Best language learning app/program?

My husband has been experimenting with Duolingo and Babbel to learn French for the last couple of years. He even got a subscription with Babbel. He was pretty dedicated with Duolingo for a long time but just got to a point where he couldn't make progress and never really learned to speak with it, then he tried Babbel. However, this also dried up when they kept introducing grammar that they hadn't talked about and he felt lost. He is now in an Alliance Française class and has been through A1.1 and A1.2. He is a bit ahead of the class in knowledge but is at least practicing speaking. He is not disturbing the class by having this advance knowledge.

If I just wanted a bit of a basis for travel I would do some Duolingo for pronunciation and work also with a phrasebook. My husband and I have retirement plans that involve French, hence his motivation. It is easy to pick up the basics with a bit of self-study but if you are really serious I would join a class. However, neither Duolingo nor most classes will have the tourist phrases you might need, hence the phrasebook.

Lavandula

I tried Duolingo for some Spanish, but gave up after a few weeks. It doesn't teach you how to speak really, other than pronunciation and some vocabulary. There are some YouTube videos that might be helpful.

I've been using the Pimsleur language system for several years, and find that it works well for my learning style. The lessons have typical conversations and each lesson reinforces some of the material from the previous lesson. I've been using it with SD cards on an older PDA platform, but I've just loaded the Pimsleur App on my phone, and I'm going to use that from now on.

I've looked at a number of websites that purport to have a list of The best language learning apps for 2026 and there doesn't seem to be a consensus across the sites on which app is "the best". Each of us has a different learning style, and what works for one person may not work as well for another.

If I have difficulties with the language in any country, I can always resort to "Live Translate" on my phone.

I use a few simultaneously when I'm learning a new language or improving on one. I like the Babbel app's system for the bulk of my learning. I do sprinkle in free Duoling as a fun gamified way to pump vocab but as a stand-alone it's pretty worthless. I really like the Coffee Break podcasts for walks and exercise. (I slow it down to .9 speed.). Those are just fantastic quick bites for learning language and particularly useful for working on situational language. e.g. you're booking a hotel room or you're asking directions. They build upon previous lessons so it helps with repetition and reinforcement.

If you’re really serious I would also recommend a class- similar to what Lavendula has recommended for Alliance Française you can look for your local Instituto Cervantes, which may also have online options.

I've been using the Pimsleur language system for several years

I like Pimsleur, too. The biggest challenge for me, though, is that the native speakers haven't listened to the Pimsleur lessons and don't respond correctly 🙂.

I've had the most success learning languages by doing online lessons. My preferred platform is italki.

Other than as a courtesy and to show respect to the counties we visit, do we need to learn a foreign language for travel? The translate apps (Apple, Google, etc.) are incredible. And with Apple's EarPods offer live translation into English. I have used the apps for many conversations that otherwise could not have taken place and will have EarPods for my next trip.

Google has released an AI-drive version that allows for practice and some individualized learning. They, however, do not claim that this feature is an independent language learning application.

It likely wouldn't be possible to learn the language of countries one is visiting, especially if the trip involves several countries. Unfortunately I don't have the abilities of a Polyglot. However, I always try to learn some of the polite words and phrases for each of the countries I visit. When I first started travelling to Europe, there was no Google Translate so I wanted to at least make an effort to learn a bit.

Other than as a courtesy and to show respect to the counties we visit, do we need to learn a foreign language for travel?

The "courtesy" aspect is true, but I think there's another subtle layer. People sincerely appreciate it when you make an effort to learn and speak their language. I think it helps create a little bridge that doesn't exist when using an app. It's been a conversation starter in countless situations over the decades.

But I like learning languages so it's fun for me. And once you learn one, the others in that family tend to be easier to pick up.

I prefer Pimsleur to Duolingo. Duolingo seems to just drill vocabulary, while Pimsleur presents its lessons as conversations.

I was looking for the same thing before a trip and realized most apps taught me the formal version more than what i'd actually hear walking around.

Ended up using DoThisLingo for spanish and it was way more useful for travel because it focuses on how people actually speak day to day instead of just textbook phrases. worth a look if your goal is talking to locals more naturally.

My husband used Duolingo and I used Pimsleur. Pimsleur for the win! What I liked about Pimsleur is you are working on conversations with native speakers speaking at the speed you will hear.

If you have some knowledge of the basics of a language, listening to a friendly youtube video series can be helpful. I enjoy Italian (though don't speak it at all well), so I've s-l-o-w-ed down a friendly series on Italian cities to 70% or 80% (settings has a speed button) and just listen along with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeg-ALJiS-k Admittedly, this isn't a beginner app. Even if I don't understand much, I enjoy exploring new cities!

I also love learning languages, though I'm not fluent in anything but English. As a "senior" citizen (still hard to think of myself as that), it's supposedly good exercise for your brain.

I used the free version of Duolingo before a 2017 trip to Italy, and it gave me a basic grounding in the language. For example, it was sufficient for me to be able to tell the hotel front desk in Venice that "Ci sono molte formiche nel nostro bagno." ("There are many ants in our bathroom.") Didn't really expect to use the word for "ant" while in Italy, but there you are.

But I came home and almost all of the Italian promptly fell out of my brain. (My memory isn't what it used to be.)

Starting at least a year before our next trip to Italy, in 2024, I used Babbel. (The free version of Duolingo had become too ad-ridden; never tried the paid version.) On that trip, I felt like I could understand 40-50% of what was said to me.

Babbel has useful extras, such as podcasts, to give you lots of practice. It also offers live online classes at an extra cost. I never tried those, but I'm sure they would be useful. I thought the price was cheap and worth it. You can even get a lifetime plan for $300, allowing you access to all their languages.

If you REALLY want to learn a language (such as, you're moving there), nothing beats live classes except actual immersion.

As an estadounidense living in Mexico, I'm very interested in this topic. I've done Duolingo, but it did not help me understand what local Spanish speakers were saying to me. I had a Spanish teacher for a while, and I went for a two-week immersion program in Oaxaca. These helped a lot, but because I live in a community with so many expats from the US and Canada, English is widely spoken, and I have little opportunity to practice conversation. I get by to some extent in limited conversation with locals, but I can't really communicate effectively, especially on the phone.

I'm not convinced that any of the apps or programs will allow me to attain a fluency, but I'm willing to be convinced. Some have suggested watching YouTube videos or Mexican TV shows, first with English subtitles and then without. But so far, when I've tried that I haven't felt like I'm actually learning to understand what's being said.

I'm open to any other ideas.

At the moment, I am using the Mango app to practice a little Spanish before my trip to Spain. I'm not even aiming for fluency. The Mango Spanish program is for Latin American Spanish and culture so that might be good for Lane. Thus far, I feel Mango is working better for me than my previous experience trying Duolingo and Jump Speak (but for French). If you have a public library card, you can register for Mango for free. For me, Duolingo was too gamified. I felt I was getting good at doing Duolingo but not getting better at the language. Jump Speak only works on a phone, not a laptop, and would periodically crash on my iphone. I have had no technical issues with the Mango app. Mango seems to be helping me with listening comprehension.

I've studied French since high school and I majored in French in college. I have done two immersion studies of several months in France including at Alliance Française in Paris. I've taken private lessons, and joined conversation groups. Watched movies in French, read French books, and listened to French podcasts. I've done Rosetta Stone, Duo Lingo, and Coffee Break French. I've hosted French exchange students.

Let me just say that I've covered a LOT of bases in my study of French and all that just to reach a minimum level of fluency. But the Number One thing that propelled me ahead in my speaking skills was having a conversation partner. Nothing takes you to the next level like conversing with a native speaker.

Therefore the best app/program is one where you link up with a native speaker who wants to learn English and practice together.

Everyone learns differently, of course, and everyone would have their own preference. There's no one way to do it.

My philosophy is, children don't learn to speak a language by going to grammar class or studying vocabulary. They learn how to get what they want. They learn how to say things like "I want a cookie."
So I started learning Spanish by just learning some essential sentences. Then I got on YouTube and went to the videos that do sentences in Spanish with English translation. After a while, the vocabulary and the grammar began to stick.

Then I got on an AI chatbot occasionally and asked questions like "why do they say it this way?"
I am a long way from fluent, but I am at the point where I can get around in Spain and interact with people.

The important thing is to do something that seems least like work. Don't do something that you're gonna get tired of or get bored with and drop it. The essential thing is the hours and hours and hours you spend practicing.

Other than as a courtesy and to show respect to the counties we visit, do we need to learn a foreign language for travel?

jkh, probably not, but I didn't learn how to speak German because I was traveling to Germany (although I like speaking German when I'm there). I started learning after I retired, because I was no longer practicing law. I wanted to think outside the box a bit, stretch my brain cells, and basically ward off dementia. And it's fun. I like it, and it keeps my brain working. 😊

I do agree that speaking with other people is the best way to learn. My writing and grammar is very good, my listening comprehension is decent, but speaking is where I need the most work. That said, there are things you can do, like talk to yourself when you're in the car, ask AI to chat with you in the relevant language, or subscribe to something like Italki, which pairs you with native speakers.

I will say the older you are, the harder it gets. My 8-year-old grandson is trying to learn Portuguese right now on Duolingo, and I'm amazed at how much he has picked up in just 3 to 4 weeks.

Apparently Rosetta Stone has a new version available called Saphire. I don't know a lot about it yet or how effective it is, but I thought it would be useful to post about it in this thread.

Ken, it hasn't gotten very good reviews. Here's one article about it: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/rosetta-stone

Posted by StellaB
Atlanta, Georgia
09/02/26 07:47 PM
318 posts
Report
I've studied French since high school and I majored in French in college. I have done two immersion studies of several months in France including at Alliance Française in Paris. I've taken private lessons, and joined conversation groups. Watched movies in French, read French books, and listened to French podcasts. I've done Rosetta Stone, Duo Lingo, and Coffee Break French. I've hosted French exchange students.
Let me just say that I've covered a LOT of bases in my study of French and all that just to reach a minimum level of fluency.

The problem is French taught in school is written French, which is quite diffrent from street French. That's true to some extent with every language but street French is almost a different language. I'm virtually bilingual having learnt English from infancy and French from age 7 (nearly 65 years), and have no detectable accent (thanks to the neuroplasticity of the child'd brain I possessed whilst learning..:my spouse learnt English in late-teens and still has a faint accent a native-speaker can detect). However as I have not spoken French on a daily basis for many decades, I'm perpetually flummoxed by slang when watching French films or TV programmes made in recent years.

Knowing French fluently lets me read Italian, Spanish and Portugese with almost complete comprehension, listening is about 50%, but speaking is down round 10%. All the foregoing however are much easier to discern one word from another even when spoken at native speed. Due to a phenomenon known as liason, French is like trying to visually perceive individual train cars as the train passes by at speed. The other Romance languages don't exhibit it as profoundly.

Due to a phenomenon known as liason, French is like trying to visually
perceive individual train cars as the train passes by at speed. The
other Romance languages don't exhibit it as profoundly

Yes, and also why it is so difficult to speak French in a way that sounds natural to a native. The vocabulary and rules of grammar are easy in comparison to how it is spoken - like when you liaison and when you don't. (For example, is it "pah" encore or "paz" encore? I was always taught the liaison was used there, but I never hear French people say it that way!)

Mardee,

Thanks for the update. I tend to prefer Pimsleur but would have at least looked at Saphire if it got good reviews.

I find that one of the most difficult aspects of French for me is the pronunciation. I can manage reasonably well if I rehearse what I'm going to say. That method worked well for me on a visit to Lausanne a few years ago. As I live in Canada, I've been exposed to French all my life although that's not as prevalent here in B.C.

I'm most interested in learning Italian so that's what I'm focusing on at the moment.

Posted by StellaB
Atlanta, Georgia
09/05/26 04:29 PM
318 posts
The vocabulary and rules of grammar are easy in comparison to how it is spoken - like when you liaison and when you don't. (For example, is it "pah" encore or "paz" encore? I was always taught the liaison was used there, but I never hear French people say it that way!)

Depends on the region, age/class/education (and increasingly nowadays in France, the native language) of the speaker.

For those learning and/or seeking to up their conversational-French game, might I suggest the Youtube channel Français Avec Nelly. She's quite focussed on sounding natural and current. The only caveat is a septuagenarian appears ridiculous in any language trying to speak like a teenager/twentysomething.

It's not just about talking to people: it helps with reading signs, instructions, railroad schedules, menus, etc. It enhances the experience. Not everyone you encounter can, or wants to speak english with you. And even if they do, they likely dont understand everything you're saying anyway.

I think one has to start with what your realistic goal is, and how much time you are willing to invest in it. MY best experience was with a package of tourist-focused Italian CDs, that i listened to in the car while commuting every day for a year. I've done the others - Rosetta, Babel, Duolingo, Pimsleur, local classes, etc, for a number of different languages pre-trip. And they all help somewhat. but most of us don't have time to learn the basic grammar rules first, and "where's the bańo" later.

Hi jms1902,
I think it all depends on what your goals are for learning the language. Do you want to simply learn polite phrases? How to order at a restaurant? Or dive deeper to actually learn the language?

Any of the apps will be great for giving you an introduction to most used phrases (where's the train station; where's the bathroom; I'll order a beer, please; etc) as well as typical responses to these phrases. YouTube is also a great resource for getting some conversational language basics down.

If you are looking to really dive deep and learn a language, I'd look to a language school (online or in person) rather than an appn to learn both the written and spoken parts of the language. Just my 2 cents...

jms1902 and all,
My best language learning "program" was spending time with hubby's family in France. (Background...four years each French and Spanish in high school, plus one year of Latin and a quarter each of Russian and Arabic; minors in French and Spanish lit in college that required lots of reading lit in the original...think Don Quijote.) The classes over eight years taught me well regarding grammar, spelling, reading and speaking (even with a decent accent!). Comprehension of the spoken word, however, was not so good. Conversations were not easy, to say the least. I just hadn't developed an "ear" for the conversational word.

Fast forward to a total of six weeks in France mostly among hubby's relatives (as part of a four month European trip). Every day I was immersed in a French-only environment and it really stretched my mental muscles. My faux pas in getting tripped up by false cognates were often hilarious. I often went to bed with a headache from my efforts at following the conversations. As time went on, I got better at understanding French, speaking it fluently, and even was able to make a few jokes that were dependent on some fluency in the language. The headaches went away also.

Just fyi, the family made good efforts at speaking English or trying to clarify things I didn't catch, and hubby translated when needed, but I wanted to nail that French comprehension! And I did, to a greater extent than I had hoped for. But I have lost a good amount of that ability in the ensuing years. Six trips back to France since that 1974 "immersion", and several family visits TO us have helped, but aging and sparsity of encounters have diminished my French. I try to keep up by watching French TV programs, and of course do write in French to correspond in with family, etc. It takes me 2-3 days to get back to some ease of conversation with each encounter.

I have no experience with any of the systems discussed here, but I can say that immersion really works (after some studies, however, to learn some grammar, spelling, basic pronunciation and vocabulary). Mine was in the classroom.

I studied German for a little while a couple of years ago. Then we switched our plans from Germany to Spain. So I studied Spanish for a little while. We did go to Spain and I used my Spanish.

Now we have gone on an unexpected trip to Germany and Switzerland. We are in Zurich right now. Of course they speak German. But whenever I interact with anyone here, what keeps popping out of my mouth uncontrollably is Spanish.

what keeps popping out of my mouth uncontrollably is Spanish.

Haha, me too. I think it's because I learned some Spanish in 3 years of high school, went to Mexico quite a few times in my twenties, and the Spanish is buried deeper in my little cranium.

The German and French classes i took in college are not as deeply buried.

what keeps popping out of my mouth uncontrollably is Spanish.

Back in 2017, we traveled to Italy, and I studied Italian for a while before we went. Five years later, we were going to France, so I worked on learning French. We got off the plane in Paris after our red-eye, and found our driver. He asks me a yes-no question, and without hesitation I answered "Si." Sigh. I'll blame jet lag for that one.

Regarding pronunciation, and language learning in general: My favorite language to learn so far is Italian. Once you learn just a few tricks (such as when "c" is pronounced as "k" vs "ch"), you have a great shot at a passable pronunciation of any word you see. My impression of French is that they like to throw in a lot of extra letters that don't get pronounced. Now I'm studying German: they like to throw in a lot of extra letters too, mostly consonants, and they want you to pronounce every one of them!

I really enjoy doing Rosetta Stone. I bought the 30 languages program, five levels, for $199. about 5 years ago and have done Spanish, Italian, French and German on it.
It isn’t a very broad exposure to the language, but I love especially the grammar units and the core units.