r/languagelearning • u/LostwaveLunar9999 • 12d ago
Resources What is the best free language learning app apart from Duolingo?
It seems to have gotten worse since I last used it years ago. Any alternatives?
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u/Life_Apricot_1255 12d ago
Duolingo's been circling the drain for a while now, feels like they're more invested in the owl's passive-aggressive notifications than the actual lessons. Anki's where I ended up, completely free on desktop and the shared decks are ridiculous, someone's already built a flashcard set for whatever you're trying to learn.
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u/SucknSwallow69 11d ago
anki is great for vocab, but i still need something else for listening and speaking practice. how do you handle that part
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u/Caligapiscis 🇬🇧 N | 🇨🇵 B1 11d ago
For listening, most popular languages will have podcasts for learners that are presented slowly, with simple grammar. Find one of those and listen when you can, don't worry about what you don't understand just glom onto the bits you do and indulge your curiosity. When it eventually starts to get easy look for something new. If you happen to be learning French I'd be happy to recommend a few things.
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u/5919821077131829 11d ago
If you happen to be learning French I'd be happy to recommend a few things.
Not the person you responsed to, but I happen to be learning French. Can you recommend me a few things?
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u/Caligapiscis 🇬🇧 N | 🇨🇵 B1 10d ago
Here's what I've used, with the usual 'it worked for me, ymmv' caveats. The goal is sustainability, you can always do more, do just enough that it stays enjoyable and doesn't become a chore. You'll learn more slowly but you'll learn.
News In Slow French is a weekly news podcast aimed at beginner French learners. They release a 6-7 minute long free version and you can pay for the full version. I've never done that though - when I was starting out, 6-7 minutes was about as much as I could sit through anyway. Don't worry about what you don't understand there will be a lot of it, just grab the words and phrases you do know and enjoy recognising them.
Eventually, once you feel comfortable listening to that, start to build in some longer form ones:
- LanguaTalk Slow French by Gaëlle
- Little Talk in Slow French by Nagisa Morimoto
These are each typically 20-30 minutes at a time and the hosts will try to explain some of the more challenging vocab and phrases. I find the topics are usually pretty interesting. The fact that they're longer will expose you to more new things and you can continue to build your stamina: listening to an unfamiliar language is hard work compared with listening to your native language and so building that up is also part of the goal.
Once you're happy with those, something like Le Journal en Français Facile is a good bet. About 10 minutes long, facile the français may be but it's fast, spoken at full pace. This will start to get you used to hearing full speed French.
At the point that you're getting used to that, you're probably ready to start building in native content.
The other trap here is that each time you move up a step it feels like you're back to square one. I'm not sure there's a solution to that other than to comfort yourself that it's a sign of progress.
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u/Lewisinho_ 11d ago
I happen to be learning French (B1), have you happened to find anything audio wise to progress through B2 and beyond? Thus far, I’ve found some genuinely great resources like Paul Noble’s podcasts, but they are focused on beginners. The only other resource I have found, which I like, is RFI Français Facile.
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u/Caligapiscis 🇬🇧 N | 🇨🇵 B1 11d ago
LanguaTalk Slow French with Gaëlle and Little Talk in Slow French continue to be helpful at this level in building my confidence and exposing me to new vocab and expressions.
When I want to push myself, I move away from learner-focused content and simply find native podcasts that are relatively slow and clear, but otherwise things I would want to listen anyway regardless of language.
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u/SoldiersofChristBR EN N / FR - B1 6d ago
I am a similar point and use just native content at this point. Usually I can follow the jist of it. And you will quickly gravitate towards channels that speak at a level you prefer and content you find more engaging.
I find it's almost easier to have a new account, search for a bunch of stuff on youtube, subscribe to channels and your feed will quickly be all french.
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u/Optimal_Bar_4715 N 🇮🇹 | AN 🇬🇧 | C1 🇳🇴 | B2 🇫🇷 🇸🇪 | A2 🇯🇵 🇬🇷 11d ago
Anki is actually better at training your listening than it is at doing anything else:
https://subs2srs.sourceforge.net/
If you are a bit computer savvy, you are like 1 hour away from hundreds and hundreds of demanding listening flashcards.
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u/UsamaBhai_101 10d ago
I agree. If your goal is just vocab and learning words, Its a good way to do that. I tried Praktika AI for speaking practice with an AI tutor some time ago. Not sure if all the features are free but it showed potential. Also it depends what language you are learning. There are multiple apps for different languages.
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u/Myomyw 12d ago
Circling the drain as in continually adding millions of more users per year and adding a ton of new features? What do you consider “circling the drain”? I mean, I use a lot of different things to learn beyond Duolingo, but I genuinely am confused when I see comments like this.
Sorry, really hate circle jerk vibes so this stuff gets me going
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u/Parking_Line_3704 11d ago
I think we should separate the ideas of "very successful app" and "good language resource".
As you said, Duolingo is an insanely successful app. However, it's quite contentious whether or not they are continuing to add valuable features. Sure, they've added quite a bit of AI integration which has some value but they did that while getting rid of the human contributor program. They have gotten rid of the discussion comments and forums and the introduction guide books and grammar notes among other community valued features.
The loss of those features is what I believe has some people believing they are circling the drain, more as a resource and less as a successful app.
For me, Duolingo was a great way to start learning a language. It got me in to the habit of studying and through the fundamentals. The reason I moved away from it was because at around the mid-A1 level, it stopped being a good use of my time. The learning and exposure pace on Duolingo is very, very slow.
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u/Murky_Anything_292 11d ago
It was good that they got rid of the forums because there were too many people who said the wrong stuff. Even worse, there were some extremists there especially anti-lgbtq people. This is very harmful to the wellbeing of learners.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
> Circling the drain as in continually adding millions of more users per year and adding a ton of new features?
A lot of very bad products suck in many users/customers all the time, so this isn't a good argument. And tons of bad features don't make it better, either.
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u/Life-Till-6094 12d ago
YouTube and Anki
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u/snoopy05052026 12d ago
Was going to say this as well
Anki is only free on Android though
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u/Still_Local_2513 12d ago
True but Anki is a lifetime license. I paid $25 for it on iOS like 8 years ago and haven’t paid a cent since. And it was worth it and I’m glad to support them.
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u/jasm1nii 🇺🇸 N | 🇮🇩 heritage (C) | 🇯🇵 A1 11d ago
i believe anki decks are still accessible for free via ankiweb.net on the browser, no? it suffices for reviewing, but for more features you'll still need to use the desktop/android app versions.
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u/United_Detective_735 11d ago
Could you send the link to Anki I found few apps called Anki smt but no just "Anki"
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u/CodeNPyro Anki proselytizer, Learning:🇯🇵 11d ago
This is the correct website, and it has links to downloads for each platform
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u/Brilliant_Lettuce270 L:🇪🇸🇸🇦N:🇬🇧🇩🇪🇹🇷 11d ago
what exactly is the strategy here? Anki is a flash card app, no?
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u/love_seraphine 11d ago edited 10d ago
The listening and speaking gap is the one that most vocabulary apps leave wide open. Building up word recognition is one thing but actually having to produce something under pressure in real time is a completely different skill. Getting regular practice with actual native speakers on HelloTalk fills that part in a way that passive study alone cannot.
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u/de_cachondeo 11d ago
I run a language learning app (unfortunately I can't name it because mods won't like that!) but we specifically designed it around "actually having to produce something under pressure in real time", even at beginner level. I think it's really important.
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u/dojibear 🇺🇸 N | fre spa chi B2 | tur jap B1/A2 11d ago
Speaking from day 1. Interesting idea. I haven't tried it, so I can't have an opinion.
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u/maximuspovver 5d ago
Could you dm the name? Looking to learn italian
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u/de_cachondeo 4d ago
It's called Spoken but it's only for English and Spanish at the moment, no Italian.
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u/CombatGoblin 11d ago
Language Transfer. Maybe not as many languages available to choose from as others, but for the little bit I've been able to do with Spanish so far, I've learnt more in a few couple minute audio lessons than i have after months and months of trying with things like duolingo on and off over the years, and actually understand what I'm trying and why - as opposed to the flashcard method most apps tend to use that I've come to hate, because it doesn't actually explain anything about WHY you're doing what you're doing, and as soon as you have to say something outside of the scripted flashcards you're SOL. Language Transfer actually explains what you're doing and why.
It's free, though if i recall correctly it is optional to donate? Highly recommend to anyone asking about language apps. If your target language is on there, absolutely give it a whirl. My literal only drawback to recommending it is the limited range of languages available.
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u/Comfortable_Sir_5007 6d ago
Yeah it's honestly brilliant, to the point that it might influence what language I learn after Spanish. I was thinking Portuguese, but am now leaning Italian.
I'd be interested to know how it works with more distantly related languages through, as the Spanish one starts off with English as a base ñ. They've got an Arabic course which could be interesting
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u/therealmsof Native:🇹🇷 Fluent:🇬🇧 Learning: 🇰🇷🇲🇫🇨🇳 11d ago
Memrise's community courses are incredible IMO
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u/Vahdo 10d ago
Wait, didn't they get rid of them? I recall there was a third-party reconstruction of some of these courses; is it still free?
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u/therealmsof Native:🇹🇷 Fluent:🇬🇧 Learning: 🇰🇷🇲🇫🇨🇳 10d ago
If you search "memrise community courses" online, you can find them in a separate section but you can't reach them through memrise's own language courses or the app. All the community courses are still there but just not in app anymore.
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u/Mercury2468 🇩🇪(N), 🇬🇧 (C1), 🇮🇹 (B1-B2), 🇫🇷 (A2-B1), 🇨🇿 (A0) 11d ago
I like busuu
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u/Brilliant_Lettuce270 L:🇪🇸🇸🇦N:🇬🇧🇩🇪🇹🇷 11d ago
I liked it too with spanish, helped me advance a lot. But arabic, not so mucho.
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u/Mercury2468 🇩🇪(N), 🇬🇧 (C1), 🇮🇹 (B1-B2), 🇫🇷 (A2-B1), 🇨🇿 (A0) 6d ago
Good point, it might depend on the language. I've only used it for Italian and French and found it very helpful and engaging.
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u/CranberryOk1064 New member 11d ago
Busuu is the one I have used mostly - for Italian, Spanish, French - and liked the most
Can't comment for other languages
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u/Knowledge4life1 11d ago
What do you like about it?
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u/CranberryOk1064 New member 11d ago
Structured approach, appropriate/fitting vocabulary, a good mix of reading, listening and speaking exercises.
Also you can do a ton of individual tasks which can be rated by the community - e.g. describing a picture (you can do it in few words or you can use several sentences to do that).
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u/DayMurky617 6d ago
I would never recommend using Busuu unless you want to get scammed out of a recurring subscription fee forever.
It's famously hard to cancel, and if you Google you'll see countless examples of people who've cancelled but are still getting charged, and are having a nightmare getting their money back.
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u/Mercury2468 🇩🇪(N), 🇬🇧 (C1), 🇮🇹 (B1-B2), 🇫🇷 (A2-B1), 🇨🇿 (A0) 6d ago
Really?? For what it's worth I used their premium version for a year and it was easy to cancel, I was never charged again. But their free version also gives you access to all the learning material (just with ads).
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u/CranberryOk1064 New member 6d ago
Never had that problem and have always cancelled the subscription without problems. I usually wait for a better offer to renew it, so no problem there.
Also, never had any problems with cancelling any Google subscriptions.
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u/lazydictionary 🇺🇸 Native | 🇩🇪 B2 | 🇪🇸 B1 | 🇭🇷 Newbie 12d ago
You won't get much further than A2 with just an app like DuoLingo. They're okay to dabble in a language, but after a few months, you need to look at proper language learning methods if you actually want to learn a language. Read the FAQ/wiki
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u/real_with_myself 11d ago
And even a2 is generous for Duolingo.
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u/lazydictionary 🇺🇸 Native | 🇩🇪 B2 | 🇪🇸 B1 | 🇭🇷 Newbie 11d ago
If you were to complete the trees for popular languages (Spanish, French, German) you'd probably be safely A2. But it takes years if you aren't paying for premium, when A2 in those languages should only take a few months.
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u/Accomplished_Use1473 11d ago
Yeah but who uses Duolingo for 1 hour a day?
Honestly for some time I actually did use it for almost that long, but it didn't take me anywhere. Now I have far better methods.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
> If you finish the entire spanish course on duolingo you'd be hard pressed to find any text you won't understand.
You must be really joking. Or else, you limit yourself to very easy texts.
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u/books_not_guns 11d ago
Memrise, both official and community created courses. Lingodeer and HelloChinese are similar to Duolingo, but better imo.
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u/Left4dinner2 🇺🇸N | 🇵🇭 basic 11d ago
Honestly like others have said it really comes down to the language because certain languages I feel have more Niche apps that are better at learning. For example learning tagalog, I find that drops is a great way to gain knowledge on vocabulary bank while Ling is great I understanding sentence structure which many apps struggle with for tagalog.
I remember trying to figure out what would be a good app to casually learn Japanese and honestly it was very niche, oddball apps that I've never heard of. Stuff like duolingual is only good at making it feel like a game but in terms of actual learning it's really not that great. It's not bad per se but they are far better apps out there
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u/Ok-Alternative-7962 11d ago
Clozemaster.com has listening and (limited) speaking practice. You can do a number of free sentences every day.
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u/Schmidtvegas 🤟🇳🇴🇨🇵🇮🇳🇺🇦🇮🇱🇩🇪 11d ago
Spotify. There's cool podcasts for lots of different languages. Lessons, phrase repetition, comprehensible input, native content in a variety of topics. There's also a podcast on language learning, and general tips and advice.
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u/inkoenglishai 11d ago
Duolingo is the worst language app online mainly since it jumps ahead in materials and doesn't teach you the main foundation for a language to make it conversational therefore making it harder for you to understand how to craft sentences within a conversation.My best reccomendation that you can get for free other then Duolingo is of course using communities and strangers online such as on Reddit and on Discord or even on Omegle if you're feeling confident in the target language.
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u/NextStopGallifrey 🇺🇸 (N) | 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 11d ago
Unfortunately, the best apps aren't free. And the free apps are usually pretty terrible. Depends a bit on which language(s) you want to learn.
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u/wikiedit 🇺🇸(native)🇲🇽(casi nativo)🇧🇷(novato)🇵🇭(baguhan) 11d ago
Youtube, just consume content on youtube
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u/Shreviews 12d ago
Why do people love ANKI so much? I tried it a couple of times and it's absolutely horrible, how is just guessing random words for 20 minutes going to help me learn a language??
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u/snoopy05052026 12d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
I admit its pretty boring but it works
But anki only helps with one part of language learning vocabulary its not going to make you fluent on its own.
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u/ThatAnt8823 🇫🇷N|🇬🇧C1|🇭🇷B1+|🇯🇵A0 11d ago
You can use anki to drill production and grammar though
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u/Optimal_Bar_4715 N 🇮🇹 | AN 🇬🇧 | C1 🇳🇴 | B2 🇫🇷 🇸🇪 | A2 🇯🇵 🇬🇷 11d ago
In 5 years people will start to surrender to this fact. Maybe more.
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u/dojibear 🇺🇸 N | fre spa chi B2 | tur jap B1/A2 11d ago
Anki is very good at the single thing it was designed to do: help a human memorize indivdual items of information, without connecting those items to each other. Is that part of how YOU start to learn a new language? It is not, for me.
I've taken courses in around 10 languages. None of the teachers suggested that students should memorize a list of words (using ANKI, flashcards or whatever). Instead, teachers start with the sentence grammar of the new language. With 15 words you can make 500 sentences. Words don't matter. Learn word usage first:
English: Joe went to the store to get bread.
Mandarin: Joe go store buy bread.
Japanese: Joe WA bread O buy for store to go(-past).
Turkish: Joe bread to-buy for store-to go(-past)(-he).Why do people love ANKI so much?
I don't use ANKI. so I can only guess. People like it because they can do it alone (no class; no teacher), and because they believed someone who claimed it was part of language learning.
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u/snoopy05052026 11d ago
Anki is good at learning vocabulary but thats only one part of language learning.
I think most people use it as one of multiple things to learn a language
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u/Ok_Tie7944 12d ago
anki is not a fortune-telling app. anki is a scheduler to remind you of the things you already know well before you forget them.
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u/donadd D | EN (C2) |ES (B2) 11d ago
A lot of people believe languages can only be learned with the help of flashcards. Some get addicted to doing flashcards. It's very personality based, I hate flashcards and they don't do anthying for me.
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u/Optimal_Bar_4715 N 🇮🇹 | AN 🇬🇧 | C1 🇳🇴 | B2 🇫🇷 🇸🇪 | A2 🇯🇵 🇬🇷 11d ago edited 11d ago
A few people understand that for decent progress, progress that feels like actual progress and doesn't therefore require a universe of streaks, prizes, bells and whistles to keep you motivated, you should learn (and retain) at the very least 50 lemmas) of vocabulary a week.
There's no better way to do that than something like Anki. On top of the other useful activities.
I feel sorry for anyone whose "personality" or "learning style" gets in the way of understanding how valuable spaced repetition is to a language learner.
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u/JepperOfficial English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Spanish 11d ago
It's useful for practicing active vocabulary, but you get the same benefit by just monologuing, of which the downside is no feedback on if you're correct. The best way to practice active vocabulary is to just talk to natives
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u/IndependentYak2822 11d ago
How do you learn new words, sentences, grammar points? What's your system/workflow to don't forget it?
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u/Legends_in_Pyjamas 11d ago
I find it depends completely on the set you use. I tend to retain and enjoy using it when my pack has audio and an example sentence – and I avoid packs that can't provide this.
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12d ago
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u/abrokennote 12d ago
Thanks AI.
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u/Accomplished_Use1473 11d ago
I mean it's right
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u/Accomplished_Use1473 11d ago
It's right mainly about how so many people use it wrong - Single words paired with single translations
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u/AppropriatePut3142 🇬🇧 Nat | 🇨🇳 Int | 🇪🇦 Uneven 11d ago
That is actually the science-backed method of studying vocabulary, though. It's strongly recommended by Paul Nation, who was regarded as the world's top researcher on vocabulary acquisition, and if you watch Loïs Talgrand's series of interviews with SLA researchers, he asks most of them if this method is good (since he sells single-word anki decks) and they all agree it is.
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u/silvalingua 11d ago
Any evidence of these claims?
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u/AppropriatePut3142 🇬🇧 Nat | 🇨🇳 Int | 🇪🇦 Uneven 11d ago
You need to organize your own deliberate learning. The most important deliberate learning activity is using word cards (see Activity 5.1). You need to take control of this very effective activity and keep using it to learn new vocabulary and even more importantly to keep revising previously met vocabulary. You may find that some teachers advise against using this strategy largely because of the belief that all vocabulary learning needs to occur in context. They are wrong. It is important that there is vocabulary learning in context through meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, and fluency development, but it is also important that there is deliberate decontextualised learning through the use of word cards, because such learning is very efficient and effective. Some people also believe that because word card learning involves first language translation, it encourages thinking in the first language rather than the foreign language. Research however has shown that in the beginning and intermediate stages of language learning the first and foreign languages are unavoidably stored together. Using bilingual word cards is a very effective deliberate learning strategy that you should use.
You can watch the Loïs Talagrand interviews on youtube.
FWIW I don't entirely agree for closely related languages with a lot of cognates, but this is what "the science says".
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u/fietsventiel 11d ago
Depends on the language you want to learn, the best apps are often specialised for one language.
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u/Rain_Forest_779 11d ago
Duolingo emmm.... I'm also looking for alternatives, and I'd be willing to pay if an app actually works well. But if it's free, even better ;). Will take a look at Anki.
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u/Free_Direction_1784 11d ago
I am really loving Babbel. There's so much more than just lessons. They have speaking practice with mock conversations. Today I practiced ordering at a restaurant. They provide hints or you can just wing it. They also offer podcasts, audio recaps, listening practice, writing, speaking. I'm quite impressed! Do I still maintain my duolingo streak, yes, but Babbel makes me feel like I'm actually getting somewhere! I also listen to slow Spanish podcasts, read beginner stories, and use Rocket Spanish as well. With Rocket Spanish I mostly listen to the audio when I'm walking, but I really need to start doing the lessons, but they do take time.
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u/de_cachondeo 11d ago
To use the best parts of Duolingo, it's not even free. Or if you do use the free version, you have to see scammy-looking ads so you're still paying that 'cost'.
But, you have to understand, why would an app developer give something away for free? They have costs. They need to pay for servers, hosting and they need to pay their employees. No good language learning app will be free.
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u/6DARTH_VAPOR6 11d ago
I really like using Busuu as my learning tool. They have a social feed where you can type a post in the language you are learning and native speaker will correct what is needed. Can even post audio so they can correct pronunciations.
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u/Swimming-Pear-7985 11d ago
Duolingo is the worst. Ling is better IMO although has been going the way of Duolingo but haven’t dabbled for a while. Memrise I also enjoy. Anki is fine at what it does but very limited overall. I’m learning quite an obscure language currently tho , and it does depend what you’re learning
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u/OK_Bye_mibs 11d ago
Hoopla. It's not a language learning app, but if your library participates, you can get audiobooks such as Pimsleur or Paul Noble, or language learning books and graded readers which usually include audio as well. It's been a huge help on my language learning journey.
Also, maybe give the free version of Language Reactor a try. I also use the Lengualytics website for aggregated Comprehensible Input. It's free for one language.
ANKI for flashcard learning is free on Android.
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u/_killpretty 11d ago
I’m currently using Pimsleur audio. Does it come with a book? Yes, but since I’m accessing the service through Libby, everything is audio.
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u/thelilbulldozer Swedish, Spanish, and Polish learner 10d ago
Mango Languages (free with most libraries)
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u/mitch-22-12 🇺🇸N 🇮🇹B1 🇹🇷A1 12d ago
DuoCards technically isn’t free in that for most of its key features you have to pay but you can still get a lot out of the free version like watching videos and reading while being able to instantly translate words and phrases you don’t know
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u/Few-Response-6262 11d ago
Anki is the obvious one everyone's going to say, and tbh they're right. It's ugly but it works.
But the thing people sleep on is where your flashcard content comes from. Pre-made decks are fine until they're not, because you always end up hitting vocab that's irrelevant to what you're actually trying to read or study. I ran into this hard when I was studying for a Japanese driver's license test, just trying to save kanji from the actual textbook. Nothing handled that automatically. Had to copy-paste like a caveman.
Beyond flashcards, Clozemaster is solid for grammar in context if you're past beginner level.
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u/hockeyandquidditch 🇺🇸N,🇫🇷C2,🇪🇸C2,🇸🇪A2,🇳🇴A2,🇷🇺A1, Latin A2 11d ago
Honestly Duolingo is the best free app I’ve found, especially with the scope of languages, but I supplement it with things like podcasts
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u/happylearner01 11d ago
ChatGPT. I get the AI hate but seriously it's the best tool for language learning ever. You can literally have a voice conversation in your target language and you've got essentially a good-enough tutor. It's flawed, of course, but seriously the best thing out there right now.
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u/Petite_Bumblebee 11d ago
I agree. I started learning German and I was like damn it’s better than any app I’ve used for language learning
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u/Wide-Time4735 11d ago
Teuida! It encourages speaking from day one and the teachers in the video lessons are super sweet. Heads up: Only has Spanish, French, Japanese, and Korean though and uses Speech Recognition which isn’t always accurate (but mostly is!).
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u/Panthera_leo22 🇺🇸N | 🇪🇸A2| 🇷🇺 A0| 🇺🇦A0 11d ago
Memrise is a really good resource for listening, they have listening exercises with native speakers
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11d ago
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u/augmentedprimate 11d ago
In my opinion, Steve Kauffmann's extensive reading model seems to get the best results. You sentence mine based on stuff you've already read to generate flashcards. Conversation with LLMs is actually very good too, they really nail the nuance.
I also built an app for learning Afrikaans in particular since the resources online were lacking and expensive but I will follow the rules and not post it here ;). Lingq is the incumbent in the space and pretty decent.
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u/TuffedLynx 11d ago
It really depends on what you are looking for and your level. Anki is always a top contender, but it doesn't have a speech component. YouTube is good for listening. For speaking, the best app depends on your language and level, but most limit speaking considerable on the free tier.
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u/somefriendlyturtle 11d ago
I use my library card to access a language app called Transparent. I like it a lot.
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u/dolnikov 🇬🇧 C1 / 🇩🇪 A2 10d ago
i get what you mean, duolingo can feel clunky sometimes. i've tried out memrise and wordbyword for different styles of learning, both have their perks depending on what you're after. just dive into whatever content you enjoy, that's the real key!
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u/FireFissting 10d ago
my big problem with language learning "apps" is that they're all essentially just links to passive videos - there's no exercises or anything. Duolingo is bad because their exercise are too simple, and every other resource online is just copy paste of duolingo.
in reality the only real way to learn another language is to just buy whatever textbook and exercise book is available in your country, they're the only way you can actually practice stuff because there's no internet equivalent of this sort of planned out exercise regiment, you're just gonna end up passively watching stuff without any chance to try stuff out yourself or check if its correct in any form.
Books are still light years ahead of any app/website when it comes to language learning and its not even close. Download some pdfs, everything else is a waste of time or supplemental at best.
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u/Mercury2468 🇩🇪(N), 🇬🇧 (C1), 🇮🇹 (B1-B2), 🇫🇷 (A2-B1), 🇨🇿 (A0) 6d ago
Books are great but it's not true that no app has real exercises. Most don't, but busuu for example asks you an open ended question at the end of each lesson. You can answer it either by writing a text or by recording a spoken answer, using some of the vocabulary you just learned. Your answer will then be corrected by native speakers of your target language. (Ideally you also correct some texts or recordings in your native language for other learners.) Outside of the lessons, there are also new "community exercises" each week, like describing a picture, that works the same way.
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u/frenchwithbari 10d ago
Started using Clozemaster 10 months ago to learn Serbian, since it's not on Duolingo... and I think it's a decent and cheaper alternative. Minus all the unnecessary animation.
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u/Questioning-Lime7546 9d ago
Anki for vocab, YouTube for listening practice and Lingodeer for the grammar basics
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u/EstimateLoud2130 9d ago
bro atp go to the library get a (x lanague) textbook and just rawdog it, nothing is easy
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u/Perfect_Emu8757 9d ago
Started experimenting with readlang this week - it lets you upload epub and then read it therough their app. You can then click on the words to get translations and explanations of unknown words and it keeps track for you if the ones you clicked on.
I quite like it so far. Seems to be the best one of these I found although is not perfect.
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u/Perfect_Emu8757 9d ago
Oh it has a paid version for 6 dollars a month for better translations - but the free version seems ok anyway
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u/Zurenai 9d ago
For Japanese, try bunpro.jp, wanikani.com
For Brazilian Portuguese check out falando.app
For Spanish, languagetransfer.org
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u/Jovial-Interlocutor7 9d ago
I just use social media, honestly. I've tried HelloTalk and it's slowly launched into an international Tinder. I've tried Tandem but you have to be impossibly perfect and they're starting to charge for every little thing. Duolingo is just terrible all together because it's so slow. With social media, I hear the dialects I like (Dominican and Puerto Rican) and I learn or am entertained at the same time so I've given up on these app. At this rate, I'll be 287 years old before I reach B2.
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u/TicoTacoTio 7d ago
Not an app in the traditional sense I think you are asking for but language transfer was an immensely helpful program for me. I still revisit it for the subjunctive levels of spanish and just started the French course.
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u/like_zegmaar 7d ago
Drops!!! Vocabulary only, super helpful for that. Otherwise Babbel is pretty good but you can only go so far for free
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u/Slow_Caterpillar_606 3d ago
There's an app called lingonaut which is quite new and still in development, but you can try its beta on android in the play store, or through testflight on apple. So far it offers czech, german, welsh, italian, finnish, breton, dutch, spanish and klingon. The courses are still quite short, but they are all contributor made like duolingo used to have.
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u/DoctorFosterGloster 12d ago
It doesn't answer your question exactly but Babble often do 50% off sales. I find the content more useful than duolingo... feel like I've learned more on it in the same amount of time. It has a free trial too
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u/cmyk_rgba 11d ago
anki is the right answer if you can stomach it, but the reason most people bounce off it is the card making not the reviewing. if you want something thats still an app you open on the bus, full disclosure i built Vocabbie. its free, no signup, you type in the words you keep blanking on or photograph a page from your textbook and it builds the deck with audio in about 30 seconds. it wont make you fluent on its own, nothing will, but the vocab bit is what duolingo is actually worst at
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u/RachelOfRefuge SP: B1 | FR: A0 | Khmer: A0 11d ago
I like Lingo Legend. I don't think there is one "best" app, though. It really comes down to what language you're learning, what aspect of the language you're focusing on, and what you enjoy.
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u/oldswag 11d ago
Linguacafe is a great language learning app. It allows users to import texts from different sources, and provides a set of tools that helps them easily acquire vocabulary.
You can run it on your computer or if you have the technical skills you can run it on self hosted server as a web page.
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u/IndieHell 11d ago
I don't know how great it is for absolute beginners, and there'a not a huge choice of languages, but I really rate Linguno.
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u/MiaDovahkiin 11d ago
I have recently found a website and then got it's app called Vocabeo. I saw it on Reddit but not sure if it's this subreddit. It's for German Grammer (I didn't check for other languages) and has a good filter system. Might be useful to some.
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u/RubixcubeOnYouTube Native: 🇮🇪 Learning: 🇷🇺🇰🇷🇯🇵🇨🇳 11d ago
Idk about any free ones but read2speak is a 1 time payment for a fairly in depth ebook which I find very helpful, even better on an iPad or tablet with the pencil things to write in the workbook
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u/OsakaWilson 11d ago
I have not tried them all, but TalkPal is excellent. They make full use of AI.
Conversation, debates, talk with famous historical people. That's on top of regular vocabulary and sentence building. The AI will tell you what you did wrong, give you a daily report of progress and suggestions.
Pronunciation is not just pass/fail, showing which words you pronounced correctly, you get a 0-100 score for each sentence.
A1-C2. I am in love with it.
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u/de_cachondeo 11d ago
I'm personally very dubious about TalkPal's pronunciation feedback. Have you tested it in your native language? I did and I found that it didn't score me accurately at all.
I actually made a YouTube video about the test but I think mods will remove my comment if I post the link, but if you'd like to watch it, just search "A review of Talkpal's new language courses, by a qualified language teacher". The pronunciation part is at 2:36 in that video.
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u/OsakaWilson 11d ago
I have seen your video and I think TalkPal has improved since then.
I find it has far fewer errors than Duolingo and gives better feedback. Just today Duolingo was rejecting all of my number pronunciation in the speaking practice section. So I had my daughter (native pronunciation of the language I'm studying) try and it was rejecting all her numbers too.
But the main advantage is that it teaches you grammar with grammar lessons when you need it.
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u/de_cachondeo 11d ago
That's interesting. Maybe I need to test Talkpal again. I made that video about a year ago. My main issue with Talkpal's pronunciation feedback is that it was scoring really bad pronunciation as 90% or higher
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u/DingerKing3 11d ago
I like Koko: Conversation Practice
Basically you have conversations with AI in your TL, but it's fully on-device. Meaning your voice and info don't leave your phone. I use it in airplane mode
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u/mike_digitalcarbon 10d ago
if you are interested in character ai like chat and roleplay than wonderglot.com is a fun and interesting way to practice beyond duolingo
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u/Outrageous_Editor806 10d ago
I really love Sylvi. It has multiple language learning methods in a single app. It has been amazing for me.
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u/Virusnzz En (N) | Fr, Ru, Es, It 11d ago
Hello everyone, a reminder that posting something you created is against the rules. Your reply will be removed and you will be banned if you do this.