Advice for language apps

If you are interested in learning to read and write the language, Duolingo is absolutely the best -- for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, and maybe Danish and Swedish. It's free and very good if you are willing to make a reasonable investment of time.

Also, Google Translate and a good dictionary app can come in handy.

I would love to hear recommendations for phrasebooks and such.

paul,

i use the back of Rick Steves books and google translation.

If you care to, look at "word lens" app. i think its cool. its for printed text. I dont use it as much for travel but i did use it to translate an newspaper article when i was in Prague.

happy trails.

paul,

Could you elaborate on what functions you want these language Apps for? Are you interested in something more like a language dictionary, something with just simple phrases or something that can actually translate sentences? Also, which platform are you using (iOS, Android, Windows)?

As the others have mentioned, you should be able to get by quite nicely in France and Germany by learning a few of the common polite greetings, and using a Phrasebook for reference. You'll probably find that most of the people you'll be dealing with are able to function in English to some extent.

Word Lens is cool for "magically" translating any phrase you point your camera at. But for actual "reading-up" and sightseeing use in those two countries, I only use Rick Steve's phrasebooks; they include lots of other cultural tips at the same time.

If you just want to learn some simple phrases, then I really like earworms. They repeat phrases set to music. For me, this really works. If you are a person who always has a song looping through your brain, you might try these apps. You can try a sample here:

http://earwormslearning.com/testdrive/english/