This week I
got no less than one-googol (not Google) google alerts from FluentU. (Get it? One-googol google alerts! Sorry, not sorry, for the math humor…) Anyway, quite a few of the links were broken
(not annoying at all) and many were to websites that write essays in English
for you. (Wow…exactly what I want my students to find on the Internet!) The first one that actually got my attention was
a blog post on the top 10 Language Learning Apps. You won’t be surprised to find out that the
#1 app listed on FluentU’s Blog
was (drum roll please) FluentU!
The blog
provided a nice list of mobile apps for learning another language. According to Cook (2019), there are many apps
out there, some good, some bad, and some in between. She recommends choosing a program that is
interactive and teaches you language in context (not just a bunch of
flashcards). It should be easy to use
and figure out from the very start. Of the
top ones she listed, each have pros and cons which she reviews. More importantly, it doesn’t really matter
which app you choose from the list of good ones as long as you…ready for it…COMMIT to using the program
consistently.
Cook (2019)
provides a comprehensive review of each program she recommends, including a
YouTube video for each program. All ten
are IOS and Android friendly and being mobile seems to be key! The couple of programs I recognized were Rosetta
Stone and Duolingo. Personally, I used
Duolingo last summer to brush up on Spanish which I took several levels of in
high school and college (all As if you must know). I enjoyed using Duolingo, but didn’t use it
past the first few weeks of summer due to a lack of COMMITMENT! I’d like
to give a few of the other apps a try which provide video and podcast lessons which
may be more engaging for me. I'd be interested to try a language I don't have any experience with.
In a
related blog post by Baggio (2019), the author reviews the top 8 apps list for learning
English. FluentU is again at the top (no
surprise), but Duolingo and Rosetta Stone are right there as well. Duolingo is the only one of the 8 that is FREE. Check out the list here.
References
Baggio. (2019,
April 15). Drumroll Please! The 8 Best Apps for Learning English Are...
Retrieved from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/best-apps-for-learning-english/
Cook, E. (2019,
June 13). The 10 Best Language Learning Apps for User-friendly Study. Retrieved
from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/best-language-learning-apps-3/
While looking over the list of additional apps mentioned there were several common, well-known ones that stood out to me such as Rosetta Stone, Babbel, and Duolingo. I was also surprised at the cost of some of the additional apps that were listed. I would be interested in seeing side by side and pros and cons comparisons of the free vs. cost apps listed.
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