Duolingo is a free app that gamifies language learning and makes it fun with bite-sized, playful daily sessions. It won’t help you reach fluency in a language but it’ll get you started with effective practice of vocabulary and sentence structure.
User friendliness - 10/10
10/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 7/10
7/10
Value for price - 10/10
10/10
Pros
Uses organized, progressive lessons
Teaches sentence structure from the get-go
Features game-like learning with interactive lessons, learning streaks, colorful graphics and more fun features
Targets all the learning skills
Cons
Doesn’t take you beyond beginner level in most languages
Has no practical usable language practice (like conversational speaking)
Some languages offer more content than others
Lacks instruction on the reasons and nuances in grammar and language usage
Duolingo focuses on engaging activities that help you learn by testing your vocabulary. As such, you’ll be asked to speak words/phrases, translate, match words to their meanings and more.
Vocabulary sets are grouped thematically, and you progress along Duolingo’s set order, though if you’re more advanced, you can also test out some of the lessons.
Once you’ve completed a lesson, you can go back to reinforce what you learned.
Description: User-friendly program based around spaced-repetition and authentic videos.
Languages offered: 23 languages offered, including Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Turkish, Yoruba, Icelandic and more, as well as user-created content in other languages.
Offer price: Most content available for free; monthly subscription from $5.00/month up to $119.99/lifetime access
Memrise harnesses spaced repetition technology to help you master new words and phrases with full control over your learning. It’s also a monster directory for vocabulary in many languages. Just don’t expect a lot of grammar explanations or practice with putting the language to use.
User friendliness - 9/10
9/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 10/10
10/10
Value for price - 6/10
6/10
Pros
Methods backed up by solid science
High-quality video and audio
Customizable learning where you set your own goals
Cons
Words and phrases taught in isolation, not in context
I recommend the Busuu premium plan for serious learners. The free version is fun but very limited. Busuu is impressive in terms of getting speaking practice and learning conversational vocabulary, but there’s still room for improvement.
User friendliness - 8/10
8/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 7/10
7/10
Value for price - 9/10
9/10
Pros
Personalized language goals
Explanations of vocabulary, grammar and culture
Comprehension checks to learn new words thoroughly
Option to record answers and get feedback from native speakers
Cons
Limited selection of languages
Quality varies depending on your language course
Content is somewhat lacking in entertainment value
Busuu’s free version can give you your flashcard fix while helping you decide whether a full subscription might be in your future.
This is just a small fraction of what Busuu offers to paid members, so if you like the format, you might consider purchasing a subscription, which gives you conversations with native speakers, quizzes, grammar exercises, official certificates and more.
Languages: A huge variety of languages (over 50), including popular options like Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Pros:
Lots of high-quality content targeted at beginners
Over 50 languages available
Freedom to choose which language skills to focus on
Description: An app that provides short bursts of learning through fun and high-tech methods.
Languages offered: 41 languages including Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Danish, Arabic, Japanese, Greek, Romanian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Hebrew, Polish, Bulgarian and more.
Offer price: Base program is free; premium content available with a monthly subscription at $9.99/month or $47.99/year
Mondly tries to push language learning into the next generation through snappy daily lessons, competitive events and innovative features like AR, VR and chatbots. While this makes for a unique and engaging experience, level differentiation and uneven language instruction hold it back from being the best in its field.
User friendliness - 9/10
9/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 7/10
7/10
Value for price - 4/10
4/10
Pros
High-tech, innovative features draw your attention
Leaderboards fuel competition and make learning fun
All languages can be set as target or native language
Cons
Lack of differentiation between the different levels
Need an annual membership for access to multiple languages
Advanced features can feel a bit forced and unnatural
The Mondly app packs a powerful learning punch, and you can experience a fraction of that punch without spending a dime.
As a free user of Mondly’s app, you’ll have access to the basic material and ongoing content to set up a learning routine—a new daily lesson, a weekly quiz and even monthly challenges.
If you find you love the free access but want more material, don’t worry. A paid subscription can give you access to more lessons, conversations, vocabulary builders, conjugation tables and other features.
The audio-focused program has a huge amount of content for many different languages. Keep in mind that each language requires its own subscription, though!
User friendliness - 6/10
6/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 7/10
7/10
Value for price - 8/10
8/10
Pros
Focus is on the communicative approach to language learning
The lessons are practical, plentiful and relevant
Non-repetitive repetition is the mother of all learning
Learning is on your own terms
Two birds with one stone (language and culture)
Cons
The lessons could use much better organization
The dashboard could benefit from more purposeful design
The quality across language programs isn’t consistent
Lessons could be bolstered by more engaging videos
Each week, Innovative Language offers new free audio and video lessons.
You can easily make these freebies part of your learning routine, but if you’re wanting to try their other offerings, you might consider subscribing to a free trial.
Innovative Language’s free trial gives you full access to a premium language course, which includes a whole library of audio and video lessons, lesson notes, dialogues with audio, a personal word bank and more. If you like it, you might consider subscribing for continued access.
Drops is a fun and visually appealing app that teaches vocabulary through brief daily sessions. It over-emphasizes brevity, though, and its time-limits may be off-putting for some learners.
User friendliness - 10/10
10/10
Delivers on promises - 9/10
9/10
Authenticity - 7/10
7/10
Value for price - 3/10
3/10
Pros
Beautiful minimalist interface
Consistent repetition-based vocabulary learning
Ability to skip learned words
Large variety of topics
Useful language-specific extras, like Japanese kanji writing practice
LingQ takes authentic materials in your target language and turns them into language lessons. This allows you to learn in a very authentic way through immersion in written, audio and video content. However, it’s held back by an unfriendly user interface, lacking and sometimes incorrect instruction, lack of video and no grammar, speaking and writing skills.
User friendliness - 7/10
7/10
Delivers on promises - 7/10
7/10
Authenticity - 10/10
10/10
Value for price - 7/10
7/10
Pros
Authentic native text and audio material
Interactive interface and flashcard creation that makes vocabulary learning engaging
Varied and leveled content with options for every level
LingQ is an app that immerses users in text and audio media in their target language.
The app lets you read authentic content like news articles and stories and listen to podcasts, audiobooks and more.
As you read, you discover “lingQs,” which are words that you don’t know yet.
Save these lingQs to your flashcard deck, and you can review them with the app’s SRS program. All audio content comes with a transcript, so you can easily save new vocabulary words from any content.
Though most of the content is accessed with a paid subscription, there’s some good free beginner content to get you started.
Tandem functions like a social media for language learners, which makes it very easy to find someone to chat with who shares your interests and goals. Experiences on Tandem seem to vary depending on your target language, and despite the program’s best efforts, there are still users who abuse the community guidelines. It’s worth a download if you’re looking for a language partner, but not if you’re an absolute beginner.
User friendliness - 7/10
7/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 10/10
10/10
Value for price - 8/10
8/10
Pros
Social media-like setup makes it easy to find like-minded language partners
Private and group chat service has useful built-in language tools
Has features in place to prevent abuse, including a background check and a reporting system
Much of the program is available for free
Cons
Huge number of incoming messages can be difficult to parse through
Some people use the app as a dating program
Emphasizes practicing languages, not learning them
Want to start chatting right now? Tandem can hook you up for immediate interaction in your target language.
On Tandem, you can search who’s currently online, message them and start chatting via video, text message, voice message or even picture exchange.
All of the main features are available for free. However, if you want to subscribe, you can also get unlimited translations, opt out of ads and see who viewed your profile.
How to Get the Most Out of Free Language Learning Apps
Consider using multiple apps
Free apps work well together or in conjugation with paid apps. You can use a combination of apps to fill different learning needs.
For example, you can pair a free language exchange app with an online learning program like FluentU, which helps you learn languages in context through authentic videos.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
Don’t limit yourself! There’s no reason not to try all you want when apps are free.
That way, you can get a hands-on feel for how each app works and what it has to offer.
Then, you can make a well-informed decision about which app(s) you want to keep using.
Take advantage of free trials
Many paid apps offer free trials, but by all means, take advantage of these.
You get a period of free learning (yay!), and you’ll also see if the app is valuable enough to be worth spending your hard-earned money on.
Whether you want it totally free or are willing to pay for a more premium product, apps are definitely the way to use new technology to learn a language.
So try out these 10 free language apps today. Better late than never!0
If you dig the idea of learning on your own time from the comfort of your smart device with real-life authentic language content, you'll love using FluentU.
With FluentU, you'll learn real languages—as they're spoken by native speakers. FluentU has a wide variety of videos as you can see here:
FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.
Didn't catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.
And FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You get a truly personalized experience.
