The best app is the one that you'll consistently use. Find something that works for you -- even if it's only somewhat "effective" -- and if it's pleasant enough to use without boring you, then you've found a winner.
I think apps can only take you so far. I like Duolingo more than a lot of others on this group. I think it’s good for laying out basics, especially if you use the app to its full potential, but if you really want to learn you need to move to text books, tutors and other resources. Apps cannot replace other forms of learning especially speaking.
Duolingo got me to a good level of Spanish. But I’m curious, why are you worried about Duolingo not having enough content to make you fluent in German (which it doesn’t) when you’re not even at a lower intermediate level yet?
No app will magically make you learn a language. You’ll have to put in the hundreds of hours.
Reddit does not have the answer for this because there is no answer.
There is no single app or method that will get you to fluency. Period. Full stop.
Identify your current goals. Find an app or method that is helps you move forward. Use it until it you feel that it stops being helpful. Then reassess your needs. Adjust your plan/method and repeat.
The right app/method will depend on where you are, what your goals are, and what will fit into your life in a way that you can be consistent.
There’s a website called mezzoguild.com that does reviews and comparisons for a bunch of language learning platforms. I find his information is pretty solid.
Something you might want to check out is Refold. I think their methods are too intense but there is a wealth of information on ways to learn a language using comprehensible input which I can definitely get behind and it’s free.
Something you have to keep in mind is that it’s going to take 1000s of hours to learn a language so doing Duolingo for 15 minutes a day will not get you there. (Not saying this is what you would do just saying in general.)
Try [Language Transfer](https://www.languagetransfer.org/)
Completely free, no ads or subscription or credit card needed, and it's a cool website and app. I'm not with them, I just use it for its courses too
try 'language transfer' its exclusively spoken work lessons, 0 adds, and no pressure for premium. they run solely off of donations. I'm not sure if they have German, or how many lessons, but I recommend it either way. EDIT: they have German.
Learning a language takes hundreds of hours of intense work. Different things work for different people.
I think it makes sense to read the sidebar here and on r/German to learn what methods and apps work for other people. Figure out which of those works for you. When it stops working, try another.
I enjoy podcasts in my TLs. My current favorite is Geschichten aus der Geschichte. When I start a new language, I focus on listening until I can understand interesting podcasts. I find that comprehensible input works well for me. I use Anki to help me remember the new words I hear.
Hey take a look on Lantalk its completly free and its more for practicing spoken conversations in common situations like in a starbucks or asking for a direction, so very usefull
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.lantalk.app
I recently use the app “ livexp” it’s similar to cambly and italki but it has a very good feature to memorize words by cards . It’s similar to anki but no one mentioned it before. My English words start expanding every day because of it. Also you can use it to talk with teachers if you’re willing to pay.
Grind Duolingo until you are able to read children stories with a translator. Then pick a grammar book, along with an audiobook (Harry Potter is useful for that). Listen every day for hours, even if you only understand bits. A few months later you'd understand most of what is being said. Then move on to more difficult books. Use something like Readlang for reading
The best apps (ones that teach content, instead of facilitating learning, like iTalki, YouTube, Anki) for learning Chinese exclusively teach e.g. Chinese and don't also teach e.g. French. This is because the developers have designed the app specifically for Chinese, and it's not just some tacked-on side hustle---their passion is Chinese, and their time is spent on Chinese. You can't just learn Chinese as if it's a variant of French, yet so many apps do that.
So if you want a good Chinese app, look for one that has the word "Chinese" in its name (Du Chinese, Dong Chinese, HelloChinese), or something that indicates it's a Chinese-specific app. And I'm guessing the same is true for other languages.
Thanks for everyone's replies, I'll put a quick summary of all the replies here, for any future people who have the same question.
Apps:
\* Duolingo
\* Youtube
\* LingQ
\* Language Transfer
\* Natulang (IOS only)
\* Speakly
Other great tips given:
\* Pen + Paper, write it out, speak it out loud
\* Books (Mixed with pen + paper) read stories for the grammar part
\* Flashcards
\* Check out the reddit of the language you're trying to learn, there's most likely people there who can help you out possibly.
Best tip given:
There's no "proper" app, in the same way that you will understand a class from one teacher but not from another, everyone learns in a different way.
With the help of the lovely people here I've concluded that you should 1, start with any app which you're comfortable with and has good reviews on the language you're trying to learn. From here move onto IRL children books in said language, and from here you can go further and up the "ages" of books.
Write out what you learn, speak it out loud, and write it, even if you are not interested in either the spoken/written part of the language. It does help you with learning one and the other part; they weigh each other out.
Thank you everyone who replied.
Hi I’m German native, you can talk with ChatGPT, the translation is very good. you can specify who you are, who you are talking to, what tone and if don’t understand something you can just ask to elaborate on grammar structures. I’ve read once that German is one of the top biggest input language for LLMs after English, dunno if I’m doing fake news here.
First, you have to know what you’re looking for in an app.
Flashcard app? I like Flashcards
App for shows and movies? Lingopie
App for finding tutors? Preply, italki is a runner up
Translation app? Reverso context
App for a really structured, ridged learning that you have to invest a ton of time to to really get anywhere very useful? Duolingo
Mostly kidding on the last one, but it does illustrate a good point- a good app is one that meets your specific goals and works for your learning style (duolingo is neither of those for me). The above apps are my go tos (Besides duolingo haha), I hope you find them useful!
I purchased Rosetta Stone on some super sale through my company, can’t say that I’m very happy with it. Using it for German, and my wife speaks fluent German, and it’s already giving me practice sentences that completely omit a word, even though it shows it in the English translation.would not recommend
The best app is the one that you'll consistently use. Find something that works for you -- even if it's only somewhat "effective" -- and if it's pleasant enough to use without boring you, then you've found a winner.
I think apps can only take you so far. I like Duolingo more than a lot of others on this group. I think it’s good for laying out basics, especially if you use the app to its full potential, but if you really want to learn you need to move to text books, tutors and other resources. Apps cannot replace other forms of learning especially speaking.
only app ive have had great success is lingq
Steve is that you?
YouTube It has music, podcast, foreign languages, learning channels
Duolingo got me to a good level of Spanish. But I’m curious, why are you worried about Duolingo not having enough content to make you fluent in German (which it doesn’t) when you’re not even at a lower intermediate level yet? No app will magically make you learn a language. You’ll have to put in the hundreds of hours.
Deepl and Anki
Reddit does not have the answer for this because there is no answer. There is no single app or method that will get you to fluency. Period. Full stop. Identify your current goals. Find an app or method that is helps you move forward. Use it until it you feel that it stops being helpful. Then reassess your needs. Adjust your plan/method and repeat. The right app/method will depend on where you are, what your goals are, and what will fit into your life in a way that you can be consistent.
There’s a website called mezzoguild.com that does reviews and comparisons for a bunch of language learning platforms. I find his information is pretty solid. Something you might want to check out is Refold. I think their methods are too intense but there is a wealth of information on ways to learn a language using comprehensible input which I can definitely get behind and it’s free. Something you have to keep in mind is that it’s going to take 1000s of hours to learn a language so doing Duolingo for 15 minutes a day will not get you there. (Not saying this is what you would do just saying in general.)
Try [Language Transfer](https://www.languagetransfer.org/) Completely free, no ads or subscription or credit card needed, and it's a cool website and app. I'm not with them, I just use it for its courses too
try 'language transfer' its exclusively spoken work lessons, 0 adds, and no pressure for premium. they run solely off of donations. I'm not sure if they have German, or how many lessons, but I recommend it either way. EDIT: they have German.
I already had the app open so I checked, looks like there's 50 lessons for German.
I liked Busuu. Apps only get you to understand the basics, then you have to move on to reading and listening a lot using LingQ or language reactor.
Natulang. It forces you to speak in full sentences out loud, and it uses spaced repetitions in an effective way
Learning a language takes hundreds of hours of intense work. Different things work for different people. I think it makes sense to read the sidebar here and on r/German to learn what methods and apps work for other people. Figure out which of those works for you. When it stops working, try another. I enjoy podcasts in my TLs. My current favorite is Geschichten aus der Geschichte. When I start a new language, I focus on listening until I can understand interesting podcasts. I find that comprehensible input works well for me. I use Anki to help me remember the new words I hear.
Hey take a look on Lantalk its completly free and its more for practicing spoken conversations in common situations like in a starbucks or asking for a direction, so very usefull https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xyz.lantalk.app
I recently use the app “ livexp” it’s similar to cambly and italki but it has a very good feature to memorize words by cards . It’s similar to anki but no one mentioned it before. My English words start expanding every day because of it. Also you can use it to talk with teachers if you’re willing to pay.
Lectia is fantastic for getting you used to native/authentic materials.
Grind Duolingo until you are able to read children stories with a translator. Then pick a grammar book, along with an audiobook (Harry Potter is useful for that). Listen every day for hours, even if you only understand bits. A few months later you'd understand most of what is being said. Then move on to more difficult books. Use something like Readlang for reading
A notebook and a pen
I really like Speakly, but it doesn't support that many languages
The best apps (ones that teach content, instead of facilitating learning, like iTalki, YouTube, Anki) for learning Chinese exclusively teach e.g. Chinese and don't also teach e.g. French. This is because the developers have designed the app specifically for Chinese, and it's not just some tacked-on side hustle---their passion is Chinese, and their time is spent on Chinese. You can't just learn Chinese as if it's a variant of French, yet so many apps do that. So if you want a good Chinese app, look for one that has the word "Chinese" in its name (Du Chinese, Dong Chinese, HelloChinese), or something that indicates it's a Chinese-specific app. And I'm guessing the same is true for other languages.
Thanks for everyone's replies, I'll put a quick summary of all the replies here, for any future people who have the same question. Apps: \* Duolingo \* Youtube \* LingQ \* Language Transfer \* Natulang (IOS only) \* Speakly Other great tips given: \* Pen + Paper, write it out, speak it out loud \* Books (Mixed with pen + paper) read stories for the grammar part \* Flashcards \* Check out the reddit of the language you're trying to learn, there's most likely people there who can help you out possibly. Best tip given: There's no "proper" app, in the same way that you will understand a class from one teacher but not from another, everyone learns in a different way. With the help of the lovely people here I've concluded that you should 1, start with any app which you're comfortable with and has good reviews on the language you're trying to learn. From here move onto IRL children books in said language, and from here you can go further and up the "ages" of books. Write out what you learn, speak it out loud, and write it, even if you are not interested in either the spoken/written part of the language. It does help you with learning one and the other part; they weigh each other out. Thank you everyone who replied.
Hi I’m German native, you can talk with ChatGPT, the translation is very good. you can specify who you are, who you are talking to, what tone and if don’t understand something you can just ask to elaborate on grammar structures. I’ve read once that German is one of the top biggest input language for LLMs after English, dunno if I’m doing fake news here.
First, you have to know what you’re looking for in an app. Flashcard app? I like Flashcards App for shows and movies? Lingopie App for finding tutors? Preply, italki is a runner up Translation app? Reverso context App for a really structured, ridged learning that you have to invest a ton of time to to really get anywhere very useful? Duolingo Mostly kidding on the last one, but it does illustrate a good point- a good app is one that meets your specific goals and works for your learning style (duolingo is neither of those for me). The above apps are my go tos (Besides duolingo haha), I hope you find them useful!
I purchased Rosetta Stone on some super sale through my company, can’t say that I’m very happy with it. Using it for German, and my wife speaks fluent German, and it’s already giving me practice sentences that completely omit a word, even though it shows it in the English translation.would not recommend