Duolingo vs Babbel vs Tandem

Here are a few language mobile apps to check out (Android and iOS)

-Dulingo

The most popular language app and it's free! (The lessons are random and the offline mode is limited)

Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Russian, Ukrainian, Esperanto, Polish and Turkish.

-Babble

 The lessons here are broken down into 10-15min and focus on some conversational phrases. There are some free lessons and then you have to pay $5-$10 a month.

Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Polish, Indonesian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian.

- TANDEM 

Geared more towards coversations with native speakers. To sign up you need a Google or Facebook account and it might take some time for the moderators to check your application.

Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and nearly 150 other languages.

Has anyone tried any of these apps? I've used Dulingo and Babbel (free trail). I think they're both great tools for extra practice.

+i used duolingo for a time but it is only good if you really are committed to regularly practicing to keep your skills fresh you need to keep recapping everything and if you take a week off you are right back to learning hello goodbye so that sucks ... think i started the language over 3 times the last few years! but i would definitely recommend it to serious learners easy to use site information is taught in number of ways.It has visuals to help. 8/10 

It's true Duolingo is demanding, but hey, if you make it your habit and use it every single day for 20-30 minutes, you will learn sth and it will stay with you!

Good thing - the comments section, there are really knowledgeable persons there able to answer and guide you though a language problem.

Duolingo and Busuu are both good for vocab and basic grammar but they won't really help you become conversational. For that, you'd need to attend a class or look into great audio books.

Or live in the country where the language is spoken :) Visit, travel through, get vacation, a project/program - anything, just to be there couple of weeks.

When I studied Russian for 2 years I was basically talking...but it wasn't really conversational and I couldn't get a sometimes what natives were saying. When I had a semester in Moscow (4months) - I almost became fluent (with slang, hearing places of origin) and made C1 certificate... 

It was like day and night. I had to learn quick and survive :D

I felt this. I've been speaking English for 15+ years both at home and at work. Spent a month in Australia and when I came back, even I heard that some of my pesky local sentence stress patterns were gone. Sadly, this option isn't readily available to me. :(

I like Babbel. I used Duolingo too for a while. But they need you to be online with your mobile device to practice. You cant download lessons.

Thats why i choose Babbel. And the lessons are way cooler in my opinion. 

Aaron-Samuel.Hauck wrote:

I like Babbel. I used Duolingo too for a while. But they need you to be online with your mobile device to practice. You cant download lessons.
Thats why i choose Babbel. And the lessons are way cooler in my opinion.

Can you still learn even if you're strictly a free user?

Jessica.Moreno wrote:

Aaron-Samuel.Hauck wrote:

I like Babbel. I used Duolingo too for a while. But they need you to be online with your mobile device to practice. You cant download lessons.
Thats why i choose Babbel. And the lessons are way cooler in my opinion.

Can you still learn even if you're strictly a free user?

no you need to have a subscription. I thinks its around 10$ a month. But I think it was worth it when i used to learn through an app. 

I'm super cheap. Hahahaha! Probably because I learned English without having to pay for it. :P

Jessica.Moreno wrote:

I'm super cheap. Hahahaha! Probably because I learned English without having to pay for it. :P

yeah me too. English was kinda easy. I learned spanish with babbel and talking to natives. That was a bit harder because i didnt have a foundation. 

That's my struggle when I was trying to learn French and Korean. I really didn't have anyone to talk to or practice with.

I tried the free trail of Babbel and I liked it. I will try the subscription version. I did Duolingo for a while but I kept starting over and grew tired of it.

What about Memrise? I used to use it a lot and actually liked it more than Duolingo.

I remember there funny approach to memes - you can choose own that resembles the word / sentence or create and upload your own :)

Memrise is a new one for me. Sounds fun! I'll check it out today. Thanks! :)

I've never heard of Memrise. Is it an app or do they also have a web-based platform?

@Jessica Moreno- both :)

https://www.memrise.com/

I think they differ a bit on phone and in browser PC, but are both very nicely done. Give it a try.

@Bartosz.Jablonski I tried the Memrise app yesterday and it's really quick, easy, and fun! I like it a lot and will definitely continue using it on the go! Thanks for sharing! :)

@Bartosz.Jablonski Thank you! I'll check it out. :)

Duolingo for me

aaronhawk wrote:

I like Babbel. I used Duolingo too for a while. But they need you to be online with your mobile device to practice. You cant download lessons.

Thats why i choose Babbel. And the lessons are way cooler in my opinion.

Can lessons be downloaded on Babbel?

TemitopeAkinyede wrote:

aaronhawk wrote:

I like Babbel. I used Duolingo too for a while. But they need you to be online with your mobile device to practice. You cant download lessons.
Thats why i choose Babbel. And the lessons are way cooler in my opinion.

Can lessons be downloaded on Babbel?

I only tried the free version of Babbel on the mobile. Hopefully somewhere might know. I'm also interested. Thanks for asking! :)

ikaymoreno wrote:

Duolingo and Busuu are both good for vocab and basic grammar but they won't really help you become conversational. For that, you'd need to attend a class or look into great audio books.

Exactly my thoughts. I tried Duolingo. It's good for basic vocab but it isn't really commendable for speech learning. I thought I had learned to speak some basic French greetings taught by Duolingo but when I tried to talk to a live person, the actual spoken accent is way different than what Duolingo taught me. Moral lesson: don't rely too much on non-human teachers :-D

Both apps are great for vocab building though. That and it's prefect for learners who don't have the time or the funds to take formal langauge lessons.