HiNative is only available as an App through Apple however Android and desktop users can access it online (UPDATE: As of Feb 2016 an Android version is now live!). It is very different from your usual Read, Listen and Learn approach however I do love the interactive aspect of it as you are conversing with native language speakers a lot of the time.
This is especially great for increasing your word knowledge, which can be helpful whether you’re a beginner looking to learn new words or more advanced with a grasp of the grammar but simply wanting to expand your vocabulary. With nine different languages to choose from – Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Brasilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and English – it’s a beneficial app for those who wish to travel or live in a country that speaks any of these languages. Give the free trial version a go, and if you enjoy it, you can continue with the year membership which is around €6 per month, much cheaper than Netflix!
Getting to lingo with the locals is the most important thing to me when I travel, so, finding the best language learning apps before I travel to a country has become more and more important over the years.
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Why so good? I like the fact it is more like a course in the palm of your hand than a list of jumbled words. It uses repetition and reviewing to make sure you have grasped it and mixes audio learning with visual prompts. As someone with Dyslexia and a Visual Sequencing problem, I find all these mixed learning methods really useful.
Why so good? I like the fact it is more like a course in the palm of your hand than a list of jumbled words. It uses repetition and reviewing to make sure you have grasped it and mixes audio learning with visual prompts. As someone with Dyslexia and a Visual Sequencing problem, I find all these mixed learning methods really useful.
Why so good? I like the fact it is more like a course in the palm of your hand than a list of jumbled words. It uses repetition and reviewing to make sure you have grasped it and mixes audio learning with visual prompts. As someone with Dyslexia and a Visual Sequencing problem, I find all these mixed learning methods really useful.
Why so good? I like the fact it is more like a course in the palm of your hand than a list of jumbled words. It uses repetition and reviewing to make sure you have grasped it and mixes audio learning with visual prompts. As someone with Dyslexia and a Visual Sequencing problem, I find all these mixed learning methods really useful.
Why so good? I like the fact it is more like a course in the palm of your hand than a list of jumbled words. It uses repetition and reviewing to make sure you have grasped it and mixes audio learning with visual prompts. As someone with Dyslexia and a Visual Sequencing problem, I find all these mixed learning methods really useful.
The bonus to me of this app is I am awful at pronunciation, as well as asking how to say certain things you can record your voice to get feedback as to if what you are saying sounds like the real deal. Hello no more embarrassing moments in shops of talking complete gibberish, you can keep your blushing behind the phone screen!
Lingoda – For actual online language classes
It does have a subscription fee for premium access and the downside of it is that only those who have paid for it can listen to your voice recordings, so, you are reliant that someone has! Certainly one of the best language learning apps if you want to engage in actual conversation.
My favourite method? Ashamedly it is watching English films abroad and learning from the subtitles, which also usually leads to comical soaps and knowing all the words to a foreign catchy crap advert with no idea what they are talking about. Can you get any more cultured than that?
Not sure what’s on the menu, use your phone camera to translate it. Need to get a sentence out to a local that you really don’t know. Let it speak it aloud for you. Literally, the best language app to help communicate in any situation.
iPhone | Android
How about you? Any lingo learning apps I have missed out?
For a more traditional way to learn languages online, Lingoda is an online language school marketplace which acts as an alternative to in-person language schools. While, for me, the experience of learning with a teacher in a classroom can’t be rivalled by an online course, I found the few lessons I did with Lingoda very good, and the platform is one of the best online Spanish learning options.
iPhone | Android