Lingoda Review: high risk, high reward

Lingoda is an online language school that offers both private and small-group language classes to suit your schedule. It also has a couple of interesting perks (i.e. Lingoda Sprint) which we’ll also learn about in this Lingoda review.

Should you use Lingoda to learn to speak a language? Continue reading this Lingoda review to find out!

Getting started with Lingoda

Basically, Lingoda is a monthly membership (or pay upfront) that provides you a certain number of private/group conversations, depending on what route you choose, in a number of languages:

The level you can reach using Lingoda depends on the language itself, but you can generally achieve upper intermediate, if not advanced.

When you opt for a membership, you do have to select a language and stick to it, but there are a few membership options for each language.

Once you choose your language, you can either tell Lingoda your level, or take a placement test.

I took the placement test, which involved a series of intermediate-beginner phrases in a multiple-choice format. I may be a bit rusty with my active knowledge of Spanish, but I thought I did pretty decently.

NOPE!

As usual, the native assessment was far from accurate – my Spanish is definitely beyond “soy Jamie” and “tengo un perro”. Using this platform at A1 would be a significant waste of my time.

Fortunately, you can easily change your level at any time, which I quickly did. Phew! Suffice to say, if you have a general idea of your current level, skip the assessment.

On that note, Lingoda does something pretty cool. Once you go through the structured classes and check all the boxes, you can receive a Lingoda certificate.

My first thought (as should be yours, too) is “okay, what does that actually mean?”. Fortunately, unlike the McGraw-Hill certificate from Busuu, this one actually seems pretty legit.

Now obviously if you’re looking for a resume-builder for an actual foreign language-related job, you’ll probably want to double-check with the employer just in case, but the CEFR is the guy that you want documentation from.

Now that’s awesome.

Booking a class

Once you’ve got your level and everything all figured out, it’s time to book your first class! You can book classes by:

• Level
• Group/private
• Day of the week
• Time frame

Weirdly, Lingoda does not allow you to search for classes with one teacher. Considering the competition depends a lot on the relationship you build with your teachers, it’s different to see Lingoda put more emphasis on taking certain classes and gaining certain skills.

You’ll also notice that the previews of these classes include the skill you’ll be focused on. Except for the “skill” skill…I’m not entirely sure what that’s supposed to mean.

I had never taken a group language class online before (and I was more interested in seeing the Lingoda process than getting high-quality, one-on-one attention), so I opted for a group class. The white bar on the bottom of these squares will tell you how many student spots are still available out of 5.

One last thing about that screenshot: I wanted to take a class the same day, and there weren’t that many! The impression I got from the teacher I ended up with did note that the class was full, so I’m assuming that they have enough classes to satisfy their students.

Taking a class

This is the class I took.

Before the class started, I had access to a few different things: the materials that the class would be reviewing, a FAQ about the meetings, etc. Lingoda told me the class would be over Zoom and gave me an option to test my device for Zoom, but didn’t give me anywhere to go, nor did it tell me how long the lesson would be.

With a group class, I assumed it would be an hour long, but I’d still like to know! I also wish it would confirm I was in the right time zone in some way – I’ve definitely set up online lessons like this and missed them because my account wasn’t in the right time zone.

Regardless, Lingoda told me to go to the My Classes page and wait.

Once 10:00 hit, a blue “Go to Class” button appeared. I clicked it, Zoom popped up, and I was ready to go.

The six of us (5 students and 1 teacher) went through the PowerPoint that I had had the option to download before it started. I did like having an idea of what we were going to talk about – that hasn’t always been the case with other platforms.

While we waited for everyone to log on, the teacher took us through some questions to answer and ask each other.

Then the teacher walked us through some of the slides. And by the way, apparently “skills” just means all of them!

For the next hour, the teacher took us through, making sure that we each got an equal opportunity to speak and ask questions. It was a very relaxed atmosphere, and I felt more than comfortable asking questions. A+!

Like I said, my spoken Spanish was rusty, so I had to deal with that uncomfortable feeling you get when you know you used to be SO GOOD and now you’ve lost fluency because you haven’t used it. So at first, it was kind of a painful class for me.

But because it was so low-key with a few other students to take their equal attention, I had time to get in the flow. And apparently, the teacher noticed. How do I know that?

Once your Lingoda lesson is over, you give a quick review (just stars, you don’t have to write anything) and you can access your Class Report!

Nice!

Lingoda review: prices

Lingoda wants you to really commit to your language learning – good for them! Outside of Lingoda Sprint, they offer two plans: monthly or “marathon”. Both options are the same across all language courses.

It can get complicated, but Lingoda has made it a bit easier to choose a subscription that works for you. You can find updated prices here.

No matter what kind of subscription you choose, you’re signing up for either group classes of 3-5 students or private 1:1 classes. All subscriptions include a 7-day free trial.

Lingoda group classes

Lingoda private classes

Note: the exact cost of your subscription depends on the language you’re learning and the number of classes you commit to. Click here to see current prices.

Also note: the “Marathon” subscription notes their prices with the assumption that you attend 90% of your classes and get your cash back. In order to see the real price, you’ll have to go to checkout.

While the “Marathon” subscription isn’t wildly different from the Language Sprint, it is less intense with lower reward.

Lingoda review: Language Sprint

Last but not least, you have Lingoda’s “Language Sprint” and “Super Sprint”.

Language Sprint is their unique language marathon that runs every 3 months – the closest competition is BaseLang, but that’s only for Spanish. Commit to Lingoda Sprint and you commit to:

• 2 months of classes
• 15-30 classes per month (15 for the regular Sprint, 30 for Super Sprint)
• guaranteed refund* (50% for Sprint, 100% for Super Sprint)

Suffice to say, Lingoda Sprint is high risk, high reward.

*Make sure you read all the rules carefully because many language learners lose their opportunity for a refund by accidentally scheduling classes before the official time frame.

Is it a trick to limit Lingoda’s refunds, or is it poor organization? That’s not for me to say.

Regardless, it’s an interesting motivational tactic for language learners to really commit to their goals for 2 months – make sure you think carefully about the next 2 months of your life before you jump on this!

Lingoda review: should you try it?

If you’re prepared to commit to growing your language skills with a tutor (either private or in a small group setting), this Lingoda review shows that it’s probably worth a shot. While the classes themselves are pretty flexible, you do have to commit some energy regularly. This isn’t a 5-minute Mondly session, it’s the real deal.

I definitely enjoyed my Lingoda lesson – low pressure, good conversation, and a solid level of attention, too. It’s easy to get language students in a group lesson, it’s not necessarily easy to make sure everyone can actively participate, nor to give every student enough personalized attention to have them walk away with something to practice.

Thanks to the post-class note, I had something to work with independently.

If you’re not into classes with a tutor, though, Lingoda’s not for you. Same for language learners who want to work independently, or those who get overwhelmed with significant commitments.

But if that doesn’t sound like you? Click here to give Lingoda a try!