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Conjugemos is a website that drills verb conjugations, vocabulary, and grammar. You can choose to either drill different skills through typing the answers in a flashcard-like system, or through various games such as crosswords, memory, word search, and multiplayer games.
While it is free for anyone to use, additional resources are available to teachers through a paid plan.
It should be noted that although the site technically supports Korean learners, the Korean section only has one activity in the present tense.
WordBit is a free app that minimizes the effort and thought that goes into deliberate practice by presenting you with the opportunity to practice each time you open your lock screen.
Each time you open your phone, the app will overlay the lock screen and present you with either multiple choice translations for a given word, or a flashcard. You can choose to close the app to access the lock screen, or respond to the prompt. Although this app interferes with tasks on your phone that require immediate attention, it is no doubt effective at consistently exposing you to new vocabulary.
It is available in multiple languages, for both target and source languages, and there is a large vocabulary category bank to choose from, including vocabulary from each of the levels A1-C2.
There are some bugs in its programming, such as restarting your progress through each deck if you add or remove a category, and the ads at the bottom of the screen are easily tapped by accident.
Interlinear Books is a project for intermediate language learners from the creators of Cooljugator. They sell individual e-books in their original language, but with English translations between each line of text. Instead of translating full sentences that capture the spirit of the language, professional translators use literal (but understandable) translations to support you in understanding the original language’s sentence structure.
Another technique that the authors use to support your learning is to highlight cognates between languages. You may find translations for words whose English counterpart looks almost identical to that of the target language, even when those English translations are not the most commonly used. The authors suggest that you don’t read the translations as full sentences, but rather that you refer to them only when you encounter words or expressions that you don’t understand. Each purchase also comes with a unilingual version for you to try out for extra practice (and sometimes they even come with an audiobook!).
For intermediate learners who are tired of looking back and forth between a dictionary and their book, Interlinear may be a good intermediary to support you in the transition to unilingual books. Chinese is not supported yet, but check out Du Chinese or the Chairman’s Bao for graded reading material.
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.
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.
Quality 1.0
★★★★★
It’s nice to have native speaker audio, but I personally found the course to offer very little learning potential.
Thoroughness 1.0
★★★★★
The course didn’t cover everything listed under “Course Content” and offers no explanations.
Value 0.0
★★★★★
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.
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.
Quality 4.5
★★★★
★
★
It’s very easy and enjoyable to use, but the flashcard feature could be more developed.
Thoroughness 4.5
★★★★
★
★
While they vary slightly for each language, the video libraries are extensive and full of interesting content.
Value 4.5
★★★★
★
★
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
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.
Quality 3.5
★★★
★
★★
It’s very straightforward and easy to use, though not especially visually pleasing.
Thoroughness 3.0
★★★★★
There is a wide variety of videos, but they’re short and disconnected. They also aren’t suitable for absolute beginners.
Value 2.5
★★
★
★★★
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.
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.
Quality 1.5
★
★
★★★★
Native speaker audio is the only thing that impressed me in the courses I tried; mistakes and glitches were many.
Thoroughness 1.5
★
★
★★★★
Explanations are lacking, which I found made some material misleading.
Value 1.5
★
★
★★★★
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.
Kwiziq is a language-learning platform offering courses in Spanish and French with a curriculum centered around quiz-like exercises. There are plenty of grammar lessons that accompany these quizzes as well as some writing and listening practice opportunities. It isn’t the most fun resource to use, and it makes the most sense for learners that are especially interested in grammar.
Quality 3.5
★★★
★
★★
The interface is pretty easy to use and the material is high-quality, but the content and exercises aren’t engaging.
Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★
Grammar explanations and quiz feedback are impressive, but the exercises are limited.
Value 3.0
★★★★★
There are less expensive resources out there, but this platform could be right for some people.
I Like
The test feedback is detailed and useful
The writing practice is effective
I Don’t Like
The practice opportunities aren’t varied
Grammar lessons offer explanations but little practice
The reading practice is limited
Price
The basic account is free, and a premium package is available for the following monthly subscription options:
$22.79/month $56.97/three months $122.29/year $227.76/two years
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.
Quality 3.0
★★★★★
There are some dedicated language learners on Speaky but not as many as similar apps.
Thoroughness 3.5
★★★
★
★★
The platform is easy to use but lacks advanced features.
Value 4.5
★★★★
★
★
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.
