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uTalk review: tons of vocab in tons of languages

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uTalk is a vocab app that brings languages to us that can be hard to find elsewhere; so whether you’re learning something common like Spanish or not-so-common like Cebuano, uTalk pretty much as you covered.

With 140+ languages, there are plenty of options to choose from. But that’s not all you should be thinking about when it comes to your language learning strategy! In this uTalk review, let’s discuss the pros and cons of using this app to learn a language.

uTalk review: languages

One of the best reasons to use uTalk to learn a language is that there are so many languages available that you can’t find anywhere else. uTalk currently supports 140+ different languages to learn, with new languages being added all the time.

You can use uTalk to learn:

  • Afrikaans
  • Albanian
  • Amharic
  • Arabic (Egyptian)
  • Arabic (Gulf)
  • Arabic (Lebanese)
  • Arabic (Modern Standard)
  • Arabic (Moroccan)
  • Armenian (Eastern)
  • Assamese
  • Azerbaijani
  • Basque
  • Belarusian
  • Bengali
  • Bosnian
  • Bulgarian
  • Burmese
  • Cantonese
  • Catalan
  • Cebuano
  • Chibemba
  • Chichewa
  • Chinese (Hakka)
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Corsican
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • Dzongkha
  • English (American)
  • English (Australian)
  • English (British)
  • English (Canadian)
  • English (Cockney)
  • English (Indian)
  • English (Scottish)
  • Esperanto
  • Estonian
  • Fijian
  • Filipino (Tagalog)
  • Finnish
  • Flemish
  • French
  • French (Canadian)
  • Galician
  • Georgian
  • German (Swiss)
  • Greek
  • Greek (Ancient)
  • Greenlandic
  • Gujarati
  • Haitian Creole
  • Hausa
  • Hawaiian
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Icelandic
  • Igbo
  • Ilocano
  • Indonesian
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Javanese
  • Kachchi
  • Kannada
  • Kazakh
  • Khmer
  • Kinyarwanda
  • Korean
  • Kurdish (Kurmanji)
  • Kurdish (Sorani)
  • Kyrgyz
  • Macedonian
  • Malagasy
  • Malay
  • Malayalam
  • Maltese
  • Manx
  • Maori
  • Marathi
  • Mongolian
  • Neapolitan
  • Nepali
  • Norwegian
  • Oriya
  • Oromo
  • Papiamentu
  • Pashto
  • Persian (Dari)
  • Persian (Farsi)
  • Persian (Tajiki)
  • Pidgin (Nigerian)
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Portuguese (Brazilian)
  • Punjabi (Indian)
  • Punjabi (Pakistani)
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Saami (Southern)
  • Samoan
  • Sardinian
  • Scots
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • Serbian
  • Shona
  • Sicilian
  • Sindhi
  • Sinhala
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Somali
  • Spanish (Spanish)
  • Spanish (Argentinian)
  • Spanish (Latin American)
  • Swahili
  • Swedish
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Tibetan
  • Tigrinya
  • Tok Pisin

Suffice to say…it’s a lot (151, to be precise). So many different languages, including different accents! Now let’s talk about what uTalk does with them.

uTalk walkthrough

When you first open up the uTalk app, you’ll be shown this screen, featuring every single one of those 140+ languages, with your most recent language at the top.

As you can see, it’s pretty straightforward! No fancy tutorials or overwhelm, really. This can be nice for those who don’t need the complicated AI features or techy chatbots; uTalk keeps it simple.

  1. Select your language
  2. Select your category
  3. Go!

Each category of phrases is provided with the following exercises.

Phrase practice

    Your first exercise introduces these phrases to you. There are quite a bit of them, honestly, so you may want to take a few tries to get through them.

    https://vimeo.com/1045387465/7d524a7bbc?ts=0&share=copy

    And if this is too difficult for you, go back to the prior “first words” lessons.

    Study each of these phrases by listening to the audio, understanding the phrase (try to depend just on the image to figure it out! It may be difficult, but I promise it’ll be worth it), and repeating it until you get the pronunciation down.

    This is the last time you’ll see the English translations – for the rest of these quizzes, you’ll be identifying each vocab word by either its picture or its audio.

    And it’s self-correcting, as well, so you can decide if your understanding is “good enough”. Like I said, no AI or speech recognition to complicate things!

    Easy game

    If you’re not sure if you studied the first exercise well enough, the next exercise will immediately tell you. Easy game takes your knowledge of the phrases a step further and gives you some multiple choice selections of the audio clips and imagery.

    https://vimeo.com/1045390342/14c6123301?ts=0&share=copy

    In this way, uTalk is very similar to Rosetta Stone: teaching you the language by letting your brain “figure it out”. As I said, this is more difficult in the short term, but much more effective in the long-term. If you’ve ever struggled with getting stuck translating in your head when you’re trying to communicate, this approach will circumvent that entire step.

    And don’t worry: even if you don’t understand every single word at this point, that is totally normal. This sort of game trains your brain to differentiate between different inflections, vocab words, etc., not necessarily to have “correct” grammar or vocabulary.

    Speaking game

    In this activity…well, you can see for yourself how I tricked myself by trying to trick uTalk! Basically, it’s time for you to prove if you’re pronouncing the phrases correctly enough to understand yourself compared to the native audio.

    This can technically be helpful for pronunciation (though I recommend Speechling more for that), but I’d say this would be more helpful for retaining the vocabulary into your memory.

    1. Easy game
    2. Speaking game
    3. Hard game
    4. Memory game
    5. Recall game

    Hard Game

    The Hard Game is where you start testing to see how effectively you’re learning, and whether or not you need to study more. This is active use of your memory.

    You get a number of images and an audio track. Your job is to select the image that belongs to that audio track. No more text, no more translations. Now it’s up to you to know which words mean what.

    Once you get to this point, you should have a decent idea of if you need more practice or not. By now you’ll be tested on whether or not you kind of have a hang on this or not.

    Memory Game

    Memory Game takes it a step further by cutting your time shorter. With the Hard Game, you get plenty of time to process and think, and then make your choice.

    With Memory Game, you’re flashed with images for a couple of seconds, and they’re instantly covered back up. Then audio plays, and you have to select which image (remembering which image is where) goes with the audio clip you’re hearing.

    This is where uTalk gets intense! You only get to see these images for like 3 seconds before they’re covered up. When you tap on one card, only that one card flips back over, so there’s no getting around it!

    Recall Game

    Last but not least we have Recall Game! In this final exercise, you’ll be tested on this vocab with every skill you’ve been practicing: you get the English word/phrase and the image, and your job is to record yourself saying the correct foreign phrase.

    Just like with the Speaking Game, there’s no attempt at speech recognition – you’re trusted to know for yourself whether or not you’ve got it. Once you make your recording and the English is translated, you have the option to:

    • replay your own recorded audio
    • play uTalk’s native audio
    • report that you got it wrong
    • report that you got it right

    I love that it’s totally up to you to say how well you did on your own speaking portion, and whether or not you got the phrase right. Self-reporting is where it’s at!

    uTalk review: prices

    uTalk’s payment model is super interesting! uTalk gives you the option to earn more time, earn more information. Or, to make things simpler, you can just pay to play.

    Click here for uTalk’s updated pricing.

    For one, uCoins gives you the option not only to work your way through (earning uCoins as you play uTalk’s games) but also to only pay for a little at a time.

    If 60+ different topics spanning 140+ different languages is too much for you (’cause that is definitely a lot), just pay for the topics that are actually beneficial to you.

    uTalk review: who it’s for

    I do genuinely love uTalk, both because it’s an excellent way to learn a new language, but also because of their ethics, and their commitment to making endangered and less common languages more accessible.

    As for actually using uTalk to learn a language, this uTalk review proves that it’s a great app for those who are looking for a quick route to effective use and understanding of the language in very specific situations, without the hullabaloo of fancy add-ons or confusing features.

    uTalk is simple, direct, and effective.

    If that’s your way to learn languages, similar alternatives to uTalk include Rosetta Stone and Speechling; both are just as simple and focus on speaking, but Rosetta Stone is more modern while Speechling isn’t as effective for teaching the language as it is promoting your pronunciation.

    Alternatively, if you need heavier gamification to keep you interested and engaged long-term, I might recommend something like Polygloss or Speakly.

    Suffice to say, uTalk is a great option for language learners looking for resources to support lesser-known languages that aren’t available elsewhere. Click here to get 20% off uTalk!

    Lingopie Review: the best foreign language subtitles

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    Lingopie is a platform created by and for language learners who enjoy learning foreign languages by watching TV. The idea behind this Lingopie review is that you’ll be so motivated to keep watching good shows, motivation will be easy peasy.

    That said, how do you know if Lingopie is the right language learning resource for you? In this Lingopie review, we’ll discuss its benefits, limitations, and Lingopie alternatives.

    Getting started watching foreign language TV

    You can use Lingopie to learn 10 languages:

    • Chinese
    • English
    • French
    • German
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Portuguese
    • Russian
    • Spanish

    Your Lingopie account grants you access to all 10 languages at any time. There’s no effort in switching languages either, which we’ll see in a second.

    Lingopie review: watching and learning

    You’ll see a Netflix-like page with all the shows Lingopie has to offer, separated by genre and, more importantly: every show and movie has an icon, front and center, of the country the media is from, which makes it easy to find the most relevant content for your language learning.

    This dashboard/TV catalog is truly beautiful and genuinely motivating to start expanding into all sorts of languages. It’s easy to see that using Lingopie to learn a language requires minimal effort, especially if you’re in the habit of watching TV for hours on end once you’re hooked (guilty as charged).

    I have one qualm about the search function: I like how you can search for different accents and genres (a la Yabla) but there is no option to search accents AND genre AND length, which is very basic functionality.

    Because of this limited searchability, I stuck to Castilian Spanish content and chose something that looked interesting.

    Roll over the show you want to watch to get a very brief synopsis of the plot, as well as how long that content is. The show I chose was only 3 minutes long, which surprised me. Usually we think of shows to be anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour long, which can be overwhelming when it’s in a different language.

    These short little clips are more like YouTube videos than anything else, if you don’t want to make the time commitment.

    Before the show starts, you get a preview of the important vocab on the righthand side. While it’s labeled “Vocab for your level”, it’s mostly just an indication of the level that show is at – if you’re comfortable with these words, you’ll mostly understand the show.

    For what it’s worth, that’s all you’ll need to know if you need to go up or down in difficulty. You don’t need to know all of the exact definitions of all of the words, nor do you need to know which context each word should be used, or all of its conjugations. These are the details that you’ll learn as you immerse yourself in the shows you’re watching.

    Then, as soon as I pressed play, I got a “grammar coach” pop up. Judging by the answer I got, this is basic AI. Obviously with my first attempt the grammar is very simple, so I tried it again with a sentence with more complex grammar.

    It’s not amazing, but it is a start. As of this latest update, AI is still pretty new so we’ll see how this develops. I hope that it’ll go from just naming the verb tenses (which is undoubtedly better than nothing) to explaining the concepts and/or linking to helpful content.

    After clicking out of the grammar coach, here are Lingopie’s basic features in action.

    Lingopie’s platform allows you to easily:

    • read the transcript while watching the show
    • translate any word or phrase in real time
    • listen to any word or phrase independently
    • save vocab to review later
    • practice shadowing (listening to native audio and repeating)
    • loop lines from the transcript
    • change the speed of the show
    • add/remove the native/target language subtitles

    Lots of handy tools that are intuitively placed within the platform itself, and very aesthetically pleasing! These two features help Lingopie to stand out in the world of streaming foreign language content.

    Reviewing vocab with Lingopie

    After watching for some time, you’ll want to review the vocabulary you’ve collected. Lingopie offers a couple of ways to do this, all of which are slightly different and depend on your goals for any particular study session.

    Let’s take a look at all 3 options.

    Pop Quiz

    The first type of vocab review is right within whatever you’re watching. Just click over to the “My Vocab” tab after collecting a few words and try the Pop Quiz.

    This is a very simple way to connect the vocabulary you’re learning with the meaning in which you learned it – review the vocab with the exact video clip you found it in. This is a 10/10 execution of this concept, and blows the competition out of the water (looking at you, Trancy).

    The pop quiz function is the easiest way to review a particular piece of media, especially right after seeing the terms for the first time. You don’t have all of your terms from all of your shows all in one quiz, so you can easily get this fresh vocab into your brain.

    Flashcards

    If you want to review all of your terms from all of your media in one study session, you’ll have to click over to the “Review & Practice” section.

    Just like with the pop quiz, the flashcards section reviews your terms paired with their content. There’s slightly more functionality here though: click the card to flip between the word and its translation, and then tell Lingopie how well you know the term: know it, not sure, or no idea.

    Lingopie also keeps track of your progress for you, including where you got the term, how many times you’ve reviewed it, when it was last seen, and the option to listen to it again or remove it from the list.

    As you can see, if you want the actual native audio, it has to be in one of the features where the term is shown with the video clip. Otherwise, you’ll be listening to the robot recording.

    Word Master

    Lingopie’s third method for helping you review the vocabulary it teaches you is via Word Master. This vocab game is the only one that does not use the original video content to help you remember the words.

    I’m not blown away by this option. The thing that makes Lingopie special is using the video content to connect the vocab words to their meaning.

    If this featured another more active activity – typing in the words, for example – it might be more useful, but otherwise this isn’t much different from creating your own flashcards yourself.

    Lingopie’s Chrome extension vs Language Reactor

    While Language Reactor has essentially cornered the market for using Netflix to learn a language, Lingopie now has a similar Chrome extension that you can use with your normal Lingopie account.

    With the Chrome extension you can see which Netflix shows Lingopie has translated for you, giving you that many more options to learn your target language.

    As I said, this puts Lingopie in direct competition with Language Reactor, so let talk about some pros and cons, Lingopie vs Language Reactor.

    Quantity of content

    Language Reactor is a free Chrome extension that helps language learners use YouTube and Netflix to learn a language by pulling out the subtitles that already exist (most of which are automatically generated by YouTube) and make it easier for us to use them.

    This means that Language Reactor’s content is essentially limitless; as long as there are new shows on Netflix and new videos on YouTube, there will be new content to learn a language.

    Lingopie, however, is limited by the content they have available on their platform.

    Quality of subtitles

    Because Language Reactor tends to use automatically generated subtitles, they’re not always totally precise. And while this may not be a make-it-or-break-it kind of thing for many language learners, it can lead to confusion.

    For example, it can be very difficult to recognize if it’s a particular vocab word that’s new, or if it’s a new phrase, or if it’s region-specific slang. This can require significant research that some language learners would rather not do.

    Lingopie’s subtitles are not automatic. So if you want to just be told what a word or phrase means, there’s no competition.

    Vocabulary review

    As we’ve discussed in this Lingopie review, this platform makes it very easy and enjoyable to review the vocab you learn within its original context. You don’t have to do any other work, besides clicking over to a different section.

    Language Reactor, however, takes some elbow grease. If you already have a flashcard system that you enjoy, like plugging new vocab words into Anki for example, then this may not be an issue. However, if you’re looking for a new approach for learning new vocab by watching videos, Lingopie makes all that much easier.

    Lingopie review: pricing

    Due to Lingopie’s high quality platform and subtitles, it is a paid resource. However, if the ease of use is what you need to learn a language consistently, then it is absolutely worth it. Plus, Lingopie offers a 7-day free trial to try everything out.

    Click here for Lingopie’s updated pricing.

    Lingopie review: alternatives

    While I believe Lingopie is the most beautiful and user-friendly, it’s not the only way to learn a language by watching TV.

    If you enjoy the curated content but want some more flexibility in how you’re studying the language, FluentU may be a good Lingopie alternative for you. As I mentioned, it’s not nearly as pretty as Lingopie, but what it lacks in design it makes up for in study strategy.

    A similar alternative to both Lingopie and FluentU is Yabla. Again, not very pretty, but it can be fun to play around with.

    Finally, if you’re willing to do some behind the scenes tech and macgyver your language learning just a little bit, Language Reactor paired with an Anki or Memrise deck is a budget-friendly alternative that could work just as well.

    Should you use Lingopie to learn a language?

    Lingopie is an excellent way to learn a language with TV and subtitles. In fact, it’s the best in the market in 2 ways:

    • teaching you new foreign language vocab with the context of video, and
    • providing top tier, easy-to-use subtitles.

    Especially for that first bullet point, context is key when learning new vocabulary, so if you’re looking for a way to pair new vocab with a TV show you enjoy, I would recommend giving Lingopie a try.

    However, it’s important to keep in mind that regardless of what they say, you do need to be at a certain level of listening comprehension to make the most out of a resource like Lingopie. Even in the beginner level video at the beginning of this Lingopie review, it uses intermediate-level grammar.

    If you’re a total beginner, I’d recommend you start out with basic vocab first.

    Want to use Lingopie’s 7-day free trial? Click here to get started.

    Babbel Review: textbook, but make it modern

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    Babbel is a very well-known language learning app that’s been around since 2008. Named after the Tower of Babel (a biblical myth attempting to explain the existence of different languages), Babbel combines educational strategies with real-life conversations to teach users a variety of different languages.

    In this Babbel review, let’s talk about how Babbel teaches languages behind-the-scenes, and what kind of language learner can benefit from the Babbel app and Babbel Live.

    Babbel is available for learners of the following languages:

    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • English
    • French
    • German
    • Indonesian
    • Italian
    • Norwegian
    • Polish
    • Brazilian Portuguese
    • Russian
    • Spanish
    • Swedish
    • Turkish

    So, if you’re learning one of these languages, this Babbel review is right for you!

    Babbel review: overview

    When starting with Babbel, you can either choose your level yourself, or take Babbel’s assessment. While this isn’t a unique concept, Babbel does take a unique approach.

    Now, this is interesting because there’s no objective testing when it comes to specific skills; unlike Busuu (one of Babbel’s direct competitors), you’re not tested on your ability to use grammar correctly, or whether you can fill in the blank. Instead, it’s focused on real-life abilities.

    And by real-life abilities, I mean your own perception of your abilities. It’s more of a “would you feel comfortable doing this” than a “how do you appropriately conjugate this verb” kind of thing.

    Is this helpful? That’s for you to decide. I appreciate how it reflects how subjective language learning is as a whole, but also respect that some feel the need to be “tested”. 9 times out of 10 I do not trust more objective assessments because languages are simply too complex, so I always suggest taking these things with a grain of salt.

    And if you’re not satisfied with this assessment, you’re free to choose your own path anyway.

    Babbel’s beginner content starts off with basic vocab, grammar, and pronunciation; the advanced stuff finishes with slang, cultural insights, and more of the subtle aspects of the language. It’s all relevant, real-life stuff, for a variety of different language levels.

    And none of it is “required” – you can skip around however you like, whenever you like.

    Babbel’s lessons

    Starting from Babbel’s dashboard, you’re directed to either learn something new or review your past lessons (assuming you’ve used Babbel in this language in the past).

    We’ll start with a new lesson, which is a very quick, bite-sized snack that you can either do real quick when you have 5 minutes to spare, or you can “marathon” as many in a row as you want. Great for the busiest of language learners who want to make good use of their limited time.

    As you can see, the interface is very modern and smooth and leads you to use the language in a variety of ways to both keep things interesting and give you a well-rounded education. This approach is a decent reflection of the different ways that language is used, so you’re prepared.

    Like anything, there are pros and cons to Babbel’s lesson format.

    Pro: you can choose between selecting the provided letters/spaces, or just type them yourself

    Con: it automatically turns non-accented letters into the appropriate accents, without even suggesting you make the effort yourself. This causes a lot of bad habits!*

    Pro: you’re not using rote memorization: you get context via sentences, imagery, and a native audio recording*

    Con: you can’t speed up or skip lessons, or even skip the repeating of phrases after completing them

    Honestly, I’d consider the statements with the asterisks to be objectively important; the other two are my own personal preference.

    So what about Babbel’s review option? Let’s take a look.

    You start by choosing the review style that best meets your goals: flashcards, listening, speaking, or writing.

    The review you choose is then powered by spaced repetition, which is a common algorithm across many language learning apps.

    Basically, Babbel’s spaced repetition is based on levels; the level that particular word or phrase is on dictates when you’ll see it next, and whether you get it right dictates if it stays on that level or moves around:

    • Level 1: one day
    • Level 2: four days
    • Level 3: seven days
    • Level 4: fourteen days
    • Level 5: sixty days
    • Level 6: six months
    • Correct answer: move up a level
    • Incorrect (first time): maintain level, review again the next day
    • Incorrect (more than once): move down a level, review again the next day

    Obviously, this is more useful the more often you use Babbel, but as a whole it’s a great approach. Choose when you want to review, and went you want to learn something new! You’ll theoretically be reviewing more often than you’ll learn, and you also get to choose your method of review each time.

    Again, I like the amount of choice involved. Especially in more academic settings, it can feel really stifling when you’re done with a particular topic or lesson, but you have to complete a set number of exercises before you get the option to move on.

    Babbel doesn’t put up these obstacles.

    Babbel Live

    Over recent years, Babbel has grown from just the app and lessons to include live group coaching! This is a separate membership not included with the Babbel app (more on that later), but can really make your Babbel experience more engaging and valuable.

    Signing up for a Babbel Live class is just as smooth as the rest of the Babbel experience.

    To start, you set the parameters of your level and your schedule. From there, you find a group class on a theme that interests you. Sign up with a couple of clicks, and you’re set! Add this class to your preferred calendar and download the material you’ll be using in class to prepare.

    Once you add the class to your calendar, I like that the event includes the link shown in the above video, so you have easy access to all that info.

    However, the self-study lessons mentioned in that link don’t seem to relate at all to the theme of the lesson; the theme is the society of the future, but the linked lessons are about professional emails?

    I would love to see these themes/topics match up directly with Babbel’s lessons, so you can take the lesson independently, and then actively practice it with a professional tutor and other peers. This would really tie the two options together, as well as help solidify these lessons for language learners who like to practice via conversation.

    As of the date on the bottom of this post, Babbel Live is only offered in Spanish, German, French, and Italian.

    Babbel’s pricing

    Freebie seekers look elsewhere! Babbel is offered exclusively at a monthly membership rate. Depending on your commitment (ranging from monthly to lifetime), the Babbel app is available for $8-15/month. Click here for updated pricing.

    As aforementioned, a subscription to the Babbel app does not include Babbel Live – however, a subscription to Babbel Live does include free access to the app; suffice to say, this makes Babbel Live that much more valuable.

    At commitments ranging from monthly to annually, Babbel Live offers unlimited group classes! At $50-100/month, it’s honestly a steal. It’s important to note that if you commit to more than a month at a time for a lower per-month rate, you will be paying the full financial commitment at signup.

    Click here to learn more about Babbel Live.

    At these prices, assuming you will reliably attend a Babbel Live lesson at least once a week, I would absolutely consider the Babbel app and Babbel Live worth the price, even just at the monthly rate.

    Of course, whether that’s feasible to you depends on your own lifestyle and your goals.

    Babbel review: who it’s for

    Babbel is an oldie but a goodie in the language learning industry, and I’m happy to see them growing with the times (i.e. offering live coaching). In general, there’s a lot of potential for language learners of the offered languages, especially those ready to invest both the time and money in Babbel Live. Not to mention Babbel’s recent acquisition of the Toucan Chrome extension.

    Because Babbel is still pretty academic, it can feel a little stale if you’re not into the strict, structured approach. If you want to avoid language learning that feels like a textbook, you’ll want to steer clear; maybe try Busuu’s similar approach, or head to the other end of the spectrum with something like Tandem.

    However, if you appreciate the structure of a textbook combined with a modern platform and convenient access to conversations with professional tutors, Babbel is a safe bet for your language learning.

    Sold? Click here to start with Babbel!

    Preply Review: great for student, not for teacher

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    Preply is an online platform for teachers of a variety of subjects (not just foreign languages) to connect with online students. Specifically, Preply is well-known for offering dirt-cheap lessons, which attracts language learners who want to save a buck or two.

    Honestly, I’m of the opinion that spending a few extra bucks to support an experienced tutor is always worth it, but this Preply review is for all the language learners who want a realistic, no-fluff review of a language learning platform that can help them to push their spoken language skills forward.

    In this Preply review, we’ll talk about what I love and what I don’t love, from using the platform to an actual lesson with a (very cheap) Preply tutor, including what Preply does differently than the competition.

    Preply review: getting started

    When you first get started, you get a screen very reminiscent of Verbling and italki: a list of Preply tutors who teach your target language with an intro video, schedule preview, pricing, intros, and more.

    preply review

    You’ll also notice the menu bar at the tippy-top where you can narrow down specific features that are important to you. Again, italki and Verbling also operate similarly, though each has different options. My favorite is to organize by gender, but I didn’t get that here. Oh well! Preply does allow you to search by:

    • Language
    • Price
    • Country
    • Availability
    • Specialties (including learning disabilities and test preparation)
    • Other languages spoken by tutor
    • Whether or not they’re a native speaker

    ….and you can even search by name or keyword, which is great! I’ve definitely run into the problem where I’ve been searching for a specific tutor and just…couldn’t. Such a simple functionality that isn’t nearly as common as it should be!

    Anyways, I narrowed my search down to $5/hour (because if you’re on Preply, you’re probably looking for something cheap), and Spain as the country of origin. Only one Preply tutor popped up and she wasn’t available for a few days, so I expanded the country of origin to also include Venezuela. Found my tutor!

    preply review

    On the tutor page, you get a few key details, including their “about” section, reviews, how many lessons they’ve booked in the last 48 hours (implying success/popularity), and a little intro video. While intro videos probably won’t say too too much that the “about” section already says, this is a good opportunity for you to listen to how your potential tutor speaks, and see if you can understand their accent/way of speaking.

    This particular tutor didn’t have a resume on their profile, but many of them do. Of course, you likely won’t get a decorated teacher for $5 an hour, nor would you want to if you want a high-quality education from someone who has spent the time and money to earn various certifications and work highly-skilled jobs.

    Scrolling down, you’ll also get a peek at the tutor’s availability in your time zone and their past clients’ reviews.

    preply review
    preply review

    As you can see, Dargy was wide open!

    If you look closely, you can see that instead of just blocking out the times when she’s not available, there are greyed-out letters. If you guessed those are the initials of the student scheduled in that time slot, you’d be correct. In my opinion, that’s kind of weird. Why is it important what a student’s initials are, except to the tutor? Why did Preply make that choice instead of simply blocking the time out? I have questions here!

    Anyways, I went ahead and booked a trial lesson with Dargy. I’m not really sure what makes it a trial lesson though…it was full price, for an hour! An hour is a long time for a 1:1, especially for a first lesson. 1-hour lessons wear me out, and I wish there was an option to schedule a 30-minute lesson, especially since the schedule is broken up into 30-minute chunks. Weird.

    There were a couple of interesting perks, at checkout, too!

    Specifically, Preply has some major fail-safes in place. For one, you get free lesson cancellation until 4 hours before your lesson. I’m not sure what happens if something comes up and you have to cancel after that – maybe you pay a fee, or maybe you work it out with your tutor.

    More importantly, though, is that Preply’s got your back if your tutor doesn’t show up or you’re not satisfied: either a full refund or free replacement! I wonder if they’ve had problems in the past with tutors bailing? That’s the most aggressively secure guarantee I’ve seen anywhere!

    Once you have your lesson scheduled/paid for, Preply directs you to prepare in a few different ways. Some directions are to prepare for the lesson itself, others are to motivate you to consistently set up more lessons.

    The first is the option to make sure you can get into the Preply classroom smoothly, and that all your tech works. I love that they have their own classroom as opposed to relying on something like Zoom or Skype (which hasn’t been the go-to for foreign language tutor platforms in a while, fortunately).

    Very simple and smooth: I approve!

    When you get your email confirming your lesson date and time, it also includes a link to this classroom, which I love! I copied & pasted it directly into my Google calendar so I didn’t have to go searching through the Preply website when the time came. This is what I do with all my Zoom meetings, so I love that I could seamlessly add it to my schedule.

    After that, I was given the option to test my level and set goals. You can edit these at any time in the settings of your account.

    If you can stick to this…it honestly seems pretty legit! The levels are based on CEFR guidelines, and Preply does a decent job of breaking down how to get from where you are now to your goals…though it is important to keep in mind that this is based on the speaking skill only, so don’t expect the certification to be good for anything besides putting it up on the wall.

    Like I said, way to get language learners to stick to it! If you want some light structure, this is not a bad start!

    Oh, and one more thing: this guy popped up while I was on my lesson page.

    Ideally, if the trial lesson goes well, you can get a monthly subscription to your tutor and save another few bucks! Consistency is absolutely key to improving your speaking, so this is a super interesting move into the Netflix era of the internet. This is the kind of thing that BaseLang has been doing from the start but at a much less intensive/expensive scale.

    Preply review: the problem

    Before attending my lesson with Dargy, I did some searching to see the inner-works of the platform. Most anyone can be a tutor (unsurprising – that’s usually the case), but I did find one key feature of Preply that was….upsetting, to say the least: the pay that tutors receive.

    Yup – Dargy wasn’t even getting paid for my first lesson with her!

    Not only that, but she was losing at least a quarter of my payment until we had 201 hours together.

    Holy crap!

    Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand that the platform needs to be financially supported, and I absolutely believe that Preply should receive some sort of commission for hosting and maintaining all these tutors. I also get the value of promoting long-term tutor/student relationships. But I don’t like these numbers.

    Considering I didn’t want a full-hour lesson in the first place and Dargy wasn’t even getting paid for her time with me, the first thing I did when our lesson started was request a 30-minute lesson instead.

    By the way, Dargy was very gracious, kind, and intentionally asked me how I felt about our lesson together/if I had any feedback for her. She got 5 stars from me!

    After our scheduled time together, I got a BUNCH of notifications pushing me to schedule more time with her. Specifically, I was prompted to schedule another lesson/buy a subscription to her:

    • as a notification in the app
    • in an email
    • in a pop-up after I rated our lesson

    This is a good way to keep students accountable, honestly. Especially considering you have to spend over 200 hours with a single Preply tutor for them to keep more than 75% of their income from you…and keep in mind that with subscriptions, they’re earning even less from you. Yeesh!

    Nonetheless, when it comes to the success of a language student, I am a fan of any tactic that removes obstacles between the learner and their commitment to studying. It wasn’t spammy – more like you have to make the decision to turn down more lessons three times. I’m sure it works, and if it convinces more learners to improve their foreign language skills, I’m all for it!

    What you need to know about Preply

    Like I said, I was honestly not expecting this Preply review to be very high quality – I figured it was a matter of “you get what you pay for”. I do have to say, though, that I was pleasantly surprised!

    I love the platform. It’s incredibly user-friendly. The app is really nice, too, and gives you notifications for your lessons. I love the option to commit to a long-term relationship with a Preply tutor, and all the other methods that really encourage you to stick with it and stay accountable, like setting reasonable goals and expectations for having conversations a few days per week. I mean they really hook you in!

    I don’t love the payment model. It was already kind of strange that a trial lesson was a full hour (a long time for even a normal 1:1 lesson), but Preply tutors aren’t even paid for it? That’s gross. Plus, you have to commit over 200 hours to a particular tutor for them to keep over 75% of their pay? Even after the student discount with a monthly membership? Yikes.

    All in all: this Preply review shows that for the student, Preply is great. For the tutor, not so much. Nonetheless, there are tons of highly qualified Preply tutors with great resumes and lots of experience, so one has to assume it’s not all bad!

    Want to give Preply a shot? Click here to get 50% off your first lesson with Preply!

    LingoDeer Review: language learning app for Duolingo haters

    by 2 Comments

    LingoDeer is a popular app among learners of Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin, but they’ve been so wildly successful that they’ve expanded to several others! What made it so successful? This LingoDeer review will tackle just that.

    Continue reading this LingoDeer review to learn everything you need to know about this super popular language app!

    LingoDeer languages

    As mentioned, while LingoDeer is known for Asian languages, learners of other languages shouldn’t necessarily skip it. LingoDeer offers:

    • Arabic
    • Chinese (Mandarin)
    • French
    • German
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Portuguese
    • Russian
    • Spanish
    • Vietnamese

    Considering LingoDeer offers all these languages when they’ve only been in business since 2017, it really looks like the sky’s the limit!

    Like Duolingo’s French and Spanish trees are generally the most robust, assume LingoDeer’s Asian languages are, too.

    LingoDeer lessons

    Once you’re here, LingoDeer is pretty simple: select the language you want to learn, and get learning!

    Once you select the course, you’ll get a screen kind of reminiscent of the Duolingo tree. Then, like Duolingo, each lesson of the course is broken up into a handful of quick, easy-to-swallow mini-lessons.

    You’ll start with the first lesson of the group, as Lingodeer won’t let you go straight to a particular lesson before completing the prior ones. You can always jump ahead to different checkpoints (as long as you successfully test into them), and you do have the option to switch lesson groups, a la pre-learning path Duolingo.

    Nonetheless, I do like how the lessons tell you exactly what you’ll be learning, right down to the specific words you’ll be practicing. This way, you’re not stuck learning words and phrases that aren’t relevant to you.

    And the actual strategy behind LingoDeer’s lessons? I really like what they’ve done with it.

    Learning a language with LingoDeer

    Based on the lesson above, LingoDeer’s focus is on comprehension; generally, the activities are either listening or reading comprehension, with a sprinkle of grammar tossed in. The vocab is largely image-based as well (though not entirely), which is excellent.

    My favorite part of this LingoDeer lesson?

    If you’re not sure about the answer, it’ll tell you…but you have to use your listening comprehension to do it.

    And it’s not just robot voices, either. You can see in the above lesson that I got the question wrong because I was focused more on listening than what I knew to be “correct”; so although the correct answer was “estas”, a normal Spanish speaker will drop the “s” in a regular conversation. Best get used to it now!

    While you’re learning the lesson, you can take a look at the mini grammar lesson as needed, and/or get some real-life practice with a conversation.

    These reading and speaking exercises connect the more “theoretical” book knowledge to more active conversational knowledge, so you can see how they piece together a conversation (and you can contribute to that conversation, as well).

    And let’s talk about the look and feel of the LingoDeer app.

    First of all, it’s beautiful! It’s very smooth and is genuinely enjoyable to play around with. There are cute little sound effects, and the animations are really nice. The colors are super palatable as well. Even so, almost all of these features are totally editable! Go into the settings of any lesson to:

    • turn the sound effects or animations on/off,
    • change the background color, and
    • speed up/slow down the audio

    Generally speaking, these lessons provide A+ exercise to all of the language muscles. It’s not a conversation, but LingoDeer provides you with a good baseline to start off with some confidence to jump into using the language in a variety of other ways.

    I do wish one of the options in the settings were to turn the translations on/off, though. Especially at an intermediate level, I’d like to be pushed a bit, and not have any little handicaps like that forced on me.

    While you may not be speaking (yet), you are being pushed to actively recall the words and grammar that you’ve been working with. So yes, while there may be a bit of multiple-choice here and there, you still have a ton of opportunity to really learn the language in a way that preps your brain for actual language use.

    It’s your average speech recognition: you’re given a phrase, you’re led to repeat the phrase, and you tap on the bottom to finish and move on. What you don’t see in this screenshot, though, (for the sake of a readable review) is that at the upper left-hand corner of this screen is the word “Easy”. This is just one of the ways that Lingodeer allows you to take control of your language learning in this section!

    LingoDeer review: prices

    Surprisingly, LingoDeer’s prices aren’t the most obvious. I’ll chalk it up to a website-usability thing though, because a LingoDeer membership is certainly worth the price, in my professional opinion.

    According to LingoDeer support, free LingoDeer users get alphabets, the first unit, Test Outs, Flashcards, and Reviews. Everything else is priced really reasonably, though!

    Are you thinking what I’m thinking? If you’re thinking “wow, that’s a really ugly page considering how pretty the LingoDeer app is”, you are thinking what I’m thinking. Doesn’t make a single difference to the actual experience or effectiveness of the LingoDeer app, it’s just kind of weird.

    LingoDeer review: who should try it

    Okay, so this LingoDeer review has proved to me that I love this app. I’ll be honest. I have a few issues with it, but they aren’t make-or-break issues. The flexibility? The push for active recall? The whole experience? Beautiful.

    But there’s still an important question to answer: who is LingoDeer NOT right for?

    If you want to talk to a human, LingoDeer isn’t right for you. Like, if you need the personal connection of a language tutor or language exchange partner, there are other places to find that. LingoDeer will definitely get you started, but you’ll need to stretch your wings eventually.

    If you want to be able to practice your language creatively, LingoDeer ain’t it. LingoDeer will give you plenty of phrases, words, and dialogues to use, but if you’re likely to feel stifled by that and would rather respond to a prompt, look somewhere else.

    Other than that, this LingoDeer review has shown me an excellent, well-rounded language app that’ll flex your brain muscles in all the right ways!

    Wanna give LingoDeer a whirl? Click here to get started!