses even more accessible with an option for 4 payment installments.
Mention All Language Resources when purchasing a course and you get a free Business Chinese Course learning material for free (either Elementary or Intermediate Level) worth 69-99 USD.GoEast is a language school in Shanghai that teaches Mandarin to foreigners, both at their Shanghai campuses and through their online courses.
…GoEast Mandarin Online Course Review: Self-Study + Personal InstructionRead More »
- Hanbridge Mandarin Review – Online Chinese Classes
Hanbridge Mandarin
Summary
Hanbridge Mandarin is an online Chinese school. They offer 1-1 online classes with professional teachers. It’s a good option for people looking for a Chinese tutor, but it’s not my top choice. Personally, I decided to sign up for classes with TutorMing. Though, those who prefer a cheaper option without a commitment might prefer italki.
All teachers have BA degrees, many have masters, and all undergo training prior to teaching
Scheduling and cancelling classes is very easy to do online
Lessons are relatively expensive and inconvenient if your time zone doesn’t align well.
I Like
- My teacher made the lessons very interesting by utilizing multimedia. She was very skilled and avoided speaking English.
- There is a Chinese level assessment test for you to take prior to starting. This makes it easier for the teacher to assess your level.
- The lessons are fairly flexible. You’re able to cancel a class 12 hours before it starts.
I Don’t Like
- Lessons are only available between 8am and 10pm Chinese time.
- The cost is comparable to other online schools, but much more expensive than italki.
Price
The cost per lesson varies significantly depending on a variety of factors. It can be anywhere from $8-$45 per 50-minute class.
You can get quite far on your Chinese learning journey making use of apps, textbooks, websites, podcasts and other resources. But eventually, you’re going to want or need help from a Native Chinese speaker – whether that’s a language exchange partner or a teacher. Impact-Site-Verification: -675630570
…Hanbridge Mandarin Review – Online Chinese ClassesRead More »
- HelloChinese Review – Start Learning Chinese for Free
HelloChinese
Summary
You won’t find a better free option for learning Chinese than HelloChinese. This app has a ton of content and engaging exercises that will have you practicing Chinese immediately. It’s great for beginners and covers a lot of material; including reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, and even parts of Chinese culture. Not only that, it’s actually fun to use.
The app is extremely well designed. Everything runs smoothly, looks great, and is very effective.
It covers the beginner and elementary levels of Mandarin with a lot of depth.
It’s extremely good and it’s free.
I Like
- There is a lot of content that you can access for free. The explanations are clear and the content is engaging.
- There is a heavy emphasis on actually speaking Chinese. This isn’t an app that you can use passively.
- The role-play portion of the Premium+ plan where you dub a video is extremely silly, but not without purpose. You’ll find yourself recording and re-recording the dialogue trying to perfectly mimic the actors. It’s seriously fun.
I Don’t Like
- The lessons really only go up to around the elementary level, so if your Chinese level is higher, you’ll be better off using other resources.
- The Premium plan has a lot of potential, but it’s not quite there yet. For most people, I think they’d be better off sticking with the free plan, or paying extra for the Premium+ plan.
Price
The “Learn” portion of the app is completely free and includes a lot of material. The Premium plan costs $8.99/month, $19.99/3-months, or $59.99/year. The Premium+ plan costs $19.99/month, $89.99/6-months, or $149.99/year.
HelloChinese is the best free app to get started learning Chinese.
…HelloChinese Review – Start Learning Chinese for FreeRead More »
- HelloTalk Review – Make Friends & Practice Languages
HelloTalk
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.
There’s an active community of dedicated learners, but you’ll have to do some searching.
The app is easy to use and the language tools are helpful, but you could end up relying on google translate.
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
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.
…HelloTalk Review – Make Friends & Practice LanguagesRead More »
- HiNative Review: Useful But Not Exceptional Q&A App
HiNative
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.
The app is pretty basic, but it works.
Many users are very helpful, but not all questions receive intelligent responses.
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 $9.99/month paid monthly, or annually $34.99 payment
While learning a new language, one of the best resources available is other people. Native speakers are one of the most reliable sources for authoritative answers to your language questions. They know intuitively and deeply how the language is supposed to be used.
…HiNative Review: Useful But Not Exceptional Q&A AppRead More »
- italki Review – The Good, The Bad, & The Just Alright
italki
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.
You’ll find everyone from long-time professionals to brand new teachers.
The overall platform has tons of useful features but also some room for improvement.
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.
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.
…italki Review – The Good, The Bad, & The Just AlrightRead 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.
…LanguagePod101 — All Languages, Pod101 and Class101Read More »
- Learn Chinese From Movies – Review
Learn Chinese From Movies
Summary
Learn Chinese From Movies makes it easier for intermediate and advanced level students to start incorporating movies into their study routine. They add English, Simplified or Traditional Characters, and Pinyin subtitles to play over the top of various Chinese and international movies. I’ve found it to be helpful to bridge the gap between intermediate study materials and native movies.
Movies are streamed online from Youtube and other sources with subtitles added.
A decent selection of movies, but having more added would be nice.
Cheaper than other resources that use native videos to teach Chinese.
I Like
- I had difficulties finding movies with both English and Chinese subtitles in the past from other places. This makes it really quick and easy.
- Finding pinyin subtitles from other places is almost impossible.
- Solid variety of movie titles to choose from.
I Don’t Like
- The glossaries and transcripts are useless to me.
- The Premium Plan is terrible value.
- You have to give your payment information to access the free trial.
Price
A Basic subscription to Learn Chinese From Movies costs $8/month or $77/year. A Premium subscription costs $297/year and the only additional benefit is that you can download the glossary and transcripts.
Save $30 on a yearly subscription by using the promo code “ALR-30$-off-yearly”.
Get $30 off a one year subscription by using the coupon code “ALR-30$-off-yearly”.
Learn Chinese From Movies (LCFM) is a new Chinese learning resource that I’m pretty excited about. It hasn’t been around for long and has a lot of room to grow. But, even as it is now, I really like it.
… - Ling Review — Gamified Practice in Less Common Languages
Ling
Summary
Ling is a gamified language-learning app with courses on over 60 different languages. Practice happens through short themed lessons, making for convenient and entertaining study time. It isn’t the most comprehensive resource out there, especially for more popular languages, but it can make a decent way to get started with a less common language.
The app is easy to use and visually appealing, but I found some mistakes in the material.
There aren’t many explanations, and the materials are the same for each language, but practice is varied.
For many of its less common languages, there aren’t a lot of viable alternatives, but the price feels high.
I Like
- It uses native speaker audio.
- The activities are enjoyable and don’t become overly repetitive.
- It’s easy to use and is visually appealing.
I Don’t Like
- There are very few grammar explanations.
- There are no translations for individual words.
- Some activities can be buggy.
Price
Monthly is $8.99, Annual is $79.99, Lifetime is $149.99
Gamified learning is here to stay. The large pool of language-learning apps that leverage gamification in their courses is continually growing, and frankly, I’m happy about it.
…Ling Review — Gamified Practice in Less Common LanguagesRead More »
- Lingo Bus Review – Mandarin Lessons Designed For Kids
Lingo Bus
Summary
Lingo Bus is an online Chinese learning platform specifically designed for children between 5 and 12 years old. Their immersive online lessons, well-designed curriculum, engaging materials, and excellent teachers would make them my top choice for anyone interested in helping their child learn Mandarin.
They have clear learning targets with materials designed for kids.
The extra materials, both before and after the class, make Lingo Bus much more than just a tutoring company.
It’s not the cheapest option, but the price is very fair when you consider everything that’s included.
I Like
- Their focus on teaching Mandarin specifically to children leads to more appropriate and engaging lessons than competitors offer.
- The design of the curriculum with clear learning targets.
- The extra materials available both before and after the class.
- Skilled teachers that provide a comfortable and immersive environment.
I Don’t Like
- The price is fairly expensive though still reasonable.
Price
Each lesson costs $20 though discounts are available if you purchase lesson bundles.
Lingo Bus Review – Mandarin Lessons Designed For KidsRead More »
- Lingodeer Review – A Better Alternative To Duolingo, Busuu, Rosetta Stone, etc.
Last Updated on December 12, 2023.
Lingodeer
Summary
Lingodeer may not be as well known as other language learning apps, but it’s actually better and cheaper than most of them. You’ll practice the language by completing lots of different types of exercises. They also include plenty of grammar explanations and opportunities to review what you’ve studied. All in all, it’s one of the better options for getting started learning a language.
It has a great design and everything works well with only a few minor issues.
Not as thorough as some other courses but it’s good for what it is.
Quite a bit of content is free and the premium plan is very affordable.
I Like
- Lots of different exercise types in the lessons.
- Detailed grammar explanations.
- Clear audio recordings.
- Inexpensive!
I Don’t Like
- The content isn’t always ordered well with some unusual words thrown in too early.
- Not sufficient for developing oral communication skills.
Price
$14.99/mo, $39.99 for 3 months, $150.99 for a year. There’s also a lifetime option for $299.99. You may also occasionally find sales, such as the yearly rate dropping by 50% to $79.99.
Lingodeer Review – A Better Alternative To Duolingo, Busuu, Rosetta Stone, etc.Read More »
- LingQ Review – Extensive Reading Made Easy
LingQ
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.
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.
With the import function, users can choose to study almost anything they want.
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 $12.99/mo, $71.94/half-year, $107.88/year, $191.76/2-years; single-language lifetime membership costs $199
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.
… - Living Language Online Course Review – Not Very Good
Living Language Online Course
Summary
UPDATE – it appears that the online course Living Language no longer exists. This review covers the old course when it did exist. You can however find a series of books with this name available on amazon.
Though the information itself is useful, Living Language’s presentation reads more like a database than an educational/interactive tool.
Again, a lot of the information is there, but it’s scattered. Additionally, some of that information appears incorrect.
Cheaper options offer the same amount of content with more interactive features.
I Like
- You can hop around between levels and topics, including Beginner and Advanced materials.
- The subscription comes with a grammar guide, glossary, and forum access.
- There’s a decent variety of games, including some games I hadn’t played before.
I Don’t Like
- Although the games are fun, they get stale pretty quickly. It’s easy to guess at answers, thereby completing levels without really having learned.
- The system doesn’t keep track of your mistakes, so it’s hard to know what areas you need to improve in.
- I found several translation and presentation errors that made me question the rest of the material.
Price
An annual plan costs $150, and half a year costs $75. Three months is $50 and 1 month is $39.
An Overview of Living Language
Living Language offers you the opportunity to choose between over 20 languages. Once you pick your language, you’re taken to the home screen which has options for Essential, Intermediate, and Advanced categories. You can start with any of these options and jump back and forth between them.
…Living Language Online Course Review – Not Very GoodRead More »
- Mandarin Blueprint Review — A Unique Teaching Method
Mandarin Blueprint
Summary
Mandarin Blueprint is an online course for learning Mandarin Chinese. It teaches the language through videos and flashcards on the Anki flashcard app. It also makes use of the Hanzi Movie Method, which is a mnemonic memorization technique involving visualizations. The course is very thorough and designed for absolute beginners looking to build a solid foundation in Mandarin.
There’s some great teaching material, but the course relies on third-party resources like Google Slides and Anki.
The course is detailed enough to take absolute beginners to the intermediate level.
The initial phases are time-consuming, but serious learners will get a lot of value from the course.
I Like
- The Hanzi Movie Method is effective.
- The hosts are likeable and provide quality instruction.
- Native speaker audio includes male and female voices.
- The material is culturally aware.
I Don’t Like
- There is a lot of English explanation.
- The course progression is confusing at first.
- Most of the practice happens through Anki flashcards.
Price
There are three different options for purchasing Mandarin Blueprint:
One-Time: A single payment of $997 gives you full, lifetime access to everything. Subscription: A $175 for 6 months. There is also a 12 monthly payment option of $97.
What Is Mandarin Blueprint?
Mandarin Blueprint (MB) is a comprehensive resource for learning Mandarin Chinese. It teaches material mostly through video lessons and flashcards via Anki, a spaced repetition system (SRS) program.
…Mandarin Blueprint Review — A Unique Teaching MethodRead More »
- Mango Languages Review – Pretty Good For Beginners
Mango Languages
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.
It is well designed, has a beautiful interface, and is intuitive to use.
There are some gaps in terms of writing and grammar, along with a lack of materials for intermediate or higher level students.
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 $14.99 a month or 179.99 yearly.
Mango Languages has high-quality beginner to intermediate level lessons in tons of different languages.
…Mango Languages Review – Pretty Good For BeginnersRead More »
- Memrise Review – Useful But Don’t Overuse It
Memrise
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.
The mobile app looks great and is easy to use, but the website is clunky. Works very well for memorization.
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.
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.
What do you get when a Grand Master of Memory and a Princeton neuroscientist team up to create a language learning app?
… - Michel Thomas Method Review – Avoid At All Costs
Michel Thomas Method
Summary
One of the most famous language teaching courses out there, Michel Thomas is a household name. The platform advertises itself as “The method that works with your brain” and boasts a teaching method “with no books, exercises, memorizing or homework” in several of its course descriptions. It’s available in 18 languages with courses that have material suitable for absolute beginners. I tried out the French foundation course and found it to be severely lacking and as such cannot recommend it at all. You may, however, have more luck with the other language courses that they offer.
Very easy to use, and the audios are decent quality, but I found that Michel Thomas’ discouraging manner flustered students, which detracted from the content’s quality in my experience.
In my opinion, Michel Thomas doesn’t go into much depth and any explanations he offers up are just at a surface level.
I wouldn’t use these even if they were free due to Michel Thomas’ teaching style which ruined the material for me.
I Like
- Um…in all honesty I’m not sure if I enjoyed any of it!
I Don’t Like
- Michel Thomas never praises the students, often interrupts them and creates a negative learning environment.
- The pacing of the lessons often seems off to me and in certain places they feel very hurried.
- I thought all of the lessons were almost identical and so it got quite monotonous working through them.
Price
There are several different courses available with prices ranging from $11.99 to $100.
Before working my way through the French foundation course, I had never tried a Michel Thomas course despite hearing so much about it.
… - Mimic Method Review: Trying Out The Elemental Sounds Courses
Mimic Method
Summary
Created by Idahosa, the Mimic Method’s ‘Elemental Sounds Masters Classes’ are not your traditional type of language learning course as you won’t learn any grammar or vocabulary. The focus is instead on learning the elemental sounds of the language. This is because once you can conceptualise them, then you can train your ear to hear and understand them and afterwards train your mouth to produce and pronounce these sounds. Useful for both beginners and advanced learners, you would obviously need to use it in conjunction with a couple of other resources to progress in your target language.
Easy to use and navigate, the production quality is fine without being amazing.
Quite technical throughout most of the course, Idahosa thoroughly explains the method and sounds in each language.
Very expensive for what it is, I think it is as interesting take at learning pronunciation but you won’t get anything else from it.
I Like
- Some of the homework exercises are really interesting and quite unlike anything you’ll find on other language courses.
- Idahosa goes into quite a lot of depth on how to pronounce the different elemental sounds of each language. At the end of the course you will know all the different sounds from the language that you are learning.
- It was a fresh way of learning a language that I had never contemplated before
I Don’t Like
- I found the course to be very technical and while other people will surely find it interesting, it didn’t resonate so much with me unfortunately as it just wasn’t that fun to follow.
- You would certainly have to use the course alongside other learning resources which actually teach you the grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking and cultural context of your target language.
- You do not get much material for the high price that it costs.
Price
For lifetime access to a course, the Mimic Method website has slashed its cost from $394 to $197 although I am uncertain if it always stays that price.
Mimic Method Review: Trying Out The Elemental Sounds CoursesRead More »
- Mondly Review – Made Significant Improvements Made in 2022
Mondly
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.
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.
It’s decent for learning vocabulary, but I thought a lot of the material wasn’t explained very well.
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 ($4/mo) for one language and $99.99 for lifetime.
Mondly Review – Made Significant Improvements Made in 2022Read More »
- Ninchanese Review – Playing Games to Learn Chinese
Ninchanese
Summary
Ninchanese is one of the most unique resources for learning Chinese. It’s a mixture between a course and a game and manages to do quite well in both regards – being both fun and extensive. You’ll need to use a few other resources to cover a few gaps that Ninchanese has. However, it’s one of the best tools for learning Chinese that I’ve come across.
Works great as an app or online. I was pleasantly surprised by the speaking practice component.
Lessons go from absolute beginner all the way to an advanced level.
Extremely good value. $10/month is an absolute steal.
I Like
- The lessons are very thorough. You’ll learn new words, grammar, practice speaking, and listening.
- The lessons tie together very well based around a story. The vocabulary words you learn will be reinforced in other sections.
- It’s one of the most fun ways to study Chinese.
I Don’t Like
- The audio is recorded by text-to-speach. This is the biggest issue currently, but there are plans to add human recordings soon.
- You’ll want to use other resources for a few gaps like pronunciation and extra reading practice.
- Lessons can start slow and you may initially get demotivated in the “Learn Words” section. It’s worth pushing thru though.s
Price
You can try Ninchanese for free. A one-month subscription costs $10, a half-year costs $54, and a full year costs $96.
Use the promo code “ALR15OFF” to save 15% on a subscription to Ninchanese.
Use the coupon code “ALR15OFF” to get 15% off any plan.
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Or, in this case. Don’t judge an app based on the cat in the logo.
…Ninchanese Review – Playing Games to Learn ChineseRead More »
- Pimsleur Chinese review: 100% Focus on Speaking So You Can Learn to Speak Mandarin
Pimsleur Chinese
Summary
Pimsleur Chinese is one of the most popular and longest-standing resources out there for learning the Chinese language. Its courses place a strong emphasis on aural and verbal communication skills, paying less attention to grammar explanations and reading or writing skills.
The platform is extremely well designed and easy to use. The content seems to be of high quality at all levels.
Timely repetition and active practice work well, and lessons build on each other nicely, but the “intermediate fluency in 30 days” claim may be a stretch.
The subscription option provides good value for some, but there may be more efficient ways to learn some languages.
I Like
- The lessons are structured well and are an appropriate length.
- There are both male and female native speakers.
- Lessons build on each other nicely.
- The platform is easy to navigate and visually appealing.
I Don’t Like
- There’s very little visual content.
- Lesson speed isn’t customizable.
Price
Subscriptions of either $14.95/month or $19.95/month are available for courses with at least 60 lessons. Prices otherwise range from around $20 to over $500. All purchases come with a 7-day free trial.
The Pimsleur Chinese course is a language learning program that uses an audio-based approach to teach Mandarin Chinese. The course was developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, an expert in the field of language acquisition, and has been used by millions of people around the world to learn Chinese. The Pimsleur Chinese course is designed to help learners develop their listening and speaking skills through a series of interactive audio lessons. Each lesson focuses on a specific topic or situation, such as ordering food in a restaurant or asking for directions and includes a variety of language exercises to reinforce the material covered.
…Pimsleur Chinese review: 100% Focus on Speaking So You Can Learn to Speak MandarinRead More »
- Pimsleur Review — Learn While You… Do Just About Anything
Pimsleur
Summary
Pimsleur is one of the most popular and longest-standing resources out there for learning a foreign language. Its courses place a strong emphasis on aural and verbal communication skills, paying less attention to grammar explanations and reading or writing skills. There are over 50 language courses available with Pimsleur, and the bulk of the material is taught with audio lessons.
The platform is extremely well designed and easy to use. The content seems to be of high quality at all levels.
Timely repetition and active practice work well, and lessons build on each other nicely, but the “intermediate fluency in 30 days” claim may be a stretch.
The subscription option provides good value for some, but there may be more efficient ways to learn some languages.
I Like
- The lessons are structured well and are an appropriate length.
- There are both male and female native speakers.
- Lessons build on each other nicely.
- The platform is easy to navigate and visually appealing.
I Don’t Like
- There’s very little visual content.
- Lesson speed isn’t customizable.
Price
Subscriptions of either $14.95/month or $19.95/month are available for courses with at least 60 lessons. Prices otherwise range from around $20 to over $500. All purchases come with a 7-day free trial.
What is Pimsleur?
Frankly, it’s an institution. The name comes from linguist Paul Pimsleur, author of many books on language acquisition and applied linguistics, and developer of what is now known as the Pimsleur Method.
…Pimsleur Review — Learn While You… Do Just About AnythingRead More »
- Preply Review – Tutors Created Tailored Lesson Plans for You
Preply
Summary
Preply is an online educational platform that matches tutors with students. There are tutors on Preply offering instruction in a wide range of languages and other subjects. As a learner, you can find a tutor that works best for you by browsing their demo videos and filtering by price and rating. Each tutor’s teaching style is their own, but they all receive teacher trainings and resources to improve their style.
A little bit of everything. There are trained professionals with years of experience and tutors trying it out for the first time.
The platform is easy to use, and tutors who specialize in subjects beyond languages, such as math and music are available. Lots of supplementary resources help reinforcement of lessons.
There’s a huge range of prices and scheduling options, and tutors offer tailored lesson plans adapted to each student’s objectives and preferences.
I Like
- The number of available tutors is massive
- Searching for a tutor is easy
- Many tutors are very inexpensive
- Finding a tutor with a schedule that works is easy
I Don’t Like
- You have to purchase a package of hours ahead of time
- Teachers aren’t paid for trial lessons
Price
Each tutor sets their own price, but for most popular languages the average hourly price is around $15.
Exclusive 50% discount for ALR readers! Make sure to use our link to receive it.
With nearly every language-learning resource I’ve used, I run into the same problem. I don’t feel like I’m getting adequate speaking practice. I know from experience that learning a language academically and using it in the wild are two very different beasts.
…Preply Review – Tutors Created Tailored Lesson Plans for YouRead More »
- Rocket Chinese Review – Improved But Other Courses Are Better
Rocket Languages
Summary
In the past, Rocket Chinese was among the worst online language courses I’d tried. Fortunately, they’ve made massive improvements to their course and have improved on a lot of their weaknesses. So, you can try it and see if you like it, but I think there are better online Chinese courses.
Pretty detailed lessons with lots of practice opportunities.
Covers most parts of the language, but some of it isn’t done particularly well.
Your money wold be better spent elsewhere in my opinion.
I Like
- The audio lessons balance language explanations with activities that require engagement.
- There are lots of opportunities to practice what you’ve learned.
I Don’t Like
- The exercises get extremely repetitive and don’t always focus on the most important information.
- Other courses do a better job of teaching Chinese.
- Sometimes the lessons don’t seem to be very well planned out.
Price
Rocket Chinese costs $99.95 for level 1, $249.90 for levels 2 and 3, $259.90 for levels 1, 2, and 3.
When I first tried Rocket Chinese, it was easily one of the worst courses I had ever come across. I gave it less than 1 out of 5 stars, one of the lowest scores this site has ever seen.
…Rocket Chinese Review – Improved But Other Courses Are BetterRead More »
- Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese Review: Check Alternatives Before You Commit To It
Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese
Summary
Rosetta Stone is one of the most well-known resources for learning languages. It takes an immersive approach to teaching and is widely used by corporations and individuals alike. High levels of repetition and an absence of translations or explanations are hallmarks of the course. Rosetta Stone course could be most suitable for learners that don’t mind repetitive exercises and prefer to learn from pictures and context rather than translations and explanations. It’s probably not a good option for anyone wanting to significantly improve their speaking or writing skills, or those looking for an engaging course.
The platform is a bit clunky on desktop, but the material is accurate and presented clearly; lesson mechanics are fairly intuitive.
Without much opportunity to build your own sentences, I don’t think you’ll reach a conversational level with any notable speed.
Rosetta Stone’s Lifetime Subscription ($199 on sale) is quite attractive if you like the Rosetta Stone Method. Shorter subscriptions are quite reasonable, too.
I Like
- The audio quality is very good.
- Lessons progress naturally and logically.
I Don’t Like
- It’s repetitive and boring.
- You don’t get to generate your own sentences.
- Speech recognition doesn’t work very well.
- No grammar explanations in core material.
Price
A three-month subscription to one language is $35.97, which works out to be $11.99/month.
A year-long subscription to one course is $95.88, which is $7.99/month. Both of these subscriptions are automatically recurring.
Lifetime access to all Rosetta Stone language courses is available for $199.ALR Readers Exclusive Holiday Deal!! Get the Lifetime Subscription for 25 languages for $179 (everywhere else it’s $199 right now!). See details on the website.
Rosetta Stone Chinese is a language learning software program that is designed to teach Mandarin Chinese to beginners. It uses an immersive approach to language learning, which means that the program teaches new vocabulary and grammar through pictures, audio, and context, rather than providing translations. Rosetta Stone Chinese focuses heavily on pronunciation, using voice recognition technology to help learners improve their speaking skills. The program is designed to be interactive and engaging, with a variety of exercises and activities to reinforce learning. Rosetta Stone Chinese is available as a subscription service and can be accessed on a variety of devices including computers, smartphones, and tablets.
…Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese Review: Check Alternatives Before You Commit To ItRead More »
- Rosetta Stone Review — Updated and Improved…And Needs More Improvement
Rosetta Stone
Summary
Rosetta Stone is one of the most well-known resources for learning languages. It takes an immersive approach to teaching and is widely used by corporations and individuals alike. High levels of repetition and an absence of translations or explanations are hallmarks of the course. Rosetta Stone course could be most suitable for learners that don’t mind repetitive exercises and prefer to learn from pictures and context rather than translations and explanations. It’s probably not a good option for anyone wanting to significantly improve their speaking or writing skills, or those looking for an engaging course.
The platform is a bit clunky on desktop, but the material is accurate and presented clearly; lesson mechanics are fairly intuitive.
Without much opportunity to build your own sentences, I don’t think you’ll reach a conversational level with any notable speed.
Rosetta Stone’s Lifetime Subscription ($199 on sale) is quite attractive if you like the Rosetta Stone Method. Shorter subscriptions are quite reasonable, too.
I Like
- The audio quality is very good.
- Lessons progress naturally and logically.
I Don’t Like
- It’s repetitive and boring.
- You don’t get to generate your own sentences.
- Speech recognition doesn’t work very well.
- No grammar explanations in core material.
Price
A three-month subscription to one language is $35.97, which works out to be $11.99/month.
A year-long subscription to one course is $95.88, which is $7.99/month. Both of these subscriptions are automatically recurring.
Lifetime access to all Rosetta Stone language courses is available for $199.ALR Readers Exclusive Holiday Deal!! Get the Lifetime Subscription for 25 languages for $179 (everywhere else it’s $199 right now!). See details on the website.
Chances are, this isn’t the first time you’re hearing about Rosetta Stone for learning languages. The company has been hugely successful since its early start in the computer-assisted learning scene in 1992, and part of that is thanks to stellar advertising efforts.
…Rosetta Stone Review — Updated and Improved…And Needs More ImprovementRead More »
- Rype App Review: I Wouldn’t Recommend It To Anybody
Rype App
Summary
Rype is a resource that provides language learners with access to one-on-one lessons with teachers. According to its advertising, you’ll be able to “Learn anytime, anywhere, on-the-go.” Users purchase a subscription package that contains a certain number of lessons per month. The lessons are 30-minutes long and are easy to schedule.
The platform is very easy to use, but there aren’t many teacher details and lessons take place on Skype.
There seems to be a range of experience levels on Rype and a very small number of teachers.
The hourly rates are higher than similar online tutor options and you have to commit to a subscription.
I Like
- The interface is very easy to use.
- The 30-minute lesson length.
- A subscription grants access to lessons in all languages offered.
I Don’t Like
- There isn’t a lot of information provided on teachers.
- I don’t think the monthly subscription model is worth it.
- The selection of teachers for some languages is extremely limited.
Price
The price varies per subscription package and number of lessons each month. This ranges from $59.99-179.99.
The availability of online one-on-one language courses has skyrocketed in recent years, and it’s made it possible for just about anyone with an internet connection to find a suitable language tutor.
…Rype App Review: I Wouldn’t Recommend It To AnybodyRead More »
- Skritter Review: Solid Chinese and Japanese Writing Practice
Skritter
Summary
Skritter is a language app that teaches learners to write characters in Chinese and Japanese. It uses handwriting recognition technology in conjunction with a spaced repetition system to teach stroke order, meaning, and vocabulary. Users can choose from many pre-made study decks, including some from popular textbooks or programs. It’s also possible to create your own decks.
The app has a great design and quality content; the handwriting recognition isn’t perfect, but it’s rarely inaccurate.
It sets out to teach reading and writing and does a great job, but some additional explanations would be nice.
The SRS makes practice efficient and worthwhile, but some people may only want to pay for a month at a time.
I Like
- Native-speaker audio is high quality.
- The handwriting recognition works very well.
- The design and interface are great.
I Don’t Like
- It’s somewhat costly for a resource with a narrow focus.
- The review mechanics can be confusing at first.
Price
One Month $14.99
Six Months $59.99
One Year $99.99
Two Years $179.99
You can save 10% on any subscription by signing up with the link below.Skritter Review: Solid Chinese and Japanese Writing PracticeRead More »
- Speaky Review: Better Than Other Language Exchange Apps?
Speaky
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.
There are some dedicated language learners on Speaky but not as many as similar apps.
The platform is easy to use but lacks advanced features.
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.
Price
The basic features on Speaky are free to use. A premium membership is available for a subscription.
Speaky is a language exchange app. It facilitates exchange by allowing users to chat with others in the language they’re learning. Its function is pretty simple and straightforward — search for a partner with a reciprocal language combination and say hello.
…Speaky Review: Better Than Other Language Exchange Apps?Read More »
- Speechling Review – I Didn’t Know I Was Saying That Wrong!
Speechling
Summary
Speechling is a website and app that makes it easy to improve your speaking skills in several languages. The free version is an incredbily valuable resource that makes it easy to practice mimicking native speakers. The Unlimited Plan provides unlimited corrections of your recordings by a teacher.
Speachling makes it easy to improve your speaking rhythm and pronunciation.
Lots of different ways to practice speaking.
The free version is better than most paid resources and the paid version provides outstanding value.
I Like
- An excellent method to improve your speaking abilities and get feedback from a real teacher.
- Answer the Question, Describe the Image, and Freestyle mode are great for higher levels.
- You can switch languages at any time. I like seeing translations in my second language while studying my third language.
- Truly unlimited recordings with quick feedback.
I Don’t Like
- Absolute Beginners should learn the basics elsewhere first.
- You’ll need to learn how to make the sounds of your target language on your own.
- The amount of time given to record sentences can be too short.
Price
The Forever Free Plan is complete free. A monthly subscription to the Unlimited Plan costs $19.99 per month.
Click the link to save 10% on Speechling’s Unlimited Plan.
Speechling has quickly become one of my favorite language learning resources. The free version includes a ton of useful features and the premium plan is great value for the cost.
…Speechling Review – I Didn’t Know I Was Saying That Wrong!Read More »
- StoryLearning Chinese Uncovered Review
StoryLearning Chinese Uncovered
Summary
StoryLeaning Mandarin Chinese Uncovered comes from Olly Richards, the creator of the super popular polyglot blog. It’s quite a bit different than most courses as it revolves around a story. It can be a bit more challenging than other courses, as you begin reading somewhat long texts right off the bat. Overall, I found it to be a more fun way to approach language learning that will be great for some but not ideal for others.
The instruction is clear but can have too much information crammed into a single lesson.
You’ll practice every aspect of the language.
It has a pretty high price, but if you stick with it, you’ll get good value from it.
I Like
- Immersive narrative approach
- Comprehensive vocabulary, literacy, and culture lessons
- Qualified Chinese tutor to explain grammar concepts
- Introduction to Hanzi (Chinese writing system)
I Don’t Like
- Offers speaking activities, but no interactive software
- Pricier than many competing language learning programs
Price
A one-time purchase costs $297. There’s also a 7-day free trial.
StoryLearning’s Chinese Uncovered course promises the ability to communicate freely in Mandarin Chinese. This course takes a new approach to language learning, teaching vocabulary, grammar, and literacy through a narrative.
Because you have the need to find out what happens next hardwired into your brain, engaging with a story is one of the best ways to activate your long-term memory and help you truly learn a new language. This immersive, context-based approach focuses on listening comprehension.
… - Super Chinese Review — An Interactive Mandarin App
Super Chinese
Summary
Super Chinese is an app for learning Mandarin that claims to help users, “Learn efficiently using our proprietary artificial intelligence.” Produced by the creators of HSKOnline, it’s available for iOS and Android, is free to download, and requires a subscription for full access. Language practice happens in a variety of interactive exercises that test learners’ abilities in reading, writing, listening, and speaking Mandarin.
The app is easy to use and fun, but animated videos aren’t especially engaging.
Practice is varied, and lessons build on each other nicely, but I think it’s doubtful you’ll come away fluent or proficient at writing.
There are cheaper resources out there, but study time with Super Chinese should equip you with some practical language skills.
I Like
- The practice activities are varied.
- There’s male and female native speaker audio.
- It’s fun to use.
I Don’t Like
- There’s no clear character memorization aspect.
- The writing practice feels insufficient.
- I wanted more guidance with pronunciation.
Price
A subscription to Super Chinese+ is $69.99/year or $149.99 for lifetime there is also $11.99/month. You can save 15% with the coupon code ‘alr15’.
Meet the Super Chinese mascot. Don’t let those mischievous eyebrows scare you away, teaching Mandarin is all this monkey has in mind.
…Super Chinese Review — An Interactive Mandarin AppRead More »
- Tandem Review: A Tinder-esque Language Exchange App?
Tandem
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.
There are lots of active language learners, especially those looking to pair with native English speakers.
The interface is intuitive and the language tools are simple and effective, though you’ll quickly run out of free translations.
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
- Though Tandem has some safety features, you may encounter people using the app as a dating tool
Price
There is a limited free version of Tandem and a pro version available at $6.99 for one month, $10.67/month for three months, and $6.67/month for a year’s subscription.
Tandem Review: A Tinder-esque Language Exchange App?Read More »
- The Chairman’s Bao Review – Learn From The News
The Chairman’s Bao
Summary
The Chairman’s Bao (TCB) is an online graded newspaper for learners of Chinese. New articles covering current events in China and abroad are published daily, and the difficulty levels range from HSK1 to HSK6+. Additional features include audio recordings, a pop-up dictionary, grammar notes, flashcards, and more. This is one of my favorite resources for studying Chinese.
The app is easy to use and the content is super useful.
The reading comprehension exercises, language tools, writing practice and massive library of news stories make up for the lack of English translations.
For how much this resource has to offer, it’s well worth the price.
I Like
- The articles are genuinely interesting for learners of every level
- The reading comprehension exercises
- They are constantly publishing new content
I Don’t Like
- There aren’t English translations of full sentences
Price
A subscription to The Chairman’s Bao costs $10/month or $80/year, with three and six-month options at $25 and $45 respectively.
Use the coupon code ‘alr10’ to save 10% on a subscription to The Chairman’s Bao.
Overview
The Chairman’s Bao (TCB) is an online graded reader that uses news stories to teach Chinese — it’s available online, for iOS and Android.
… - Transparent Language Review – Not Exciting, But Language Offering Is So Vast That You May Need It
Last Updated on December 13, 2023.
Transparent Language
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.
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.
I hardly came across any explanations at all; practice was almost exclusively memorizing words and phrases.
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.
- TutorMing Review – I’m Currently A Student
TutorMing
Summary
TutorMing is an online Mandarin school that offers classes 24 hours a day, with qualified teachers, using unique content. I took two classes with them and came away very impressed. I learned new things about Chinese culture, despite having lived in Beijing for a few years. However, it’s not the cheapest option, so those on a tighter budget may want to look elsewhere.
From the platform, to the teachers, to the content – everything was excellent
There appears to be lots of content across many levels and taught in a unique way.
There are other options that are more budget friendly.
I Like
- Lessons are available 24 hours per day and can be scheduled very quickly.
- The teachers are excellent.
- The curriculum is interesting and includes lots of cultural information.
I Don’t Like
- It’s somewhat expensive with 3-months being the shortest plan.
- The two lesson types are a little confusing (keep reading…!)
- The homework is really short and not all that useful.
Price
While one lesson starts at $45. By purchasing a bundle you can get the cost of each lesson down to $32 a lesson. While this will cost $3200 for 100 lessons, you have 18 months to complete your lessons. It also comes in increments of $400 for 10 lessons to be used in 6 months, $930 for 25 lessons in 1 year, and $1700 for 50 lessons in 1 year.
I recently had the opportunity to try out two classes with TutorMing.
… - uTalk Review – For Beginners Who Want To Learn Key Words & Phrases
uTalk
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.
The app is very user-friendly, and the content is mostly useful, but little variation in practice activities can become repetitive.
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.
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.
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.
…uTalk Review – For Beginners Who Want To Learn Key Words & PhrasesRead More »
- Verbling Review: Online Classes With Helpful Revision Tools
Verbling
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.
There are some less experienced teachers, but I found the lessons to be more consistently high quality than on italki.
The classroom technology, flashcards, and filing system are fantastic for learners and easy to use.
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 $5 to $75 for an hour-long lesson. You can get discounts for buying packs of 5, 10, or 20 lessons with a teacher. Every student gets one free trial lesson, after which they’re $6 each.
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.
…Verbling Review: Online Classes With Helpful Revision ToolsRead More »
- WaiChinese Review – Improve Your Chinese Pronunciation
WaiChinese
Summary
WaiChinese is an app that makes it much easier to improve your Chinese pronunciation. You can compare your voice to that of a recording, seeing visualizations of your tones. Then, you can submit recordings to be corrected by a teacher. I used to strongly recommend this app even though it’s very buggy. However, a new service, Speechling, was recently after I wrote this review. It does everything WaiChinese does and more, but better.
WaiChinese is very useful, but the app has an absurd number of bugs.
You’ll receive solid feedback on your recordings.
When I originally wrote this article WaiChinese didn’t have any competitors. It was great value at the time, but that has changed.
I Like
- Seeing the visualization of your speech and being able to compare it to the recording is very helpful.
- Getting feedback from a teacher will help you spot mistakes you didn’t realize you were making.
I Don’t Like
- The app has tons of bugs. I’d often leave the app and do something else while waiting for audio to play.
- Not as good as its main competitor. Speechling gives you unlimited recordings for $19.99/month and has a ton of useful free features.
Price
WaiChinese costs $10/month for the Demo version which allows you to submit 50 recordings. The Beginner version costs $25/month and allows you to submit 150 recordings. The Advanced version costs $50/month and gives you 300 submissions.
Waichinese is one of the buggiest, most problematic apps I’ve used but I still highly recommend it. Learning to speak Mandarin with good pronunciation is something you can’t ignore or hope for it to come naturally. The sooner you begin improving your pronunciation, the better off you’ll be. If you’re a beginner student, it may seem like learning pronunciation can wait, but correcting pronunciation mistakes gets harder the longer you’ve been making them.
…WaiChinese Review – Improve Your Chinese PronunciationRead More »
- WordSwing Review – Study Chinese With Text Adventure Games
WordSwing
Summary
WordSwing provides text adventure games which are sort of a mix between graded readers, choose your own story adventure books, and role player games. These are made for intermediate and higher level students which helps to fill the gap where there aren’t a lot of study materials available. I’d definitely suggest trying them out!
While the platform is still being improved, the content itself is very good.
They’ve focused on intermediate and higher students where study materials are most needed.
$8 per month is fair and the price is competitive with similar(ish) apps.
I Like
- The focus on intermediate and higher level students helps to fill a gap where materials were lacking.
- You’re forced to actively read and listen to the stories. You’ll have to make decisions based on what’s happening in the story.
- It’s easy to use, look up unknown words, and generally works well.
I Don’t Like
- Occasionally the app can be a little slow. This seems to be rare though.
- While there are other components to WordSwing, they’re not done nearly as well as the text adventure games.
Price
A subscription starts at $8 a month or a year long subscription at $72.
The intermediate and upper-intermediate level is an awkward zone where Chinese learning resources are scarce.
…WordSwing Review – Study Chinese With Text Adventure GamesRead More »
- Yabla Review — Affordable and Effective Video-Learning
Yabla
Summary
Yabla is a language-learning platform that uses videos with interactive subtitles and language games to help users learn a language. It’s currently available on the web and for iOS, with an Android app in development. Its videos are of varying difficulty levels and types, and are either sourced from the internet or originally produced, but all videos use native speakers.
It’s very easy and enjoyable to use, but the flashcard feature could be more developed.
While they vary slightly for each language, the video libraries are extensive and full of interesting content.
It’s most valuable for learners at the intermediate and advanced levels and is priced very fairly, but you’ll only get access to one language.
I Like
- It’s very affordable.
- The review activities are enjoyable and varied.
- You can filter content by region.
- There are plenty of interesting and varied videos.
I Don’t Like
- Audio in some review activities is robotic.
- No speaking practice.
- Translations don’t take context into account.
Price
After a 15-day free trial, users can subscribe to one of the following options:
One month: $12.95 Six months: $54.95 One year: $99.95
The best learning resources are the ones you actually enjoy using. This makes video-learning super appealing — who doesn’t enjoy videos?
…Yabla Review — Affordable and Effective Video-LearningRead More »
- Yoyo Chinese Review: An Exceptionally Detailed Look At Their Courses
Yoyo Chinese
Summary
Yoyo Chinese is probably the most established and popular website for online Chinese courses. Yangyang has helped hundreds of thousands of students learn Chinese and her videos have been viewed millions of times. There are several different video-based courses available which include interactive quizzes, clear explanations, and tons of practice, with each progressing in difficulty. I think the conversational courses are especially good value.
Video lessons and interactive quizzes are very well done.
The content is explained very clearly and covers a wide range of topics.
The course bundles help to lower the price.
I Like
- The way Yangyang explains the content makes it super easy to understand.
- The courses are structured very well, with less English spoken as you move up levels.
- The combination of real-life Chinese as it’s spoken on the street with more ‘correct’ Chinese.
- High-quality videos with lots useful extras to practice what you’ve learned.
I Don’t Like
- The lessons definitely use more English compared with equivalent levels of other resources.
- There are other resources I prefer over the Chinese Characters courses.
Price
Yoyo Chinese offers subscription options and the Lifetime one-time purchase option. If you want to test out the program, try a monthly full-access “Learn” subscription for $19.99/mo. Or an annual subscription for $11.99/mo. Lifetime one-time purchase is $399 (don’t forget the 10% discount with the discount code ALR10!!).
If you’re looking for an online Chinese course, you’ll eventually come across Yoyo Chinese. It’s one of the few established courses where you can independently study Mandarin online.
…Yoyo Chinese Review: An Exceptionally Detailed Look At Their CoursesRead More »
- Zizzle Review – Remember Chinese Characters Easily
Zizzle
Summary
Zizzle is one of the most unique tools for learning Chinese. This app will help you memorize Chinese Characters. First, they break down the character into its component parts. Then, they use ridiculous images and a short story to remember these components. Next, they use characters and link words to help you remember the tone and pronunciation of the character. Finally, they give you example words and sentences using the character. On first glance, the app looks rather silly. But, it really does make remembering characters much easier.
The images are absurd, which makes remembering them easy.
Covers lots of characters, but mostly within the first three HSK levels.
The pricing is competitive with other Chinese learning resources, but it’s focus is much narrower.
I Like
- The idea and design of the app are very original. There’s nothing out there that does anything close to what Zizzle does.
- The way that characters are broken down into their component parts. The short story and images make characters easier to remember than other resources I’ve used.
- Nothing has helped me as much as Zizzle when it comes to learning to differentiate similar looking characters.
I Don’t Like
- The sentences don’t have audio recordings.
- Zizzle is great for remembering how characters are formed, but adding in writing would be a big and helpful step to really solidifying them in your memory.
- It’s another subscription to a Chinese learning resource. Although it’s affordable by itself, subscribing to several $10-$15 tools can start to get expensive.
Price
A one-month subscription costs $9.99, three-months costs $24.99, and one year costs $59.99. You can also buy one of a few different packs and receive lifetime access for $49.99.
Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 15% on all three-month and annual subscriptions, as well as packs.
The year was 2005. I sat alongside the rest of my high school Spanish class staring at our teacher in disbelief. “Pretend like you’re dropping little tiny goats into your eye,” she said.
…Zizzle Review – Remember Chinese Characters EasilyRead More »
MiniReviews of Mandarin Chinese Online Language Learning Resources
- 50 Languages Mini-Review: Basically an online phrasebook
50Languages
Price:
Free
Summary
It is clear that 50Languages aims to make language learning accessible to anyone with an internet connection There is no signup required to use the site, so its resources are both free, and anonymous. You can find 100 free downloadable audio files of native speakers and ‘lessons’ in over 50 languages, in addition to vocabulary, alphabets, quizzes, and games. Unfortunately, none of these resources follow a cohesive learning path, nor does the platform help you memorize any of the information provided. Only one section, the Translation Trainer, aims to help you retain phrases. However, if you have saved phrases in multiple languages, all of them will be bunched together into one review without an indication of which language you should be translating into. The audio files and phrasebook lessons contain a series of phrases that do not seem to build on what you have previously learned; learning from this website is essentially like referencing a phrasebook you might buy for a trip to another country. 50Languages has a lot of information available, but it doesn’t seem like it can be used as a standalone language resource. Perhaps you can take phrases and vocabulary that interest you and compiled them into an Anki deck to help with retention.
- AmazingTalker Mini Review: Not Our Top Pick for Web Classes
AmazingTalker
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.
- Anki Mini-Review: The Go-To SRS Flashcard App
Anki
Price:
Free
Summary
It is the go-to app for free (except on iOS) Spaced Repetition System (SRS) flashcards. It has a simple user interface with various features that more hard-core users can dive into if they choose. Your flashcards will appear according to your natural forgetting curve; the app will test you in increasingly spaced out intervals, with more difficult cards appearing more than once in a session, while easier cards spacing out over weeks — or even months and years. An SRS system is the most effective way to drive information into your long-term memory. The cards can sync between the web, desktop app, and mobile versions to keep your flashcards updated and with you at all times. You can add images and audio clips to your cards and change the text formatting (if you use it on your computer). One feature unique to Anki, as opposed to other SRS flashcard apps, is the “Cloze deletion” function, which allows you to block out parts of your card and create a “fill-in-the-blanks” type card format. If you want a resource for how to make effective flashcards, check out the book, FluentForever. The author leaves a whole section dedicated to understanding how to use your Anki deck to advance your skills quickly.
- Arch Chinese Mini-Review: Meh. Could Be Better, Could Be Worse
Arch Chinese
Price:
Freemium, with paid plans starting at $49.99/half year
Summary
Arch Chinese is a website that offers teaching resources and learning tools. With a paid membership, you can customize a variety of worksheets for yourself or your students, such as character practice grids, multiple choice quizzes, true or false questions, sentence scrambles, and dozens more. The website is also a dictionary, with stroke order animations and native-speaker recordings for each entry. You can read about the radicals, components, parts of speech, similar-looking words, measure words, and words that have the same pronunciation. One thing worth mentioning is the Mandarin Chinese Tone Drill section that helps you practice differentiating between 4 of the 5 Mandarin tones. The website doesn’t seem to have put a lot of effort into aesthetics, but functionally Arch Chinese might be a useful tool for teachers of school-age kids. However, you could also create similar templates yourself in Microsoft Word, or use a textbook with exercises that follow a curriculum — you’ll have to check it out yourself to decide if it’s something worth investing in. Arch Chinese may also be useful for individual learners who are dying to use hard-copy worksheets. If you don’t find yourself in this category, then maybe check out Skritter to effectively learn Chinese characters, or Pleco to memorize words on your phone — then you can use Hanzi Grids for free when you really want to write out the characters by hand.
- Bab.la Mini-Review: Use WordReference or Linguee Instead
bab.la
Price:
Free
Summary
Bab.la is a bilingual dictionary for 28 different languages. Their site includes quizzes, games, grammar lessons, phrasebooks, and a forum for users to discuss language learning. You can also look up various verbs in the conjugation tables or find synonyms and examples of how to use words in context. Their quizzes should be taken with a grain of salt — If your purpose is to familiarize yourself with vocabulary and grammar structures, then these are probably a fun way to explore your target language. However, if your purpose is to understand the target language’s culture, beware of any quiz that touches on romance, as the advice is similar to that of the magazines found in grocery store checkout lines. Bab.la may be okay for general definitions, but other sites will probably help you dive further into different languages. Linguee provides examples of words in context sourced from articles and research papers in the target language, and Forvo has millions of words pronounced by native speakers in hundreds of languages. Also, check out WordReference (for a more relevant database of example sentences), Pleco (for Chinese learners), or SpanishDict (For Spanish learners or Spanish-speaking English learners).
- Beelinguapp Mini-Review: Reading & Listening Practice
Beelinguapp
Price:
Freemium, $29.99/year
Summary
Beelinguapp makes it easier to read and listen to interesting content in a number of languages. You’ll find short stories, news, fairy tales, music, and more. Their side-by-side reading functionality highlights the sentence in the language you’re learning, as well as in a language you’re familiar with. The karaoke feature makes it easy to follow the audio with the written text. Some of the content and features are available for free, but there are also premium plans to unlock more.
- Bilingual Oxford Dictionaries Mini Review: Handy Apps
Oxford Dictionaries
Price:
Free
Summary
Oxford Dictionary has published numerous bilingual dictionaries over the years, many of which are not designed to be comprehensive. While some are “complete” dictionaries, others are called “mini”, “concise”, “essential” or even “shorter”. Even the smaller ones are pretty thorough, however. The Oxford Mini Greek dictionary contains 40,000 words and phrases, many of which also contain multiple translations. It’s a lot shorter than the Oxford Hindi dictionary, at 100,000 entries, or the New Oxford American English Dictionary at 350,000 – but it’s still got a wider vocabulary than the average English speaker. You can purchase the books themselves, but most learners will prefer the convenience of the apps with their regular updates and learner-friendly features. Search Autocomplete, Fuzzy Filter, Wild Card and Voice Search help you find words you don’t know how to spell. Favourites help you save useful words and phrases, while Word of the Day will introduce you to new words. Some dictionaries also contain audio recordings and thesauruses. And the freemium Oxford Dictionary with Translator will translate words and paragraphs to and from 14 languages. For some languages, learners already have plenty of free, thorough dictionaries available to them. Spanish learners, for example, will probably prefer to combine the free apps SpanishDict and Diccionario RAE (Google Play, App Store). Mandarin Chinese learners will likely find Pleco more useful. But for some languages, these dictionaries may well be the most thorough and reliable ones available.
The rating is our best guess, but we haven’t yet had the opportunity to fully test and review this resource.
- Bluebird Languages Mini-Review: Over 160 Languages Available
Bluebird Languages
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.
- Brainscape Mini-Review: Adaptive Flashcards
Brainscape
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.
- CaptionPop Mini-Review: Use The Free Version
Caption Pop
Price:
Free, Premium subscriptions start at $10/mo
Summary
With CaptionPop you can use YouTube videos to pursue your language learning endeavours using subtitles in both your target language and native language. Tap a single key to repeat the last caption, slow down the playback speed, and bookmark subtitles to study with SRS interactive flashcards. The flashcards will not just have you memorize words, but practice dictations with immediate feedback on your accuracy. Unfortunately there are currently some bugs in the programming, and you may only hear part of the caption you are being asked to transcribe. You can search for Youtube videos in your target language within the CaptionPop platform, but only those videos with subtitles in both your target language and your native language are available. This means that you will rely on captions translated and transcribed by the video’s creators, which improves your language learning experience but restricts the amount of available Youtube content. Nevertheless, there is a good amount of content from popular channels in more common languages. The free version of the platform combined with self-made Anki cards may be a better option than subscribing to the premium version, as the bugs in CaptionPop’s programming may not be worth the monthly payment.
- Chineasy App Mini Review: Enjoy Learning Chinese Characters
Chineasy app
Price:
Freemium, $12.99/Month, $49.99/Year, $149.99/Lifetime
Summary
Chineasy is an excellent introduction to both traditional and simplified Chinese for any beginner learner. The lessons will help you remember the characters through short, fascinating histories of their origins and the colorful artwork. As you learn about the characters, you also discover how beautiful the Chinese culture is.
Each of the 500 plus levels will introduce new characters, combine ones you’ve already learned, and quiz you in various formats. You can further your learning with speaking training, which will train your comprehension of the tones and help you replicate them through pronunciation practice. If you struggle with writing characters—whether you’re a beginner or advanced learner— you may find that Chineasy’s Practice Writing feature makes it a lot easier. The app also includes an SRS flashcard option to help you practice and retain Chinese vocabulary. When you review vocabulary, you can swipe right or left to sort them and track your performance stats.
Moreover, Chineasy includes a test function called Check Points to help test your progress accordingly and move forward to the next level. As you advance, you’ll be able to recognize over a thousand Chinese characters and words in your daily conversations across different topics.
As a beginner resource, Chineasy helps you grasp the basics of the Chinese language from Chinese characters and words to helping you practice your speaking, reading & writing. You’ll have access to real-life, practical content that’ll get you communicating not only with fellow learners but also with native speakers. Aside from the app, Chineasy offers additional learning materials in the form of blog posts, videos & podcasts.
Nevertheless, even intermediate learners will probably find the history of the characters interesting. You may not be fluent at the end of the lessons, but you will most likely become confident with basic pronunciation and characters. With the app’s attractive user interface and engaging content, learning Chinese as a beginner couldn’t be more enjoyable. - Chinese Boost Mini-Review: Has Helpful Blog Posts About Learning
Chinese Boost
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
Chinese Boost provides grammar articles and Chinese learning blog posts. You can search the Chinese grammar articles by HSK or CEFR level, keywords, characters, parts of speech, functions, and several other tags. They also have over 40 blog posts that focus on improving the effectiveness of your Chinese study techniques. The site only has about 50 grammar articles. The articles themselves have lots of examples, but they seem more lengthy than they need to be. In contrast, the website Chinese Grammar Wiki appears to say more with fewer explanations, relying on examples and context to clarify different grammar points. Chinese Boost could be used as a supplemental resource to Chinese Grammar Wiki if some concepts require more explanation. Other than the grammar explanations, Chinese Boost’s Chinese learning blog has some useful tips to add to your language-learning toolbox. They also have a Hanzi Chinese Characters to Pinyin Conversion tool, which can be very helpful when making Anki flashcards or other self-study resources.
- Chinese Breeze Mini-Review: Not as Engaging as Mandarin Companion
Chinese Breeze
Price:
$8.95
Summary
Chinese Breeze is a series of graded readers by Cheng & Tsui. The books range from level 1 (300-word vocabulary) to level 4 (1100-word vocabulary) and cover themes such as romance, fantasy, horror, and mystery. Their adaptation of 青凤 (Green Phoenix) from the short story collection 聊斋志异 (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio) is probably the most engaging story in the collection. The other stories are probably not grand pieces of literature, but rather books to help you improve your reading skills through repetition. At the end of the story, you will find a vocabulary list and a series of exercises to reinforce your understanding of the text. You can also stream an audio recording for each book by scanning the QR code on the back cover. Purchasing Pleco‘s OCR reader or handwriting function can help you identify new words, which you can then add to your Anki or Pleco flashcard decks. If you are looking for graded readers with engaging storylines, check out Mandarin Companion — they rewrite famous stories using vocabulary appropriate for earlier levels. Next, you can tackle the Readings in Chinese Culture series or the Tales and Traditions series for intermediate to advanced learners. You can also read plenty of graded articles and stories online with Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao.
- Chinese Grammar Wiki Mini-Review: One of the Best Grammar Guides
Chinese Grammar Wiki
Price:
Free
Summary
Chinese Grammar Wiki develops its pages in the same spirit as Wikipedia, and it is probably one of the most comprehensive grammar resources you will find for level A1 to C1 Chinese learners. Furthermore, all of the content is free to be reused as long as it follows their Creative Commons License. Each article is clearly organized with a table of contents and a sidebar with keywords and references to similar topics. They start with a brief explanation, and then they provide numerous examples of how the grammar would appear in context — these examples dive into the nuances of the language and give you a bigger picture of how to apply the concepts to your everyday life. Depending on your style, this could be less intimidating than, but just as effective as, the in-depth grammar explanations in other resources. You can even use the examples to create Anki flashcards! Also, for anyone who has struggled with the particle “了”, you will be pleasantly surprised to find 30 articles on Chinese Grammar Wiki, plus links to research, textbooks, and other websites for further reading. Make sure to bookmark this website for a quick reference during your study sessions! - ChineseSkill Word Mini-Review: Simple, Premade SRS Flashcards
ChineseSkill Word
Price:
Freemium, $0.99
Summary
ChineseSkill Word has 70 categories of SRS flashcards to help you memorize vocabulary faster. Like all SRS apps, it follows your natural forgetting curve, reviewing vocabulary at different intervals depending on how well you remembered it during the last review session. Although it is available on Apple and Android mobile devices, the one for Apple does not seem to have been updated for the newest version of iOS, so it is missing a lot of functions. Each card contains pronunciation by native speakers and an example sentence containing the word. You can read simplified or traditional characters and choose to display either the translation, pinyin, or Chinese characters on the front of each card. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t leave much room for customization, and unlike other apps that provide attainable goals for each session, ChineseKill Word’s sessions seem to be as long as the number of words in a deck — this could be as few as 19 cards, or as many as 2482.If you are looking for an app with an attractive interface and set decks of vocabulary, then ChineseSkill Word may be a reliable, inexpensive option for you. However, with a little more investment you can use Pleco, which is still the best flashcard app and dictionary for Chinese learners — it provides in-depth definitions, multiple example sentences, any word you can think of, and customizable SRS. - Complete Language Lessons Mini Review: Almost Useless
Complete Language Lessons
Price:
$8.99 for the CD/$1.29 per track on Amazon, free on Spotify
Summary
Complete Language Lessons has audio courses for numerous languages on Amazon, Spotify, and Deezer. We tried out the Swahili audio course, Learn Swahili Easily, Effectively, and Fluently – and were extremely disappointed. The audio tracks we sampled consist of Swahili phrases repeated over and over again, with no translations, explanations, or anything in English. The audio quality isn’t great, either, and the occasional muted club music adds to the bizarreness. It feels to us like the audio tracks are supposed to accompany a textbook, but we couldn’t find one. If one existed at some point, we suspect it’s no longer available. If you already speak the language and are looking for native audio recordings to help you improve your listening and pronunciation, you might get some value out of Complete Language Lessons. However, if your aim is learn the language, we would skip these CDs.
- Conversations by StoryLearning Mini-Review: There are Cheaper Options
Conversations – IWTYAL
Price:
$197
Summary
Conversations by I Will Teach You a Language is a downloadable program that uses Comprehensible input (CI) as a strategy to improve your language level. Comprehensible input is when you consume second language material that is just above your current level, which in IWTYAL’s case, is about A2-B1 on the CEFR scale. The Conversations program includes material of a manageable length with full transcripts and English translations. It is 20 chapters long and follows six characters, two of whom have just moved to the countryside from the big city. You will listen to realistic dialogues between the characters and learn everyday colloquialisms and slang. The characters have a variety of accents within each language, and they speak at a relatively natural speed. The series has the same content in each language, but there are variations based on cultural differences. IWTYAL probably has good quality materials, but it is quite expensive compared to other CI resources. Intermediate learners can check out innerFrench, Japanese With Noriko, Russian With Max, and Dreaming Spanish for some high-quality, free alternatives. Chinese learners might want to check out Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao for graded readers with audio.
- Coursera Mini Review: Great for Beginners, but Limited Options
Coursera
Price:
Free, with some courses starting at $39/month
Summary
Coursera has several paid and free online language courses developed by accredited universities. The quality of the courses varies, but the following recommendations have been well received — these courses are primarily for beginners who want an introduction to a new language. You can choose from a series of individual courses, or take a beginner specialization in Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, and Chinese HSK 1-3 (with additional individual HSK 4-6 courses). If you have just started, or haven’t yet started, learning Korean, Yonsei University has one course for absolute beginners, and another for those who have a basic grasp of Hangul. Saint Petersburg State University’s beginner Japanese course is probably not as effective as other resources that we might recommend instead, such as JapanesePod101 or Pimsleur. École Polytechnique offers the only French course on Coursera; it’s technically for B1-B2 learners, although B2 learners may find it too easy. Lastly, English learners can enjoy a specialization in intermediate grammar, advanced grammar, academic speaking and listening, or business English, If you are starting a language and enjoy structured courses with a (flexible) weekly schedule, Coursera is a great option — especially since Coursera offers financial aid for those who can’t afford to pay the course fees. Pair your studies with a tutor from italki or Verbling for speaking practice and you’ll be good to go!
- DeerPlus Mini Review: Fun Supplementary App
DeerPlus
Price:
Freemium; $8.99/month, $35.99/year, $59.99/lifetime
Summary
DeerPlus, also known as LingoDeer Plus, is a cute, gamified app from the makers of Lingodeer. It sets out to teach you words, phrases, and grammar through 11 different games, but it’s best used as a supplementary tool. You’ll drill vocabulary, build phrases, select the right particles, decide if a sentence is grammatically correct or not, do conjugation exercises, answer listening comprehension questions, and more. What you won’t do is learn the material prior to being tested like you do with LingoDeer (review), DeerPlus’ sister app. DeerPlus is a fun supplementary tool that would work well alongside most resources, but especially LingoDeer. However, it’s a shame that there aren’t SRS features in what is essentially a review app. A word of warning: you can study in a range of languages, but not all the games have been translated. We were shocked when we switched from studying Japanese via Spanish to Japanese via English and discovered grammar and “integrated” games in addition to the five vocabulary and phrase-based ones we had been playing.
- Dig Mandarin Mini-Review: Thorough But Dry HSK Courses
Dig Mandarin
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
Dig Mandarin has about eight different types of courses, many of which focus on the HSK exams. You can specify which aspect of the HSK you want to work on, or you can take a full HSK course for each level that focuses on character writing, vocabulary, grammar, and HSK mock exams. One of the teachers on the site uses animations and colourful videos for her lessons, while the rest use simple PowerPoint presentations. Watching their videos feels similar to attending a university class, which may or may not be your style. They do seem to thoroughly cover the HSK curriculum if that is your only goal — if your goal is to become functional in Chinese, however, perhaps consider investing a little more into courses from YoYo Chinese or ChineseFor.Us, especially if you’re a beginner to intermediate learner. Besides the courses, Dig Chinese has some helpful articles, including some that differentiate between words with similar meanings (like 连忙, 急忙, and 匆忙). They also have sections on learning vocabulary, but these pages are simply lists of vocabulary words with an image and a recording — if you are determined to actually learn new words, use Pleco‘s Flashcards or Ninchanese instead.
- DLI Courses Mini-Review: Free With a Strong Focus on Pronunciation
DLI Courses
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
The DLI and FSI language courses are still some of the most comprehensive resources for language learning today, and probably the most comprehensive free resources you will find. Although the DLI and FSI courses are comparable in quality, DLI courses focus more on military terminology in the later lessons, while FSI courses focus on everyday communication and communication for diplomats. Another key difference between them is that the DLI courses may go into more depth, and also seem to provide a more comprehensive guide to the study of each language; the FSI courses either have briefer explanations or dive straight into the content. Both of them have outdated content, which is understandable considering that they were developed in the mid-1900s and have scarcely been updated since then. Often the DLI courses outline clear practice strategies to reproduce your target language’s sounds. Also, depending on the language, literal translations are sometimes used so that you get accustomed to each language’s grammar structure. All the PDFs and audio files are available for download on various sites, although Live Lingua has made navigating between the material quite intuitive. If you can’t find your desired language in the DLI courses, check out the FSI courses for different options.
- Domino Chinese Mini-Review: The Answer to Your Struggles
Domino Chinese
Price:
Freemium, monthly plans starting at $3/mo
Summary
Domino Chinese provides an affordable and entertaining path to learning Chinese. If you’re someone who has struggled to stay motivated, or if you have been overwhelmed with Chinese characters, Felix, the creator, has developed a manageable series of lessons to set you up for success. From lesson one, you will learn the logic of character composition and problem-solve the meanings of new words. Each level is about 10 hours long, and after level 10, the courses are entirely in Chinese. For supplementary material, they have printable character grids with stroke order diagrams, a workbook, and vocabulary sheets. The workbook gets you to break down characters into different parts, create new words, and practice integrating the new concepts from each lesson. Apparently you will reach an academic level of Chinese if you go through all of the levels. However, this seems far too optimistic. The success stories on the site are from students who have had private tutors or lived in China during their studies, so Domino Chinese alone will probably not take you to fluency. This course seems most appropriate for casual learners, as the earlier videos use lots of English and build the concepts quite slowly. If you’re looking for a comprehensive, faster-paced course, check out Chinese For Us.
- Easy Languages Mini-Review: Interviews Around The Globe
Easy Languages
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
Easy Languages gets people involved from all around the globe —from Brazil to Mongolia — to film authentic interviews about everyday life with locals on the street. A typical episode format starts with the interviewer (or interviewers) introducing the topic and location for the day. Then, they will approach various locals to ask their opinion or test their knowledge. Only a handful of languages, like Hindi, and Swahili, don’t follow this format — these are also typically the languages with fewer videos. Easy Languages invites co-producers to join their channel, which means that anyone can apply to create videos, as long as they are filmed according to the Easy Languages guidelines. These co-producers receive multimedia training if they don’t already have experience in the field, so the videos typically have a baseline quality standard (although sometimes the filming can be a bit shaky). Most of the interviewers have a bubbly personality, and some of them appear in multiple language interviews within Easy Languages. Overall, the interviews are enjoyable and will train your ear to understand a range of voices and accents. Also, for anyone who uses Seedlang for German, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see Cari’s friendly face in the Easy German episodes!
- edX Mini-Review: Worth It If You Audit, Maybe Not If You Pay
Edx
Price:
Freemium, prices vary
Summary
Like Coursera, many of edX’s courses were developed by accredited universities, and you can obtain certificates of completion at the end of your studies. Unlike Coursera, edX’s courses are all free to audit, non-profit, and open-source. It was originally founded by Harvard and MIT, and since then has been joined by universities around the globe. The Spanish and Italian courses in particular have many activities to reinforce your learning, including writing, reading, speaking, and listening activities. The Chinese course is less comprehensive, but could still teach you the basics if you don’t mind watching lots of videos — although, the Peking University courses on Coursera may be a better option. The Steps in Japanese series also includes lots of videos, but these videos are interactive and quiz you on the material. Overall, Coursera seems to have a better platform than edX, and their courses may be more intuitive to navigate. However, that shouldn’t stop you from trying out what edX has to offer, especially considering that you can get most of it for free. After you have learned the basics, you can enrich your knowledge through Open Learn’s free language courses.
- Eggbun Mini-Review: Excellent for Understanding Hangul
Eggbun
Price:
Freemium, Premium subscriptions cost $17.99/mo, $30.99/quarter, $94.99/year
Summary
Learning with Eggbun is like text messaging a very enthusiastic friend. The 2-minute lessons take place in a chat box with a character named Lanny (who might literally be an egg bun). This review will focus on the Korean app, but the Japanese version has a similar lesson style (and the Chinese version is still under development). Lanny clearly explains the different sounds that Korean consonants can make depending on where they are located in a word. You will receive practical pronunciation tips for each new jamo, and you will be typing out your first words on a Korean keyboard before the end of the first lesson. After the writing lessons, you can explore both casual and formal language through cultural notes, dialogues, dictations, multiple-choice questions, fill in the blanks, role plays, and more. There are even entire sections dedicated to special topics, such as pronunciation, borrowed words, and verb conjugations. Whether you want to learn survival Korean, business Korean, or real-life conversations, Eggbun seems like an effective app for beginners to build their confidence in basic Korean conversation.
- Encore!!! Language Learning Mini-Review: Basically a Phrasebook
Encore!!! Language Learning
Price:
Free
Summary
Encore!!! Language Learning allows you to listen to playlists of common phrases, vocabulary, conjugations, and dialogues. It varies in terms of whether it uses native speakers or automated text-to-voice. The app is basically a phrasebook that allows you to practice translating sentences to and from your native language, or simply repeat after an audio in your target language. You can listen to a pre-made playlist, mute or unmute certain phrases within a playlist, adjust the number of repetitions of each phrase, or create your own playlist. You can also test your memory with the Test tool by reading prompts in your native language and translating into your target language. The app seems to focus more on understanding grammar structures than other phrasebook sites like Optilingo or Lingohut. Technically you could learn something by repeating the phrases aloud, but there are many other free apps that provide a clearer learning path and have a more intuitive interface than Encore!!! Language Learning.
- Everyday Chinese Mini-Review: Some Good Hits for Every Miss
Everday Chinese
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
Everyday Chinese provides a free YouTube channel and purchasable courses. The teachers ensure that you learn how real-life mandarin is spoken, even in the most basic lessons — you will hear the voices of Chinese speakers ranging from 7 to 60 years old so you can train your ear to different vocal ranges and accents. On the YouTube channel, you can explore idioms, cultural nuances, HSK content, and more. Some of the videos seem like a list of words or phrases, but most contain valuable tidbits or grammar points. For beginners, they have 39 free intro lessons that seem to lead up to the Everyday Chinese 101 course that you can buy on their site. The videos may not always be as engaging as those in YoYo Chinese or Mandarin Corner, but they cover a lot of grammar and vocabulary words. They also mainly use Chinese in the upper-level videos to help with your listening comprehension, which is not always the case in other videos. On the website, there are free MP3s, quizzes, and PDFs that accompany the YouTube videos. There, you can also purchase the courses, which contain videos, quizzes, word reviews, dialogues, grammar points, language tips, and cultural notes. The HSK courses, in particular, seem to be well done, although you do end up paying about $60 for only 20 days of content.
- Flowlingo Mini-Review: Has Potential, Still Developing
flowlingo
Price:
$19.99/month
Summary
Flowlingo allows you to browse websites and news articles in your target language while providing instant audio and visual translations when you tap on unknown words. They use an SRS based flashcard system to help you remember words you don’t know, and will automatically save flashcards from words that you translate. This does mean, however, that you have less control over what is recorded in the flashcard deck, especially with the possibility of accidentally tapping on words you already know. The free content on Flowlingo’s app allows you to search the web and have access to instant translations. With a premium subscription, you can watch popular TV shows and movies, and upload your own books. The app seems to still be under development, and it is unclear whether the flashcard system only records unknown words with a premium subscription, or if the app currently has a bug. Either way, this is probably a good app to look into at a future time, but there are currently more refined apps that provide similar content. Check out Yabla to learn languages through videos or Readlang for flashcards and translations from webpages and other texts.
- Forvo Mini-Review: Audio Pronunciation of Millions of Words
Forvo
Price:
Free
Summary
Forvo’s mission is to improve spoken communication across cultures. Anyone can explore pronunciations of millions of words in over 390 languages with maps displaying where each speaker is from. The site also organizes popular categories and essential phrases for when you don’t have a specific word in mind. As a registered user, you can contribute to the site by pronouncing words or phrases in your native language or by requesting pronunciations in a specific language. You are also encouraged to vote on audio files in your native language to help others identify the best pronunciation. For those of you who enjoy using Anki, Forvo allows you to download mp3 files to use in your learning endeavours. Forvo also has an e-learning course for French, Spanish, and English; you will find three levels and a group of topics with sets of the most common words in your target language. Using an SRS flashcard system, you will be able to learn the pronunciation of these words and view an example of how to use them in a sentence. If you are looking for a pronunciation reference guide, look no further than Forvo’s extensive database!
- FunEasyLearn Mini-Review: Build Vocabulary The Fun Way
FunEasyLearn
Price:
Freemium, monthly subscriptions starting at $11.99
Summary
Not only does FunEasyLearn have a slick app interface, high-quality recordings of native speakers, and a variety of activities to reinforce your learning, but it also allows you to learn from 61 mother tongues. The lessons were developed by a team of certified linguists and acting teachers; they cover reading, listening, speaking and writing. You have the choice of learning individual vocabulary or common phrases, both of which navigate between various common categories such as “Describing people”, “General Conversation”, “ and “Transport”. Unfortunately, FunEasyLearn does not seem to provide a foundation for learning more challenging scripts, such as Chinese or Thai; luckily they have a special feature where you can choose to omit the writing aspect and see transliterations; this will allow you to focus on speaking and listening. Ultimately, FunEasyLearn is a fun and easy way to develop some basic vocabulary, but it is probably not the most effective resource for hard-core language learners; you will need to use another resource if you want to learn more than basic vocabulary words.
- Glosbe Mini-Review: Thousands of Languages With Some Errors
Glosbe Dictionary
Price:
Free
Summary
Glosbe is a dictionary that serves over 6000 languages. Most words have a list of definitions, conjugations, declensions, and similar phrases (although these phrases are hit or miss when it comes to how relevant they are to the initial entry). Many of the entries are created by community members, who can add and edit translations, example sentences, pronunciations, and images. Also, the site does not use text-to-voice pronunciation — as a result, some words may not have any pronunciation. It’s important to note that some of the content is not checked by the creators, such as the example sentences. Be careful if you are trying to learn new phrases from these lists, as although many of them are correct, there are a few that may lead you to learn inaccurate vocabulary or grammar. Additionally, less commonly studied languages may be listed as available, but only contain a few lines of content. Overall, Glosbe may be a helpful tool if you can’t find dictionaries that specialize in your target language. However, SpanishDict is a far more comprehensive option for Spanish learners, as is Pleco for Chinese learners and Kanji Study for Japanese. You can also check out Forvo, a dictionary resource for native speaker audio files that has strict rules on community contributions.
- Hacking Chinese Course Mini-Review: Great Advice for a High Price
Hacking Chinese Course
Price:
Freemium, with paid courses starting at $97
Summary
Hacking Chinese’s creator, Olle, is completing his graduate studies in teaching Chinese as a second language in Taiwan. His blog posts are just a taste of the two courses he developed to support you in your Chinese studies. These courses are more about how to learn Chinese and less about language content — they help maximize your studying efficiency, but they do not replace study time. The beginner course, Unlocking Chinese, teaches you the basic principles of writing and speaking and can guide you in your studies. It includes about 5 hours of videos divided into five sections that cover: how to approach learning Chinese; how to improve your pronunciation; techniques for learning new words; how to write and remember Chinese characters; and a ‘roadmap’ for your continuing studies. A Practical Guide to Learning Mandarin is both a book and an e-course. The course includes the book, the audiobook, videos, and a study checklist. Olle has condensed the information he has learned in his years of Chinese study to teach you how to improve your pronunciation, which resources to use, study management and planning, and more. Hacking Chinese may be a good investment if you want a clear and concise guide to learning Chinese. However, if you are looking for a course that will teach you comprehensive language content, check out Chinese For Us.
- Hanping Chinese Dictionary Mini-Review: Good, But it’s No Pleco
Hanping Dictionary
Price:
$ 3.99
Summary
Hanping Dictionary is a Chinese dictionary app for Cantonese and Mandarin. It is somewhat comparable to Pleco‘s functionality, with a few moderate differences. Although Pleco has a larger database of example sentences, even for rarely used words, the curated examples that Hanping includes seem more relevant to everyday life. Unfortunately, you have to pay for Hanping’s English translations of the example sentences. Hanping uses tags that you can easily add to any word. It also has an exceptional feature that allows you to sort characters by tone pairs. Do you want to practice the 4-3 tone combination, or 3-3? Search the tone-pair tag and you will receive a list of words that follow your specifications — some or all with which you can make a special pronunciation deck in AnkiDroid. There is also the free Soundboard that provides pronunciation for every Pinyin initial and final syllable combination available — an excellent tool for anyone working on pronunciation. If it wasn’t for the fact that most of Hanping’s basic functions require an additional purchase, it could be a moderate competitor for Pleco. As it is, Pleco is still the best free option and offers more features and add-ons overall.
- Hanzi Grids Mini-Review: Customizable and Simple to Use
Hanzi Grids
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
With Hanzi Grids you can create your own Chinese character worksheets to download as PDFs, print, and practice writing. Gone are the days of buying Chinese character books that dedicate the same amount of space to practicing ”了“ as “健康”! The customization features on this site allow you to change the background guides, headers, row spacing, character size, column spacing, and grid colours. Although the free version is usable on its own, for a one-time fee of about $7 USD, you can also access multiple fonts and automatically convert between simplified and traditional characters. As long as you have access to a printer, Hanzi Grids is an excellent resource to improve your character writing skills.
The current rating is our best estimate. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to more thoroughly evaluate this resource, as we do for our full reviews.
- HanziCraft Mini-Review: Use the Free Website, Not the Paid App
Hanzicraft
Price:
Free
Summary
HanziCraft is a free dictionary that can help you understand simple decompositions of Chinese characters. The site will indicate the radicals that make up each character, pronunciation clues, and example words that contain the character. It’s probably a good idea to combine HanziCraft with the Zhongwen Chrome Extension because many of the word lists do not have pinyin or English translations. Hanzicraft is a simple site, developed and maintained by one person (Niel de la Rouviere). Most of the information is compiled from other sites that have done extensive research. Its interface is more intuitive compared to MDBG and Zhongwen, but if you are looking to purchase the mobile app you may want to look into other options. You can try Outlier Linguistics, a Pleco add-on, or YellowBridge, a dictionary website that includes similar features and more.
- Hey! Lingo Mini-Review: Has Useful Phrases
HeyLingo
Price:
$5.99/mo, $24.99/year, and $39.99/lifetime access
Summary
Hey! Lingo, with its flashy, modern, desktop interface, offers a series of phrasebook-like flashcard courses in 26 languages. Each language is divided into 50 lessons, the first 20 of which don’t require a subscription. A premium subscription will allow you to filter flashcard formats, focus on which cards have been difficult for you, and specify which cards you would like to learn in one lesson. The lessons focus on specific skills and each have 10 flashcards. They use both the official alphabet of the target language and a transliteration of the alphabet. The audio pronunciation for each card seems to use a lower quality text-to-speech program than we’ve seen in other apps, which can detract from the learning experience. Although Hey! Lingo is a phrasebook app, it does not focus on typical travel phrases, like how to order food at a restaurant. Instead, it teaches you practical phrases that get to the heart of expressing oneself. Here are some example sentences in the Korean 1 course: “I feel lonely,” “I envy him” and “Stop following me”. The lessons don’t seem to provide a solid foundation for beginners, and they probably won’t help you have conversations in your target language. However, if you enjoy learning useful phrases and already have a basic foundation of the language, Hey! Lingo could be a good option for you.
- Hit Chinese Mini-Review: Immersion practice for Beginners
Hit Chinese
Price:
Free
Summary
In Hit Chinese, Mia uses comprehensible input to teach Mandarin Chinese. Her YouTube videos sometimes use writing and drawing to tell stories, while other times they focus on her body language with subtitles on the side. Mia is very expressive and uses props, images, drawing and acting to deliver her message effectively. In the first section, she will tell you a story or say a series of phrases while giving you enough time to repeat after her. Next, you will have the chance to respond to questions using the same sentences. The videos cover a range of topics with both basic and specialized vocabulary. Although the channel doesn’t have a lot of videos yet, those that are available seem most appropriate for beginners with a basic understanding of Chinese. Nevertheless, they are engaging enough that lower-intermediate learners can benefit from them as well.
- HSK Online Mini-Review: The Best Chinese Test Prep App
Price:
Summary
HSK Online is an app that focuses on helping learners prepare for the HSK exams. However, just because it’s a test prep app, doesn’t mean that only those interested in taking the HSK tests can find value in using it. It can help you improve your vocabulary, reading and listening comprehension, writing, and you can even take practice exams. You can also save 15% on a subscription with the coupon code ‘alr15’.
- iChineseReader Mini-Review: Leveled Reading for K-12 Schools
iChinesereader
Price:
$ 7.99
Summary
iChineseReader is a website (not to be confused with the app) for K-12 students. It has several programs tailored to the needs of US schools, although the content could surely be used all around the world. Chinese immersion schools will be pleased to find books that place their focus beyond Chinese language learning to topics like science, social studies, IB Chinese, and AP prep. The content includes best-selling children’s books, fiction, and nonfiction by native Chinese publishers. The books are narrated by native speakers, with pinyin and characters integrated within beautifully animated pictures. Students can write, record themselves, draw, do quizzes, or play puzzle games to improve multiple language learning capacities (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). The hundreds of quizzes available are professionally designed to meet the requirements of the ACTFL. Students can influence the ending of stories and find hidden animations by clicking on different parts of the images. They can also earn points by reading books and doing quizzes to earn access to Chinese games. iChineseReader has more to offer than can be described in 200 words. There is a 14-day trial available for individuals and teachers alike to see if the program suits your needs. Although iChineseReader could also benefit individual learners, Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao are also excellent resources for graded Chinese reading.
- iLanguages Mini-Review: Almost Identical to Learn 101
ilanguages
Price:
Free
Summary
Learn 101 is almost identical to iLanguages; they have the same native speaker audio files, languages, and mostly identical ‘lesson’ layouts. The main differences are that Learn 101 seems to have added some grammar explanations and reformatted a bit, while iLanguages seems to have added some extra phrases. Since every one of the languages’ “lessons” has the exact same format, including the grammar section, you will learn how to say ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘or’, in 107 languages, but you will not learn where these types of words fit within a specific language’s sentence structure. Every page is just a list of words with a translation (and sometimes an IPA symbol transliteration). This site could be used if you want to hear native speakers pronounce basic words in very rare languages, or if you want to look up the IPA symbols of a rare language’s alphabet — otherwise, you’re probably better off making flashcards yourself on Anki or trying one of the hundreds of other resources we recommend on this site.
- iLoveLanguages Mini-Review: Another Phrasebook SIte
ilovelanguages.org
Price:
Free
Summary
iLoveLanguages seems similar to iLanguages and Learn101 in that every language has the same content and grammar. The eighteen 30-minute beginner ‘lessons’ in every language are essentially lists of phrases and vocabulary words, with audio recordings by native speakers. The site seems to provide a local teacher for each language, but for some reason, the same teacher offers at least 11 of the languages (including Gaelic, Basque, Filipino, Marathi, and Cantonese). Oddly enough, this teacher also appears in stock photos around the internet. Considering that the website advertises each language class as being taught by a native speaker, perhaps be cautious if you are considering taking a class from this site — maybe try italki or SpanishVIP for private lessons instead. iLoveLanguages may be helpful if you want to hear native speakers pronounce words in South-Eastern languages, like Marathi, Gujarati, Vietnamese, or Malay. You can compare the pronunciation with the speakers from either iLanguages or Learn 101 (but not both, as they use identical audio files). You could also check out Forvo, which is probably the most extensive pronunciation database on the internet right now.
- iMandarinPod Mini-Review: Messy Presentation, But Great Content
imandarinpod
Price:
$ 10.00
Summary
iMandarinPod supports intermediate and advanced Chinese learners to develop a deeper understanding of the Chinese language and culture — however, you may find yourself slightly confused as to where to direct your attention when you arrive, so let’s take a look at where to start. First, If you want extra support to navigate the Chinese characters on the website, download the Zhongwen Chrome Extension. Then, click on Podcasts to choose from four categories of podcasts: traditional culture, everyday language, history, and China today. There is also the Special Chinese tab, which introduces current news stories. The podcasts on the site are free, but with a subscription (or during your 30-day free trial), you can download the podcast transcripts with and without pinyin. After narrating the introduction, the narrator will repeat new words twice, then go back to elaborate more on what they mean, giving multiple examples of their usage (all of this is done entirely in Chinese). The quiz at the end of each transcript will test your understanding. If you go back to the website, you will notice that the creators have posted the answers to the quiz as a comment under each podcast. The narrators aren’t as dynamic as the narrators in other Chinese podcasts, such as Learning Chinese Through Stories, but overall, iMandarinPod’s content can effectively help you understand the nuances of the Chinese language (if you can get past its aesthetics).
- Instant Immersion Mini-Review: No Longer a Good Investment
Instant Immersion
Price:
1 level costs $29.95, 3 levels cost $44.95
Summary
Instant Immersion offers programs in over 120 languages, narrated by native speakers. It claims to help you build your vocabulary, converse with ease, and perfect your pronunciation. It has interactive activities on the computer, interactive games you can play with your family on a DVD, and MP3 files for your car. Their topics include food, shopping, restaurants, animals, numbers, etc. In other words, Instant Immersion will probably not help you if you are looking to have immediately applicable conversations A common trend in many reviews is the lack of structure in these courses. While other courses build on what you have previously learned and help you learn vocabulary relevant to your everyday life, Instant Immersion seems to provide a large amount of information without transitions or a clear learning path. There is a lot of content, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you will learn a lot. Instant Immersion may have been a good investment several years ago, but now there are many other options for affordable, quality language learning.
- Integrated Chinese Textbook Mini-Review: Colourful and Practical
Integrated Chinese textbook
Price:
$ 62.99
Summary
The Integrated Chinese textbook series is very colourful. The first ten pages of the first book put some emphasis on understanding and practicing pronunciation. Then, you dive into the lives of five friends living in America and their everyday experiences speaking Chinese. Each chapter contains two dialogues between the friends and focuses on a specific topic, such as family, hobbies, or school life. The authors have ensured that vocabulary words reflect modern student life, with lots of content relevant to modern-day communication, such as text messaging and communicating on websites. There are language notes that annotate the dialogues, and grammar points are highlighted and numbered to help you identify them once you reach the grammar section of the chapter. There are also sections for interactive language practice that will train your oral communication skills and additional vocabulary sections for keen learners. The textbook identifies lower frequency words so you can concentrate on more practical Chinese, and after every five lessons, you will review the functional expressions that Chinese speakers often use. If you want a textbook to guide your studies, Integrated Chinese is well-organized for beginners. However, it is quite expensive compared to another popular textbook, the New Practical Chinese Reader.
- Internet Polyglot Mini-Review: Word Lists With Games
Internet Polyglot
Price:
Free
Summary
Internet Polyglot is a website for memorizing vocabulary words in dozens of languages. It has 44 “lessons” that cover topics like cars, time, religion, politics, feelings, measurements, and more. Each lesson is essentially a word list with native speaker pronunciation, an English translation, and a link to a picture to help you remember each word. There are picture games, matching games, guessing games, and typing games, plus a word search and a slide show that reviews all of the words in the lesson. Given that none of the vocabulary words in Internet Polyglot are taught using example sentences or context, learning vocabulary using this site may not be the best use of your time. You are probably better off using Anki to curate personalized vocabulary lists and downloading native speaker audio files from Forvo to accompany your flashcards. Nevertheless, you may find it useful if all you are looking for is a site that already has lists of vocabulary words with native speaker audio. If you are looking for audio files for less commonly-studied languages in context, you can check out iLoveLanguages.
- iTranslate Mini-Review: 5 Apps To Support Communication
itranslate
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
iTranslate is a dictionary, thesaurus, and phrasebook. At first glance, it seems similar to Google Translate’s free app, but a couple of extra paid features make a big difference. Like with Google Translate, you can take pictures of text in your surroundings, such as signs or newspapers, and receive instant translations into your native language. It differs in that you can also take pictures of objects in your surroundings and receive translations into your target language (although it’s not clear what the boundaries are on this function). Two people who don’t speak the same language can use iTranslate Converse as a mediator between them, translating each sentence to create a transcript on their phone (with a slight delay). You can also use the iTranslate Keyboard in any texting app to receive instant translations. To get the most out of your subscription, iTranslate includes five different apps that can support language learning and communication through text, voice, and games. Although iTranslate translates into over 100 languages, check the website to verify which languages are supported in the other apps. iTranslate seems suitable for traveling and communication in different languages. If all you need is a dictionary to support your studies, try WordReference and Linguee, or Pleco for Chinese and SpanishDict for Spanish.
- L-Lingo Mini-Review: Textbook Content, Depends On Your Style
L-Lingo
Price:
$14.95/mo, $75/half-year, $120/year
Summary
Each language on L-Lingo contains 105 lessons and 5000 words. The lessons seem to be the same in every language, and will teach you typical textbook lessons, such as booking a hotel reservation, naming different colours, or navigating to an airport. If you are looking for something that will help you communicate naturally with native speakers, this probably isn’t the resource for you. Similar to Rosetta Stone, L-Lingo plays an audio recording of a sentence or word, and then asks you to find the image that corresponds to what you just heard. Unlike Rosetta Stone, L-Lingo provides seemingly clear and concise grammar explanations of the concept you are about to learn. They provide three types of quizzes with every lesson, and also use Spaced Repetition Software to help you remember new vocabulary. There are currently some technical difficulties signing up on the website, but you can access their content on your mobile device. The program has mixed reviews on various platforms, but you can check out the first five lessons for free to see if it suits what you’re looking for.
- Lang Workbooks Mini Review: Thorough Writing Practice
Lang Workbooks
Price:
$5.99
Summary
For learners of languages that use unfamiliar writing systems, the Lang Workbooks series can be a helpful and practical way to master the intricacies of writing in their target languages. Among numerous other writing systems, the series includes the Korean, Russian Cyrillic, and Armenian alphabets; Persian and Thai script; the Hindi Devanāgarī abugida; Chinese characters; and Japanese Hiragana and Katakana. The series also covers languages that use the Latin alphabet with diacritical (accent) marks, such as French, German, and Portuguese. Many books in the series have been translated into other languages, such as Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. The series also covers writing systems that may have fewer available resources for learners, such as Lao script and the Cherokee syllabary. Each book in the series presents its featured writing system with suggested pronunciations. The practice pages in each workbook have useful features for each letter, symbol, or character, such as a recommended stroke order, font variations, example words, and a “Trace and Learn” section. Each workbook is relatively inexpensive. In addition, the publishers of the series have granted teachers and students a license to make photocopies of the workbook pages for personal use, so you can get unlimited chances to practice. Considering the depth of information in each language’s workbook, the books in this series can provide great value for learners.
- LangCorrect: Unlimited, Free Writing Practice With Feedback
LangCorrect
Price:
Free
Summary
LangCorrect is a free community-driven writing site where users can both contribute to editing others’ work and receive feedback on their own writing. After writing your piece, you may submit it to receive feedback from other site users. In order to ensure accurate feedback, multiple users can cross-check the corrections that were made and add comments. Volunteers and Patrons have access to writing in up to 10 languages, but typical users can write in a maximum of two languages at a time. Everyone is encouraged to both write and correct others’ work on the site. If you are looking to improve your writing skills in one of the over 100 languages available, trying out this resource is a must! However, if you’re studying a less common language and not finding many users to give you corrections, consider trying the exercise section in italki’s community features.
The rating is our best guess, but we haven’t yet had the opportunity to fully test and review this resource.
- Langu Mini Review: A Quality-Focused italki Alternative
Langu
Price:
Classes start at $10.50, some teachers offer a free trial
Summary
Langu is an italki competitor with some compelling factors in its favor. Just like with italki, you search its online database of teachers to book private lessons with them at times of your choosing. You can read other students’ reviews and take trial classes. Unlike italki, there are no booking fees and you can purchase in a range of currencies, including euros and British pounds. Langu also boasts its own intuitive, web-hosted classroom software, meaning you don’t have to download a program or give your teacher your contact details. This also means that all shared links, videos, and worksheets are stored on Langu. The biggest downside to Langu, in comparison with italki, is that you’ll have a smaller choice of teachers and there are no community features (forum, exercise tools, etc.). The classes also tend to be slightly more expensive. On the other hand, Langu claims that all its teachers are “top teachers” – they have to submit a video application and be approved before joining the website – and offers to give students personal recommendations for specific teachers via email, if needed. While we’ve taken classes with one Langu teacher and were impressed by the quality of the classes, we can’t comment on whether all Langu’s teachers meet the same standards.
- Language Learning WIth Netflix Mini-Review: Easy to Use
Language learning with Netflix
Price:
Freemium, Free Trial, $4.95/mo
Summary
If you want to make language learning more accessible while watching Netflix, this chrome extension is for you. The free version allows you to skip subtitles forward and backward in case you didn’t catch what was said, and you can also choose to automatically pause the movie or show after each subtitle. The full transcript is also displayed on the side. By hovering over a word you can see a short translation and hear an audio pronunciation, or you can click on the word for more context and further links to various dictionary sites. With a Pro membership you can save words or phrases, receive translations that are closer to the meaning in the original language, and create subtitles for dubbed movies. LLN’s catalogue can help you find Netflix movies or shows with high-quality subtitles to improve your experience,
- Laoshi Mini Review: Great Resource for Learning Chinese Vocabulary
Laoshi
Price:
Freemium; $8.99/month, $44.99/year
Summary
Are you having a hard time learning, managing and remembering Chinese words and vocabulary? We might have a great resource to help you with that.
Laoshi is a Chinese learning app (available for iOS, android and web app) that uses science and data to help you learn Chinese. It covers some of the most important aspects of learning Chinese such as: meaning, pronunciation, tone and handwriting, while also tackling an issue faced by lots of other Chinese learning platforms, word managing.
To help you learn Chinese, Laoshi offers; thousands of digitized grammar topics and wordlists that are categorized into topics, books and exams and a great handwriting tool to help you learn Chinese words and characters. Laoshi uses SRS (spaced Repetition System) to make learning and retaining vocabulary easier for you. You’ll also benefit from Laoshi’s in-app community, where you can create and share your own wordlists with fellow learners. Although Laoshi isn’t gamified, you can still learn a lot from it.
There may be some complexity with the app as a result of the number of learning tools available, however, its beautiful and intuitive design, as well as the high recommendations from Chinese language teachers, makes Laoshi a great option for learning Chinese. - Learn WIth Oliver Mini-Review: Simple With Lots of Content
Learn with Oliver
Price:
Free Trial, with premium plans starting at $96/year
Summary
Learn With Oliver is a simple website that offers SRS flashcards with audio recordings by native speakers, random videos and articles with a list of keywords, choose your own adventure stories, writing practice with corrections by native speakers, and progress tests. The flashcard words and sentences seem to have been randomly chosen rather than curated to specific learning goals, so they are probably better used as enrichment than as a primary learning tool. The site as a whole is probably best for learners who already have a good grasp of basic vocabulary in their target language. The mixed exercises use spaced repetition to first introduce you to new words, then get you practicing through various word order, fill-in-the-blanks, listening, writing, and multiple-choice activities. Each “card” (more like “page”) allows you to see an overview of each word with example sentences. A cute perk you will receive after completing each day’s lesson is a “reward link,” which is typically a cute or funny picture on Reddit. If you’re looking for alternatives to some of the features on this site, LangCorrect may have a larger community of language learners to support you in improving your writing, Readlang and the Zhongwen Chrome Extension will help translate words on most websites, Yabla will teach you languages through video clips, and sites like Readle (German) and Du Chinese can help with your reading comprehension.
- Learn101 Mini-Review: A Re-Formatted Version of iLanguages
learn101
Price:
Free
Summary
Learn 101 is almost identical to iLanguages, but neither of them seem to be very helpful; they have the same native speaker audio files, languages, and mostly identical ‘lesson’ layouts. The main differences are that Learn 101 seems to have added some grammar explanations and reformatted a bit, while iLanguages seems to have added some extra phrases. Since every one of the languages’ “lessons” has the same format, including the grammar section, you will learn how to say ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘or’, in 107 languages, but you will not learn where these types of words fit within a specific language’s sentence structure. Although there are examples of various grammatical structures, the explanations for these structures are also identical for every language, which, practically speaking, doesn’t seem plausible. This site could be useful if you want to hear native speakers pronounce basic words in less-common languages, or if you want to look up the IPA symbols of a less-common language’s alphabet — otherwise, you’re probably better off making flashcards yourself on Anki, or trying one of the hundreds of other resources we recommend on this site.
- Learning Chinese Through Stories Mini-Review: Fun Immersion
Learning Chinese Through Stories
Price:
Free, Premium subscriptions start at $5/mo
Summary
Learning Chinese Through Stories is an excellent podcast for immersive Chinese study. In each of every one of their 9 levels, from Low Novice to High Advanced, the two narrators speak only in Chinese. You will learn to understand new concepts in stories, songs, or grammar explanations through context rather than translations. Listening to the podcast is like being welcomed into a conversation between friends — the narrators have great chemistry and truly seem to enjoy what they are doing. They speak at a relatively natural speed, but articulate clearly and provide numerous examples that will give you the confidence to apply each new concept to different situations. Several episodes are available directly on their website with accompanying transcripts of the story or song being studied — but, by supporting them on Patreon you can receive full transcripts of every episode with vocabulary annotations and more. You can also listen on Spotify or Stitcher, but check out their website to understand more about the levels and how to use the podcast first.
- Lingo Mastery Conversational Dialogues Mini Review: Dual-text
Lingo Mastery Conversational Dialogues
Price:
Kindle books cost $4.60
Summary
Lingo Mastery provides over 100 short dialogues in a series of advanced beginner books (about A2 on the CEFR scale) for various languages. Lingo Mastery’s Conversational Dialogues doesn’t take the immersive approach that you will find in other graded readers. Instead, they provide a full English translation of each text. There are no vocabulary lists or comprehension questions like in their Short Stories series, but you will read conversations that take place in over a hundred different scenarios. If your goal is to accumulate vocabulary based on situations that you may encounter in your everyday life, then Lingo Mastery is probably a good investment. If you want to follow real-life conversations that are part of a continuous story, you may want to check out Olly Richards’ 101 Conversations. Also, if you are looking for a series of books that will keep you captivated, Mandarin Companion and ESLC provide graded readers that simplify famous stories into Chinese and Spanish. If you do decide to invest in these readers, make sure to buy the Kindle version, which is about 20% of the paperback price. There are also previews available on Amazon.
- Lingo Mastery Short Stories Mini-Review: Lots of Unique Words
Lingo Mastery Short Stories
Price:
Kindle Books cost $4.60
Summary
Lingo Mastery provides 20 short stories in a series of advanced beginner books (about A2 on the CEFR scale) for various languages. Each book has a vocabulary list, reading comprehension questions, and a summary in both English and the target language. If your primary goal is to acquire new vocabulary, then Lingo Mastery’s Short Story series may be helpful to increase your skills. Each chapter has a specific language focus, such as directions, verbs, nouns, or activities. These stories have a considerable number of unique words, so you may find yourself referring to the vocabulary list more frequently than in other graded readers. Keep in mind that the stories are not as engaging as a novel you might read in your native tongue, but the repetition is helpful to familiarize you with different concepts. Other graded readers, like those by Olly Richards, ESLC, and Mandarin Companion follow a single storyline — each chapter in Lingo Mastery, however, follows a separate storyline. Therefore, although the chapters are a manageable length, finishing one may not make you eager to move onto the next. If you do decide to invest in these readers, make sure to buy the Kindle version, which is about 20% of the paperback price.
- LingoHut Mini-Review: Good Intentions, So-So Follow Through
lingohut
Price:
Free
Summary
Kendal and Philipp, the creators of the LingoHut, are passionate about teaching languages. Their website supposedly helps A1 and A2 language learners develop their confidence in listening and pronunciation. All audio clips were recorded by native speakers so that beginners can get accustomed to natural pronunciation, and each lesson has a series of matching games for listening comprehension and reading. Unfortunately, the creators’ genuine intention to support beginners doesn’t seem to translate into their lessons. The lessons are essentially a series of phrases that are not adapted to each language’s culture; each of the 50 languages use the exact same set of sentences and lesson formats. This means that you will learn how to say ‘dumpling’ both in Chinese and Italian. There is also no section to learn the script of languages such as Korean, Hindi, or Arabic, nor are there transliterations to help beginners sound out the pronunciation. Furthermore, some sentences switch between formal and informal language without explanation, which would not be intuitive for an A1 learner. If you want a free resource to listen to native speakers’ pronunciation of hundreds of common phrases, LingoHut is definitely a free option. However, there are other resources that can help you learn languages more effectively.
- Lingua Boost Mini-Review: Use Pimsleur Instead
Lingua Boost
Price:
1 level costs $19.90, two levels cost $33.90
Summary
Lingua Boost’s website sells downloadable volumes of phrasebook-like lessons that teach everyday phrases in context. The lessons are about 10 minutes long; they are narrated by native speakers and focus on vocabulary within a specific topic. Although each lesson seems to contain something that resembles a dialogue, every phrase is spoken by the same person. Additionally, many of the lessons initially appear to be dialogues, but end up as a list of sentences. For example, the first line of a lesson might be, “what do you like to do?” followed by a series of statements such as “I like to read books,” or “I like to go swimming.” Furthermore, for languages that have more difficult pronunciation, such as Russian and Hindi, the lessons do not break down pronunciation. In Pimsleur, for example, they use an excellent technique of working backwards with each syllable in a word. In Lingua Boost, it seems that you are expected to just listen and gradually catch on, even from the absolute beginner level. Finally, each volume must be purchased separately, but you can test out the first 5 lessons for free on their website. If you’re looking for a similar course that breaks down pronunciation, has interactive activities and helps you learn full dialogues in context, check out Pimsleur’s subscription plan.
- Linguee Mini-Review: Best Dictionary for Formal Language
Linguee
Price:
Free
Summary
Linguee was developed by over 400 lexicographers. It is unique in that it does not use machine-translation to provide examples of words in context — instead, it sources words from articles and research papers in the original language. As a result, it is an excellent dictionary app to find translations for specialized terminology. You will learn the subtleties of various translations by reading paired paragraphs of text that have each been professionally translated, not translated by a machine. In some languages, you can listen to pronunciations by native speakers and read multiple translations of your chosen word or phrase. Although translations are highlighted in each paragraph so you can compare how to use them in each language, they can be difficult to navigate quickly. If you are looking for a website with simple and professional translations, you can check out WordReference for several different languages. SpanishDict is also an excellent option for Spanish, and Pleco is the only dictionary you will ever need for Chinese.
- Loecsen Mini-Review: Phrasebook App For Absolute Beginners
Loecsen
Price:
Free
Summary
Loecsen’s strengths are its attractive interface and drawings that accompany the content. It also uses high-quality audio recordings by native speakers, even in the less-common languages. The website offers 41 different languages, but unfortunately, there are only about 432 phrases to learn, which will not take you beyond even the absolute basics. These phrases are practical, however, so in a pinch, they may save you abroad. Despite the attractive interface, the buttons are not very intuitive, so you may have to click around to figure out what each one does. Below the main interactive program, you can see a list of vocabulary and a progress bar for speaking and vocabulary activities — the vocabulary highlights in green as you complete the quizzes. At the very bottom of the page, you can also see an overview of basic pronunciation. For pronunciation practice, the read-aloud tool provides you with a series of songs or text excerpts that you can record yourself reading aloud and then compare with the original song (or a robot voice). If you’re just looking to learn basic essential phrases and pick up some vocabulary for a trip, Loecsen is an attractive program for the very casual learner. Otherwise, many other resources can take you to at least the intermediate level in most of the same languages.
- Maayot Mini-Review: Best For Those Who Struggle To Stay Motivated
Maayot
Price:
Freemium, with paid plans starting at $10/mo
Summary
Although you can get unlimited reading practice through Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao for a lower cost, some people may be overwhelmed by having to remember to do their daily Chinese practice. Maayot helps to motivate you by delivering daily bite-sized reading activities to your inbox. The free activities include 5-minute stories for beginner to advanced learners (although the advanced lessons don’t seem to contain very complicated grammar structures), while the standard subscription adds audio recordings by native speakers and a daily quiz. With a premium subscription, you will get corrections to your daily writing responses and private tutoring once per week. To customize a similarly enriching experience, you can get free written corrections from the LangCorrect community, and find a community tutor on Italki. You can expect beginner stories to contain about 70 characters, while advanced stories contain about 250 characters. Clicking on characters you don’t know will send you to the MBDG dictionary website, so you may want to download the Zhongwen Chrome Extension extension instead. The Gymglish Series (Frantastique, Frantastique Ortho, Hotel Borbollón and Wunderbla) also takes the daily e-mail approach, so if you are studying French, German, English or Spanish, you can check them out (although the series is quite pricey).
- Mandarin Companion Mini-Review: Engaging for Beginners
Mandarin Companion
Price:
$6.84 and up
Summary
Mandarin Companion was developed from one of the founder’s experiences in drastically improving his Chinese through extensive reading. Jared read 10 graded readers in 3 months and discovered that, after 2 years of trying to learn Chinese, he could finally hold a conversation with his colleagues. Like Jared, through Mandarin Companion’s graded readers, learners can start to understand grammar in context and enjoy the process of reading. The books are written using 98% of the words you probably know, with new words gradually introduced as the story progresses. You should only find about one new character or word for every 40-50 characters you have read, and new words will include a footnote with definitions. You will be sure to find engaging story plots with this series, as many of the books are based on the works of famous authors, such as Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. The readers come in three levels: The breakthrough level (150 unique characters), Level 1 (300 unique characters), and level 2 (450 unique characters). Those who want to go beyond the levels of these books can check out Pleco’s graded readers or The Chairman’s Bao for more extensive reading material.
- Mandarin Corner Mini-Review: Well Organized, Engaging Content
Mandarin Corner
Price:
Free, $10 for premium benefits
Summary
Eileen, the founder of Mandarin Corner, provides a variety of content for beginner and intermediate learners to train their listening comprehension, improve their grammar, expand their vocabulary, and help them understand Chinese culture. She sometimes dedicates episodes to specific grammar points or interviews locals about different topics. Because she speaks with so many different people, you will be able to train your ear to understand different accents. Eileen will help you understand the nuances of the language, must-know sentence structures, and even spend an hour helping you understand the many different measure words. You can watch videos that focus on conversation, HSK content, slow intermediate Chinese with literal translations, stories, and reading practice. On the website you can also listen to audio episodes with a PDF transcript, use flashcards, download the Youtube videos, or watch videos without English translations. Some of this content is only available with a one-time $10 donation, but after the donation you will have access to the content forever. Overall, Mandarin Corner is an excellent resource with a variety of high-quality and engaging material.
- Mandarin HQ Mini-Review: Accessible, Real Spoken Chinese
mandarin hq
Price:
Freemium, Courses cost between $67-$87
Summary
Although a tad expensive for the quantity of content provided, if you have ever struggled with understanding different accents or slang terms when listening to native speakers, Mandarin HQ’s videos will certainly help make real conversations more accessible. Each of the 150 lessons focuses on one question, with six different people asking and responding to the question in order to familiarize your ear to different voices and accents. The format of each lesson goes through the process of listening, listening and reading [Chinese subtitles], listening and reading [English subtitles], and then a quiz. The dialogue is at a natural speed, accompanied by a transcript to help you study the material. The website has a lot of free, high quality content, such as short video lessons and interviews. There are also sample beginner and intermediate videos available under the “course” section, so you can check out if Mandarin HQ matches your learning style before deciding if you want to purchase the full course.
- Manga Mandarin Mini-Review: Learn HSK Content The Fun Way
Manga Mandarin
Price:
Freemium, Add-ons start at $0.99, Quarterly subscription starts at $12.99
Summary
Manga Mandarin allows you to interact with Mandarin comics through reading, listening, and speaking. The content follows the teaching standards of US ACTFL, covering the breadth of HSK vocabulary as well as engaging learners in everyday Mandarin dialogues. Speakers of Russian, Thai, Arabic, English, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese can all enjoy learning Chinese from their native language. There are several topics available within the boundaries of each HSK level, from short stories about everyday life in China to fantasy series. The ‘episodes’ contains a word list, a fun comic, a review of the text within the comic, a video with cultural and grammar points, and a dubbing activity where you yourself can provide the audio for the comic. You can tap on any text within the comic to hear native speakers acting out each panel, or you can double tap to get a translation and a grammar explanation. The app has a combination of free and paid content available, so you can test out several comics before deciding if you want to invest in more material. Manga Mandarin seems to have less bugs in the iOS version than in the Android version; hopefully this will be fixed in the near future so that Android users can also enjoy the hours of engaging material available for Chinese learners.
- Master Any Language Mini-Review: No Words To Describe the Nope
Master Any Language
Price:
Free
Summary
Master Any Language has a counterintuitive interface with activities that are frustrating to navigate. Its only perk is that it supports less-studied languages, but even if you do find yourself lacking resources in your target language, this website will probably detract from your learning. You will jump through hoops trying to find the audio recordings by native speakers, so you may want to try ilovelanguages or Learn101 instead; they have low ratings, but they won’t make you lose your motivation to learn altogether. Most of the activities on Master Any Language are matching games that require you to click on two identical characters, words, or letters: the purpose of this is unclear because it tests neither recall nor recognition. Another activity asks you to form or match nonsensical sequences of words (Ex. Find the sentence identical to “el el el el tchèque tchèque tchèque el el tchèque tchèque”….). Ultimately, you would probably be better off trying to decipher a page of text with absolutely no guidance than to even attempt to wrap your head around MAL’s activities.
- Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Mini-Review: Extremely Thorough
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar
Price:
$75.45
Summary
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar divides into two parts; Part A focuses on the major features of Mandarin grammar and is intended to be a reference guide for forms or structures. Part B shows you how to use the language — sections are organized by the function of the grammar point, such as “expressing additional information” or “expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives.” These two parts cross-reference each other, giving you a broader perspective of the different sentence patterns. Each grammar point is accompanied by both simplified and traditional characters, plus examples that can be applied to modern communication. The first few sections elaborate on basic concepts, such as pronunciation, two-syllable words, common suffixes, and word-specific tone changes. They briefly explore the Chinese writing system and then dive into structural topics like phrase order and modal verbs. Later sections in Part B become a fun reference for the question “what do I want to express now?” With the accompanying workbook (purchased separately), you can expand your range of self-expression one section at a time. You may want to get the hard-copy version, as some reviewers have complained that it has not yet been formatted for e-book form. If you’re not ready to invest in a textbook, you can check out Chinese Grammar Wiki for a free guide to Chinese grammar.
- My Language Exchange Mini-Review: Millions of Active Users
My Language Exchange
Price:
Freemium, Gold Memberships start at $6/mo
Summary
My Language Exchange has been growing since 2000. Although the website seems out of date, it still has an active community of millions of language-learners who speak almost 200 native languages (including less commonly studied languages). You can choose a pen pal by reading their bios, or there is a chat room available for you to instantly connect with a language exchange partner — note that if you create a Gold account, you can initiate chats with other users, but as a regular user, you will have to wait to be contacted. Using the Cormier Method, the website provides tools to help intermediate speakers effectively practice with other learners. It advertises a Chat Companion with lesson plans to accompany your exchange, or lesson plans developed by teachers (although the quality of these resources varies drastically). You can also find language teachers on the site, but given that the transactions take place directly between you and the teacher, you may feel safer using a 3rd party platform like italki or Verbling. Although there are outlines on how to participate in language exchanges, how these outlines are followed depends entirely on you and your partner(s). My Language Exchange will help you build connections with other learners, but it’s up to you to plan how to practice. The concepts can also be used with any language exchange platform, such as Lingbe, italki, Tandem, and Amikumu.
- mylingua Mini Review: Content That Matches Your Skill Level
mylingua
Price:
Freemium; $15/month, $120/year
Summary
Are you an intermediate or advanced learner of Mandarin Chinese looking for content that perfectly matches your skill level and caters to your interests? We’ve got an awesome resource for you.
Mylingua is a web app that takes personalization to the next level. It identifies your proficiency level, your interests and favorite topics and introduces you to content that best fits your proficiency level. As you read and engage with the interface, you’re able to identify what you already know and what you would like to learn.
So how does this work? Well, mylingua aggregates over 5000 articles daily from China and Taiwan and compares your skill level to the articles. Their AI then calculates the mylingua score, which helps you assess the readability of articles. Content pieces with higher scores are compared to your interest and ranked accordingly, presenting a perfectly personalized feed. Every user input feeds mylingua’s AI to help refine further suggestions. So as you advance, so does your feed and the content presented to you.
What makes mylingua different from other language learning platforms such as Duolingo or Babbel is that, it takes advantage of the existing authentic content on the web, meaning that you can still benefit from the app even as you advance. The level of personalization exceeds that of LingQ, Dot Languages, FluentU etc. Mylingua believes that personalization is a key driver of the motivation of language learners.
So if you’re looking for a resource that provides comprehensible input, keeps you motivated by presenting authentic content that appeals to your interests and pushes you to advance and improve your language skills, then you should check out mylingua. - New Practical Chinese Reader Mini-Review: Great Value
New Practical Chinese Reader
Price:
$ 39.95
Summary
Through the six volumes of this series, the authors reinforce language structure and function, integrating lessons with dialogues and cultural information. Students will follow the lives of nine main characters, initially learning basic sentence patterns through reading their dialogues, and then advancing to more complex material. The New Practical Chinese Reader does not have as flashy of a textbook design as the Integrated Chinese textbook series. However, it is significantly cheaper and has several other advantages — including having been published by the Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Unlike in the Integrated Chinese textbook series, the focus on character writing extends beyond what is contained in the dialogues. Before attacking more complex characters, you will learn the fundamental rules of Chinese characters and break down character components. There is also a 34-page introduction to pronunciation with drills to reinforce your understanding throughout the early chapters. For the beginner levels, you will notice tone marks indicated above each character so you can get accustomed to proper tone use. Overall, the New Practical Chinese Reader has a stronger focus on writing and pronunciation than Integrated Chinese, but the grammar explanations may not be as strong. Luckily, Chinese Grammar Wiki can be used to supplement your understanding if you do end up using this textbook.
- Open Learn Mini-Review: Very Specific Course Topics
Open Learn
Price:
Free
Summary
Open Learn offers an entire section dedicated to language learning, with beginner, intermediate, and advanced content for German, Spanish, and French. You will also find some basic courses for Chinese, Welsh, English, and Italian. The courses seem to emphasize understanding the culture that the language originates from, and will teach you vocabulary through specific topics (like food and drink for beginner Italian, or ‘getting around’ for beginner Spanish). This may feel a little over the top when you end up studying holiday plans for 20 hours, but at the same time, you will probably feel quite confident in your abilities by the end of the course. Most of the beginner courses, other than Chinese, German, and Welsh, seem to be for false beginners. You will probably need to develop a basic foundation of your target language (maybe a section or two of the Duolingo tree, or the introductory courses on Coursera) before diving in, unless you want a challenge. Overall, Open Learn language courses are good for improving your language skills on specific topics, but you may not feel fulfilled in the area of practical conversation. Moreover, the user interface is not as attractive or easy to navigate as other resources, like Coursera. For some other free options that may give you more practical language skills, check out Coursera, edX, Deutsche Welle (German), TV5 Monde (French), Duolingo, HelloChinese, or Language Transfer.
- OPLingo Mini Review: Community Driven, Non-Profit
OPLingo
Price:
Freemium, Premium Subscriptions cost $6.99/mo, $60/Year
Summary
OPLingo is a community-oriented, non-profit language learning site. It essentially combines the functions of LingQ, LangCorrect, Readlang, iTalki, and HelloTalk. The free version gives you limited access to some functions, but by paying for a membership you support ethical causes — such as building a primary school in Tanzania. You can browse user-contributed texts or easily import your own YouTube videos, articles, or ebooks into the Reading Tool. OPLingo has also developed hundreds of audio conversations in several languages, including Tagalog, Cebuano, Thai, Swahili, and Russian. Within each page, you can read a transcript and get definitions and pronunciations of unknown words. By identifying which words you don’t know, the next passages you read will highlight the number of known or unknown vocabulary words. In their Write & Correct section, you can write in over 100 languages and exchange corrections with other users, although Spanish, French, and English learners have a better chance of receiving corrections than other languages at the moment. You can also practice a language by texting with fellow community members, or by hiring a teacher in your target language. OPLingo has a lot of potential and is a good alternative to LingQ, but it needs a community of learners to help it grow — so check it out!
- Optilingo Mini-Review: Use if You Absolutely Love Slideshows
optilingo
Price:
$11.99/mo, $23.97/quarter, $41.94/half-year, $71.88/year
Summary
Optilingo is essentially a phrase-bank in slideshow form. Each of the 20 languages available includes 100 lessons, none of which contain information about the topic or learning goals during the writing of this review. You can expect to listen to a series of phrases, and then review (what seems like) the last 45 phrases you have learned before moving onto the next lesson. The phrases are not in flashcard form — instead, they are in a slideshow with both the English and the target language displayed together. Optilingo advertises learning and practicing with over 29 hours worth of phrases, and while you can surely practice with their phrase-bank, actually learning to speak any of the languages offered using their platform is questionable. If you are keen on language learning, check out our bank of reviews for other resources.
- Outlier Linguistics Mini-Review: Master Chinese Characters
Outlier Linguistics
Price:
Dictionary add-on costs $29.99, Courses cost between $49 – $99
Summary
Outlier Linguistics is the best tool for understanding the logic behind Chinese characters. Available as an add-on for the must-have Pleco dictionary, Outlier shows how the characters actually work. This makes it easier to connect the sound and meaning components of characters, as well as understand how the various meanings relate to each other. Besides the dictionary add-on, there’s also a Chinese Characters Masterclass, a Pronunciation and Accent Masterclass, and more. You can save 20% on a purchase by using the coupon code ‘ALR20’.
New Year Sale! 30% off everything! Discount applied automatically at checkout. See details on the website. - Pleco Mini-Review: The One Chinese App Everyone Needs
pleco
Price:
Free, Add-ons start at $4.99
Summary
Everyone studying Chinese should download Pleco on their phone. It’s easily the best dictionary app available, but it can do so much more than just help you look up the meanings of words. The core features are free to use, but there are a number of add-ons (some paid) which makes it even more useful. Some of these are SRS flashcards, OCR which lets you look up words using your camera, audio recordings, document reader, screen reader, handwriting recognition, and more. This is the one app that pretty much everyone agrees is a must-have.
- Polly Lingual Mini-Review: Phrasebook With Simple Games
Polly Lingual
Price:
Freemium, yearly subscriptions start at $2.99/mo
Summary
Polly Lingual is a phrasebook app and website with a series of basic word lists, flashcards, and memory games. Some of the phrases are pronounced by native speakers, while others use text-to-voice. Unlike other phrasebook apps that focus on phrases alone, Polly Lingual introduces the basic alphabet in languages with non-romanized scripts. You can quiz yourself on the basic vowels and consonants in Russian, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese, and Arabic. Polly Lingual may be helpful for a quick review of what you’ve already learned, but if you’re keen on learning to write a new script, you may want to check out Write It! or Write Me. There are also Polly Ambassadors — tutors who will provide short videos of language learning tips throughout the site. You can send them a personal message or hire them as a private tutor. Overall, Polly Lingual only teaches basic phrases and will probably not help you learn how to construct your own sentences. If you’re just beginning to learn another language, check out French in Action, Red Kalinka (Russian), Chinesefor.us, 90 Day Korean, Portuguese lab, or Pimsleur to get more out of your time. Also, Italki will give you more options for private tutors, if that’s what you’re looking for.
- Practical Audio-Visual Chinese Mini-Review: Learn From Taiwan
Practical Audio-Visual Chinese
Price:
$ 35.00
Summary
Taiwanese language schools have been using the Practical Audio-Visual Chinese series for decades. You may find that the earlier versions use some slightly out-of-date vocabulary words, as they were originally written in the time of CD-ROMs and VCRs. However, the series recently underwent a makeover that seems to have brought the content up to speed with modern technology. Unlike many textbooks that contain short dialogues that students can use to practice speaking, some of the dialogues in this series extend up to five pages long. However, the idioms, phrases, and content of these dialogues are true to Taiwanese culture and everyday conversation. Listening or reading the text feels more like entering a movie scene than it does reading a university textbook. Each chapter has an extensive vocabulary section that focuses on new words and words with similar characters. There are additional exercises in the grammar section, speaking activities, comics, and material straight from newspaper articles or magazines. You will also find a section that compiles the grammar and vocabulary words from the chapter into a short essay written both by hand and on the computer. Overall, Practical Audio-Visual Chinese is a practical resource for anyone learning traditional Chinese characters. If you purchase these textbooks in Taiwan, they are only about $35 USD. Online, however, the prices vary. Make sure you differentiate between purchasing the full textbook or the accompanying workbook!
- Readlang Mini-Review: A Must-Have For Language Lovers
Readlang
Price:
Freemium, Premium subscriptions start at $5/mo
Summary
With Readlang as your Google Chrome Extension, you can have instant translations for words or sentences in over 45 languages at the tip of your mouse cursor (or fingertip)! Browse the internet and effortlessly click on unknown words to get a translation that stays on your screen until it is no longer needed. If you can’t find anything to read on the internet, you can access a bank of public texts organized by word count and difficulty, browse the most popular websites for Readlang users, or upload your own text to study. If you read on the Readlang website, you can see words that you have previously translated highlighted across every text. Readlang collects SRS flashcards for you from words that you have translated. It will only record the most useful words for you to practice based on word frequency lists, which could be either a pro or a con depending on your study goals. Each flashcard also includes audio pronunciation and the sentence from which the word was taken. You can choose to reveal the flashcard to check your comprehension, or type in your response for more effective recall. The free version provides enough for the casual user, but upgrading to an affordable premium membership allows unlimited phrase translations and unknown word highlighting across texts. Although there may be some problems with translations in beta languages, and sometimes it fails to recognize text, overall Readlang is an excellent resource for language lovers.
- Reverso Translation Mini-Review: Best for French learners
Reverso Translation
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
Reverso is a translation and spell check app. Its features primarily target French and English learners, although it also translates into a handful of other languages. Compared with BonPatron, Reverso’s spell-check function (available only for French and English) is less attuned to general mistakes, such as capitalization or inappropriate commas. Reverso only catches some of the errors related to inappropriate accordance of genders or numbers from “The House of Être” verbs. Nevertheless, it does a decent job of catching obvious mistakes, and it will provide you with synonyms to enrich your writing. You are encouraged to use the spell check function at each stage of the writing process because when you correct one error, the program may identify new ones. The free version allows you to check 1200 characters at a time, and upgrading to a premium version will allow you to check unlimited characters. The Reverso Contexto dictionary is an excellent resource for most of the available languages. While Linguee takes examples from relatively formal sources, Reverso Contexto provides example sentences professionally translated from movies, dialogues, official documents, websites, and newspapers. Other resources include Reverso’s dictionary (which is usually from Collin’s) a verb conjugator, French and English grammar articles, a thesaurus, and a document translator.
- Scripts Mini-Review: Flashy and Fast-Paced
Scripts by Drops
Price:
Freemium, $9.99/mo, $69.99/year, $159.99/lifetime-access
Summary
Although it has a flashier interface, Scripts by Drops offers similar content to Write it! and Write Me. However, unlike these other apps, which sound out the name of each character, Scripts by Drops seems to focus on how the letter would sound if it were in a sentence. For example, instead of pronouncing the Hebrew character ב (vet or bet) you will hear /v/ or /b/. You can practice writing different characters with your fingers, and there are a variety of fast-paced activities to help you remember the different alphabets. Under the same membership as Scripts by Drops, you can also use the Drops app to learn and practice words that use your chosen alphabet. Similar to Write Me and Write It!, Scripts by Drops doesn’t seem to give much background about script. Also, some people may find the animation is too flashy and time-consuming; you can test Write it! (free), Write Me (paid lifetime access), and Scripts by Drops (monthly or lifetime access) to see which app best suits the language you are learning. For more comprehensive apps, check out Eggbun for Korean or Skritter for Chinese and Japanese.
- ShuoShuo Chinese Mini-Review: Chinese Made Simple
ShuoShuo Chinese
Price:
$ 0.00
Summary
Shuo is a native Chinese speaker and teacher who lives in Thailand. Every week she uploads YouTube videos exploring Chinese vocabulary, grammar, and culture, showing you how to use simple concepts to make your Chinese sound more advanced (like in this video). She diversifies her videos by adding video clips and images, dressing up as different characters, and reenacting scenes from her life. She makes the lessons fun, and if you pay close attention you’ll notice that she also has an excellent sense of humour. Shuo mostly uses English to explain different concepts, but she has videos dedicated to listening practice with subtitles and translations. She also identifies the level of HSK vocabulary words she uses. Although Shuo does not have the hundreds of videos that other channels may have accumulated, the quality of her videos is reflected in the over 66k subscribers she seems to have accumulated in less than a year. Her channel has material from HSK 1-6, so learners of all levels can find some gems of knowledge. She understands Chinese learners’ potential missteps and clearly explains how to avoid them — even the beginner videos contain concepts that an upper-intermediate learner may not have considered, so check them out!
- Simply Learn Mini-Review: Spaced Repetition Phrases For Travelers
Simply Learn
Price:
$ 9.99
Summary
In Simply Learn, by Simya Solutions, you can search for and review over 1000 phrases in over 30 categories. It takes the typical phrasebook app one step further by allowing you to add your favorite phrases to SRS flashcards. Given that its developers also developed Ling, an additional, more comprehensive resource that supports language learning, it seems that Simply Learn is a supplementary app for individuals who need to learn basic phrases for traveling abroad. The creators don’t seem to have intended for people to use this app to learn a language in its entirety, but rather to support them in memorizing basic phrases for travel. As with Simya Solutions’ other apps, Simply Learn is most helpful for less commonly learned languages, such as Hokkien and Khmer. Beginners can access the basic cards for free, but the advanced traveler will have to make a one-time purchase to access all the content. If what you truly want is to have a set of phrases under your belt, Simply Learn’s SRS flashcards and native-speaker audio can support you. However, if you are studying a less commonly learned language and want to understand the basic sentence patterns and writing system, check out Ling.
- Speed Learning Languages Mini-Review: Nope, Nope, Nope
speed learning languages
Price:
2 levels cost $197, 4 levels cost $394
Summary
Most of Speed Learning Languages’ content, except for perhaps the Italian course, seems to be a refurbished version of the 100% free FSI courses. This program is only recommended if you want to pay almost $200 for a clearer font and a few extra resources. Since Speed Learning Languages and the FSI courses seem to be essentially the same program, it should be noted that both will help you learn the language quite effectively; they are intensive programs that place a strong focus on listening to train your ear to understand native speakers, in addition to extensive exercises for grammar and vocabulary. If you follow along with the audio and respond to the prompts in each drill, you will also develop more confidence in speaking. Each full language course takes about 250 hours to complete, with each unit taking about 3-5 hours. Unfortunately, a lot of vocabulary is outdated, including both sexist and obsolete language. Additionally, the course was created for diplomats, so some topics are less relevant to most people’s everyday life. If you are interested in using Speed Learning Languages, use the free FSI courses instead for (comparatively) infinite return on your investment. Here’s the link again – all you need is an email address: FSI Language Courses
- Speekoo Mini-Review: Dip Your Toes in a Language and Culture
Speekoo
Price:
Classes start at $15/hour
Summary
Learning with Speekoo is more of a cultural journey than an intensive language learning app. With every lesson, you will explore some tourist attractions, unusual aspects, and funny anecdotes about different cities that speak the language you are studying. With each correct answer, you “walk” a kilometre further on your journey and gradually unlock videos and articles. Unfortunately, all of these features are in English (or French if you are learning from French). Speekoo’s free lessons build on one another, and you can easily apply new words to your everyday life. Unfortunately, although you will effectively learn what the app teaches you, the extent of the material will only give you the absolute basics of each language. You will not be able to have even simple conversations once you have finished all the levels. The app also doesn’t introduce new scripts, so you won’t learn how to read Japanese or Chinese; instead, you will write the sounds using the English alphabet. Despite its simplicity, Speekoo is a fun, free option for the extremely casual learner who wants to dip their toes in a language. Hopefully, the developers will take the levels further.
- Strokes International Mini Review: Pricy but Comprehensive
Strokes International
Price:
53.00 CHF
Summary
Strokes International sells courses for 24 different languages. They’re more focused on European languages, from the popular German, Spanish, and French through to Slovakian, Czech, and Danish. They do have a couple of non-European ones, though, such as Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. Using a Strokes International course feels a bit like going back in time. You have to download the program onto your computer (and we had to install additional software to run it). In the days of language apps and on-the-go learning, this seems a little inconvenient. Despite that, the course seems to be fairly effective. You listen to and repeat a natural conversation, before being slowly taught the words and phrases. You practice speaking them aloud, typing them, and playing Match Pairs card games. Although grammar takes a back seat, there are explanatory notes throughout and you can access a detailed grammar guide. There’s also a Pronunciation Trainer and Vocabulary Trainer. The Danish beginner course, which we briefly trialed, has 100 lessons.
- Sublearning Mini-Review: There Are Better Uses For Your Time
Sublearning
Price:
Free
Summary
Sublearning is a very simple website that supposedly helps you learn languages through movie subtitles. You will be presented with 1 to 6 lines of subtitles from your chosen movie, and then you can reveal the translation after thinking about the response. There are 62 source and target languages, which does make one wonder where the translations are coming from; be wary of Sublearning’s translation quality. Just to clarify, the subtitles do not seem to be sourced from the most iconic phrases from your favourite movies; rather, they seem to be random lines from the movie, sometimes as simple as “I don’t think so”. If you’re just looking to reminisce about anything that was said in movies you have seen, you can go to Sublearning to pass some time. However if you’re interested in language learning, I recommend checking out some of the many resource reviews we have on this site.
- SuperMemo Mini-Review: Not to Be Confused With Super-Memo
Supermemo
Price:
Free trial, $9.90/mo
Summary
*The app SuperMemo is often confused with Super-Memo SuperMemo seems to advertise its courses and their efficacy by emphasizing the SuperMemo Method. The website states that it is the only scientifically-proven computer-aided learning method — however, the method is a typical Spaced Repetition System that Brainscape, Anki, Pleco, Skritter, SpanishDict, and countless other resources use. If SuperMemo made any special improvements, they do not stand out. SuperMemo’s courses can be accessed through a monthly membership or through purchasing individual courses. Each course contains a series of flashcards with some interactive activities (such as fill-in-the-blanks, multiple-choice questions, and dropdown menus). In some beginner courses, like Hungarian and Dutch, you can learn basic pronunciation with the International Phonetic Alphabet; this can support you in both understanding and producing the sounds of the language later one. They also use native speaker pronunciation to train your ear. The Fast Track courses may have potential, but there do not seem to be many grammar explanations, and it may be up to you to understand your errors. Additionally, you may find that you are suddenly reading translations from your target language in Polish, whether or not you speak Polish. Overall, Supermemo seems okay, but there are probably other resources that will help you learn a language more effectively.
- Tales and Traditions Mini-Review: The Next Step in Graded Readers
Tales and Traditions
Price:
Books start at $17.99
Summary
Tales and traditions is another set of graded readers by Cheng & Tsui that focuses on providing level-appropriate, interesting reading material to support students in attaining Chinese fluency. In this series, you will find poems, stories, and anecdotes written in both simplified and traditional characters, with discussion questions and vocabulary lists to guide your learning. For additional support, Pleco‘s OCR reader or handwriting function can help you identify new words, which you can then add to your Anki or Pleco flashcard decks. This series (or the Readings in Chinese Culture series) could be your next step after Chinese Breeze or Mandarin Companion. Volume 1 is appropriate for advanced beginners (A1 on the CEFR scale), while volume 4 is appropriate for Advanced (B2) learners — you can see the ACTFL and CEFR comparisons in this document. While Volumes 1 and 2 contain fables, myths, and introductions to festivals and historical figures, Volume 3 focuses more on poems, myths, and love stories. Once you reach Volume 4, you will explore excerpts from classic Chinese novels. You may not find every text equally as engaging, but each of them will take you deeper into Chinese culture and refine your reading skills through repetition and level-appropriate language. Alternatively, you can read plenty of graded articles and stories online with Du Chinese and The Chairman’s Bao.
- Tatoeba Mini-Review: A Community Writing Sentences in Context
Tatoeba
Price:
Free
Summary
Tatoeba is a sentence-focused reference dictionary, not word focused. Therefore, by searching for a word in any language, you are searching for examples of that word in context. The site is community-driven, but you don’t have to be multilingual to contribute to the site — it needs native-speaking writers to expand the example database and proofread user sentences. All of the translations are interconnected: even if there is technically no direct translation from Zulu to Chinese, an English translation for the same sentences in both languages will provide direct translations between them. Although Tatoeba supports about 388 languages, about 200 of these languages have less than 100 sentences, and about 58 have less than 10. Nevertheless, the database is continuously growing, and with more community members, the less common languages may have a chance to develop further. It is prohibited to use a translation tool or copyrighted sentences to contribute to the translation database. Unfortunately, some contributors write in a language in which they are not proficiently fluent. As a result, the site has grammatical mistakes and sentences that don’t sound natural. You may have to do some digging to figure out if the contributor is a native speaker or not. Because of the potential user errors on the site, you may want to check out WordReference, Pleco, SpanishDict, Kanji Study , and Linguee to find words in context for more commonly studied languages.
- Verbix Mini-Review: Adequate for Less-Studied Languages
Verbix
Price:
Free
Summary
Verbix is a verb conjugator website and app developed by an independent non-profit organization. It conjugates over 100 languages, including Old English, Latin, and Yiddish The amount of information on the conjugation page varies depending on how common the language is. At its best, it will display nominal forms, most common verb conjugations, verbs that have similar conjugations, translations, synonyms, antonyms, cognates, and a section on etymology. Sometimes there are sample sentences (without translations) that seem to come from articles and books. The final section on additional information seems a bit random, and its purpose is unclear. To conjugate a verb in another language, you have to know the verb in its infinitive form. Unfortunately, although Verbix has a translation function, it doesn’t seem to cover all of the available languages, so you may not be able to find the verb you are looking for in the first place. A fun page to explore is Verbix’s list of over 6000 languages with a map depicting where each of these languages is spoken. Otherwise, Verbix seems a bit random and incomplete. It may be a helpful resource for less commonly studied languages, but check out Reverso Translation, Cooljugator, and SpanishDict first. Also, if you want to practice verb conjugations in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Latin, check out Conjuguemos
- Vocabulearn Mini Review: Unlikely to Teach You a Language
Vocabulearn
Price:
$29.99 on Amazon, free on Spotify
Summary
Vocabulearn has so-called audio courses for numerous languages on Amazon and Spotify. We don’t believe you’ll learn much from them, but they could help you practice your pronunciation. For this mini review, we tried out the Vocabulearn Swahili/English Level 1 course. It’s split into four CDs, each with its own theme, and then each theme is divided into four lessons. The themes are: Nouns; Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions 1; Expressions; Verbs. In each track, we listened to long lists of words and phrases. First, it was said in English; secondly, it was said in Swahili. However, there were no grammar or contextual explanations, drills, or activities to help you remember the material. In short, we’re not convinced that you’d be able to make your own sentences or even remember the vocabulary after listening to these CDs. However, if you’re studying a language with fewer resources, we think you could use it to practice your pronunciation by repeating each word after the speakers say it.
- Vocly Mini-Review: Expand Your Vocabulary in Less Common Languages
Vocly
Price:
$ 11.99
Summary
Vocly is a vocabulary learning app that uses a couple of different techniques to reinforce new words (although it’s unclear whether or not the app uses an SRS system). Each word comes with audio pronunciation by native speakers and a toggle to either reveal or hide the romanization of the word. As with most of Simya Solution’s apps, Vocly is best for languages with fewer available resources. Instead of using English translations in the flashcard activities, the app will prompt you to associate the new word with a small picture. On one hand, this will help you make fewer translations into your native language. On the other hand, the pictures can be ambiguous and you may forget what they symbolize. The flashcard activities include matching activities, identifying new words that fit under a specific category, matching the sound of a word to an image, and asking you to spell the word in the language’s script. Unfortunately, the free version only allows 7 minutes of learning per day, which can feel rushed. Ling is a more comprehensive option for learning multiple facets of a language, but if your goal is to expand your vocabulary, Vocly has over 1600 words. The paid version is quite expensive for what it offers compared to other resources, but for less common languages it is a fun and interactive option.
- WordReference Mini-Review: Thorough and Professionally Translated
Wordreference
Price:
Free
Summary
WordReference is one of the best websites for single-word translations. It uses a combination of its own dictionaries and Collins’, depending on the language, and relies on professional translations rather than machine-translations. With each word you look up, you will receive multiple examples of how to use it, nuances of each meaning, and a list of how to incorporate it into multiple phrases. Whereas sites like Bab.la seem to have machine-translated examples that sound quite random at times, WordReference’s examples can be applied directly to your everyday conversation. You can also find conjugation tables and the Collins COBUILD English Usage dictionary, which shows you how to use individual English words correctly — through its explanations, English learners will be able to differentiate between words that are easily confused (such as ‘current’ and ‘currant’). If the explanations don’t make sense, you can ask questions in the WordReference Language Forum — there you will find an active community of language learners discussing language learning topics. Unfortunately, not all words have audio pronunciation, but those that do can be played back at different speeds and with different accents (depending on the language). Although WordReference is a thorough resource, SpanishDict is probably a better option for Spanish learners, and Pleco is the only dictionary you will ever need for Chinese. Linguee is also similar to WordReference but specializes in formal language, and Forvo has millions of words pronounced by native speakers in hundreds of languages.
- Write Alphabet Mini-Review: Try Our Other Recommendations Instead
Write Alphabet
Price:
Free
Summary
Write Alphabet seems to be a less developed version of Write It! Its purpose is to help users learn to write in different languages, guiding you through the alphabet of several scripts and allowing you to practice by drawing the characters with your finger. Like Write It!, Write Alphabet is free, but it has a lot of advertisements without an option to buy them off. Additionally, the app does not recognize your attempt to replicate each language’s script unless you start and finish within the lines of the template. Instead of this app, you can test Write it! (free), Write Me (paid lifetime access), and Scripts by Drops (monthly or lifetime access) to see which one best suits the language you are learning. For more comprehensive apps, check out Eggbun for Korean or Skritter for Chinese and Japanese.
- Xue Bai Mini-Review: Enjoyment Depends On Your Learning Style
Xue Bai YouTube Channel
Price:
Free
Summary
Bai Xue started her Youtube channel seven years ago and still updates relatively regularly. She has over 200 videos, which are basically PowerPoint presentations with a voiceover description of each lesson. The videos could be helpful for intermediate and beginner learners, especially the ones that differentiate between words with similar sounds or meanings. Her other lessons focus on dialogues, word lists, and tongue twisters, and she often explains literal translations of sentences to help you understand how the language is structured. However, Xue Bai seems to teach like she is giving a lecture rather than a presentation, so the videos are not very dynamic. Whether or not you enjoy the videos is dependent on your learning style — the information is helpful as long as you can sit through them. If you prefer to read short and concise grammar explanations, Chinese Grammar Wiki may be a better option. Chinese Corner and YoYo Chinese also have some engaging videos about Chinese culture and language.
- YellowBridge Mini-Review: Thorough With an Outdated Interface
Yellowbridge
Price:
Freemium, Premium half-year subscriptions start at $24.95
Summary
Although the user interface seems quite outdated, YellowBridge is a quality, comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus for Chinese characters. The website breaks down each character, providing related words, synonyms, antonyms, example sentences, interactive stroke order diagrams, etymology, and more. Subscribing to the site gives you access to more features, such as derived words or similar-sounding words. They also have pre-loaded flashcards and memory games for several common textbooks, such as the New Practical Chinese Reader or Integrated Chinese. However, these flashcards don’t seem as intuitive as Pleco’s system, so it might be more effective to download a user-made deck for your current textbook and input it into Pleco. YellowBridge keeps up to date with current issues and helps you learn the vocabulary of today — on the side, you will see a section of “words in the news,” which lists popular phrases that are circulating around the world. Beyond the language learning tools, YellowBridge also has some cultural notes on humor, literature, mysticism and divination, and famous Chinese Americans. These are probably not the site’s major selling points, but they may be a fun read.
- YouGlish Mini-Review: Thousands of Words in Context From YouTube
YouGlish
Price:
Free
Summary
YouGlish is a website that has indexed millions of video clips to put words in context for language learners. After searching for a word in your target language, you will see a YouTube video with subtitles and your target word highlighted in yellow. When you have heard the word, you can continue listening to the video or move on to the next example. You can also slow down the speed of the audio, click on a sentence in the transcript to replay it, or skip backwards 5 seconds to listen again. Sometimes you can watch over 1000 videos with your target word, other times there may only be a couple dozen available. Some languages also allow you to choose between different regional dialects, such as: French from Canada or France; Chinese from Taiwan or China; and Spanish from Spain or Latin America. You will need to search for the word in your target language, so you can check out WordReference or Linguee to get a translation. Forvo also provides audio clips of native speaker pronunciation, but with YouGlish, you can practice listening to these words in context. If you want help with reading the subtitles, you can download Readlang for on-screen translations. The Zhongwen Chrome extension will be better for Chinese learners, as it provides the pronunciation of each character as well as a definition.
- Zhongwen Chrome Extension Mini-Review: Simple With Many Shortcuts
Zhongwen Chrome Extension
Price:
Free
Summary
The free Zhongwen Chrome extension is easy to use. Simply download the extension and activate it whenever you are on a site with Chinese characters — both traditional and simplified. When you hover over a character, you will see a pop up with several definitions. At first, it seems like this is all Zhongwen has to offer, but one quick glance at the keyboard shortcuts popup will tell you differently. You can add words to a wordlist (and export that list to Anki), directly add words to Skritter flashcards, or open a quick shortcut to dictionary sites like Forvo and Line. The shortcut list is a bit finicky, so you may have to click the Zhongwen extension icon and take a screenshot to remember what each key does. Unfortunately, the app can’t translate full sentences, and sometimes when characters are part of a hyperlink you can only receive the definition of the first word. Nevertheless, Zhongwen is a free app that can improve your Chinese reading experience. Readlang is a similar application that has less thorough definitions, but it allows you to translate full sentences (although this is a paid feature). With Readlang, the translations will remain on the screen until you intentionally remove them. Both of these apps can be used together depending on your needs.