At LinguaLift we are all eternal learners and we always keep our eyes open for new apps, platforms and methods of learning foreign languages. We thought we'd make the search easier for you by compiling a list of our ten favourite language learning mobile apps. Some of them you are probably familiar with, but you may also find some new gems! Best language learning apps 1. Memrise is your go to place for fun vocabulary practice. The is no shortage of courses on almost every language you can imagine—or invent, as there are also several devoted to constructed languages—created by the vibrant community of users. The fun of Memrise lies in two things: memes and gamification. The app follows a learning method that relies on creating funny or bizarre associations with the studied words. Courses are often coupled with memes designed to playfully help remember the vocabulary. The memes are created by the community and everyone can add their own! Both earning, revising and creating memes is a source of points that help you advance in the Memrise hierarchy of users from Membryo to Overlord. The power of Memrise also lies in two things: spaced repetition and mnemonics. A Japanese and Russian language course paid , developed by University of Oxford experts. Luis von Ahn successfully merged gamification and learning addicting people to languages and producing an app with over 100 million users. The app has become a staple example of mobile language learning. Many Duolingo courses are created by native speakers themselves which empowers communities and language passionates to get involved and gave rise to perhaps less expected courses such as Guarani or Klingon. Another feature that makes Duolingo special to me is that it is not aimed solely at an English native speaker. For each language there are specific courses that aim at those with different first languages, which to date produces 81 courses. An app aimed to facilitate speaking practice and eliminate the potential stress of real time conversation. Learners can find native speakers and converse with them using a whatsapp-like chat with voice and text messages. You can mark your top conversations or messages, so your favourite phrases will not get lost and the text-to-voice option will make sure you always know how to pronounce the messages you receive. To help you with conversation motivation you can also arranged language exchanges with lengths defined by different parameters like time erm, obviously! With you can also exchange doodles. So if you really run out of vocab, you can unleash your inner artist. Did I say Duolingo gamified language learning? Mindsnacks takes gamification to a whole different level. Each out of seven languages they teach comes with eight or nine tiny games are designed to help you learn vocabulary, grammar, practice your listening. There are short simple lessons outlining concepts that then get practiced or tested in the games before they achieve the status of being mastered. Mindsnacks monitors your progress so you can clearly see how much more learning you need to achieve proficiency in every skill. The design is very enjoyable, cheerful and charming I would have just said cute, but that may discourage some of you from trying it ;- which really helps to stay involved with the learning. Being timed the games keep you engaged and often at the edge of your seat and on top of that MindSnacks also assigns you quests so you can really feel like a language explorer. The basic download is free, but it comes only with a restricted number of games. If you pay a little bit you can access more lessons and widen your game options. Busuu offers full courses in 12 languages. The app takes you through learning individual words to simple dialogues and questions about the dialogues all of which include audio where you can listen to native pronunciation. The lessons are organised in topical themes where we learn skills and expressions connected to tasks. The special aspect of Busuu is that you can engage native speakers in your personal learning process. Busuu learners contribute their native speaking skills to the platform by correcting texts created by those who study their language. The desktop version even allows you to chat to native speakers real time. A paid cousin of Duolingo with more free material than busuu? The free version comes with 40 classes, so even without investing money the app allows you to learn a fair amount of phrases in one of the 13 languages it teaches. Each class starts from step-by-step teaching of vocabulary with the aid of pictures. The app has speech recognition exercises, so you can surely scare your fellow bus commuters by shouting in Dutch to your phone! This app is aimed to get you to read content written by and for native speakers from the earliest levels of your learning. The study materials are based on texts pulled from the internet, therefore you will never complain for the lack of variety! At first the app will asses your level, by asking whether you know specific words it will estimate your level and the range of your vocabulary. As you learn you will be shown a text. Based on this feedback the app will be able to match future texts to your level more accurately. The idea of Lingua. The study is based on texts pulled from the internet, therefore you will never complain for the lack of material! The words can be reviewed in 5, 10 or 15 minute study sessions. If you install the you will be reminded about the need to come back to your saved vocabulary while browsing. The app supports 10 languages, including Russian, French and Spanish. As the name suggests the app is aimed at travellers who need to brush up on their language skills before that dream holiday in Mauritius or a business trip to Mexico. In addition, the creators took care so you at least attempt to sound like a local and use the current expressions rather than the textbook formulas. TripLingo is also your emergency resource. MosaLingua is a fully rounded resource for a number of languages including , and. You can choose to go through the standard lesson program starting from simple phrases and numerals, or you can opt to go for one of the specific topical packs, for example people, time or tourism. This means that if you already went through the basics and are looking to fill in specific gaps in your knowledge you can do it instantly. You can support your learning with dialogues illustrating real life situations. Of course, not all the resources of the apps are unlocked without paying, and you have to pay for each language separately. But even the free version has ample resources — definitely enough for a quick 5-day learning spree before that weekend in Tuscany! HiNative is like a bite-size language exchange. You get the benefits of contact with native speakers without the hassle of searching for an exchange partner or scheduling a chat. The basic premise is to bring native speakers together with learners to help each other resolve little or not so little... No question is stupid or too simple: you can ask for translations, input on pronunciation, or advice on cultural norms. Free bite-size language exchange. In addition, you get a confidence boost by allowing you to realise that the knowledge you hold about your mother tongue is sought after, and that you can, without much effort, help fellow learners. Those who went through the same struggles as you could have a better idea of how to approach them as a learner! What is says on the tin! You may already have some grasp of the language or decided to just go wild and base on a paper phrasebook. Yes you will still encounter words or phrases that you are not sure how to pronounce to be understood. Perhaps you had this experience in a restaurant: when asking for the simplest meal and had to repeat the so-diligently-learned Italian phrase three times. They said the phrase back to you and the only thing that you had wrong was the stress. You can prevent these embarrassing and frustrating moments with How to Pronounce. It supports only a few basic languages now, but in a very clever move it offers four of them in two varieties, so you have two options for: English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, plus Russian and Italian. Have you come across any cool language learning apps? Let us know on.
