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Want to know how to learn a language for free? Let’s talk about all the different resources out there for how to learn a language for free online right now.

Mango Languages

The first way to learn a language for free is Mango Languages. Mango Languages is a website and an app that you can access for free. Unlimited languages, unlimited content, as long as you have access to a library card, a student ID, or an employee ID if your business works with Mango Languages and connects to Mango Languages.

Basically what Mango Languages does is it connects to all these different institutions to give you access to learning a foreign language. There are tons of languages available on Mango Languages, but it’s only for beginners, so it’s a great start if you’ve never learned a language before. But if you’re not quite a beginner, then keep on watching this video and we’ll talk about a lot of different options for free.

Language Reactor

The next way to learn a language for free is Language Reactor, formerly known as Language along with Netflix in language Learning with YouTube. Language Reactor is a Chrome extension that is totally free. There are some paid options that you know, if it’s if you find it beneficial, like easier ways to manage vocabulary, stuff like that. Totally cool.

But you can basically apply Language Reactor to any video that you find on YouTube or Netflix. And you can turn the video or the show, the movie, or what have you, into a study tool.

Lingbe

Lingbe is a language exchange app. Basically, if you’re learning Spanish for example, and your native language is English, you go on Lingbe and you find somebody who speaks Spanish natively and is learning English. Lingbe is a totally free app, as long as you also help other people to learn your native language.

So if you’ve ever done language exchanges where you’ve met up with a friend to exchange your languages, Lingbe is kind of like that, except it’s much more convenient because all you do is open up the app and you find somebody to start talking to.

If you don’t want to spend your time helping other language learners learn your native language, then you can also pay a pretty small subscription. But you don’t need to. But it’s definitely an excellent way to get your conversational practice totally for free.

Clozemaster

Next on the list is Clozemaster. Now Clozemaster is available in a ton of different languages, but you do need to be at least an intermediate level of your target language just because it is a little bit more difficult and you need to be able to kind of figure it out on your own.

But the way that Clozemaster works is it gives you sentences and it gives you fill in the blanks. And so you basically fill in the blanks with the appropriate verb or noun or conjugation or whatever it is that you’re learning in that particular moment. Clozemaster has a bunch of different ways to practice different languages like grammar points and what they call the fluency fast track and things like that.

Some of them, including fluency fast track, are always free and some of them are behind a premium paywall. But it’s like $8 a month or something. But I really enjoy both the website and the app for getting in some great contextual practice.

Polygloss

Just like Clozemaster, you should be fairly non-beginner at Polygloss just because Polygloss is basically where you have a collection of images. You select an image and then you create a sentence based on that image to have a partner guess which image you’re describing based on what you said. Polygloss is totally free forever.

If you want to upgrade to take advantage of some of the options, that’s totally cool. But all of Polygloss, like the actual activities and the connections with the Polygloss community, is totally free, but it’s a really unique special way to practice using the language in a way that has context and is personal because the images are vague enough that you can talk about literally anything, but they’re specific enough that they give you direction as to what you could possibly talk about. Great for creatives.

Yask

Similar to Polygloss is Yask. Yask is one of my favorite language apps for practicing using the language as opposed to just kind of mindlessly pressing buttons. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about Duolingo in a second. But Yask gives you a lot of prompts and a lot of ways for you to practice using the language in a way that makes sense.

And then just like Polygloss, you also can use the Yask community for pronunciation help and corrections and things of that nature. Yask is also totally free for everybody, but if you want to upgrade, to can totally pay a few dollars a month to upgrade. And if you go to the link below in the description for my review of Yask, you can even get a discount on top of that.

Drops

Drops is excellent for beginner language learners because it’s going to give you a bunch of beginner vocabulary. It’s very visually engaging, very, very pretty, very, very fun to play with. Their motto is literally play with your words.

Free users of Drops get 5 minutes of practice every single day, and if you want more of that, you can always upgrade. But 5 minutes, why not? Drops also supports a ton of different languages, so if you’re learning a less commonly learned language and you’re having a hard time finding that language, then Drops might be a safe bet for you.

Duolingo

Next up, let’s get this one out of the way. Duolingo. I definitely have my qualms with Duolingo, but it is totally free and they claim that they will be free forever. You don’t have to pay to access any of the content, any of the strategy, any of the Duolingo stories, or anything like that. However, if you want to pay to get rid of the ads, then that’s an option.

If you’re not familiar with Duolingo, I have plenty of YouTube videos. I have a blog post below of my review of Duolingo that stays up to date. We can just kind of glide right by this one.

LingQ

LingQ is kind of hard to use, but basically, it allows you to take any type of content, upload it into LingQ, and then you can use those books, podcasts, audiobooks, and things like that, and turn it into a study tool. And then you can also browse around and find what other people have uploaded and study that as well.

All of LingQ’s content itself is free and considering most of it is people uploading their own study materials, there can be a lot of options. So, if you just want an ever-expanding library of content for free LingQ is a pretty good option.

LingQ does have its own system where basically you click new words and it creates lingqs, which is basically a flashcard, then you can study that flashcard later, that part and whole different other options are paid, but they are by no means necessary. You can 100% get away with just using LingQ for free.

Busuu

Now, if you want to learn a language for free but want a little bit more structure, then Busuu might be a great option for you. Busuu is a really unique combination of academic learning of the language and the social community of the language.

Basically, the way that Busuu works is when you go onto the website or on the app, you can learn the lessons, and then after every lesson you are recommended and led to use the information that you learned to submit like a writing prompt or a speaking prompt or something like that to Busuu’s community, for other language learners to respond, correct you, give you some, you know, high fives, whatever.

The vast majority of all of Busuu is totally free, which is amazing, including the Busuu community. You can upgrade for faster community responses, get rid of ads, and stuff like that, but not necessary at all. Busuu is excellent for a lot of community support and some fairly strict hand-holding, but you can also get it for free, which is not bad at all.

Kwiziq

Next on the list of how to learn a language for free is Kwiziq. It’s a website and not actually an app, unfortunately. But Kwiziq is for Spanish and French only, and it’s really excellent at getting really deep and dirty into your grammar. So if you are learning Spanish or French and you want to really have excellent top-tier grammar, then Kwiziq is excellent.

It’s a paid service, but you do get ten free kwizzes every single month, which can be a really effective learning tool because basically the way that Kwiziq works is it has lessons for all these concepts, and the lessons themselves are free for anybody, by the way. But you can learn the lessons and then you can use the kwizzes available in Kwiziq to test your ability to use these concepts effectively within the language.

So even with just ten kwizzes a month and their huge library of explanations, grammar concepts, and all that jazz, it can be a really effective learning tool for you to learn independently, learn all the lessons independently, and then a couple of times a week you can go through one of Kwiziq’s quizzes and test to see how well you’re doing. Honestly, I’m a huge fan of Kwiziq, so I highly recommend it if that is what you’re looking for.

Ella Verbs

Speaking of Spanish, the next app on the list is Ella Verbs. If you’re a Spanish language learner, then Ella Verbs is excellent for Spanish conjugations, probably the best there is honestly. All of the base content is free and it’s similar to Kwiziq in that it uses quizzes to help you learn Spanish conjugations. But it’s a lot more simplistic and there’s not going to be a whole lot of tutorials or explanations or things like that. It’s it’s, it’s more focused on the actual quizzing of the grammar.

Now, if all you want is just kind of a basic rundown of basic Spanish verbs and how to conjugate them appropriately for beginner, maybe intermediate-level vocabulary, then Ella Verbs for free will totally suffice. You can always upgrade for a few more options, but it’s not necessary, especially at the beginner levels.

This list of free language learning resources came directly from my language app search, where I just clicked free and then listed all of the language apps that came up. So while at the time of this recording, these are all of the resources that I personally know of how to learn a language for free, make sure that you to my language app search where you can do exactly what I did for this video. Click free, and who knows? Maybe another resource will pop up that I’ve posted a review of since the filming of this current video.

And if all of these ways to learn a language for free sound great and you’re not sure which direction to go, I would highly recommend you take my free course that will teach you how to find which language learning resources are going to work best for you.

It’s a free simple course that will basically teach you how to use my app search to your advantage so you can find the resources that will actually help you in your language learning, and not just add to the pile of apps and courses that you have somewhere on the Internet.

Q: how do you convince yourself that you can learn the language?

It’s a pretty common issue to feel like you can’t learn a language, and there are many reasons that could contribute to that feeling. Sometimes it’s because teachers or friends have discouraged you, or maybe you’ve had some unsuccessful attempts in the past.

Just constantly telling yourself that you can do it until you believe it isn’t really the only solution. I would suggest taking the first step in understanding why you have this self-doubt. It’s not as simple as just saying, “You can do it, believe in yourself,” because feeling incapable of learning a language usually indicates a deeper issue.

We all have our own unique experiences and insecurities when it comes to language learning. That’s why the first thing you need to do is figure out what specifically makes you feel like you can’t learn.

For example, you might think, “I can’t learn a language because I’ve tried so many times and failed.” I totally get it. I’ve been through that too. Many language learners go through this because there are so many different methods and advice out there. You end up trying all these different strategies recommended by different people, but you don’t make any progress. And that’s when you start thinking that there must be something wrong with you since everyone else seems to be able to learn a language except for you.

There’s no easy solution here – if language learning was that simple, I wouldn’t have a job! It really comes down to finding what works for you. That’s why I’ve created a new free mini-course to help you evaluate language learning resources based on your preferences and goals. But I must say that my full course, The Method, provides much more detailed guidance.

If you truly believe that you can’t learn a language, the first step is understanding why you feel that way. Once you identify the underlying reasons, you can systematically address them using The Method. In the first lesson of the first phase, we focus on your limiting beliefs and tackle issues like:

• Why do you think you can’t learn a language?
• Why do you feel like you’re too busy?
• What fears do you have when it comes to language learning?

By addressing the root causes of your struggles in language learning, you can overcome any mental roadblocks. This way, as we progress through the rest of the course – which covers language learning strategies, consistency, and enjoying the process – you won’t be held back by mindset obstacles that currently limit your progress.

We make it a priority to eliminate these mental barriers because language learning itself is already challenging enough. It’s crucial to recognize that these obstacles don’t stem from being unintelligent, lazy, or lacking time. Our mental roadblocks are the ones that create significant problems and hinder our progress. Even if you have the best strategies and courses, if these obstacles remain unaddressed, you’ll inevitably face difficulties.

Q: how do you not take mistakes personally?

A lot of people go into language learning, and they make mistakes, which is inevitable in language learning. And every single time they do something wrong – they forget a word, use a word wrong, maybe they’re laughed at by other people – and so it really kind of shuts them down. And we get into this habit, we get into this pattern of every time we make a mistake, we stop, and we get this negative reinforcement that we’re doing it wrong, and when you’re learning a language when you’re learning anything new, but especially when you’re learning a new language, it is really important to shift that mindset.

So mistakes are a good thing. And this is easier said than done. Obviously, I do have a mini course that helps with this, actually. Mastering Mistakes will help you with this specific problem.

Stop thinking that mistakes are a bad thing. Okay, mistakes are a good thing. And we have been generally conditioned to think mistakes are a bad thing and mistakes are where you get punished disciplined yelled at embarrassed, humiliated, and all sorts of things.

A lot of people are going to always treat it like that. And that’s okay. You can’t control other people. But what you can do is when you make mistakes – because you will make mistakes – it’s to look at them differently and look at them as opportunities for improvement.

Let’s say you’re in the scenario when you’re trying to have a conversation in your target language, you’re in a language exchange, or you are working with a tutor. And you’re talking back and forth in your target language. And you want to express a certain sentence or phrase, but you get stuck because you’re thinking, “I think this is how you say that, but I’m not entirely sure”.

There are two options when you’re in this scenario.

Option 1: hope for the best

Follow the idea that you have: I think this is what I say that I think this is correct, but I’m not sure. If you follow that, even if it could be wrong, you follow it, hoping for the best. And if it was correct, congratulations! It’s an amazing day, you did something good.

If it’s wrong, that is also okay. Because now you’ve learned, and you can say “Okay, so how should I have said that?” And that is a way that you learn from your mistakes, because mistakes are an opportunity to learn and to not be stressed out about that problem in the future conversation.

Option 2: don’t try

Or, if you make the other choice, and just don’t say anything, then you don’t learn anything. The conversation ends, and then you feel really bad: “I wanted to say this thing, but I couldn’t”. And you miss out on that opportunity to either prove to yourself that you were right all along, or learn to do it better the next time.

So that’s how you look at them as opportunities to improve. Benny Lewis, for example, has said that his goal is to make mistakes, like a certain number of mistakes every day. And while that is an extreme version of that, the concept behind it is true, to purposely make mistakes, because you recognize that mistakes are a positive thing and an opportunity to learn.

Q: how do you keep going when it feels like you aren’t making progress?

You’ve spent all of your time playing on Duolingo or reading a textbook or having conversations, and you look back every once in a while you say, “Why am I not fluent yet? Why haven’t I learned the language yet? Why am I still struggling? Why aren’t I getting better? And if I’m not getting better, what is the point of trying?” Right? And then that is a really hard thing to fight.

The third phase of The Method is Metrics, and this is really important because when we are looking for progress, it’s really important to specify what metrics you’re looking at. It’s really easy, really common to try to start learning a language and try to continue learning a language and you’re looking back, you say,

“Why am I not fluent? Why am I still making these mistakes? Why can’t I learn this concept? Why am I still tripping over my words? Why can I still not think in the language?”

When you are looking back at the progress that you’re making and trying to clarify what progress there is. And the problem is, when you’re looking back, you say, “okay, am I fluent yet? Okay, am I learning new vocab yet? Am I able to have confident conversations yet? Am I able to think in the language yet?”

In Phase 3, in Metrics, we talk about what metrics are you looking at for your own language learning? So for example, let’s say that you want to be able to think in the language instead of having to translate from the language. And so you are learning all of this vocab, you’re memorizing all this vocab, and all these translations, and then you do that for a month. And then you look back at your language learning, and you say, “Okay, can I think in the language yet? Can I stop translating?”

“No, I can’t. But I’m learning language, I’m studying the language, I’m learning all this vocab, I should just be able to think these words that I’m learning what is wrong with me? Why can’t I make the progress?”

Now, the answer to that question to that specific scenario is that the things that you are doing to learn a language are not matching up with the progress that you are looking for. If the progress that you’re looking for is to memorize a bunch of words and be able to translate them, then it matches up with what you’re doing every day.

But if the measure of progress is, let’s say, being able to read Harry Potter in your target language, but you’re not practicing that, the metric does not match with what you’re doing with your time.

So, of course, it’s going to feel like you’re not making any progress, it’s going to feel like it’s a waste of time. Because the thing that you are doing in the moment is not going to get you the progress that you’re looking for. Because you have to make sure that the progress that you’re looking for in your language learning matches up with the activities that you’re doing to learn a language.

There are unlimited ways to learn a language. That’s why what every language learner needs to do is get very clear on what progress they’re intending to make, what it’s going to look like, what it’s going to feel like what they’re going to be able to do when after they spend six months learning the language, what they’re expecting their ability to be like.

Because if you’re going in saying, I’m going to learn German, and then you do that, by watching German TV shows, that’s fine. But if you are spending all your time watching German TV shows, and the metric that you’re looking for is being able to have conversations, when you’re not practicing having conversations, it just doesn’t make sense.

So it’s getting really clear on (1) what progress that you’re looking to make and (2) making sure that what you’re doing day to day matches up with that.

It’s not about using the best apps and like, you know, spending your entire life learning a language because that’s “what you’re supposed to do”. It’s about being intentional
about how you’re spending your time and what skills you are building.

Q: should I stick to my current learning routine?

I want you to focus on your needs and what’s working for you. Friends, family, people on the internet have the best intentions in mind, and they have the best goals and they want to help you. But the problem is, they only know from their own perspective and experience.

I’ve been around the internet, I’ve been working with language learners, been working with clients forever. And I have learned to separate myself from what I think somebody should do to learn a language from what other people actually need. If there’s a reason why you feel like you need more direction – if you need a teacher, coach, or mentor to support you, give you more direction, hold your hand, maybe give you more professional practice because you have a need that needs to be met, go for it.

But if you’re happy with your current approach, if you are making the progress that you need to make and if there are no problems, then I would say to your friends, “thank you for the recommendation, but this is working for me and so there’s no reason for me to change what is working for me.” If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

A lot of people will be very stubborn about how they learned languages, and will tell you you should do the same. There are many people on the internet who come from this perspective.
And that’s just not true. If it’s working for you, and you don’t have any need for any change in strategy, and you’re finding progress, then there’s no reason to change your strategy.

Q: How long should it take a learner to improve their spoken Spanish, so they can have normal everyday conversations with the native speaker?

Every language learner is different. It depends on how much time you have, and how much time you want to spend improving your spoken Spanish. Even if you have three hours free every single day, I’m not suggesting that you use those three hours, you’re allowed to have other hobbies, you’re allowed to take care of yourself, you’re allowed to rest. You’re allowed to spend time with friends and family, whatever.

I would focus less on how much time it’s taking – and I know this is really difficult because everybody loves to brag about how it only took a certain amount of time for them to learn a language.

But the time it takes you to do something is not going to be a very helpful metric and that is because you cannot control it. It is not something that’s within your control. If you spend a month having conversations in Spanish, and then you look back and you immediately think you’re not making enough progress, that’s just not helpful.

If you’re making zero progress, then that’s something that we can look at. But when you’re looking at the progress that you’ve made, and you’re saying, “This isn’t happening fast enough, how can I make this happen quicker?” we need to change that mindset so that we’re not constantly judging ourselves for how quickly we’re able to learn something.

We need to be taking our focus and our perspective off of how long something is taking, and instead focus on what is happening and if that matches up with what your intention is. If the progress that you’re making matches up with your intention, then I would really recommend you find acceptance in that, instead of trying to learn as quickly as you can.

Q: I occasionally find myself wondering if having a tutor could potentially accelerate my progress

If you want to try working with a tutor, by all means, if it’s something that you’re curious about, and you haven’t really experienced with it, there’s no harm in trying, right? If it’s something that’s really you’re really curious about, I would get really clear on what your expectations are with a tutor, and then be able to go into that session and see how you feel about it. You can ask yourself questions like:

• Do I feel more supported?
• Do I have the structure that I’m looking for?
• Am I being intentional about working with a tutor?

If you’re curious, go ahead and be curious, there’s nothing wrong with that. You may learn something new, you may learn that that’s actually a better way for you to learn languages right now.

Your personality changes, your life changes, your lifestyle changes, your the time that you have available changes, and that will all directly affect your languaging strategy. So if you have less time or if you are more emotionally exhausted, that can change your approach to learning language. So that can change over time.

And you as a person change over time, right? So be aware that these changes exist and they affect your language learning strategy. And if you go into another language with that same strategy and you’re disappointed, don’t take that personally – accept it as data.

Phase 3 of The Method, Metrics, is all about the data: your expectations and how they relate to what actually happens. Are your expectations too high, too low, or just right?

Q: how do we know which way to learn a language works best for us?

You’re right – there are so many different people who will say so many things, and a good percentage of them are just trying to sell you something. In my experience, many people are more concerned with selling you their program than they are with actually with making sure it actually helps you.

So there are two ways to go about this.

Option 1: try all the resources

The first way is to just try all these different resources and hope for the best: learn what works for you, what you enjoy, what is actually helpful for you, what is sustainable for you in your life, taking that data and applying that long term.

So if you use StoryLearning, for example, and you realize you hate it, what kind of data can you get from that experience? If you find it boring, what is boring about it? What could change about it for to be more interesting to you? Take that data and learn from it instead of just resource hopping.

Phase 2 of The Method Phase two is all about strategies, and it starts with a lesson on Shiny Object Syndrome, which is when something is working well for you but then you feel motivated to switch things up because of a great deal, for example. That first lesson is about learning how to differentiate between what is actually an educated decision in what is just impulsive.

That’s actually the longest lesson in The Method, and that’s like 15 minutes. But that really goes into being clear on whether something will actually help you or if you’re just kind of feeling impulsive and uncomfortable and impatient.

Option 2: The Method

If you don’t want to spend the time, money, and energy trying all these different resources and hoping for the best, I’d recommend you join The Method.

Phase 1: Mindset

Phase 1 starts with helping you to understand if there’s anything holding you back from learning a language and fixing it. Once we remove any obstacles you’re dealing with, we talk about your goals for learning a language: progress will look like for you, what you want to achieve in your language, etc.

Phase 2: Methods

The very first lesson of Phase 2 is Shiny Object Syndrome: how do you know if you are interested in a language learning resource because you need it, or if you’re just getting distracted by good marketing, lack of patience, etc.

After discussing Shiny Object Syndrome, the final 5 lessons teach you literally every language learning strategy there is. What most language learners don’t understand is that while there are new language learning resources every single day, the strategies don’t change. The strategies to learn a language are exactly the same and they have always been exactly the same. And I can teach you them.

Even apps and resources and courses that claim to be new, modern, and “scientifically proven”, they’re not new. They’re exactly the same. They may be different ways to make these strategies accessible and provide access to them, but the strategies themselves are the same. And so taking those strategies and being able to look at language learning resources and understand the strategies they’re using to teach you a language drastically narrows down. the search for a new language learning app.

For example, if StoryLearning is not going to be helpful for you at all, like it’s not even close to what you’re looking for in a language learning resource, it makes it that easy to forget about it and instead focus on literally anything else will be beneficial to you.

Phase 3: Metrics

Phase 3 is all about making progress long-term. This means seeing our progressand what to do if we’re not making the progress that we want to be making. This Phase is all about looking at your language learning journey and asking if it’s really working.

We do this by looking at what you’ve been doing for the past week, months, six months, whatever, taking an objective, logical look at it, and making data-driven conclusions about your language learning: this is working, this is not, and this is how I can improve it.

So instead saying:

OMG this isn’t working, let me try another app and hope that this one isn’t a waste of time and money. I’m so stressed out and overwhelmed, I don’t know what else to do

…we can keep it simple.

Q: how can I get the most out of a language exchange session?

If you’re not familiar with what a language exchange is, it’s when you have a conversation with another language learner who is a native speaker of your target language and is learning your native language. So for example, my native language is English, and if I were learning Vietnamese, I could find somebody who speaks Vietnamese natively and is learning English. And we would have conversations where we exchange our languages.

The way these conversations are organized depends on so many different factors. First, I would recommend is to have a conversation with your language exchange partner, and be very clear on your expectations. For example, you could meet for an hour, during which you get to practice your target language for 30 minutes and they get to practice their target language for 30 minutes. Or, if you want to meet once a week, you could switch languages each week.

Some days you’re going to have your language exchanges and your brain is just not going to want to do anything. It’s not going to want to speak in another language. And in this situation, you can tell your partner, “Hey, I am not feeling good, but I’m happy to support you talking in my native language.” That requires zero effort. Then one day in the future when your partner is having an off day, they can return the favor and you get double the practice.

It’s really about keeping the communication open with your language exchange partner, which I know it can be difficult sometimes, especially with cultural differences. It’s important to be able to say, “hey, like I want to like meet up more,” or “I can’t meet up as much”.

Q: what’s the best way to stay motivated?

I do have a mini course on this, called Mastering Motivation. Anybody who gives you a very simple answer to this is probably selling you something you think you don’t need, to be completely honest. Because the thing is, everybody gets motivated by different things in different ways.

So here’s a little sneak peek from Mastering Motivation.

Motivation is an emotion, right? We cannot control our emotions, motivation is not something that we can necessarily rely on because we don’t know we’re going to be feeling day to day. And so when you are looking for that initial rush of motivation you get when you start learning a language, that first motivation of, “oh my God, I’m going to learn every single day and this is so exciting and I love to do this,” and so you sit down for like 2 hours and you study and you feel great…and then that disappears, right?

Depending on that motivation will always leave you disappointed, because we cannot depend on our emotions to be exactly what we want them to be, exactly when we want them to be that. I really recommend my clients to focus on other things besides motivation, because motivation will come and go, right? We can take those really motivating days and run with them. Like if we want to sit down and practice for 3 hours because we’re feeling really motivated that day, there’s nothing wrong with that.

What’s wrong is expecting that level of motivation and commitment and energy every single day. We have to take a step back and manage our expectations, keep them realistic, because if we have unrealistic expectations of motivation, then we’re going to fail every single time.

Q: how can I effectively use a teacher for language learning?

I would really focus on getting clear on what your intentions are with your language learning and with your teacher. What are your goals? Because when you work with a language teacher, they generally have their own approach to teaching. Most of their students come to them and have no idea what they want to learn. That’s a teacher’s job, to provide that structure and give them a path to learn the language.

In that way, language teachers are the same exact way as apps and courses: they all teach with their own choice of language strategies. Many language learners end up unhappy because the path that that particular teacher teaches is not beneficial to the student’s goals.

That doesn’t mean the teacher is bad. That doesn’t mean the teacher is wrong. That doesn’t mean that you are bad or wrong or that you’re learning wrong. But it’s really important that you are clear about what is it that you want to learn and how you want to learn it, because otherwise it’s just another obstacle for learning the language.

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There are so many apps to learn a language, how do you choose the right one for you? Let’s talk about the top 5 foreign language apps in the industry and how to know which one to use.

1. Rosetta Stone

The first of the top 5 foreign language apps that I want to talk about in this video is Rosetta Stone. Now, when I surveyed you guys, I was really interested to see that literally none of you have tried and/or liked Rosetta Stone. So let’s talk about it.

Rosetta Stone is one of the OG language learning resources, and they are now completely online, completely digital. So you don’t have to spend like $500 for a CD set just to learn like beginner French. However, while the method of teaching you the languages has changed, the actual things that you’re learning have not changed. So what does that look like?

Rosetta Stone is really excellent at getting you to a tourist level of the language and a really confident tourist level, but a tourist level nonetheless. It keeps it pretty simple. But what I really like about Rosetta Stone is that it does not teach you through translations, it just teaches you meaning, which is really important, and what a lot of people do wrong in their language learning.

For example, if you’re learning Spanish and Rosetta Stone is teaching you “girl”, it’s not going to pair “la niña” with “the girl”, it’s just going to give you “la niña” and then a picture of a boy and a girl and hope that you can figure it out for yourself. I actually do really like Rosetta Stone for beginner language learners because you’re going to learn the language in all the different ways that you can. You’re going to learn to understand it, you’re going to learn to speak a little bit, you’re going to learn to write it a little bit, all of those skills all wrapped up into one.

However, you’re only going to get so far. Rosetta Stone is very, very slow. So if you try out Rosetta Stone and you get really bored just because it’s so repetitive, then it’s not going to be for you. But it is an excellent start.

2. Babbel

The next of the top 5 foreign language apps I want to talk about is Babbel. The way that I like to describe Babbel, the app itself, is kind of like if you take a textbook, like a language learning textbook, and you make it more modern with an app because you’re going to get the same kind of information in very similar ways, but you’re not staring at a textbook. You’re interacting with your phone or whatever device you’re using.

But unlike using a textbook, Babbel also offers live coaching, and this is a separate payment structure and whatnot. But if you take advantage of Babbel Live and Babbel Live is supportive of the language that you’re learning, you have the chance to work with a professional tutor in group classes where you can talk about and practice the things that you’re using in the app.

Babbel Live is a pretty good segue into using the language in real life, but as opposed to something like Rosetta Stone, Babbel is much more focused on the grammar and the structure of the language. And Babbel is going to get you a lot farther, so it’s not going to stick you in beginner stuff and then just kind of keep you there. It’s going to really push you into more advanced use of the language. So if you want that, and you do like the textbook work, but you want it a little bit more modern and a little bit more engaging, then I recommend checking out Babbel.

3. Pimsleur

The next app in the top 5 foreign language apps is Pimsleur. Pimsleur is similar to Rosetta Stone in that it’s been around forever and was first with, you know, CDs that you would listen to and you would repeat the words. It’s a technique called shadowing. But just like Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur has also not changed its strategy at all. You literally just press play, and you listen, and you repeat what Pimsleur is telling you to say.

However, unlike Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur is full of English. There are a lot of English explanations. So if you want something a little bit more immersive, it’s not going to be beneficial for that.

But regardless, Pimsleur is great for beginners and some people really like to just listen to Pimsleur kind of passively while they’re doing other things in life. They just kind of, like, passively repeat the phrases because even if it’s not active, it’s still beneficial, it’s still exposure. But there are no visuals, there’s no tactile anything. It’s pressing play and listening and repeating, and that is it. It’s very, very simple in that regard.

4. Busuu

Number four of the top 5 foreign language apps is Busuu. Now Busuu is a kind of happy medium, in my opinion, between Babbel and Duolingo, which we haven’t even talked about yet. But just like Babbel, Busuu is pretty focused on grammar and pretty focused on like textbook knowledge, but with Busuu, you are encouraged to execute these lessons in more real-life situations using the Busuu community of other language learners.

For example, if your native language is English and you are learning German, it’s easy to find somebody in the community, find multiple somebodies in the community, whose native language is German, and they are trying to learn English. So the Busuu lessons and exercises themselves are pretty simple, like the actual learning of the concepts, it’s the execution of the concepts that Busuu is really great at because it uses all these real-life people to kind of give you a little bit of support.

And unlike Babbel, this level of support is included in a Busuu subscription because it’s using the community, it’s not using professional language teachers, it’s using other native speakers. And I mentioned it’s kind of like Duolingo because the exercises are very, very simple – the exercises when you’re learning the concepts, outside the Busuu community, is very pressing buttons, and that’s pretty much all you’re doing, which is fine as long as you’re also taking advantage of the community.

5. Duolingo

And as promised, the last of the top 5 foreign language apps to know is Duolingo. Now, when I polled you guys, I was not surprised at all to know that the vast majority of you are on Duolingo because it’s very easy, and it’s very addictive. It’s free, it’s accessible, it makes it easy for people to learn whatever languages they want.

However, this isn’t the first time that I’ve criticized Duolingo, and it’s definitely not going to be the last, but it relies too much on gamification. And I want to make sure that you are not stuck depending on it, because when we’re using Duolingo a lot, we really get addicted to maintaining our streak and to building up our XP and to winning competitions and all these little, little games that Duolingo has. It really keeps you addicted.

Now, this can be a useful tool for some, for sure, but I do want to make sure that you’re focused on the actual language and not just focused on the little games that Duolingo is playing because it is a tool to keep you motivated and supported in your language learning. But it’s just a simple tool, and many language learners find themselves stuck keeping up their streak, afraid of losing their streak full of anxiety and not actually learning anything in the language.

Of course, there are plenty of other apps that have similar gamification daily streaks, notifications, really fun, youthful graphics and colors, and all that kind of stuff that aren’t Duolingo. And if you visit my app search, then you can search for language apps that teach your language, that specifically have that level of – not that level of gamification – but have that gamification to give you reminders and keep you just a little bit more motivated and excited than you would be without it.

And that’s all I have to say about the top five foreign language apps. If you’re feeling a little bit better now about choosing the right foreign language app for you, again, I highly recommend using my app search, it’s totally free for anybody to use. It’s got all the apps mentioned in this video plus a whole bunch more.