Do Language Apps Actually Work? (What’s Good and Bad About Them)

In recent years the popularity of language learning apps has gone through the roof. There is believed to be at least 500 million people using these types of apps to learn languages around the world, which is just amazing!.

The concept of these apps is also pretty amazing. You just download the app to your phone and you now have a “language classroom” in your pocket.

The big question is… do they actually work? The short answer is yes, but no.

They can be helpful, especially as a total beginner but it is extremely unlikely that you can just use an app and end up fluent.

Some Language Apps Are Better Than Others

Some language apps are better than others which is something we need to be aware of when talking about them.

It’s easy to say they are all useless and just paint them all with the same brush, but I think we need to recognise that some of them can be alright and if you try and few out you can quickly see the difference in quality.

This really boils down to both the information that that the app can give you, along with its usability.

This can change drastically from app to app. As I’ve already said, this can mean some are alright, while others are totally useless.

I will go through what is good and bad about language apps below, but this will just be very generally speaking. Basically if there is an app that someone has recommended to you, do more research, it could be one I’ve never heard of and actually be really good.

What Are Language Apps Good For?

An easy way to see if language app actually work, is to go through all the ways in which they are beneficial.

Their goal is to teach you a language and honestly, I think they can only do this to a very limited capacity. I think you can learn the absolute basics from these apps, but after that you should really use other resources, but that doesn’t mean are not useful.      

Grasping The Basics

In general the apps are going to cover the very basics of the language pretty well. If you are starting a language at absolute zero then an app can be a good place to start.

Languages are huge and trying to work out what to start with can be so overwhelming. Having an app try and at least give you some sort of direction is pretty helpful.

It will of course depend on the app and how it is set up, but they should start to introduce you to some very basics vocabulary, phrases and grammar.

A lot of apps will require payment, but they will also offer a free trail or some free lessons so you can usually do a few of these to get a feel for the app and more importantly the language.

Are Language Apps Good For Beginners?

Being able to grasp the basics means these apps are actually probably better suited for a total beginner.

This is also generally who they are aimed at. Most advanced users are not really going to need “lessons” and really just need to use the language, so they would benefit a lot more from using language exchange apps.   

They Are Interactive

A really cool part of these apps is that they are a lot more interactive than more traditional methods of learning, such as reading a textbook.

They will often ask you questions and get you to respond in some way. Sometimes you might be asked to type an answer or pick the right answer from a selection of options.

Some language apps even have audio recognition where you can speak to app and it will understand what you are saying. (Although these are often not great quality)

These simple features can help keep you more engaged and actually get you thinking about what you are learning and sort of test you. Actually engaging with the language like this can actually help you remember it better, which is always a good thing.  

They Are Great Practice

While you can get the basics from language apps I often find that they do not cover the topics in great depth. A lot of the apps I have used have just covered things on a very surface level and I have often not been too sure about the concept that I am being taught.

This has then forced me to look for better explanations elsewhere and has made me use the apps as more of a practice tool, rather than a learning one.

I tend to learn about a concept elsewhere, and then come to the app to practice. The interactive nature allows me to test my knowledge and the simple explanations are more like study notes, helping to remind me of the key points.

I’m basically saying you can’t learn much from these apps, which is of course a negative, but the fact you can use them as practice still makes me like them.

This is one of the main reasons why I don’t think apps on their own are enough. I have used them way more for practicing my existing knowledge compared to actually gaining new information. you will be keeping your foundation strong doing this, which is actually quite important and why I think they are still useful.

It’s A Good Supplement To Other Learning Methods

I truly believe that apps should be a part of your language learning but maybe not the main bulk of your studies. As I discussed above, I feel you will learn more elsewhere.

I think should focus on other methods of language learning, such as immersion and then use the apps to consolidate everything and get some practice in.  

New Features Are Always Being Added To Language Apps

As language apps are so popular and because the competition between the different apps is pretty high, it means they are always trying to improve.

You will find that there are always new features being added to them. A lot of the developers are really pushing what is possible with these apps and are trying to make them more appealing to language learners.

Some of these changes may be as simple as adding more lessons or languages, or more complex things such as how the interface works. It seems like more video and podcasts are being intergraded along with spaced repetition software, all of which are just going to give you a better experience.

While they are businesses, I do think that some of them are actually trying to make the language learning world better, it’s not just about the money. There is a chance that one day they actually might be all you need.

The Problem With Language Apps

As you can probably tell from the “good” things I’ve just talked about, there are few problem, but really I think the issues go a little deeper than what I’ve already mentioned so I will go through those now.  

Short Lessons

One of the main problems language apps is that the lessons are short.

If you use them for an hour, you may cover 6 different lessons about the language, which is a lot of new information to take in. You could very quickly become overwhelmed and start getting confused as you are covering too many new things too quickly.

You would probably benefit from having only 2 lessons, that where 30 minutes long. This way you could cover each topic in more depth and do some practice. This would make you really comfortable with the new concepts, rather than just skimming through lots of topics very quickly which tends to happen on the apps.

They Encourage A Small Time Commitment

The apps are actually set up to encourage only doing short lessons; they literally want you to do less.

They often sell their product pitching you with lines like “learn for 10 minutes a day”. While 10 minutes is better than nothing, it’s not enough.

I currently have a 600 day streak on Duolingo, where I average about 5 minutes a day on the app. This means I have spent 50 hour on here in about 2 years …sounds great …until you realise I did nearly 100 hours of immersion last month alone!

I can tell you now, I will have benefited far more from the last month of immersion than my 600 days on Duo.

(You can read more about – How To Make Time To Learn A Language)

Pointless Topics

One of my biggest annoyances with the apps is that they force you to learn about some strange topics that I think are personally a waste my of time.

I was using an app to see what their Japanese course was like and within the first few lessons they were going over countries and it ended up in them quizzing me about place names.

They literally wanted me to type out the Japanese word for “Germany”and if I got it wrong I  could not progress. I have nothing against Germany, in fact I love it …but why is “Germany” one of the first words I am learning in Japanese on this app? …and why are they making it so important that I need to be tested on it.

I just don’t understand why they did not start with basic verbs, like “to eat” and “to drink” I would find these topics much more interesting and actually useful, compared to being able to say the names of various countries.  

These verbs did show up, but not until about 60 lessons in, which is kind of crazy. You can argue that you will need to learn the countries at some point and they are usually easy, which is true, but still I just don’t like when this happens, especially as I had to be tested on it, so I couldn’t just skim past it.  

No Immersion

I know I go on about it a lot, but immersion really is important. For anyone who doesn’t know it is, it’s just being exposed to a lot of the language through reading and listening.

The 5 minutes the app wants you to use it is just not enough exposure to acquire the lanaguge, and even during this little amount of time there is still not a lot of the language. You will find that the majority of it will be done with your native language.

This is just not ideal. You need to actually see the language in action, not just spend time in your own language while one foreign word is explained to you.

As I mentioned above I spent around 100 hours last month immersing in languages. I just sat on YouTube and watched stuff I wanted to watch. Of course I didn’t understand it all perfectly, but just think about how many words I will have been bombarded with and how many of those will have been repeated over and over again.

No Interaction With Natives

There is also no interaction with natives on language apps. While this is okay as a beginner, it’s not ideal long term. At some point you will need to speak with natives to really practice your skills.

This can of course be done through language exchange apps, but it’s just a shame that  they are not an all in one thing yet.

I know some language apps have tried to add features where you can interact with natives and I also know that exchange apps have tried to add some lessons. However, I feel nether of them have really managed to combine the two perfectly, but I guess with time someone will work this out and the two will become one.  

They Can Be Too Gamey

Language apps can be a bit gamey and this makes it less about the actual learning and more about getting to the end.

I have noticed that I will usually see the same question being asked again, but I remember it from last time, so it’s pointless as I can easily pick the right answer.

I don’t even need to fully read the questions I just know if I pick <This Answer> I will be correct. This isn’t really language learning and is more of pattern recognition and being able remember to click the right button.

You then usually get rewarded for passing the lesson through some sorts of points system. This can make you go through the lessons as if they are computer game levels. You just want to press the right buttons as fast as possible to get the points and get a high score, rather than focusing on the language.

(You can read more about – Language Apps I Have Used To Learn French For Free)

Can You Get Fluent From Language Apps?

I think you can get a lot from these language apps, especially if you do a lot more than the recommended amount.

However, I feel you can only come away with a basic level. To really see progress and actual fluency you are going to need to go elsewhere to do a lot of immersion and interacting with natives.

The apps alone are not going to be enough, not at this point anyway. There just isn’t enough information within them to give you any more than the basics.

(You can read more about – What Is Learning A Language By Immersion?)

Conclusion

Should you use language apps? Yes, absolutely. They are an excellent resource and can help you practice. I wouldn’t make them my main focus, but you can certainly spend the 5 or 10 minutes on there like they suggest for a little recap of things.

I think they still have a long way to go before they are perfect, but they are slowly getting better. Maybe one day we will have an app where you can fully learn a language from zero and reach fluency.

I can see this happening and I can’t wait for the day. Until then, language apps shouldn’t be your main focus.

You can also read more about – Language Learning Techniques That Are A Waste Of Time.