FluentU is an online education company that helps people learn languages with real-world videos, including movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. We have a popular website, iOS app and Android app, several YouTube channels and language-specific blogs for learners. You can learn more about our company and its founder, Alan Park, here.
We’ve been obsessed about this since 2011 and have an international team of 10 people who speak 15 languages (and counting). We’ve worked professionally as language teachers, tutors, translators and instructional content creators. We spend most of our days thinking, talking and writing about languages, and tinkering with language learning apps.
So naturally, we have a lot of opinions, experiences and knowledge to share!
Our Review Process
We decided to start writing reviews of the language learning products and services we come across in the line of duty.
Yes, yes—we know our own learning program is considered to be “the competition” for some of the products we review, but we also know that there’s something out there for everyone.
And we made a pact early on.
Our writers and editors will always try each language program for themselves, test out all the features, and provide an honest assessment of how well it improved their knowledge of a given language over time.
Our reviews are always honest, unbiased and are the realopinions of our writers and editors.
We don’t do paid reviews or sponsorships. We will never accept money in return for a favorable review.
Review are based on their reviewer’s personal opinions and outcomes. As long as the review is respectful (we don’t bash or bad-mouth programs), writers have free rein of their reviews.
Our review process goes through these steps prior to publication:
1. A writer thoroughly tests the program to be reviewed.
We try to match the right reviewer to the right program. For instance, an editor who’s also a Spanish teacher may test out a Spanish learning program and give their professional perspective. Other times, a complete beginner may try using a program to learn Japanese from scratch and report back.
The reviewer spends time exploring all features and content offered by the program, or at least sample a wide range, and then assess the program based on a number of criteria:
Does the program deliver on its promises?
What does the program do really well?
What could the program do better?
Are there opportunities to practice every language skill? (Speaking, reading, writing, listening.)
What methods and ideas is the program based on?
Does the price reflect the value of the program?
2. The reviewer puts together a draft of their detailed thoughts about the program they tested.
We ask reviewers to be honest but respectful, to include detailed, firsthand information about the program, and to share screenshots of their journey with the program.
Reviewers are responsible for taking their own program screenshots of key features and content. This allows them to highlight aspects of the program that they find important.
3. The post is then edited by an experienced editor to ensure clarity, accuracy and authenticity. It’s then ready to publish!
We hope our reviews are helpful to our fellow language learners who are on the hunt for the best learning tools.
FTC Disclosure
FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in, but we never let it affect the outcome of the review.
About the Team
About the Founder
Alan Park
Alan started blogging after creating FluentU in 2011. Alan became fluent in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, through the power of movies and TV shows. Inspired by that experience, he started FluentU. Before starting FluentU, he worked as a management consultant in the Boston Consulting Group, and graduated from Harvard Law School (JD) and Duke University (BA, summa cum laude).
About the Editorial Team
Sheena Dizon
Senior Blog Editor
Sheena is a freelance writer based in Shanghai. Growing up as a third culture kid, Sheena had to learn Tagalog, English and Mandarin all at once. After traveling the world, she’s back in China again, rediscovering Mandarin, exploring other languages and sharing her tips with fellow learners.
Louise Maclaurin
Senior Blog Editor
Louise Maclaurin is an avid language learner from New Zealand, who has been engrossed in ways to self-learn languages since 2013. While Spanish is her greatest love, she is also excited by good food, travel, and new books.
Brooke Bagley Blog Editor
Brooke is a travel-loving, multilingual, Texas-based writer, editor and language enthusiast with Venezuelan roots. She speaks fluent Spanish, advanced Mandarin Chinese, decent Indonesian and is currently learning Japanese and Levantine Arabic. While in college, she double-majored in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish while minoring in Teaching English as a Second Language, which she later used to teach English online in 2021. In her spare time, you can find her in the gym, reading, taking long walks, planning her next travels and playing with her cat Yuki.
Yuliya Geikhman
Blog Editor/Writer
Yuliya is a freelance writer and editor based in NYC. She’s been writing professionally since 2009 and editing since 2018 and has a degree in English education that’s gathering dust in a drawer. She’s a life-long language learner and speaks English, Russian, a decent amount of Spanish, some basic Japanese and, somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind, Hebrew.
Katrina Phillips Blog Editor
Katrina has a background in environmental advocacy and education with a lifelong passion for writing. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, she spent over 5 years working on policy for clean water at a non-profit in Chicago. In 2019, she left her life in the U.S. to move to the Galapagos Islands. There, she taught ESL for 3 years and has greatly improved her Spanish fluency with daily practice and persistence. She spends most of her free time at the beach or exploring the highlands.
Usama Hassan Virtual Assistant
Meet Usama Hassan, a talented freelance Virtual Assistant with 4 years of experience and a diverse set of skills. He is passionate about delivering top-notch assistance to clients and takes pride in providing exceptional services. Outside of work, Usama loves to explore new destinations and cultures through traveling. When not on the road, he can be found curled up with a good book or swimming laps at the local pool.
Download the app
Enjoy FluentU wherever you are, whenever you want. Audio dialogues are even downloadable for offline listening.
As seen on
I am enjoying FluentU. I have been using this site for a couple weeks and I have
definitely noticed a huge improvement
in my vocabulary. I love that it uses a lot of relevant clips like Norman
fait des
videos to practice REAL French, and
it is presented in such a fun way that it makes it easy to practice.
Using this site has
become part of my daily
routine.
- Rachel Hollars
I really like learning with the videos. I have studied using other methods and it was
very hard to put what you were
learning into context. With the videos, not only are you learning new
vocabulary, you
are seeing how it is used. For
example the tone which is used, the body language of the person using the phrase and the
reaction to the phrase being
said.
- Frederick Calestini
I love how I get to see videos, listen to music and learn about real and relevant
aspects of the Chinese culture. I
enjoy seeing faces in those videos of actors and people that I can recognize from other
programs outside of Fluent U -
which again tells me that the materials I get are relevant in the real
Chinese/Taiwanese
culture!
