Language app/tool to learn French (or other language) for us tourists

I have tried Babbel - it was ok. A friend of ours moved to Italy several years ago and he used Pimsleur. I have used it as well and found it very helpful.

You may want to see if your local library has the Pimsleur cds or downloadable (via Libby or CloudLibrary, etc) Pimsleur lessons - you could try that before investing.

Also for free - you could try the Coffee Break French podcast (pretty helpful for travel) or Duolingo (not my favorite).

I tried the free versions of Duolingo and Jumpspeak. I had High School and some college French a very long time ago. The apps both helped me refresh things I once knew but I wasn't thrilled with either one. Duolingo, by design, is very gamified. I felt I was getting good at "playing" Duolingo without improving my French. I also didn't like getting slowed down by minor typos I made since my focus was on speaking not writing, and the audio part, where you are supposed to speak answers, didn't pick up well on my devices so it wasn't helpful for improving speaking. I found Jumpspeak better overall, but somewhat more tedious. Jumpspeak only works on mobile devices, no laptop option. There were some tech glitches with my iphone model (a recent SE). One feature I liked is that it has you speak and then shows you what it heard, which can then help with pronunciation. Most of the apps offer some kind of free trial so I recommend trying out a few to see what works for you.

I second Pimsleur. I have been using it both as a refresher for one language and for learning a new language. You learn words and phrases you can use right away as a tourist. I had CDs a while ago and now use the app.

For variation, I also like Easy French on YouTube. Their videos cover a variety of topics and skill levels.

Have a great trip!

No app or website will help. My suggestion is to sign up as an auditor at your local university and start with level 1. Also your local Alliance Française may offer online courses and certainly offers in person.

Our local Alliance Française has online classes as well as f2f (we are in Sydney). Hopefully you can find a class in a better time zone for you!

Lavandula

The BEST is the Alliance Française.
100% Français. Zero English crutch.
Excellent teachers.
I really enjoyed it.

I second the suggestion of looking at Easy French, very well done and appropriate, very useful for reviewing and relearning, which one can never do much of when it comes to foreign language mastery, be it on diction, nuance of words, contractions, expressions, regionalism, and so on. I enjoy picking up even snippets from East French.

Bottom line: it helps.

Many years ago when I needed to refresh my French skills to use at work I did the full Rosetta Stone course, and found that really helped. I think you can get it all as an app now. However, I agree with others who've suggested Alliance Francaise if you have the time/interest for an actual course with a person, rather than doing it yourself on the computer.

My experience with trying a variety of apps is that, while you will learn something, they are not effective for real life situations. I travelled to France for the first time in October, and decided to give Duolingo a good try. I worked at it for almost a year, but when I finally got to Paris I found I still struggled to understand the spoken language, and I still had trouble putting much of a sentence together. When I came home, discouraged with all the time I had spent with the app, I started looking at various YouTube videos, and came across Geraldine Lepere. She has quite a few short videos out that are quite good, and she also offers monthly courses you can sign up for (which I have yet to find time for) where the focus is on speaking about a specific topic each month (food, wine etc). I think watching the videos of native speakers will be far more effective than the gamified apps.

I think you need to be somewhat realistic regarding learning a language. Certainly if you have an interest and want a hobby, go for it, but unless you are going to be immersed in the language for months, your best hope is being able to read signs, understands menus, exchange polite phrases, small stuff, not sustaining a conversation. And, of course, once you arrive home, it will slowly slip from your mind.

Back when I tried to learn more, whether Spanish, Italian, German, or French; invariably what I found was if I attempted to initiate a conversation, I was immediately inundated with a torrent back, then having to ask to either repeat, or resort to English. In many cases, people preferred speaking in English, either to practice their skills, or to stop me from butchering their language. (The French particularly suffer pain on hearing rudimentary French).

Certainly try something like Babble or Pimsleur, it will help, make navigating your travels easier, I would try using it in conversation, but do not be disappointed if people politely prefer to speak English with you.

Paul a raison...

Paul is right. If you're just wanting to be a little more "fit" for a trip, the best way is to learn vocabulary for travel.

Back when I was wet behind the ears and not as good in French I remember staying at a hotel where there was a front desk guy who was adament to speak English. I ended up winning the war when he went to look for the word for dry laundry... "blanchissage". I responded with the word in French - as I had been insisting for almost 5 days and I had won the war. The rest of our conversations where done in French.

Agreeing that Paul is right: focus on travel/tourist phrases and words.

I've used all the different systems mentioned - Babbel, Rosetta Stone, DuoLingo, Piimsleur, local classes - at one time or another for a few different languages. Unless you have a lot of time and energy to dedicate, you cant get much past basic grammar. My most useful experience was with a no-name, generic set of French travel CDs that I got at Sam's Club. I listened to them in the car while commuting for a few months. By the time of my trip, I could hear and recognize basic phrases, but, no not hold a conversation.

My French skills are one year of college French. I have basic vocabulary but little ability to speak French. What proved very useful on our most recent trip was having the Rick Steves French phrase book and dictionary. It was great for figuring out issues like reading the regulations in parking lots and deciphering a situation with a tire gauge. I tried Babbel and did not find it useful.