How did you learn your first language? We bet it wasn’t through a textbook with grammar guidelines written all over it. You probably learned your first language while hearing people around you communicate in that language. This proves that intuitive learning is the way to go while learning a new language. The marvels of a globalized, interconnected world allow you to work in an entirely different country with a foreign language in practice. Learning to communicate in such situations becomes crucial to boost your career. You can find a never-ending list of sources that teach a new language but do you need those textbook-style teaching methods? The IT revolution has brought in software that can design the curriculum according to your needs. These applications make sure you learn a language without struggling to memorize words, drastically reducing the learning time. A typical university course can take years to teach you a new dialect thoroughly. On the other hand, modern software can make you do it in weeks or even days. Let’s look at some of these great sites to learn new languages:
Duolingo
Most formal courses use textbooks to make you learn a new dialect, but Duolingo follows a game-like approach. The learning sessions in Duolingo are nothing different from playing an arcade game and progressing through the story by completing missions. You get to choose from more than 35 of the most common languages around the globe, like English, Spanish, German, and more. The platform first asks you your expertise level in a language; beginner or advanced. The beginner course starts instantly, but you have to undergo a test to activate the advanced language learning course. The application is available on iOS, Android, Windows, and you can even access Duolingo through their website. Duolingo is completely free with no locked features so that everyone can enjoy the platform, but it comes with ads on its free version. You can permanently remove the ads by paying for their premium membership.
Mondly
Mondly is a great language learning tool, especially for beginners, as it uses visual learning as its teaching method. The lessons use a similar game-like method where you progress by answering a question related to a language. The questions are related to translating sentences to your native language, learning to pronounce words, forming sentences, and more. The best part about Mondly is its diverse curriculum that includes a variety of learning methods. You can also attempt the weekly and monthly quizzes on Mondly to precisely assess your learnings. Mondly is not a free platform and requires you to purchase its paid packages to continue learning. You can access some of its features in the trial version, but the feature set is minimal.
Babbel
Babbel follows a similar recorded lecture approach to make you learn a new language with one of the highest-rated materials. The lectures are great in making you know new words, help you in sentence forming, and help in conversational skills. There are small tests after every few courses to track your performance and strengthen your vocabulary. The best part about Babbel is that it treats every language differently and designs a course accordingly, unlike other prominent players like Rosetta Stone. This approach brings in improvisations according to the cultures linked to a language. Babbel’s free trial gives you a taste of the course and the application UI but locks the essential features. You need to purchase a paid program to unlock all the lectures and tests on the application.
Busuu
Reading and writing are essential to learning a language, but speaking plays the most critical role in day-to-day interactions. If fluently speaking a language is your goal, Busuu is the perfect choice for you. The speech recognition features on this platform let you quickly improve your pronunciation and understandability of foreign words. Busuu complies with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and lets you accordingly choose your desired proficiency level. You can opt for A1 (Beginner), A2 (Elementary), B1 (Intermediate), and B4 (Upper Intermediate). Flashcards are the most common method of teaching on this application which includes interactive questions. Flashcards are pictures with a small dialogue that accompanies them. You then speak out the answers to the asked questions and ensure your progress. Busuu is a paid language learning app that needs you to buy a premium plan to access all its features. The trial version only uses flashcards and comes with limited lessons.
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone first came to the picture in 1992 when most of the other platforms on this list were not even in the making. These three decades of experience let Rosetta Stone create a reliable, stable, and predictable language learning curriculum. You can find many deductive reasoning-based problems across Rosetta Stone that help enhance your speaking, listening, and reading skills. The UI of Rosetta Stone is reasonably straightforward, making it easy to use for the tech novice. You can easily toggle the microphone, speech, pronunciation, and other settings from their settings section. The dashboard on this platform includes the languages you are learning, their progress, and the lessons in the curriculum. You can skip or redo a lesson according to your preference. You can also find lectures, live lessons, private sessions, and webinar-style live instructors on Rosetta Stone if one-to-one learning is your thing. Some of the courses are available as CDs or offline downloads in their paid plan.
Fluent in Three Months
The fancy interactive applications are great for most people, but what if you prefer the old-school method of learning a foreign language? Fluent in three months is the right product for all the learners who prefer the conventional way of learning. The platform teaches you a new language by using recorded lectures in their three months long course. The course contains ten modules with recorded lectures from the language experts at FI3M (Fluent in three months). The FI3M course ensures you have a confident conversation in the new language you decide to learn. FI3M course also includes several small and intuitive tests throughout the program to help you track your progress. You can start the course by signing up on their website and subscribing to this paid program.
All Language Resources
As the name suggests, ALR (All Language Resources) is a collection of resources for all major languages. The website is relatively straightforward, with many language resources and reviews of popular applications to help you find your ideal language solution. They also have a YouTube channel that constantly updates you with valuable resources needed to learn a language. The channel also features tons of in-depth application reviews and comparison videos. You can find resources for Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and many more. ALR recently launched their curated courses that are limited to French and Spanish. The course features in-depth lectures to make you learn the basics of French and Spanish. ALR and their curated courses are entirely free, and they earn through their Affiliate program.
Mezzofanti Guild
The Mezzofanti Guild is yet another compilation of popular resources you need to learn a new language. You can find resources regarding Arabic, German, Spanish, Japanese, Hindi, and many more. The popular resource compiler platform has featured in BBC, Business Insider, Esquire, and many more prestigious media. The How-To section on their website gets constantly updated with crucial concepts regarding various languages. They also feature several reviews for popular applications like Duolingo, Mondly, Rosetta Stones, and more. You can join their newsletter to stay updated with the how-tos and reviews they post on their platform.
Learn with Oliver
Learn with Oliver is a simple platform that features a plethora of resources under one roof. Teaching on Learn with Oliver is done through flashcards that contain images with dialogues, eventually telling you small stories. The conversations get recorded using native speakers so that the accent remains authentic across your learning journey. The flashcards do not follow a linear learning curve; instead, they seem random at some times. You also get many quizzes and tests that contain fill-in-the-blanks, listening, writing, and MCQ-type questions. The platform is excellent for beginners searching for a tool to learn the basics of a language. You can choose between popular languages like Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, Russian, and many more. There are different courses for English that are tailor-made for a particular ethnicity; English for Russians, English for Thai, English for French, and more.
Loecsen
Loecsen offers interactive lessons and high-quality audio recordings to teach you new languages. The platform currently features more than 40 languages with a varied curriculum. Loecsen is not the one-stop solution to entirely learn a language; instead, it teaches you useful phrases in daily conversations. The phrase library at Loecsen is currently limited to around 500 phrases which are low compared to its competitors. The platform is good for you to learn some useful phrases and their pronunciations using native audio. You should consider other options, especially if you want to learn a language deeply.
Final Note 👩🏫
Learning a new language is essential for a plethora of tasks in the modern world. The learning process gets pretty eased by the introduction of popular teaching platforms listed in this article. You can use applications like Duolingo and Mondly to learn a new language in a fun and intuitive way. Rosetta Stone, Babbel, and FI3M contain fantastic video lectures to assist you in your learning process. You should consider Busuu if fluently speaking a language is your goal.
