Overall, we think Drops is a fun way to expand your vocabulary for the majority of the over 30 languages it teaches. Use it with caution for languages with logographic scripts, too: the “spell by syllables” game sometimes splits the syllables wrong, effectively cutting kanji in half. For example, the Japanese course has a section on Japanese etiquette, traditional culture and cooking, and popular culture.īe warned that Drops isn’t ideal for Icelandic and other languages where you can’t tell the noun’s grammatical gender by looking at the article (the/a/an) or the word’s ending.

It also has some culturally specific topics. If you’re fed up with confusing almonds and walnuts, or wish you knew how to talk about your bike gears and chain, this app will help you out. The topics go from essentials and travel talk through to sea life, tools, makeup, politics, and the gym. What it will do, however, is teach you over 2,400 pieces of vocabulary. Dropsįreemium app Drops won’t show you how to make sentences, choose the right noun class, or pretty much anything grammatical. Learn basic Korean phrases with LingoDeer. Read the full LingoDeer review or visit the LingoDeer website to download the app. LingoDeer also teaches different scripts fairly well, but we’re happy to report that you can skip these sections if you already know them. The units end with speaking and native-audio listening activities, as well as comprehension quizzes. They’re particularly good for drilling sentence structure, yet there are also entertaining tasks for vocabulary and writing. Speaking of the games, we were impressed by the variety of activities. Reading it is optional, and the games do a pretty effective job of demonstrating how the grammar works anyway, but it’s nice to be able to review these when needed.

Each unit begins with a clear grammar breakdown. This cute, gamified app started off catering for East Asian languages before expanding to European ones and Arabic.

If we’re honest, we think LingoDeer is better than Duolingo. However, they have their own strengths (and weaknesses!).īest for languages with few resources: Ling Language-Learning Apps & Sites That Aren’t Like DuolingoĮach of these apps is fairly similar to Duolingo in terms of the format: you will learn the language through short, gamified, daily practice.

Duolingo app free