My foray into language learning apps is that Duolingo is good if you’ve already taken formal classes in the target language and are trying to become more proficient, especially when it comes to reading. Memrise is very nice, but there’s a paywall in that it’s not ad supported and ‘free’ like Duolingo, but it’s use of recordings from speakers is way better than robot voice in learning to form sounds and learn to understand speech. Busuu is great. It’s a bit pricey, but enough of it is free to use that if you supplemented it with something else you could get away with it. It teaches you grammar and cultural context better than Duolingo ever would and even has an option to have your speech reviewed by native speakers.
It should also be noted that each apps usefulness also depends on the type of learner you are, what level you want to learn at, and also what languages you’re learning.
Published
ifesbob 