Writing

Slowly Review for learning a foreign language

January 12, 2022 by Jamie 1 Comment

Slowly is a free mobile app that isn’t primarily meant to be used to learn languages, nor is it one of the most common ways to practice writing in a foreign language. That doesn’t mean that this Slowly app review doesn’t belong here! I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t share this potential method of learning a language with you.

Back before the days of smartphones, instant messaging, and emails, we used snail mail. It would take days (or even weeks, depending on how far away your mail was going) for a letter to arrive, and tons of people miss this method of communication for a variety of reasons.

What does this have to do with learning languages? As it turns out, a lot! In this Slowly app review, I’ll touch on the reasons why it shouldn’t go ignored as a language learning resource, and, as always, what kind of language learners can benefit from it!

Slowly: app walkthrough

When you get your first look at Slowly, there’s no mention of language learning. Like I said, it’s not really meant as a language learning app. That’s not to say that it’s not a great way to get in practice, though!

Slowly is explained as a way to meet pen friends from your smartphone. And it’s free! Which real-life snail mail is not.

After downloading, you’ll plug in a TINY bit of information, but really not much. Fortunately, Slowly is pretty respectful of common sense internet rules, and just requests that you set up an avatar and nickname.

I got a little frustrated when it was telling me my nickname contained characters that were not allowed when really it was just too long, but whatever, I guess.

You can pick out a few subjects that you’d like to talk about (up to 30), pick out up to 5 subjects that you don’t want to talk about, and then pick languages! You also tell Slowly your proficiency in this language, which then shows up on your profile for other Slowly users to see.

Even just here you can see that this app has some potential for foreign language practice! Realistically, all any language learner needs is a person to talk to who speaks the language, and Slowly definitely offers us access to this!

Then Slowly will let you know a couple of important nuggets of info, and you’ll get started finding pen friends.

That first image is the thing that makes Slowly so great for language learners like me!

The awesome part of snail mail is that it takes a while. It’s not instant. A lot of people love the nostalgia of that, which is fair. Personally, I don’t appreciate it for that particular reason.

If you’re like me, you get overwhelmed by too many instant messages (using something like Tandem or HelloTalk), especially if they’re not in your native language and it takes you more effort to read and respond. That overwhelm is a major turnoff and becomes a serious obstacle to getting in more writing practice.

With Slowly, it takes an entire day to send/receive messages. I like how this gives me a chance to breathe. It’s significantly less stressful for me. I don’t have to feel rushed to understand any messages, nor to express myself in the language, which can be really difficult sometimes.

Anyways, Slowly offers you two ways to meet new pen friends: auto-match or manual. I don’t personally like auto-match, but here are the options you can choose from in your new auto-match pen friends.

If that’s not your thing, you can filter through potential pen friends and reach out to the ones that sound (read?) like someone you’d want to talk to. And, of course, everything is pretty anonymous – there’s no real picture, no real name, nada!

You can see which languages these potential pen friends can communicate in as well as which country they’re from, which I love.

The most important stats are when they were last online and their “sent:received” ratio. There’s no limit to how many people you send mail to or how often you send mail, it’ll just take a minute to get there (and get back to you when they respond).

For example, mail that I send to/receive from Spain takes 20 hours to get to its destination. Mail that’s going to/coming from different countries in South America takes just 8 hours.

Nonetheless, send a message to anyone you want! The only requirement set by the app is that your message is at least 100 characters, which makes sense. Imagine receiving an actual piece of mail and it just said “hey”. That’s something that only works in the atmosphere of instant messaging; otherwise, you’d just be wasting your actual money.

Pro tip: I didn’t receive any letters from people I didn’t initiate the conversation with until I wrote a bio. Once I did that, I started getting letters!

A couple of things to note about how all this works.

You’ll always know what letters are coming from who, and when they’ll get to you. Basically, you’ll be able to see everything except for the message itself.
Once you work up a history of talking back and forth with someone, you’ll always be able to see all of your messages together, which is fun!
Because of the nature of this app, conversations have to be…simpler. This isn’t a chat where you can easily reference every little statement – it’s more like you got a letter from someone responding to your letter, but since you don’t have the letter you sent, it can be hard to remember what you’re talking about.
If you’re “friends” with someone, you can share other types of media. It doesn’t really have much to do with the actual “pen pal” part of it all. Basically, if you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve actually built a relationship with a pen friend, it’s another way for you two to connect!
Many people like to collect stamps, just like with normal snail mail. You can collect stamps by having pen friends from a variety of different countries, or you can go ahead and buy them with real money (though it’s totally unnecessary, and goes to support the app).

And, really, that’s it! The Slowly app is a pretty simple concept for connecting with those who speak your foreign language natively, without a lot of the pressure of face-to-face conversations or instant messaging.

It’s not a language learning app, and that might matter

I’ve mentioned that Slowly isn’t built specifically for language learners – it’s more of an “accidental” option for language learners who would really benefit from it.

However, because it’s not particularly meant for language learning…it’s not perfect. For example, in comparing Slowly to HelloTalk, there is quite a bit of deficit.

I mean, HelloTalk supports text, audio, video chats, real-time corrections…there’s a lot of options. And Slowly just doesn’t have any of those features. It’s just like writing physical letters to a pen pal, except it’s digital.

The fact that Slowly is simple is one of the reasons why it’s so great but definitely has its pros and cons. Other features would make Slowly more desirable for language learners, but, at the same time, the lack of features is part of the charm. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword.

But there are three main reasons why Slowly could be more beneficial to you as a language learner (as it is for me):

Like I’ve said, the pressure is gone. HelloTalk stresses me out. Instant messaging is great for real quick conversations, but I get overwhelmed when it takes me a minute to figure out how to write a message in a foreign language, just to have to do it all over again a few minutes later.
Slowly allows you to operate in more than one language for free! HelloTalk makes you pay for more than one language (it’s only a few bucks a month, but it’s more than free!). With Slowly, talk to as many people as you like in as many languages as you like. No worries!
Total anonymity. If you’re feminine-presenting or have a feminine name, you know what it’s like to hop on a texting app and get bombarded with texts from men. That issue is solved with Slowly!

Slowly app review: who it’s for

With this Slowly app review, understand that it doesn’t have a lot of the tools that HelloTalk or other resources have, but I don’t think language learners should necessarily turn their cheeks to the practice or the friendships that are possible either.

For one, if you really value the nostalgia of snail mail, Slowly is a fun app to use no matter if you’re trying to work your foreign language skills or if you’re just interested in connecting with other English speakers.

For two, Slowly is a nice option to slow down (and I just realized that’s why it’s named Slowly!) your communication and take away the instant-ness of modern-day conversations.

Slowly is like the Speechling of speaking practice for the introverts of language learning; let’s take away the pressure of live conversations while still working on our foreign language skills!

Regardless of whether you feel comfortable using Slowly in the language you’re learning or not, Slowly is a really fun way to connect with strangers that you would’ve never connected with before, while also keeping your identity protected for internet safety reasons.

Tandem Review

January 11, 2022 by Jamie Leave a Comment

Tandem is one of the fairly popular names in the language learning world for connecting language learners with native speakers of that language. Right from your phone, you can strike up a conversation with somebody who speaks a foreign language, get in practice, and make a friend!

In this Tandem review, let’s dive into what goes into this experience: the pros, the cons, and if Tandem is right for you and your language learning journey.

Oh yeah – we’ll go into Tandem Pro too, and see if it’s something that you can benefit from, or if you’re good to go with the free app.

Tandem languages

Because of the way Tandem works (meaning Tandem itself doesn’t really create content, it’s all the content [messages] that users create), there isn’t really a limit to languages! As long as you can find somebody on the app that is willing to talk to you in that language, you’re set.

Which is why on the website, Tandem lists its languages as:

English
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian

Spanish
Japanese
Chinese
Korean
Other

In other words, open up the app and give it a shot, you never know!

Tandem app review: getting started

When you first download the Tandem app, you’ll get some pretty basic starting, qualifying questions. Unlike qualifying questions with other apps that want to know your level in the language you’re learning (’cause, spoiler alert, you should have the vocab/grammar down to participate in basic conversation), Tandem’s questions figure out who you are and where you’re looking to go.

Pretty basic stuff, right?

When choosing which languages you’re practicing, you can choose as many languages as you like at any level. And Tandem offers almost any language under the sun – basically, if there’s someone on the app who speaks your language, you’re set!

Once that’s done, you’ll get some more qualifying questions to help pair you up with a conversation partner that you’ll actually enjoy talking to.

Again, pretty basic, reasonable stuff.

I wouldn’t sweat these questions too much; I’m not sure they really show up anywhere major, and even if they do, nobody really pays attention to them. In my experience, you’ll get a GIANT influx of messages once you get going anyways! And, to be honest, I’m not sure anyone really ever sees your answers. Maybe it’s just an internal thing?

Oh yeah, and that last screenshot? I’m not sure if Tandem is trying to push Tandem Pro here or if there’s actually a “waiting line”, but my account was approved within like 20 minutes or so. Use your real name and a real photo of you (yup, that’s required!) and you shouldn’t have any problems.

Nonetheless, you do get this offer:

If you really love using Tandem you could find a lot of value in Tandem Pro. It’s very reasonably priced and gets you a lot more access to more practice as well as partners that you may have more chemistry with.

At the very least, I think the unlimited translation would absolutely be worth it. Find a friend or two that’ll help you build up your vocabulary and it’ll be an awesome learning tool!

After all that setup, it’s time to get in some practice!

Tandem review: finding a partner

The first place you’ll go is the Community tab. Here’s you’ll find a long list of potential conversation partners to help you practice the language you want to learn.

Everybody’s got a picture, their real name, and a “bio”, which seems to be their answer to the “what are your goals” question that we answered before. Sometimes it’ll be a complete sentence, and at the same time I’ve literally seen just “environmental” as a bio, so….grain of salt?

Here you see a couple of things. Most importantly, obviously, there are a few potential candidates for getting in some language practice.

Since I told Tandem that I’m a native English speaker and am learning Spanish, they’re recommending the opposite back: native Spanish speakers learning English.

Above that, you can see “featured learners” which…I’m not entirely sure what that means. Maybe really active texters?

And above that, you can search for members who are geographically near you. That’s only relevant if you’re a paid member and value in-person language exchanges.

BUT this option does provide great opportunities for language learners who are interested in local language learners but want to test the waters a bit and see if you actually enjoy talking to language learners nearby.

If you’re not finding anybody who you have any interest in talking to, hit the “settings” button in the upper-right hand corner to get this screen.

My favorite part of this is where you can select your gender and your age range. Especially considering you have to use your real name and your real photo, I get totally inundated by messages from dudes (like the guy who asked if my dad is an artist [cue massive eye roll]), so that’s incredibly helpful!

I found one person that I wanted to talk to and initiated a conversation with her. Then BAM!

So. Many. Texts. So. Many. Notifications.

I wonder if I was put into that list of “featured” texters?

I mean, it’s great for finding new conversation partners! The sky’s the limit!

It can also be incredibly overwhelming, which is why I’ve left most of these messages unread. Honestly, I just couldn’t keep up!

Oh yeah, peep that last one. What, you thought I was lying?! You think women don’t drown in messages from random men just because they’re women? Think again, mate!

Now, when you’re in a conversation, what options do you have available to you? Well….like all of them. Tandem is primarily a texting app, but you can easily enough also use it to video chat, send audio messages, images, GIFS…you name it, you got it!

Plus, one thing that’s really helpful if you want to be precise, is easy corrections within conversations.

It may be worth mentioning that Tandem doesn’t supply you with any special keyboards or anything, so you’ll need to make sure that your phone’s native keyboard supports the letters (accents and all!) that your target language uses.

Personally, I just use Google’s keyboard, and that gives me access to all the accents I need to text in Spanish, French…and pretty much every accent that I could possibly need for letters in the Latin alphabet.

Honestly, the few conversations I did have before I got overwhelmed (which I already knew was going to happen based on my HelloTalk review) were really enjoyable! It just…texting is really quick, you know? It’s meant to be instant, rapid-fire. Which is hard when you’re doing it in another language!

That includes not only reading and figuring out someone else’s messages in another language but also taking the time and energy to communicate in the language yourself. It’s really hard work.

Most of the conversations I had were mostly (if not all) in Spanish. Most of them also didn’t really volunteer corrections, but that’s an easy enough thing to just ask a person about.

Dani, on the right, was the first one to correct my texts, so I did the same back. It’s really nice, but it also requires a lot of mental energy, when you’re already using so much mental energy to translate these texts!

That mixed with all the messages I was getting from random Spanish speakers…it can be a lot for some people. And one thing we want to avoid with language learning is getting too overwhelmed/expecting too much from ourselves.

Tandem tutors

Lastly, we have one more section of the Tandem app: the “Tutors” section.

This is a kind of interesting model, to be honest. I mean obviously, anybody using this app would have at least some interest in a paid tutor, I guess I just wasn’t expecting it?

Nonetheless, Tandem handpicks tutors for you that they think are interesting to talk to. You pick a tutor, pick a time, and select how long you want your lesson to be: 20, 40, 60, or 90 minutes long (which is a really long lesson!)

This is just one example of one of the tutors you can try out. I mean, there are plenty of ways to learn to speak a language, but if you haven’t found one that you like just yet, maybe you’ll want to give this section of Tandem a go!

Who the Tandem app is for

After doing this Tandem app review, I love it! I think this is a great resource for language learners: the app is attractive and smooth, there are a ton of potential conversation partners (at least for Spanish, I can’t say for less popular languages), and it’s really easy to get thrown into some conversational practice.

But, like I said, I knew going in that it wouldn’t be for me. While the concept is great, Tandem is not for language learners who easily get overwhelmed by a lot of conversations/attention (i.e. introverts). If you have the social energy to keep it up, Tandem is great!

Tandem is primarily best for writing (or texting) practice, but the sky’s really the limit. Considering you can send audio clips or even have a video chat with anybody, that takes care of your speaking practice, as well. That’ll get you your reading and listening practice along with it!

It’s also worth reiterating that Tandem is not for absolute beginners – you should at least be able to carry on a basic conversation, or you’ll be totally lost. Otherwise, though, Tandem is a great way to get in all four of the major language learning skills!

Babbel Review: textbook, but make it modern

January 11, 2022 by Jamie 3 Comments

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!

Quizlet Review for learning foreign language vocab

January 11, 2022 by Jamie Leave a Comment

Flashcards are an important part of any language learning strategy from time to time. One of the biggest problems with that, though, is how boring they can be; Anki’s flashcards are highly customizable and flexible, but it’s hard to learn to use them; Memrise’s flashcards are beautifully curated, but limited past beginner levels.

In this Quizlet review, let’s dive into this study app and website under the lens of what language learners need and don’t to see if Quizlet is a language learning resource that you need to be considering!

Quizlet review for language learners

When you first load up your Quizlet account (whether on desktop or mobile), you start out with kind of a blank screen. It took me a second to register what I was supposed to do first: either create your own study set or search for a specific term and study someone else’s terms. Not a great start for a Quizlet review, but I digress.

As a general rule, I say to avoid other folks’ sets because you can’t always be sure about their quality: if terms are accurate, themes are fully fleshed out, etc. But, considering I didn’t have my own set to start, I went ahead and searched for a French set.

This view is going to be the home for most of this Quizlet review!

As you can see on the left, Quizlet offers a bunch of different ways to learn its sets! The first option, Flashcards, is obvious: the term you’re learning on one side, the defining term or clue or whatever (with room for an image) on the other side. Next up we have “Learn”, and this is where things get interesting!

Learn

For the purposes of this Quizlet review, I opted for the 7-day free trial of Quizlet Plus (which I’ll flesh out more in-depth later). I was surprised by the next prompts I got when I went to “Learn” this set!

Okay, turns out Quizlet is pretty smart! Considering this particular set was the first 2,000 most common words in French, I assumed that I knew most of it already. But, of course, I had to try out that last feature: take a test to find out!

In that drop-down menu, you can opt to be prompted either with the term or the definition, so you can test either your active or passive understanding of the term (getting ready for a test, or do you want to be able to use these terms in conversation?).

I do like this feature, but I’m not in love with it. First, I’d love if there was an option to switch to fill-in-the-blank, especially for language learners. Multiple choice makes it way too easy to guess, and foreign languages don’t come with multiple choice in real life. Also, if you don’t know a term and want to skip it, it won’t let you move forward. So you HAVE to guess. Which means you run the risk of Quizlet thinking you know a term that you don’t know.

Next step is “proving” your knowledge with flashcards.

Again with the multiple-choice. Meh.

I could easily guess a lot of these multiple-choice terms, but I know I wouldn’t actually be learning them so I purposefully chose the wrong answer (choosing nouns for what were clearly supposed to be phrases, for example).

I was excited to see the little audio icon in the upper right corner, only to realize that it was giving me the audio of the English term that I was supposed to be translating. Unhelpful, especially for French where pronunciation is tough.

I’d had enough. Clicked the “options” button in the top corner. Apparently, the thing that I didn’t like was the Pro feature of “Guidance”?

With the “Guidance” feature, Quizlet dictated the type of questions I was getting. When I turned that off, all of a sudden I had the flexibility for some more active language learning. Specifically, I could choose from the following question types:

Flash cards
Multiple choice
Written!

Finally! Now, there’s nothing wrong with flashcards and multiple-choice at first, but as you continue with your vocab, you should definitely be opting for active recall. This is important not only to train your brain to actually recall the word (not just recognize it) but also to get used to spelling, accents, etc.

Now THAT’s more like it! This is a much more functional way to remember that I need that “l'” in there. If this were multiple-choice or a flashcard, I probably wouldn’t be learning that small detail, which can be important. And, if it’s not important to me, I can always just override the wrong answer there. YES!

And if you don’t know the answer? Literally, click the button that says “I don’t know” – it’ll mark it as incorrect, then tell you the correct answer for next time.

Of course, all of this can be accomplished by just going the “Write” route from the beginning. But it’s really worth mentioning that just going by “Learn” is really not going to be effective for using the language in real-life settings. Passing a multiple-choice exam? Sure. Actual conversational knowledge? Nope.

Spell

Speaking of active use of the language, next up we have “Spell”! I do like this – one of my issues outside of “Spell” is that while there is audio, the audio is of the word you’re trying to translate, so the English term. Might help with some accessibility, but not with language learning.

Here you have an audio clip of someone saying the French word, which is helpful for listening comprehension! I like how they provide you with the accents so you can practice actually spelling the word correctly, keeping you accountable for using accents that many language learners ignore and assume are unnecessary.

Active recall? Check.

Listening comprehension? Check.

Helpful corrections when you get it wrong? Check.

Spelling practice is where it’s at for some simple listening practice as well as learning to actually spell foreign language words!

Test

Finally, this section is a combination of all the options to help you test your knowledge. You get written, matching, multiple-choice, and true/false questions. Now, for testing, this is fine, in my opinion. If it’s SUPER important to you to truly test your active recall you may want to skip this and that’s your prerogative, but this section can be helpful to get a general idea of where you are.

My results for this test are an excellent example of why learning active recall is important!

Matching (especially when the words are so closely related)? Easy enough to lazily pick and choose the right answer. Written? Not so much.

BUT, I am glad that in this section, Quizlet allowed me to skip questions and just have them marked wrong. If you go into the options you can also mess with question type, the number of questions, etc. That’s nice, but what I would really like is to see some more practice stemming from these answers; so, for example, have Quizlet automatically test me again on the terms I missed.

That’s me being super nit-picky, keep in mind!

Now let’s try the “Play” options!

Match

“Match” is a pretty simple concept: you have a handful of terms and their translations on the screen. Competing against the timer, you match up the terms with their translations.

I imagine this would be more interesting/difficult with more difficult terms, but you get the picture!

You can play as many times as you want, competing against other users who have also played this game to this flashcard set. It’s not quite as competitive as Duolingo, but you also don’t run the risk of getting hung up on things that don’t matter, either.

Gravity

Just like “Match”, “Gravity” is really simple, of course. Very early-2000’s online gaming. (PS. if you like that idea and are at an intermediate level, allow me to introduce you to Clozemaster!).

“Gravity” is a lot more entertaining, and also a lot more active! In the beginning, you choose to either have to recall the term or the translation, but nonetheless you’re still writing stuff out.

Very engaging, very useful. You get one shot to get it right (press escape to skip the term and get the answer) before you get that term as a red asteroid. Get the red asteroid wrong and you lose the game!

I approve!

Progress

If you scroll down past all that fun stuff (everything mentioned so far is accessible from the very first thing you see, that image at the top of this post), you can also go ahead and scroll through the vocab itself.

This particular set is fairly engaging but remember: non-professional content is not the most reliable. I mean even from here, only one term has an image. So settle your expectations unless you’re willing to curate this stuff yourself.

What I don’t like: when you click the audio button on the right, it’s great that you get to hear the French term…but I don’t need to hear the English term as well. Again, this may be helpful for accessibility reasons, but for me? That’s just straight-up annoying.

What I do like: click the stars to have more control over which terms you’re studying! This particular set has 2,000 terms, which can definitely be overwhelming. This is a fairly simple system for taking it a little bit at a time and learning better!

And while these terms are organized between “Still Learning”, “Mastered”, and “Not Studied”, it’s not the most obvious to me at first, and especially wouldn’t be with ads. It’s the little things!

Quizlet Plus

Quizlet Plus is…a thing. If you’re happy studying others’ decks, it’s really just not necessary, not in my opinion. So, basically, unless you’re specifically looking for a high level of vocabulary or niche themes, you don’t need it.

I do have to say that if you want to use Quizlet to create your own decks. these perks may be beneficial to you: custom images/audio, diagrams, and scanning in documents, in particular. With Quizlet Plus you do get closer to a less overwhelming Anki. Not quite as flexible as Anki, but definitely getting there.

Nonetheless, Quizlet Plus is very reasonably priced! I don’t see any option to pay for it monthly which feels icky, but less than $50 for a year is a pretty solid price if it’s worth it to you. Quizlet Plus also comes with a free 7-day trial for you to test it out yourself, just like I used for this Quizlet review.

Quizlet review: in conclusion

To end this Quizlet review: I like Quizlet! It’s smooth (without ads – with ads it’s absolutely atrocious, but they do have to pay the bills!), it’s visually appealing, and there are several options to make studying vocabulary more engaging! So should you use it?

I think if you thoroughly enjoy Quizlet for getting in basic vocab, there’s no problem using it for free. There are a million and a half different ways to learn simple foreign language vocabulary, and if Quizlet is the thing that works for you, go for it!

If you want to use Quizlet to create your own decks, that’s when Quizlet Plus may come in handy. You can create simple flashcards no problem, and Quizlet’s features do make them more engaging as-is, but for all the bells and whistles you do have to loosen the purse strings a bit. And, if you’ve got $50 to spare/year, that’s a steal!

In conclusion? Quizlet gets my vote for digital flashcards!

LingoDeer Review: language learning app for Duolingo haters

January 11, 2022 by Jamie 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!