MosaLingua is a combination website/mobile app that boasts its own unique method of learning a language, called The MOSA Learning Method. What is this method, what does it teach you, and how effective is MosaLingua for learning a language?
In this MosaLingua review, let’s find out.
MosaLingua review: languages
MosaLingua is an international company, and it’s pretty clear right from the get-go that they’re not English-centric in their communications. Currently, you can use MosaLingua to learn:
- English
- Business English
- English TOEIC
- English TOEFL
- Medical English
- Business Spanish
- Arabic
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
Let’s talk about what MosaLingua’s method actually is; the last time I saw a resource so proud of their strategy was Pimsleur, which can be effective for the right learner, but generally (in my opinion) is a bit overrated.
MosaLingua review: the method
As this MosaLingua review goes on, you’ll see why this part is so important. Apparently based on “several cognitive science and psychology concepts”, the MosaLingua method includes:
- Spaced repetition (my fave!)
- Active recall
- Metacognition
- The Pareto principle
- Learner motivation and psychology
Those are a lot of fancy terms. What do they actually mean for us? I’ll take these concepts and explain them in not-so-formal terms that we can understand pretty easily.
- Spaced repetition: this one isn’t new to the language learning world at all, and it’s most popularly used with Anki. But you review words more or less depending on how difficult they are for you; you’ll also be shown old words just before you forget them. Very efficient.
- Active recall: multiple-choice questions aren’t the best because it’s easy enough to get them right without thinking. It’s like choosing the correct sentence between 5 sentences, you hear the word for “school”, and you pick the only sentence that has “school” in it. So MosaLingua doesn’t do that.
- Metacognition: once you answer right or wrong, report back on how easy or difficult it was for you. Again, something that Anki does very well.
- The Pareto principle: something like 80% of the conversations you’ll have in a language will use only 20% of the vocabulary. Learn high-frequency words first to learn more efficiently.
- Learner motivation and psychology: this is the concept that half of the struggle with learning a language is the barriers that we have in our minds. Defeat those to learn your language!
All that said, this method seems to be pretty much common sense.
MosaLingua review: getting started
Once you log in to MosaLingua, you’ll first be directed to take a 20-30 minute long test. I have never seen such a time-intensive start to learning a language, and especially not one that begins from such an advanced level.
I won’t put you through my whole test, but here’s how it started.
Feel free to take breaks when necessary (I certainly did), especially when switching sections. You’ll be tested on your use of all the language skills, and it’s tough even if it is multiple choice.
I do have to say it’s pretty accurate – MosaLingua judged my Spanish comprehension at a B2, and my grammar at an A2. At the end, you can submit your email to get these results in your email, but I don’t see any glaringly obvious “start here!” signs anywhere.
MosaDiscovery
Honestly, I spent about a week trying to find the meat of MosaLingua and I think I found it with their Chrome extension. It’s not clearly advertised within the online platform (or even the app, really), but MosaLingua’s strength starts with MosaDiscovery, the Chrome extension.
Find the link to download the Chrome extension within the “Premium” section of the app, as this is a premium feature.
Download MosaLingua’s MosaDiscovery Chrome extension, and collect new terms wherever on the internet you’re using the language! Just right-click, select “Add to MosaLingua”, edit the terms if you see fit, and then add them to your account.
Now you’ll have to download the MosaLingua app; be aware that there is a different app for each language, so pay attention and make sure you’re downloading the right one.
When you open the MosaLingua app, you’ll be directed to review these terms using the context in which they were found.
The app has you learn your new foreign language vocab using these strategies:
- Listen & repeat (AKA shadowing)
- Memorize
- Write
- Self-evaluate
It’s a perfectly decent approach, though not executed nearly as well as some other alternatives (which I’ll mention at the end of this MosaLingua review).
The best part of this whole strategy, though, is the process of collecting these words from the internet. This makes vocab collection easy and meaningful.
MosaLingua challenges
Next, on MosaLingua’s homepage (dashboard? The first page you land on when you log in) you’ll first see the option to choose a challenge after (or before, it’s up to you) you take the aforementioned test.
There’s no “challenges” section within the app. So basically, the idea behind these challenges is more of a mental note than anything else. When you select your challenge, you’ll get a few pointers for learning a language with books or music or whichever challenge you choose, but there’s no content or accountability provided.
MosaLingua’s courses
This is very confusing because MosaLingua labels these courses as optional, but they’re the only real content you can see if you’re on desktop. To access all the aforementioned vocabulary collection and review, you have to be on the app.
And no, MosaLingua won’t tell you this itself if you’re on desktop. I had to spend a significant amount of time figuring this out.
MosaLingua’s optional courses include MosaSeries, MosaSpeak, and MosaTraining.
MosaSeries
MosaSeries is a series of audio sessions that help you improve your listening comprehension, mostly. It’s targeted at beginners who are learning how to listen to and understand a new language.
There’s lots of words to read to guide you in a step-by-step for testing and improving your listening.
For the first lesson, for example, the image below the audio helps you gauge your abilities (as opposed to just a black-and-white “either you understand or you don’t” approach).
Then you’ll listen to a short, 2-minute audio clip starting the story of a man who wakes up with amnesia.
Lesson 2 is key vocab words in case you didn’t catch them, and lesson 3 is repeating lesson 1 again.
Finally, MosaSeries introduces the text (with the same audio) to help you build your comprehension.
To be totally honest, it’s nothing special. MosaSeries in particular is best if you want to practice building your listening comprehension with stories, but alternatives like StoryLearning and LingQ don’t quite do it for you.
You’ll quickly run out of these stories, but it can be helpful for nailing down how to use this particular strategy to learn a language.
MosaSpeak
MosaSpeak is more aptly named because its focus is on speaking the language. Though to be fair, a vast majority of this mini-course is texts upon texts upon texts explaining all sorts of aspects of speaking the language, not so much actually practicing.
To illustrate this concept, this lesson was several lessons into the first module. This is a legitimate approach called shadowing, but the app is so clunky it drove me bananas!
Trying to find the next lesson with active use of the language was so difficult because these courses aren’t the primary function of the app; to get here, you have to go more > Premium Courses > and then choose the course you’re working on.
With the amount of effort it takes to use a simple shadowing exercise that’s completely bookended by essays of text, I would just go to another app that does shadowing really well.
This isn’t to say that any of these strategies are wrong, but MosaSpeak is a mini-course, generally sold separately (hence the Premium), but it’s basically just a bunch of blog posts copied & pasted into an app.
MosaTraining
MosaLingua’s final major course, “MosaTraining”, is the priciest. Instead of focusing on one subject or one language skill, MosaTraining is more conceptual and teaches you “absolutely everything you need to know to successfully learn a new language”.
This is accomplished in 12 modules:
- Introduction and prep
- Immersion
- Improving listening comprehension
- Learning vocabulary quickly
- Improving pronunciation
- Learning how to learn
- Common mistakes and preparing for your first conversation
- Speaking
- Grammar
- Improving reading skills
- Improving written skills
- Continued language improvement
And just like MosaSpeak, it seems to be more of a book than anything else; in fact, I think MosaTraining would be easier to consume if it was a PDF, ebook, or audio book. Yeah, there are a few videos sprinkled in here and there, but it’s largely text-based.
While I agree with everything shared within MosaTraining’s lessons, I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely everything. Compared to The Method, MosaTraining lightly scratches the surface of some key elements of how to learn a language. You’ll get lots and lots of theory, but no execution of it.
MosaLingua Premium prices
MosaLingua is a paid service, and unfortunately the payment structure is just as complicated and clunky as the app and website.
I’ve mentioned quite a few different options in this MosaLingua review, and unfortunately they’re all separate payments. And between the monthly/biannual/annual/one-off payment options, it’s enough to go cross-eyed.
Here are the details:
- MosaLingua Web: the all-in-one platform that hosts your vocab and whatnot: $4.99/month or $59.90/year; included for free if it’s necessary for another course you’ve purchased
- MosaSeries: the audio series about a man who wakes up in the hospital with amnesia: $9.98/month or $58.80/six months
- MosaSpeak: speaking practice recommended for levels A2-B2, and only available in Spanish, French, Italian, and German: $99
- MosaTraining: teaches you how to learn a language quickly and efficiently, very conceptual: $130 for Premium, $180 for Premium+MosaWeb, $330 for Deluxe+MosaWeb
For the courses that do not come with that 15-day trial, MosaLingua does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
MosaLingua review and alternatives
I’ll be honest, this language app was not easy to review; I’m a tech-savvy millennial, and even I struggled to understand what I was supposed to be doing and where I was supposed to go. If ease-of-use is important for you, MosaLingua will not help you learn a language.
Regardless, MosaLingua does have its perks. My favorite is the Chrome extension, MosaDiscovery. This is a decently effective way to immerse yourself in the language while online, and save terms for later. I just wish the app to study said vocab terms was nicer, like Lingvist (much easier to use, and similar functionality).
I also like the concept behind MosaSpeak, though I wish there was more actual speaking practice than mountains and mountains of text. Pronunciation practice is important, though, even if I do prefer how Speechling and Fluent Forever actually accomplish it.
MosaSeries is also good idea, I just wish it were more fleshed out considering it’s a paid program. I wouldn’t be against starting out with MosaSeries, but eventually you may want to move on to something like Trancy or Kwiziq.
At the end of the day, I can absolutely see the value of MosaLingua web; it’s very well-priced and could be the exact thing that you need to connect to the language. Despite my qualms with how hard it is to maneuver, now that I *get it*, MosaLingua may be just what you need to learn a language.
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