- Duolingo
Duolingo is no doubt one of the most well-rounded mobile apps for language that you can download. Offering great support for a good number of languages, it is easy to expand your linguistic prowess with this free app. Perhaps one of the reason for its “iPhone App of the Year” and “Best of the Best in Google Play” awards is its gamified structure. With Duolingo, learning a new language is all sorts of fun.
Some of the languages that you can learn on Duolingo are Polish, Hindi, Japanese, Swahili, Klingon, and High Valyrian.
- Babbel
Babbel comes with free and paid versions. There are about 40 classes in the free version, which is likely more than sufficient for a casual learner. Babbel takes a more traditional approach to language learning. The classes are categorized into degrees of difficulty or types of learning. Also adding more depth to the lessons are the sections on culture, teaching you about the people and places where the language is indigenous.
On Babbel, you can learn Danish, Turkish, French, Spanish, and many other popular languages.
What we love about Babbel: You can learn vocabulary that’s relevant to your life by choosing courses specific to travel, business, or other scenarios.
You can download Babbel for Android and iOS.
- Busuu
Busuu is one of the top language learning apps and comes with both free and premium versions. Just like Duolingo, this app adds a fun factor to the whole learning experience. With its gamified lessons and beautiful user interface, your road to language fluency will be easy on Busuu. It allows for user feedback and socialization with other learners, too.
Busuu offers sessions in German, Chinese, Italian, Russian, and many more languages.
What we love about Busuu: Want to learn the best way to pronounce words or phrases? Busuu native speakers will give you feedback. You get to return the favor to those learning your language, too.
Busuu is available for web, iPhone, iPad, and Android.
- Memrise
Joining the ranks of free language learning apps that don’t take the traditional route is Memrise. This free mobile and web app offers unique teaching methods that will surely make lesson retention much easier. One great example is the way it makes use of your native language’s phonemes to expand your knowledge of another language. Another way that this app is efficient is its use of images for better word or phrase association.
Memrise can be downloaded for web, Android, or iOs. The app supports offline learning as well. It offers lessons on Dutch, Arabic, Korean, Norwegian, and Slovenian, among many others.
What we love about Memrise: Memrise really ingrains vocabulary into your brain by using spaced repetition and mnemonics. When it comes to expanding vocabulary in a foreign language, Memrise is a top choice.
- HelloTalk
For learners who prefer to dive right into real conversations, HelloTalk is a great language learning app. Very much like a social media network, HelloTalk gives you a chance to interact with native speakers and chat with them in the platform itself. Some of its great features are the in-built correction tool and the integrated translation system.
Make new friends and learn a new language on HelloTalk for iOS or Android. HelloTalk supports more than 150 languages.
What we love about HelloTalk: On HelloTalk, you can share images or drawings with your student/teacher. This is another way to open topics of conversations or learn new words with other users.