Top 6 Language Learning Apps: Do They Work?

I’ve always been an avid language learner, and as a world traveler my linguistic obsession has served me well. When I go to a country whose official language isn’t English or French I always try to learn at least a few basic words. Please, thank you, help, hospital, and toilet are the very least anyone can learn when out exploring the world.

To do this I usually enlist the services of a few language learning apps on my phone a few months prior to my trip. I have several that I prefer, but recently I’ve noticed a few more creeping up the iTunes recommended list. I’ve tested them out so you don’t have to!

I chose to learn Arabic and Polish because neither of those languages are closely related to the ones I already know, and because Polish doesn’t seem to translate well to language apps. I don’t know why. Every Polish learning app seems to skip “Hello” and jump directly into “Hi how are you I’m from Warsaw where are you from?”

So here are iTunes’ top ranked language learning apps, and my opinion of them as a language learner and world traveler.

Duolingo

Pros: This app is free with an option to go premium, but the free version is all I’ve ever needed. It makes sure that you associate all parts of the words you’re learning; how it’s spelled, how it sounds, and a visual representation of the word if it’s a noun. It will ensure that you have a good understanding of the word or word set which you are studying before allowing you to move on, though you can test yourself to unlock more categories.

Cons: If you get too many answers wrong, it will stop you, though I would argue that this is designed so that you don’t get stressed out and you don’t study too hard. The maximum you should study any language is half an hour a day. Any more than that, and you won’t retain what you’ve already learned as well. There is also one other con for travelers, which is that because Duolingo is focused on fluency you won’t learn any sentences that are useful for your trip until well into your linguistic journey.

Babbel

Pros: This app can be deleted.

Cons: I chose Polish for this one, because I have no Polish spoken to me in my every day life, and I am an absolute beginner when it comes to learning it. The rate at which I was expected to learn the words was far too fast. Babbel did provide visual, auditory, and literary reinforcement just like Duo does, but by the third question I was already being asked to spell, letter by letter, a word that had accents that were unfamiliar to me, and had a word and sound structure that is also unfamiliar to me. I can only imagine how this would have gone had I chosen Arabic, which has a totally different alphabet. The lesson was also very short, and I don’t know if I’m able to unlock the next lesson by waiting or if I have to pay for it. I’ll never find out. I’ve deleted it.

Drops

Pros: It’s a super cute app which has a wide variety of languages to learn, and is super intuitive to use. It also asks you what you’re learning the language for. I chose travel, and it immediately gave me food words, which is an excellent start. I chose Arabic for this app, and found that it had an option for Romanization. I could see the words written in both the Latin and Arabic alphabet while I was learning, and the spelling questions were in Romanized syllables. Perfect for a beginner!

Cons: You can only use it for five minutes at a time, which as I said, the optimum time is 15 to 30 minutes, and for the amount of words I learned in that five minute span, I would have preferred a ten minute time interval. I don’t know if you can switch languages either.

Busuu

Pros: This is the one app that has done a decent job of introducing the Polish language at an actual beginners pace. I think there might have been two daunting sentences, but they were very different and so were easy to tell apart.

Cons: It’s a shame, but with that first lesson comes the end of my usage, because much like Babbel the lessons are short I don’t know if I will be able to unlock the next few sets of Polish by waiting or if I’ll have to pay. I don’t see it as a productive use of my time or the memory on my phone so I’ll be deleting this app as well.

Rosetta Stone

Pros: Rosetta Stone does everything that Duolingo can, and from experience the Rosetta Stone oral communication portion is a bit harder to fool than Duo’s. Duo will allow you to just say “aahh” instead of “Pain”, the French for bread. It has multiple languages to choose from, and with the exception of learning a language as an infant, Rosetta Stone is probably the best language learning system in the western world.

Cons: It’s also the most expensive at several hundred dollars a pop. If I was about to move abroad I would invest in whichever version I needed, but a two week trip isn’t worth that kind of dough.

Memrise

Pros: I’ve used Memrise for years now and this is by far my favourite. There are a wide variety of languages to choose from, the lessons aren’t locked by progress for the most part, and those that are can be unlocked by completing previous lessons at your own pace. There is a paid version with a few helpful features, but the free version is all you’ll ever need. The beginner sentences are usually pretty useful for travel.

Cons: Some of the ‘fictional’ languages (spoiler alert, all languages are made up) have been removed which I really wanted to learn, languages like Dothraki, Trigedasleng, and Klingon. I don’t know if they’ve been brought back yet. I believe they’ve also taken away the other categories of things you could memorise, like national flags, countries, world history, trivia, and all the other fun and good stuff.

I definitely recommend a combination of Duolingo, Memrise, and Drops. These three will give you everything you need to learn any language that they collectively have available. If you want to become fluent and don’t have anyone to practice with I would suggest these apps for 10 minutes a day, some writing practice for 10 minutes a day, and reading some childrens’ books for 10 minutes a day. You can also enhance your learning by watching movies and tv shows in the language you’re trying to learn. This is how I taught myself Korean! For a vacation or a trip, Duolingo, Memrise, and Drops will be more than enough to get you on your way. Bring a pocketbook of phrases just in case, and have fun!