6 Of The Best Apps For Language Learning In 2024

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Learning a language is a long-term goal and a pretty intense hobby, but on the upside, there are almost countless ways to engage with your target language. Even a few minutes of practice while you're queuing for lunch is worthwhile, and that's where language-learning apps can help you out. In just a few taps, you can start drilling vocabulary, reading example sentences, and acing listening exercises wherever you are. There are also apps to help you with more involved practice as well, such as conversing with real natives or reading long-form content.

Of course, not all apps are created equal. Some cost too much, some aren't made well enough, some are full of mistakes, some are too rigid in the answers they'll accept, and so on. Over the decade I've spent studying Japanese, I've downloaded just about every language-learning app there is, and most of them get deleted again pretty quickly. A few, however, have sat on my home screen for multiple years and helped me during various stages of my study. I have six apps to recommend in total, and they all accommodate a range of different languages. I've considered the quality of the software, the content, and the overall influence the apps had on my own study. One thing I've been less fussy about is the price. However, language learning is worth investing in, and many of the apps on this list are at their best when paid for. 

There's nothing new about using flashcards to study, but now that we have our fancy smartphones, you don't need to write your own cards out on paper—you can just download pre-made decks and practice on your phone. Anki is one of the most well-known flashcard programs around, thanks to its spaced recognition system. Cards you're bad at come up often, and as you start to master them, they'll start coming up less and less. If you can keep getting it right even when you haven't seen it in a full week, you'll know that information is nice and secure in your head rather than temporarily floating around in your short-term memory.

Anki is a very efficient way to drill vocabulary and grammar, so if you like to be efficient, it might be the app for you. For Japanese learners, it's one of the most popular ways to learn the 2,000 Chinese characters we need to be considered literate. There are all kinds of decks available and various ways to study with each one. For instance, you can practice by seeing the target language and recalling the English or by seeing the English and recalling the target language. The latter is much harder, so people tend to switch once they've mastered it. You can also find fill-in-the-blank decks to help with vocabulary, verb conjugation, or grammar decks that drill you on grammar points. While the app is free on Android, it costs a hefty $24.99 on iOS!

This app is a little different from the others because it's not aimed at providing mini-study sessions while you're out and about. Instead, it's a way to pay people to talk to you in your target language. iTalki is a platform of professional language tutors and nonprofessional community tutors you can work with over video calls. People tend to use the service in two main ways: for proper language lessons with certified teachers or for informal conversation practice with community tutors. The former is, of course, more expensive than the latter.

The app fills an important gap for people who are independently studying a language in a country where it isn't spoken. It's easy to read and listen to your target language all day, but a lot less easy to practice speaking. You can set up weekly lessons for regular practice or use the service to practice for a specific event. I personally used it to practice for Japanese interviews, for example. Every tutor has a page full of information about themselves and an introduction video showcasing them speaking in the different languages they work in. Prices start at $10 per hour for professional teachers and $5 per hour for community tutors, but you'll find some people charging as much as $40 per hour for their services. You can use the app on your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop—wherever it's easiest for you to take video calls, and the app is available on both iOS and Android.

The biggest tip for success when learning a language is to maximize the amount of time you spend engaging with it—and one thing the modern human is world-class at engaging with is social media. HelloTalk is a social media app specifically aimed at language learners—it aims to get you reading and writing in your target language with a Facebook-like news feed and partners you with natives so you can chat, call, or even meet up. Posts on HelloTalk can include text, photos, and voice recordings, and there's a special feature for making corrections to other people's posts or messages.

Many users write their posts in both their native and target language, as this gives natives in your target language a chance to read English and helps people understand what you wanted to write so they can correct you more effectively. You can also filter your news feed to show only people nearby, people you follow, people posting in your target language, or people studying the same language as you.

One downside to HelloTalk is that it has gotten a bit greedy in recent years. There's now a noticeable difference in the number of users who see your posts if you have a paid account compared to a free account. You can access Hello Talk on web browsers, App Store, or Google Play and the paid version costs $10 a month, $60 a year, or $190 as a one-time purchase.