Stop Expecting Apps to Teach you a Language

In this clip I speak English, Danish, Spanish, Thai, Chinese and Indonesian. I've studied tens of languages over my life and learnt many to a high degree of fluency. So in my opinion if you want to learn Spanish, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Russian ... Sign Language - what's the best app for language learning? Rosetta Stone? Pimsleur? Duolingo? Italki? Memrise? Anki? - My answer is going to probably upset different people for different reasons but hear me out.

#duolingo #italki #rosettastone

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[carj]

I overwhelmingly agree. I think there is such a thing as a 'good app', or maybe even a 'best app'; but that this is something that serves as just one of many useful resources in your language learning and can never be the whole picture. I've been using the app speakly to help get my Russian from lower to upper intimediate and have been making great progress (along with engaging in alot of other activities, like speaking, reading and listning). In my view, while no app can teach you a language, a good app can be a very useful tool on the way.

[thanhdohuu]

Apps are really helpful as convenient and relatively cheap tools to aid your learning.
They shouldn't be the only way for you to learn but you shouldn't dismiss their usefulness either.
I have also found apps to be very useful even at advanced levels.

[言って-xe]

The great language learning app is an app which can talk to us in our target languages like we talk to a native speaker. Hope, AI would come to play a big role in language learning as soon as possible.

[Paljk]

Yeah apps are not that great really and won't get you that far. But they can be ok for getting people going, especially people with little language experience.

If they help build a practice habit and teach a few words it can lead to something better. I started Spanish with the old duolingo app about 10 years ago, aged 30.

Never done much with languages before that, but it got me going and I've since developed an interest in languages, learned Spanish (to a good level) French, Thai to ok levels, and taught English. So I guess Duo was a benefit in getting me going.

[ThaiWithSarah]

Omg.. Thank you so much for this video! Finally someone said this! YES!!!

[metalhamster]

italki
i don't bother with apps
only app i use for language are dictionaries and flashcards

[davegraham]

Fluency requires being able to recognize all words being said, at the least. It seems to me vocabulary building, fitting all the required nouns, verbs, adjectives and so on together is an under discussed aspect of language learning.

[amjan]

I recently discovered that OLD language teaching books are the best, from the 1980s and older. The new books are too often more like tourist language guides, instead of actual teaching books.
The problem with apps is that... they are designed by people who dont know what theyre doing. A great app is possible, but Im yet to see one.