In the last couple weeks I have been fortunate to line up a future job in ESL after I graduate. The problem? It’s in Iceland, and I know nearly NOTHING in Icelandic. This doesn’t stop me though. Before moving to Japan I only knew “konichiwa” and “arigato” (which to this day only rolls through my mind to the tune of ‘domo arigato mr. Roboto’.) Otherwise my Japanese skill was limited to ordering from a sushi menu. How then, you may ask, did I survive going solo to foreign lands, and living for the better part of a year?  In addition to embracing the adventure, I learned.

About a week before flying to Tokyo, I pushed myself to learn to count to ten, say ‘yes’ and ‘no’, and the rest I would have to figure out later. After settling in to my town to teach I enrolled in free language lessons in the community centre, and was “fully emersed”.

Now, seeing the benefit of having more than a week to prepare, I have downloaded some free language learning apps to review. I will be trying to learn Icelandic, though if an app doesn’t have it, Ill give French a go.

1. DuoLingo

Pros: COMPLETELY FREE! Offers the main popular languages (German, Spanish,more challenging etc.) and even Klingon is “Hatching”. (Yes my Trekkies, you too will be able snarl with proper grammar.) When signing up for the app, you can connect to your friends from social media and challenge each other in your progress, and you can log in on their website, or the app and continue your progress. DuoLingo will send you “reminders” to do your daily lesson and stay on your streak, and you can link your language ability to your linkedin profile. Additionally, it is set up like a came, where you earn “Lingots” by completing lessons to buy a one day ‘streak freeze’, outfits for the cartoon owl, and bonus lessons (eg. how to flirt, or idioms).

Cons: limited selection of languages available. While it does help with the ability to remember vocabulary, the voice recording is not sensitive enough to tell if your pronunciation is ok, and if you fall out of your “daily streak”, you don’t feel as motivated to start again. All work has to be done online.

Languages:

(for English speakers available on app) Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Esperanto, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Welsh.

Overall ****

 

2. Memrise

Pros: Tracks daily progress, and lessons can be downloaded for offline learning, and the language list is extensive. As an archaeologist, I really like that it has ancient and dead languages, and there is even ASL for me to practice my signing. Pneumonic devices are suggested, and there is an emphasis on sight words. It’s a very easy program to figure out. Hints and tips for remembering words have been provided by fellow users, and give tricks for figuring out the pronunciation, which make the app feel more like a community.

Con: If you don’t do well with sight words this may be tough, as you have to remember how to spell them a short time after seeing them. The free edition has plenty of free modules to learn the basics of a language, and to get progress tracking and unlimited access to all modules you would need to subscribe. (Though its not necessary.)

Languages:

English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Afrikaans, Akan-Twi, Albanian, American Sign Language, Ancient Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Arabic, Armenian, +about 80 more. Has dead languages and 3 types of sign language. Creek was the only First Nation language that I saw, But I was impressed with the variety.

Overall ****

 

3. uTalk

Pros: Vast majority of the languages needed for traveling. (136 including variations in the same language. eg. Portuguese for Portugal vs Brazil, or US English vs UK English.) It is set up similarly to Rosetta Stone, though much cheaper.

Cons: The first module is free for all languages, then you need to purchase a module that goes beyond the “starter pack”. The starter pack just gives you a taste of the language, (“Hello”,”Goodbye”, “Help!”) though it is good to see if you want to continue on that language.

Languages: 117 common languages.

Overall: ***

 

4. FluentU

Pros: language learning in increments by ability. Uses video which is good for audio visual learners. Songs and videos can be downloaded to play offline.

Cons: Limited languages available.

Languages: Chinese, Spanish, English, French, German, Japanese

Overall: ***

 

5. Babbel

Pros: Downloadable for offline use. Uses learned language in a conversational setting.

Cons: After the initial “starter” lesson, you have to subscribe to access further lessons. The microphone for speech recognition is quick and you need to have a rhythm or you may miss it recording.

Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Dutch, Indonesian, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian, Russian

Overall: ***