If you are learning a language (or multiple!) and looking for great apps for language learning, this list compiles the best of the best for you!
There are tons of apps dedicated to language learning and it can be overwhelming finding the best options. This list aims to help you decide which options are best for you!
Important to note: these language learning apps are not in any particular order – they are all great options.
-> If you see one you like, just click on the name of the app – the title – to head to the Apple App Store! If you need to head to Google Play, click on the image instead!
Busuu
Who it is best for: ALL learners! Particularly those who prefer a more structured plan.
What languages it offers: Spanish, Japanese, English, German, Russian, French, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, Polish, and Portuguese.
Cost: Busuu offers some free lessons each level, but for all features and the ability to learn more than 1 language, premium memberships start at $5.75 per month, depending on your plan. (TIP: be sure to check on their student discount!!)
It’s not secret on this site that one of my favorite apps for language learning is Busuu. It is an extensive and comprehensive resource for the languages it offers and has tons of amazing features.
One of my favorite features is the community, which makes Busuu unique. You can record yourself answering prompts for each lesson, or submit a text instead, and community users correct you. On top of this, Busuu has several other features that make it a very valuable resource.
Here is a great and thorough overview of this app and website!
italki
Who it is best for: ALL learners! Especially those wanting to learn with a live teacher and practice speaking
What languages it offers: Almost 200 languages!
Cost: Dependent on the language, the tutor, the type of lesson (conversational vs. grammatical vs. test prep, etc), and more.
italki is an amazing site and app that connects students and teachers. You pick your language, select any other filters (professional vs. community teacher, location, languages spoken, etc), and then you choose your teacher and set up a date!
Due to the high level of customization,
Here is a great and very thorough overview and review of this app and website!
LingoDeer
Who it is best for: Learners of Asian languages in particular, but all learners who want a structured plan!
What languages it offers: Korean, Japanese, English, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Vietnamese.
Cost: There are free beginner lessons, but membership is needed for upper levels. Membership starts at just over $6 per month, but they also offer a lifetime membership for $159.99 (as of May 2022). All membership plans apply to all languages!
LingoDeer is similar to Duolingo and Busuu in many ways.
I find this language learning app to be a perfect combo of the two and the best option for learners of Asian languages, as LingoDeer has the most comprehensive courses for Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
Lessons are very well made, there is lots of audio and explanations, and, just like Busuu, LingoDeer aims to hit all four pillars of language learning (Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Listening).
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Pimsleur
Who it is best for: Learners who have busy lives, those who prefer audio lessons, and learners who like to learn in a more intuitive and loose style!
What languages it offers: Pimsleur offers more than 50 languages, including “less common” languages like Twi, Objibwe, Pashto, and more!
Cost: Plans are around $20 per month for one language or $21 per month for all languages.
The biggest benefit to Pimsleur are the 30 minute per day core lessons in the form of (offline) audio. This allows you to listen on the train or in your car, or while walking in a park or suntanning on the beach. It’s a perfect language learning app for someone who doesn’t have too much time or just doesn’t like sitting down to learn too much.
Pimsleur places high emphasis on getting you speaking and creating in your target language from day one!
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Lingq
Who it is best for: Learners who prefer to learn via context and media, rather than strict lessons. Especially those who love to read!
What languages it offers: LingQ offers more than 40 languages.
Cost: Some of this app can be accessed for free, but all-access subscriptions are offered starting at $9 per month.
This is the app the well-known polyglot Steve Kaufmann co-founded!
LingQ focuses on helping you learn a language through context. There is a giant library of media for you to choose from, however this language learning app allows you to import your own media, as well! Blog posts, PDFs, news articles – anything that you can download!
You can then translate and save words, track progress, review, etc.
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
babbel
Who it is best for: ALL learners! Particularly those who are studying one language and prefer a more structured plan.
What languages it offers: French, German, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and Indonesian.
Cost: Babbel has plans starting at $6.95 per month or $249 for a lifetime membership (as of 2022). This is for one language only, however.
Babbel is very similar to Busuu, in that it offers bite-sized lessons that focus on all aspects of language learning, all within a structured plan. Babbel runs several podcasts per language, as well!
The biggest con is that it is very expensive if you are learning more than one language. For this reason and some others (e.g I believe Busuu has better features), I personally prefer Busuu. However Babbel is a great option, as well, especially if you are learning just one language!
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
memrise
Who it is best for: ALL learners, but especially those wishing to increase vocab!
What languages it offers: Memrise offers just over 20 languages for its official courses, but there are vocab sets in just about any language you could wish to learn! (+ you can make your own sets!)
Cost: Free, but there is a membership with some slight benefits that starts at $2.50 per month or $119 for life.
Previously just a flashcard and vocab learning app, Memrise has really expanded in the past years! This app is now a full fledged language learning app with official courses for over 20 languages!
The official courses are fun, bite-sized lessons with real natives and lots of video and audio.
On top of the official courses, there is a massive library of vocab sets from Memrise directly, as well as from users. You can make your own set, as well, if you choose! The sets all work via spaced repetition and have a fun, gamified structure.
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
language transfer
Who it is best for: Learners who prefer audio lessons and intuitive lessons!
What languages it offers: Spanish, Greek, Swahili, German, Arabic, Turkish, Italian, French, and English for Spanish speakers.
Cost: Free! (yay!)
Language Transfer is a great, free app for language learning! They have several intro courses and a few complete courses. It seems that they are continuously growing as well, so if you don’t see your language here, check back in the future!
The audio courses generally consist of one student who is also learning the language and then the main speaker/teacher. The goal is always a deep understanding of the language you are learning in time with the student.
They discourage pure memorization and note-taking, and encourage intuition, answering the questions they ask out loud, and being interactive.
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Duolingo
Who it is best for: ALL learners. Great for learners of European languages, in particular.
What languages it offers: Duolingo offers almost 40 languages, even including conlangs like Esperanto and Klingon!
Cost: Just about everything is free (yay!), but they do offer some features only for Duolingo Plus, which starts at $6.99 per month.
Duolingo is often the go-to resource of many language learners. I think for European languages in particular, Duolingo can be a great resource!
It has bite-sized lessons, offers tons of languages, is free, and has a fun and gamified layout. Duolingo is also adding new features fairly often and trying to consistently grow and improve! It has many more fun and comprehensive features now, than in years past.
I would not, however, recommend this as a primary resource if you are learning a language with a different script than English, a language with more complex grammar, or any Asian languages. It can be a nice addition to another main resource, but as of now (2022), I dont find the courses to be comprehensive enough as a main resource.
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Mango
Who it is best for: All beginners!
What languages it offers: Mango has the option to learn more than 70 languages!
Cost: Plans start at $6.99 per month for 1 language and $17.99 per month for all languages.
Mango Languages is a great resource for beginners in a language. They offer many more languages than the average language learning app / website, as well!
They have easy to use lessons, reviews, pronunciation trainings, and daily practices. I find it a bit pricey for more than one language and I do not find it comprehensive enough for intermediate or advanced learners, but it is quite a good beginners app for language learning!
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Speechling
Who it is best for: All learners who wish to focus on pronunciation / those who are learning a particularly difficult to pronounce language!
What languages it offers: French, Spanish, English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.
Cost: You can take advantage of several features for free, but they have plans starting at $19.99 per month for premium and unlimited features.
This app focuses on perfecting your pronunciation!
Depending on your plan, you are matched up with natives who will listen to your audio recordings of words and phrases and correct you. The app offers reviews and practice and the teachers can give you specific notes and tips to help you master any tricky aspects of speaking your TL!
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
beelinguapp
Who it is best for: ALL learners, but especially those who love to read.
What languages it offers: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Turkish, Arabic, Korean, and Swedish.
Cost: The free version is substantial, but only for one language. There is a pro version for premium features and all languages starting at roughly $2 per month.
Beelinguapp is a great app for language learning and achieving ‘fluency’. It is similar to LingQ in that it focuses on context, such as novels and short stories.
This app has audio for the texts, the ability to save vocab, and a bilingual side-by-side layout. The texts range from children’s stories to advanced, scientific texts!
Here is a great overview and review of this app.
HelloTalk
Who it is best for: Learners who are interested in language exchange!
What languages it offers: 150+ languages
Cost: Free to use! However they offer a VIP membership starting at roughly $4 per month and they also offer some curated language courses that range in price.
HelloTalk is a massive community of language learners looking for language exchange. You select the language(s) you know and those you wish to learn and you can match up with other members.
This language exchange app has tons of great features (like corrections, translations, audio input, etc) that allow you to easily learn and teach via chat.
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Innovative language Learning
Who it is best for: ALL learners, especially those who prefer audio lessons.
What languages it offers: 34 different languages!
Cost: Some of this app can be accessed for free, but it is a subscription service. They have different levels, but the basic plan starts at roughly $8 per month.
You may not recognize the name “innovative languages”, but you likely recognize the names “GermanPod101” or “KoreanClass101”, etc.!
This famous language organization has all of the -Pod101 and -Class101 resources. This includes the website, YouTube channels, and the apps!
Each language this app (and website) offers has hundreds, if not thousands, of audio lessons on all sorts of topics. If you are looking for an extensive and comprehensive resource, this is a good one!
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
Drops
Who it is best for: All learners who wish to increase vocab!
What languages it offers: Drops offers over 40 languages and they do intend to keep growing!
Cost: You can use a good deal of the app for free, but their membership starts at $7.50 per month.
Drops is a simple, yet effective app for language learning. It focuses on vocabulary acquisition with short 5 minute lessons where you learn with images, fun games and quizzes, and audio!
Here is a great overview and review of this app (and website!).
+ Bonus app: Google Lens!
This is not an app specifically for language learning, but will certainly help you in your language studies. You can use this app to scan any text in your target language and translate it into your native language!
I am a believer that you should avoid translations, in general, but sometimes if you are reading a book or a menu, etc., you might need a bit of help.
Google lens will scan the page and translate the text per sentence (not word!) and even give you the option to hear it spoken! This can be of particular interest, if you are reading a text and wish to hear it spoken in your TL and your native language for additional comprehension (i.e me, haha).
I find Google Lens (or any scanning translation app) to be a great tool in any language learners belt!
I hope you found some great new apps for language learning here!
Let us know in the comments below which is your favorite! Or, if you have a different app for language learning that you love, share that! 🙂
Don’t forget to check out my language learning printables to help with learning Spanish on Etsy here! 🙂
From Korean study packs and charts to S.M.A.R.T language goal creation to language vocab challenges to weekly language planners and so much more!
These printables will help any language learner - no matter the level or language!
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Let’s be friends! 🙂
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