Best Language Learning Apps? I Asked 5 Polyglots.
📲 I asked 5 friends who speak lots of languages which apps they use. Their answers might surprise you...
Here are the 5 polyglots I talked to:
@IkennaLanguages
@jofranco
@LucaLampariello
@RobinMacPhersonFilms
@WouterCorduwener
📺 WATCH NEXT:
Hear the same 5 polyglots share their tips for learning languages fast
👉🏼 • I Asked 5 Top Polyglot...
📖 LEARN A LANGUAGE THROUGH THE POWER OF STORY
Stories are the best way I have found to learn ANY language. Forget the boring textbooks and time-wasting apps and learn a language the natural, effective way with one of my story-based courses. 👉🏼 bit.ly/storylearningcourses
📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
iTalki 👉🏼 bit.ly/italkistorylearning
Pimsleur 👉🏼 StoryLearning.com/pimsleur
LanguageTransfer 👉🏼 www.LanguageTransfer.org
⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Asking the Experts
0:22 - Ikenna's Favourite Apps
1:28 - Luca's Favourite Apps
3:45 - Jo's Favourite Apps
4:47 - Robin's Favourite Apps
6:20 - Wouter's Favourite Apps
9:19 - My Takeaways
Hear the same 5 polyglots share their tips for learning languages fast 👉🏼 kzhead.info/sun/nrBvl86csZ-Nhqs/bejne.html
Thanks for having me on Olly! Big congrats on 200k! 🔥
Hot on your coat tails! 😅
Ikenna! Great to see you here! 😄
1: Language Transfer Pimsleur 2: Google Translate DeepL 3; Pimsleur Michael Thomas Drops 4: KZhead Podcasts 5: italki
I think, Duolingo is a good app for learning a language but when used properly. For example, I write down, say words, and review every week. But if you just click away, or want to keep up a streak you are not going to get much learning out of Duolingo.
Definitely. I feel like every App is like that. If you don't really take the App seriously, it wouldn't help you, no matter how much it has helped other people.
I don't like learning with it but I like to use it to review or practice.
I use it to help with the writing aspect for Mandarin Chinese but I use other resources for the actual learning.
@@Iron-Bridge Yeah, I mean Duolingo is a good resource but, I use more than one to learn a language.
@@rigatoni4646 Yeah, I would suggest though to slowly pull away once you get comfortable and incorporate other resources into your learning. Also, double check translations. I found Duolingo 80%-90% right but a few times I was like that is not right?
Very surprised LingQ wasn’t mentioned. It crushes it in most regards - import content (Netflix, KZhead, websites, audio books, e-books, etc), read and listen and build into the language through context. It’s certainly not perfect, and they are pathetically slow at rounding out their Mini-Stories language content, but you can overcome that quite easily yourself. Nonetheless, I think the nod to Patreon for potential bilingual / transcribed podcasts and the like is a potential powerhouse as long as it’s reasonably affordable (most Patreon tiers tend to be).
I can't agree more! I love Lingq! It is, to use Olly's words, a "bridge between you and the real world of the language." It is not a "hack of the process," but rather a powerful tool that facilitates the process. As you know, you can import KZhead videos (and other content), and (as long as they have subtitles in your target language) you can translate and define, word by word, the transcript, and then those words get added to your bank of vocabulary that you can learn with the built-in spaced-repetition system. It really is great.
LingQ was what initially helped me get the grasp of German to make the move to KZhead videos. After just about 2 years, I teach German for the first time. I was a bit worried I wouldn't have what it takes to teach this student, but it turns out I do have things to offer even to people who already speak the language, not just total beginners.
but it's not free...
@@gonzalo_rosae The extension Language reactor can do an equally good job. You still have to pay if you want to save vocabulary, but I think saving vocab in general is overrated. Or you can write it down onto anki if you need it that bad.
@@paulvaulker5004 what do you mean extension? in the internet browser?
apps are appealing because its simple and condensed in one place. it's overwhelming to search through the thousands of language learning channels and podcasts and books that are available nowadays.
I spent hours using Duolingo, and now I can successfully tell a German that "A cat is eating a carrot" and "This car is happy." Can't find my damn hotel, please send Äpfel dem Hause meiner Mutter
Congrats on 200k Olly! You deserve all your success! Capítulo 7 on your story learning program and my Spanish is improving so much!!!! X
language transfer is so underrated
I tried learning Mandarin through books but realised very quickly that Mandarin ( and, I suppose, other tone languages ) is a language that has to be heard over and over again. No amount of describing what the tones sound like can match an app that concentrates from the start on hearing and repeating, at the same time as using characters from the beginning. Repeated exposure to these, in conjunction with intensive repetition, means that I can now recognise different characters - to my great delight. Duolingo has served my needs so far but I'm now going over the first 2 units again and tackling writing the characters. I already speak French, German, Sutch Russian, Italian and Turkish but Mandarin has been a challenge of an entirely new order. Onward and upward!
"The King's Avatar." A really good TV series on Netflix. The animate came out first, then the TV series use the same voice over team. The pronunciation is the best, better than most of the actors. Best material for dictation practice as well. --------------------- "Happy Chinese." A Chinese learning sitcom on KZhead. Bilingual subtitle.
For real. If you here mandarin enough, you will end up just pronouncing the tones right without having to think.
Convenient how you only studied the big languages
Actually, Olly this is very good idea👏👏👏👏 I love this format. Please do more like this or make video-interview)
That’s cool, thanks for the feedback!
This is very interesting video and helpful too. I have been studying Spanish for some time now and have moved on to other languages more confidently now, and I have find myself using KZhead Language channels (like this one!) to learn the language way more then using apps. I seem to get a lot more out of the channel on youtube and someone actually teaching me the language, then just looking at my phone. Thanks Olly for this helpful video and for this great channel!
This was so informative! Love the different perspectives! Thanks!
Great video, Olly! It's always fascinating hearing what you and other polyglots/language enthusiasts have to say on the matter. I definitely wasn't surprised to see that Pimsleuer came up a few times, but I was very surprised to see certain big names not popping up, such as Assimil, for example. The languages that I can speak the best all started with SRS (in my case Memrise), Pimsleuer and Michel Thomas, and then some graded readers before finding a series of textbooks to use and a tandem partner. I also use a lot of KZhead content, or media in general, such as subscribing to the news in whatever language I am learning. Just about to subscribe to you after following you from the sidelines for quite some time. :)
Personally, I use flashcard apps (2) and Pimsleur. One app is for common words, and the other is self made flashcards of my personal language struggles. For the self made ones it's also revision in context as I add flashcards using the word in various sentences, as well as the word on its own.
I love THIS! Because sometimes still you think, you have to speak it fluently or even on a conversational level to say, hey, I can convey my thoughts in this language, may struggle but.... I actually speak English ( native) ,ASL, Spanish, French, German, and I am currently learning and loving Italian.
Along with Mr. Richard's books, my wife and I are using the Easy Languages channels on YT. I watch Easy French and she watches Easy Spanish. You tend to get a great cultural perspective of the street interviews. It's been a great way to double down on learning a language or 5! Many thanks Olly!
I am going to start learning Spanish soon. I am thinking of getting Olly's books. And maybe using italki a lil bit. What do you think?
@@AfroLinguo diversify your intake. I listen to 24 hr news one day, read the next, maybe vocabulary drills the next. I try to emulate how a child experiences learning their native language from early on, only in a shorter amount of time. Toddlers get instantly immersed by parents until they grow and start learning ABC's, then to read. Mr. Richards is on point with instant immersion.
@@catmgunjunkie Thanks for the tip
@@AfroLinguo anytime! Best of luck on your language adventure!
This video got me 0% closer to learning a new language. All I heard was don't use apps and spend countless hours scouring KZhead and podcasts for something useful. Great....
+revive.... Das sind doch nur Ausreden! ;-)
Very true.
Thank you Robin for talking about going to patreon for language learning content. I found some of my favorites KZhead language content creators just now on patreon.
I have personally used (with success) Anki and LingQ. The secret is that in both of these you create or import your own content that you like or are interested in. I am surprised Luca didn't mention LingQ, because he used it for Mandarin. With Anki, the secret is to create your own personal flashcards and not just download a deck. I also always add audio, my own picture and an example sentence. LingQ is great for making interesting stuff comprehensible.
I have a language student of mine who used Anki a lot for language learning. And in 3/4 years he could learn French, Italian and Spanish. That showed me that although flashcards don't work for me, they can be an amazing resource to use.
@@AfroLinguo Indeed. Different people often use different methods that work for them. Flashcards are good to get you into a solid intermediate if you use them correctly. By they are by far not the only method you should use. Massive input should always follow. You cannot get away from that.
Why don't you use LingQ's built in sort of flashcards for words and phrases? It's very handy to save a word or a phrase in one click and it has everything you mentioned, except for pictures. You're method with Anki seems really cool but isn't that too time consuming?
@@chronicallyalive Because I use a very specific flashcard method, for them to actually be effective. I use the Fluent Forever book's recommendations in making them. In that method, you avoid translation and use pictures and example sentences instead. And most importantly, the flashcards need to be something personalized and specific to you. That is what makes it effective. Yes, with larger vocabulary, it becomes tedious to make flashcards. That's why I also use LingQ. LingQ is also a must for the massive amounts of input that one needs. However the flashcards got me quickly out of the beginner phase into a solid intermediate. They also help a lot with specific words that don't want to get into my head naturally. But even more importantly, they are a great help with irregular verbs and the subjunctive. Here LingQ can't help so much. I will always advocate for more than one method being used. That is really the best.
Just found this channel. Very interesting. Thanks a bunch 😉
My favorite language learning app is actually Spotify. We need to find content we like and for me translating songs keeps me the most engaged.
Facts, nobody talks about Spotify.
Do you look for songs in that language? How do you go about doing that?😊
LingQ is by far the best way to learn a language. It’s astonishing that not everyone is talking about. There is no better way to be efficient with your time.
I like it, too, although there are some bugs in the system. I'm using it for Italian, and sometimes when I click on a word I don't know in a text, it translates it into Russian instead of English. Other times, I figure out what a word means but I want to hear a native Italian speaker SAY it so I can get the pronunciation correct, and out of nowhere, instead of a native Italian speaker I get some woman who sounds like she is from Southern California, and she reads the word as if it is English (for example, she would read 'parlare" as "par-LAIR'). So it frustrates me sometimes. Having said that, I'm in Chapter 25 of Anna Karenina right now and am also reading Animal House, and I don't know where else I could get that kind of content.
Paid shill lmao.
If youre into podcasts, I highly suggest the Coffee Break courses. They don't have every language, but alot of the common ones. They're relatively inexpensive for a language course, but even the free version is perfect
I love Google Translate! I put my videogames in Spanish, and when I don't understand a phrase, I point the Google Translate app at it. Granted, don't play games that are text heavy at first as it's tiring to keep translating, but other games like driving games work great to help you read menus and such!
I love that ppl talk about pimsleur. I'm going to Italy and decued it borriw it from my library. I'm on part b of Italian 1 and it's great. I aleady speak French so picking up on grammar and understanding the why if conjugasion is easier for me.
Excellent insight into what apps these amazing language learners enjoy using. Thanks Olly! Also, will you be returning with new episodes of your podcast soon? Cheers!
Thank you! Not currently planning to continue the podcast, but who knows!
If Pimsleur weren’t so gosh darn so expensive , I would use the app daily
I use Microsoft Azure to turn text into speech so I can get an audiobook version of any text. It is free, provided you don't go over 500,000 characters a month. The machine generated voices are the best I have come across. They sound very natural.
0:37 yessirrrrr I completely agree with the book guy. That's what I've benefited from the most. Especially reading out loud. One app I like is Speakly though.
Hi Olly i am a new subscriber to your channel. Thank for making video that will help my language journey.
Excellent all round advice.
Thanks for that video! Very aggregating.
Hi Olly, I'm really excited about your Short Stories for Beginners being translated into Irish. What languages are next? Really hoping that you might do a Catalan version.
We’ve got 8 new languages planned, and I’m looking forward to revealing what they are soon!
@@storylearning soooo good to hear! Do you know when you're making the next announcement? I've read the German version dozens of times.
I hope you’re doing European Portuguese. Portugal is hot now. Seems like everybody is moving there!
1:49 how fascinating ~!!
apps are trying to lift the burden off the language learning process but many people get stuck in the gamification and don't try to just use the language (read, watch content interesting to you), personally i'm still detaching myself from that mindset I want to add that i use deeple for learning french to read on my phone, i go to my browser and read stuff in french and select the incomprehensible text and translate it into my native language quickly. I just focuse on understanding what i read because at the beginning stages every word will be important. i don't look up words, i just use and expose myself to the language , that's a rule set in stone for learning a language
I've been looking for apps a long now Now i get my time back it felt much better instead of small-bite u can do it better in digging into the language try to hock the 4 deminsions writing after u read stgstg try to through random words and phrases, the matter of the idea don't need to be highlited speaking everyday in a chat or with a friend grammers can do with courses like coursera this is the best advices and logical i heard oly thanks
I was hoping they'd talk about Euroepean Portuguese apps because most apps are for Brazilian Portguese students. I like radio, TV , and newpapers apps
Radio Garden is awesome to explore all the accents.
@@broccoli9308 I love Radio Garden
I am a lot like Luca!! I used Google translate and google lens a lot. But I don't really use the other Apps that much.
Thanks great video
Wow Luca: Google Lens sounds AMAZING...I bought a book that is in a dialect/mix of the foriegn language, so it's quite hard even for native speaker- I'm told so I hope this will help me crack this book I want to read.
What are the best options then to learn the content, sentence structure rules etc from the ground up as an all in one course instead of a gamified app that focuses on some phrases etc? Pimsleur, language transfer?
If you're already a full-fledged "polyglot" as stated here, then you'd have no need whatsoever to be using any language apps.
Excelente. Muy entretenido e informativo.
The Google Lens guy gave the best advice.
My favorite are Innovative Language podcasts. I can listen to them while I do food deliveries. 我是外卖小哥。
Babbel is pretty great for French in my experience. I still haven’t found a great app for Korean so I’m stuck with Duolingo.
You can try innovative it’s better ♥️
My favorite is drops 💦
Lingodeer
Learning how to say "fox's cucumber" 😂😂 오이
you can't just pick up Anki and learn a language. It's only good for one thing, learning vocab (but you often need to correct many mistakes that those vocab card sets come with by using the actual dictionary). To pick up grammar you need to either use some app that demonstrates how it works or do like I did. I basically found some free (scanned) books on grammar and read them in their entirety but without doing any exercises or trying to memorize anything. Then to memorize all the facts I learned I made Anki set that allows to memorize verb and noun conjugations. Basically one side is known language equivalent of the meaning of card's conjugation, other side is that conjugation in the target language. So yeah you need to work hard to make this set of cards. Perhaps some people can learn words and grammar perfectly by simple listening to some videos. I just can't memorize stuff like that, I am a slow learner. I always thought I am just unable to learn languages because of how fast I forget everything I learn without using it. But once I discovered Anki, it was like a revelation to me. I made it possible to learn entire new language in under a year when before it took me several years to learn English by watching movies/reading books. Sure I haven't learned the new language to fluency but I was doing it under a year and I already can recognize most of the grammar and know over 4000 words. This was absolutely impossible to achieve without Anki to a person like myself.
Yes what's wrong here ^^. Where is Lingq! No actually apps are our training wheels to get ourselves reading and talking freely. We should never forget that... A 1000 day streak in an app doesn't mean that we can speak a language.
Yep. I actually stopped my streak because I found myself hopping on for 2 minutes to keep it up and not actually learning anything
Because y'all need to take extra steps I use Duolingo and take notes and my French Is pretty decent but my girlfriend also helps me so maybe Im just speaking from experience.
I agree. LingQ is an awesome tool for language acquisition.
I like Luca's "make text comprehensible". I do that with online content (dramas) by using sub-titles. They tell me the rough meaning being expressed. My challenge is figuring out how to express that meaning in .
So many things to do in the world not just languages.
Could @Robin MacPherson recommend us some of those YT channels he talked about?
No one mentioned Babble & I was curious to hear what they would say about it.
I have been told countless times that there are so many great resources for language learning on KZhead, but in my experience, not one of these specific resources is ever given. Just generalities. I watched this video knowing before it started that it was anti-apps. Why not do a video pointing out specific KZhead content these same people think is useful ?
You mostly won't find much content going beyond generalities because creators save these for people who pay for them. Creators share generalities to attract people to more specific, paid content. That being said, the sheer amount of content nowadays is so big that you can gather some useful channels, videos, tips and content from here and there. It's slow, but you can pick yourself and create lists that cater to your needs. Among the plethora of generalities, if you check 100 channels, 10 or 15 will go beyond these in some videos, it's a matter of finding and putting all this curated content together.
And for paid content, many times you pay just for the fact that it's saving you "searching-time" rather than for quality itself.
Which language are you learning? How long have you been studying? How do you like studying? It's difficult to make a video for a mass audience with suggestions that are good for everyone when everyone is at different levels in different languages and respond best to different methods.
@@sharonoddlyenough exactly 💯
One way I learn German on KZhead is by watching German video game lets players. So I’ll type in something like “Animal Crossing auf Deutsch” to find German Animal Crossing players
Cantonese word use musical note
I quit Duolingo cause it's too slow..my favorite is reading...intensive, extensive, then build flash cards of words you don't know sometimes
I know, that’s a lot of how I ended up at this channel. Being a month in and still reviewing un = a was too ridiculous to me. In the meantime I felt I was losing the words that I had learned more recently because they went over them once and then I didn’t see them again
Bonne vidéo !
Storylearning is too expensive, the full platinum is $1,997. We are going with speakly duolingo instead and using the money saved on italki and in-person lessons.
Next ask what language resources they use like Assimil, Glossika, Teach yourself etc lol
Interesting to see how Luca's experience is the opposite of mine. He says he's never really used apps in his language learning Journey, whereas there are big part of mine. And he says that the only one he really likes is one that I've never heard of until this second. Google lens. I just checked it out.. I think I'll pass.
Pimslur is my favorite
I looked for the "Chinese language" online, but I only found Mandarin, Cantonese and Szechuan!
?
@@sebastian-benedictflore , Chinese is a misnomer, it doesn't exist as a language.
@@sandydegener6436 Yes, exactly. I see, I thought that _you_ didn't realise that fact but you were being sarcastic in your original comment.
it's all about learning - Learn from authentic & expert folks! people who have done well, those who worth a damn ;)
I guess Steve Kaufmann is angry now😂 because nobody mentioned "LingQ"
Yeah i was wondering why didn't anyone mention it
So disappointing
I was thinking the same xD
LingQ is really not an app. It's a website that teaches languages and their app is to complement the site
LingQ is not an app. LingQ is a whole system -- a bunch of features (apps), that together is one method for learning languages. For some people that's a good method -- LingQ makes a TON of things much faster. Olly is interviewing polyglots who each have their own system. Many of them developed that system long before LingQ existed.
My 500$ would be spent on Claro que sí, sus libros de audio.... But also, Paul noble, Pimsleur, pen and pad, group exchange or serious learner buddy, a quick trip if I could. I talki didn't work for me, couldn't find "THAT ' teacher you know.
I like using babbel and once I've finished the course I move on to just free resources
I have the Korean keyboard
I've been using Busuu to learn Italian. Its selling point is that other learners, who are native speakers of your target language, will give you corrective feedback. That was really cool at first, but it quickly devolves into grammatical nitpicking. To me, it is far more valuable to have a dialogue with the other learners, so I keep my corrections to a minimum and always ask follow-up questions to generate some discussion. Another weak point of Busuu is that it is very euro-centric. They have a lesson format that is basically packaged the same, more or less, for the 13 languages they offer. For example, Busuu's Japanese content leaves much to be desired. I'm constantly correcting folks who are using, imo, "funny" Japanese, but it's not the learner's fault - the content forces them to use stilted language. From January, I'll start Korean, so I'll have a better idea. I speak Chinese up to B2 but haven't looked at the course yet. I suspect it's the same. Oh, and these languages (and Arabic) offer far less content than the major European languages on Busuu.
Shout to Michel Thomas and sweetheart who enjoyed Pimsleur.
Language transfer is no good for me as he teaches Cypriot Greek and i'm learning mainland Greek
What's everyone opinion on Pimsleur Korean vs Rocket Language Korean? Want to hear everyone overall opinion on it!
BOOTSTRAP KOREAN GRAMMAR - easy & comprehensive & free!!!
None of them have tried Rocket languages
My goodness. I started searching for best rated Language apps and now I find every wanna be "Polygot KZheadr" somehow wants to be the next Mark Zuckerberg of Language Apps. No joke, the first two Videos on KZhead are people who believe they have THE Solution for the problem of Language learning. :D Man, people these days.
Giving duoxingo ( spelling error intended) another try , with Greek, from square one, I found it helpful - in a way - but also tiresome , and as it seeks to bait you to stay on it longer with its points and leagues and whathaveyou « nothing burgers» ( empty praise). As one of yr other vids suggests , for some reason it has some appeal/ allure like a villainess. Thanks for yr commentary, it gave me some insight into its appeal and helped me move towards deleting it for another more serious language acquisition / learning process…💯
Apps are great, but they really are for those that already speak the target language and want to improve what they already know.
Ouino.
Great Olly!!!🙌❤🔥 But you didnt call me! Why?😂
God these guys like the sound of their own voices. Spend 2 minutes answering a question that can be answered in 2 words.
Tiktok attention span is a real thing.
Mango is better than Pimsleur.
Reading without vocabulary and some grammar is waste of time
Wouter says he tries to be careful with what he says, and then takes three full minutes to say "italki and international txting keyboard" And this isn't my only complain about the video but... yeah. No.
If you only want conversational language: The easiest & fastest & laziest sure fire way: Pimsleur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Painfree....Effective!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen wherever you are.
@storylearning - FYI - NOBODY speaks MSA. The most commonly spoken and UNDERSTOOD Arabic is Egyptian. Start there. Anyone who tries to speak MSA "on the street" sounds like a fool. Not every program works for all languages. How about the best programs for each individual language instead of such a general title?
Y'all trash duolingo, but Miss Duo she is FREE. There are billions of people who can NOT pay for langauge learning. People want some kind of magic bullet to learn a language. NO, it's like learning the piano. You have to sit down and practice. The shit takes time. : )
I think you're bending over backwards just not to say duolingo. So let me say it. DUOLINGO. Also coming from a polyglot. It's good. Especially the tried and true courses, spanish, french, etc.
Olly have you ever analyzed the extra usage of English by millennials compared to pre-millennials? For example, before answering any question : "So, well, for me, personally, and I can only speak for myself here because everyone is different and exclusivity is important of course because your course and sexuality should not define you, but so, yeah no, yeah no.. definitely, you need an App that is totally diverse and so for me, personally it has to be one that is suited to my tastes and I'm a Gemini and ... what was the question again? Please press the like button..."
Accurate impression.
Sheesh
5 polyglots and only one is a woman. We all know there are way less polyglot women than polyglot men. Right?? Right????? It couldn’t be a biased view, it probably reflects reality. This sucks. I am tired of every “polyglot list” always listing only one woman out of 10/15 . Bc of that, as a women, Polyglot means nothing to me. This. Is. Not. Okay.
The majority of popular polyglots are men, it doesn't have to deal with statistics. It can also deal with circumstance, so I don't see why it's such a big issue to diversify a video if it's already informational.
Simple solution...Interview polygot woman yourself and make a video of it. That's how a man would solve that problem not complain about the content they personally think someone else should create, i think that difference in mindset reflects reality more lol
Many, many female polygots do not want to be interviewed or would rather talk about other stuff like fashion or travel rather than the languages that they speak.
I really liked Fluent Forever, got a lot out of it. They're not focusing on feature enhancements until they get all the languages in the app that they promised in their kickstarter, so I've cancelled my subscription since it wasn't quite doing enough for me, but it does have a great base. Hopefully in a year or two they'll start actually improving the app and I might hop back on. For japanese, there's three apps I love: Japanese Dungeon, Kanji Study and Clozemaster. Japanese Dungeon is pure vocab gamification and it works really well (and really quickly) at getting some basic vocab under your belt. Kanji Study is phenomenal for learning kanji for one big reason: it tests your ability to write it (I learn much better if I write, as opposed to read or type). Finally Clozemaster is one of those full-immersion figure-it-out vocab/kind grammar apps. Just spits a bunch of fill-in-the-blank in the language and you guess until you're right. I find that it actually very quickly builds *intuition* in the language, like I can look at a sentence I've never seen before, with words I've never seen before, and maybe 80% of the time guess correctly which word goes in the blank. It's actually surprising! And all three apps are free, and I think wholly without ads?
I will have a look at Clozemaster. Thanks for the tip.
Clozemaster has ads, but they aren't annoying to me.