So you got a new iPhone for Christmas and you’re interested in learning a new language. Maybe you want to take a ski trip in the French Alps or relax on a sandy beach in Cancun..
Or maybe that future job you’re interested in requires you to know Portuguese. Whatever your reason, learning a new language doesn’t have to be boring or break the bank.
There are many apps available to help you learn a new language (or two, or more) using your mobile device.
Here are six great apps available now that can help you to converse in new ways all around the world. Check it out!
6 Mondly
With over 30 to choose from, Mondly has a huge selection of languages for you to learn—including Middle Eastern and Asian languages. With Mondly, users can learn Japanese, Korean, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Persian, Greek, Afrikaans, German, French, Spanish, Hindi, and much more.
When you begin learning you’ll be presented with the option to select your skill level. You can choose from beginner, intermediate, and advanced. You can also choose which topics you are interested in learning about.
Mondly focuses on assisting with memorizing vocabulary and uses a point system to encourage friendly competition. The app will play conversation visualizations with audio, it will then quiz you on what words were used. Like many language learning apps, Mondly will have you organize words into phrases, ask you to translate sentences, and even has an option to message a chatbot.
Some lessons are very short usually lasting only a minute or two. Mondly features a unique map-like menu for choosing what you want to learn.
Learning a language starts at $9.99 per month or $47.99 per year. Alternatively you can subscribe to all 32 languages annually for $47.99 for a limited time.
Check out Mondly on the App Store for an innovative, quick, and entertaining learning experience.
Our Rating: 4/5
5 Babbel
With Babbel, users can learn over a dozen languages including Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian. The app was created by a group of language learning experts and focuses on confidence, comprehension, and retention. Each lesson is about 10-15 minutes in length and features speech recognition technology to help the learner with pronunciation.
Babbel takes a more classroom-like approach to learning languages. While still fun and interactive, Babbel presents the learner with conversations and asks them to fill in the blanks. Additionally, Babbel explains the formalities behind words and phrases to give the user a better understanding of the language they chose to learn.
Babbel requires a subscription to use. Users can choose to pay $10.99 per month, $21.99 per every three months, $34.99 per every six months, or $64.99 per year.
If you prefer a more traditional learning experience—but without the classroom—Babbel is a great choice!
Our Rating: 4/5
4 Memrise
Learning a new language can be hard and some people may not have the patience or they may become disinterested very quickly. Memrise makes learning a new language more fun and engaging. Courses are put together by linguists and language specialists and you can specify whether you’re a beginner or skilled. The app utilizes a number of games and learning techniques that make it an enjoyable and innovative experience.
Memrise is free to use with an option to upgrade to Memrise Pro. The pro version offers more games, chatbots, and even lets you take your learning experience offline. Both the regular and pro version also feature an awesome “Explore” mode that lets you pint your camera at objects and get realtime translations.
You can subscribe to Memrise Pro for $8.99 per month, $18.99 per every three months, or $59.99 per year. You can also choose to unlock the pro features for life for $179.99.
If you want your learning experience to feel like an adventure, check out Memrise on the App Store.
Our Rating: 5/5
3 Drops
Drops focuses primarily on vocabulary. My Opa (German for grandfather) met my Oma (grandmother) while on a trip to Germany. Neither spoke the other’s language but they fell in love and taught each other to speak English and German. He often said that the mechanics of a language weren’t as important as having a strong vocabulary. I have to agree.
Knowing words will give you more opportunities to converse and perfect the skill. Eventually my Opa became so great at speaking German, everyone from Germany thought he was German.
Vocabulary is where Drops excels. Drops is an excellent app for learning vocabulary and is especially useful if you already know the basics of a language. Drops has over 25 languages to choose from including Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Tagalog, and more.
The app will present you with visualizations of words that you can choose to add to your vocabulary or not. When you choose a word it will take you through a variety of memorization techniques and quizzes to help you learn and retain it.
Drops includes almost 100 categories ranging from the basics like colors, numbers, and food, to everyday topics like business, politics, and transportation, to more obscure topics like prison, astronomy, and cosmetics.
Drops is colorful, fun to use, and really helps you learn and memorize new words. Best of all you can use it for free with ads and a limited amount of time daily or you can pay for a subscription. With a $7.99 monthly subscription you’ll get 15 minutes of learning per day and an ad-free experience for one language.
Additionally, you can unlock one language for life (unlimited time and ad-free) for $31.99; or, you can unlock all languages for $49.99. Paying for a lifetime membership also unlocks the “Tough Word Dojo,” which allows you to face your toughest words.
For learning new words and strengthening your existing vocabulary, Drops is an invaluable tool.
Our Rating: 5/5
2 Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone has long been the gold standard for language learning software, and it continues be one of the most in depth options as a mobile app. The app offers over 20 different language courses, but it’s not cheap. Each language costs between $129.99 and $199.99.
Whether or not it’s worth it may depend on your learning style. Rosetta Stone is extremely immersive and features lots of repetition and changing images to help you learn. Additionally, it has some of the best speech recognition for an app of its kind. But, lessons can be long and if you’re just looking to freshen up past knowledge, strengthen your vocabulary, or get a quick fix, one of the other apps may be the better route for you.
That being said if you’re trying to learn a language inside and out, there’s probably no better app than Rosetta Stone. It features accent coaching, offline learning, a phrase book for travel, audio lessons, and real life scenarios. You can even choose to read a variety of stories in their original languages.
If you’re looking for the ultimate language tool, look no further than Rosetta Stone.
Our Rating: 5/5
1 Duolingo
Duolingo is an absolutely amazing language learning app. It’s currently number two in the education category on the App Store, it’s an Editor’s Choice app, and it maintains a five star rating on the App Store. It was also Apple’s iPhone App of the Year and on our list of seven underrated apps in 2015.
Duolingo is the number one app for learning languages and has over 200 million users worldwide. There are over 20 languages to learn, including German, Chinese, Spanish, French, Swahili, Welsh, and many more.
The app treats learning a new language like a game—using health points and gems—and has helped to shape the standard blueprint for what a language learning app should be. It’s free to use with limited ads, or you can go pro for $9.99 per month.
The app rewards you with gems as you learn that can be spent on in-game items. It has a robust chatbot system. And it encourages you to compete against friends. You can learn one or more languages at a time and even post your fluency to LinkedIn.
Best of all, Duolingo is easy to use and adaptable. The menu features many categories separated by checkpoints, so if you’re an intermediate user you can test out of certain areas.
Overall Duolingo is still a favorite app for learning new languages as it provides an immersive experience that is constantly being updated and improved. If you want a well rounded experience that is easy-to-use, fun, versatile, and free, Duolingo won’t steer you wrong.
Our Rating: 5/5
Final Thoughts
Everyone’s learning style is different. You may find some apps that you like better than others, you may even find some that aren’t on this list. Don’t be afraid to try out different learning experiences until you find the one that works best for you. You can also use more than one app to keep things fresh and take advantage of their unique features.
Duolingo and Rosetta Stone are easily the best overall apps. They feature the most content and the highest quality experience. Drops is an excellent tool for strengthening your vocabulary and reviewing what you already know. If you want a unique learning experience try Memrise or Mondly. And if you’re looking for a more traditional learning experience with a modern twist, you may be interested in Babbel.
Learning a new language can help you meet new people, discover new opportunities, and gain a better understanding of cultures and places. With so many apps to choose from, you may want to make learning a new language your New Year’s resolution.
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