In this article, I will present to you five language learning apps that I've used in the past and that I think you should consider using if you want to skyrocket your language learning for 2020.
This article will be especially useful to you if you're new to language learning apps and want to know where to start but if you're an advanced language learner you might still discover something new. For each language learning apps, I will give you three reasons why I recommend it in the first place and also because I like to keep a certain degree of objectivity in my articles, I will also give you a reason why some of these language learning apps might not be for you.
So, you can expect my honest opinion throughout the article and if you read till the end, I'll share with you an awesome language learning tool that I've discovered this year so stay tuned to find out! Now, let’s start with our list of the top five language learning apps.
1. Hello talk:
Hello talk is essentially one of the pen pal language learning apps that allows you to meet people from around the world. Mainly, you can use it to talk to people who speak your target language as their native language and who might live either in your area or in the country or countries where your target language is spoken.
Many people have been using it for a long time now and it's been great for them to meet people with whom they can practice their target language. People even make good friends here! Overall this is a great app to allow you to connect with people with whom you might not have been able to do that without this app.
Here are its main strengths:
(A) It's a great way to meet native speakers who speak your native language and also potentially form great friendships.
(B) There are great features included in the app such as being able to send voice messages you have also a sort of Facebook feed type of thing which is called moments, where you can post pictures. You can write text in your target language and people can give you feedback which again is a nice way to connect and meet new people.
(C) It has a location feature as well which allows you to find people anywhere in the world. Both near to where you live or also in the country where the target language is spoken.
If we talk about the downsides of this app, there are two problems that may arise. If you are learning a target language which is not as popular as let's say Spanish, Japanese or French, you might have fewer people with whom to talk and if your native language is not English, in certain cases there might be fewer people that are interested in learning your native language
2. Mango languages:
Mango languages are great for you if you want to practice your listening skills as well as your reading skills, especially if you're trying to learn a language that has a different script from your native language.
Here are the main strengths of this app:
(A) There is the feature in this app that the voices are studio-recorded which gives you great quality and allows you to listen out for the details of the pronunciation, which you wouldn't be able to do if it was some sort of robot.
(B) It includes a lot of sentences and not just words which are very important if you want to gain a good understanding of the sentence structure of your target language. On top of that, it also includes grammar notes which allow you to understand how a sentence is formed. This is quite a rare feature in a language learning app because most of the time the other language learning apps don't explain any grammar at all, and just give you sentences without any explanation.
(C) Mango languages also include a huge array of languages because it teaches over 17 languages even pirate languages.
The downside of mango languages is that you need to have access to an institution, which itself has a subscription to mango languages if you want to access it for free otherwise, you have to pay a monthly subscription, which is to be found not too expensive. It's about $8 per month that really isn't the end of the world, but for some people, that could be a turn-off.
3. Rosetta stone:
Rosetta stone, oftentimes in the language learning community is widely criticized and to some extent, it's unfair because, for some people, it can be a great tool to practice languages.
Here are some of the strengths of this app:
(A) It's very similar to mango languages because, all the voices you will hear in the app, are professionally recorded and are of high quality so it's a great thing for you if you want to practice your listening skills.
(B) It's great for reading practice especially for people who are learning a language that has a different script. From your native language also it helps a lot to associate spelling and pronunciation, especially if you're learning a language that is difficult to spell or which contains very difficult sounds, for example, French.
The downside of rosetta stone is the reason why people criticize it so much. It is, because the app is not really suitable for beginners, especially if you're trying to learn a language which is very different from your native language. The reason, essentially, is that the app doesn't rely on English to teach you languages. So, it doesn't really use translation.
It relies on the context for you to guess the meaning of words or sentences and in some cases I think it's way too hard for a beginner. But, if you use it alongside another language-learning resource, then I think it can be a great supplement to your language learning
4. Anki:
Anki is a spaced repetition software that automatically manages flashcards in practice. This means that you can either import a deck that you can download on the internet or create one yourself and then when you're practicing and revising your decks, the app will ask you how confident you are with each flashcard as you test yourself and then you can decide to press for example easy so the card will come later again maybe in four or five days or if it's difficult you can ask the app to sort of quiz you again on the same card
Anki has a lot of strong points:
(A) You can import decks that are already made by other people, which saves you a lot of time and it can be a lot of different types of decks. For example, it can be a deck that is associated with a textbook that you are using. Thus, it can be a nice way to revise the vocabulary. It can also be decks that cover the thousand most common words in your language. The possibilities are really limitless with Anki.
(B) It's probably the most efficient way of learning vocabulary and some of the decks online. It also includes audio files which mean that for each flashcard you will also be able to hear the word or the sentence that you're trying to learn
(C) For advanced Anki users, it's highly customizable but it's a learning curve that is quite steep. It does require you to have a look at tutorials online so you can learn how to use it.
The downside of Anki is the reason why so many people hate it so much is that it's quite repetitive. You are always doing the same thing and that's why it is recommended, to not do one key for more than 20 or 30 minutes every day
5. Drops:
Drops are kind of the new kid in the block and to explain what drops Is, it's essentially an app where each of the vocabularies is associated with a picture. So, if you're a visual learner that's definitely a good thing, and also it classifies all the vocabulary by category which can be quite nice if you want to practice a specific topic as opposed to using apps that usually teach you languages in a specific order.
Here are some positive points about this app
(A) Each word or sentence is associated with a picture so if you are a visual learner then that might be the app for you.
(B) It teaches you a wide range of vocabulary which is organized into different categories and it also includes a wide range of languages.
The negative Point for drops is that it mainly focuses on teaching vocabulary and sentences and it doesn't include any teaching per se of a language so that might not be the best resource if you want to reach high fluency. although it's a great app if you want to learn a revised basic vocabulary and just get started with a language.
So these were some best language learning apps according to me which can really be helpful if you use them with your ongoing courses to make your vocabulary better. For some more detailed information click here.
Tags: Languages, App, People, Learning, Education, Language learning, Learning apps, Language Learning apps
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