Today I want to share with you some really great foreign language learning apps that you can use in your homeschool. So if you’re looking for the best app to learn a new language, you’ve come to the right place.
A lot of parents worry about how they’re going to teach their kids a foreign language that they don’t know how to speak themselves, so these apps can be a great way not only for your children to learn a new language, but for you to maybe learn a new language too!
Best App to Learn a New Language #1 – Duolingo
First on our list is an app to learn a new language that I recently started using for my 10-year-old daughter called Duolingo. She wanted to learn Japanese, but I wasn’t sure how committed she was, so I wanted to start with a program that I didn’t have to pay for. That way, I could gauge her level of interest before investing in a more robust program.
Duolingo offers a ton of different foreign language options, so there’s a good chance the language your child wants to learn will be on there. Then, once you choose your language and create an account, you can get started on the most basic lesson. With Japanese, my daughter started learning some basics like how to order food such as rice and green tea and some basic words like please. And she’s really having a lot of fun with it. It’s not one of those programs where she’s asking me how much more she has to do. She WANTS to keep going.
I really like the way it switches between English and Japanese. So sometimes it gives you the English words and you have to match it up in Japanese, and sometimes it’s the other way around. The lessons are short and really fun, and you’ll be surprised at the quality for a completely free program.
Of course there are limits to what you can do with the free program, so they do have an upgrade that they’re going to try to convince you to purchase. As long as you pay attention and don’t make too many mistakes you can definitely get by without the upgrade. But eventually we did end up purchasing the upgrade. You can get a 2 week free trial, and after that it will be $12.99 a month or you can save by purchasing a year up front.
Rosetta Stone
Next on our list is a foreign language learning program that I’m sure you’ve heard of called Rosetta Stone. With this program you can choose from 25 different languages, or you can get a lifetime membership which will give you access to all of the languages. For $199 that seems like a really good value.
Otherwise, you’ll pay for either a 3-month subscription for $44.85 or a year subscription for $131.40, and you’ll have to choose 1 language. There is no free trial, unfortunately, but you do get a 30 day money back guarantee, so you can get a refund within the first 30 days if you don’t end up liking it.
When you first sign up for Rosetta Stone, you’ll choose from 3 starting levels. I chose intermediate Spanish since that’s the one language I studied long enough to remember. You also get to choose your goal for the course.
So I tested this out for awhile, and I will admit I did not want to do any speaking, so I opted out of the lessons with the microphone. But I did enjoy doing the lessons it gave me, which were mostly matching up the words with pictures. I noticed that with this program there were not any English words written or spoken. It was all in Spanish with just the pictures to help guide me to the correct answers. It was easy enough to figure out and maybe I should have chosen the more advanced starting level. But I did enjoy the lessons.
In addition to the learning path, you can also access live lessons, lesson videos, stories, and speaking and listening practice. You can explore this all at your own pace any time in addition to the lessons that it gives you to do. So there is definitely a lot included in the program. But if you’re doing this as part of your homeschool curriculum, you might end up just sticking with the lesson exercises that it gives you to do.
Mango Languages – Best App to Learn a New Language #3
Next on our list is a foreign language learning app that you might not have heard of called Mango Languages. This one actually gives you a free trial, but you will need to put in your credit card info, so don’t forget to cancel if you don’t end up liking it. If you do decide to keep it, it will cost $11.99 a month for one language and one student, or $19.99 a month for access to all languages and up to 5 students.
To test out this app to learn a new language, I chose Spanish, since it was supposed to be adaptive and that’s the only foreign language I really know. I chose the intermediate level, but it seemed more like a beginner level to me. It was teaching me how to say things like hello and good night which are definitely beginner-level lessons. There were also not any pictures or videos. Just an AI voice guiding you through the lessons.
All of the lessons wanted you to speak the answers, but since I didn’t feel like doing that, I just skipped through them. And it let me and congratulated me on completing the lessons. So I’m not sure if it’s actually listening at all.
I also didn’t notice anything adaptive about this at all, but maybe that would have changed if I had tested it further. I just didn’t really like this one, so I’m happy I didn’t have to pay anything. But maybe it will be a good fit for your family if you prefer a lot of speaking lessons like this.
Babbel
Next on our list is another popular app to learn a new language called Babbel. Similar to Rosetta Stone, there is no free trial of Babbel, but they do offer a 20-day, money back guarantee. You can pay $17.95 a month or you can save by purchasing several months or a year up front. Unfortunately, there aren’t as many languages to choose on Babbel. I chose French this time, as it’s a language I don’t really know that much about.
When you start on Babbel you’ll have 3 levels to choose from based on how much of the language you already know. I started on the beginner level this time. You’ll follow a learning path which will include lessons with pictures, matching words, flash cards, and speaking to help with your pronunciation. I noticed that on here, they do include the English words instead of only using pictures like I saw on Rosetta Stone. I’m not sure which approach is better, but it’s just a difference that I noticed.
You can also take advantage of some live classes, although there will be a separate subscription needed if you want to take more than the 2 classes that are included. You can also explore all the different courses by level or topic. And you can review your vocabulary and recent mistakes. But just like the other programs on this list, you can just stick to the learning path and do the lessons they give you in order.
Time4Languages
Next on our list of foreign language curriculum for homeschool is from Time4Learning. If you’re already a Time4Learning customer, you can add Time4Languages to your current curriculum. You’ll pay $59.95 for 6 months access to their Rosetta Stone powered foreign language program. And you’ll have a 14 day money back guarantee, so you can cancel within those first 14 days to get a full refund.
If you’re not already a Time4Learning customer, you can save $10 off your subscription when you sign up with my link and code “REFERME”
So when I signed up for this, I actually didn’t know that when they said it was powered by Rosetta Stone, it actually just WAS Rosetta Stone. I chose Japanese this time to see if it would be any different. Just like before with Spanish, this is going to have the lessons entirely in Japanese including the writing, so the only clues to help you come from the pictures. But this is the exact same thing as the Rosetta Stone program I showed you earlier.
You’ll have all the same content except it won’t include the live classes. But it’s definitely cheaper than buying Rosetta Stone separately if you already happen to be a Time4Learning customer, or if you’re interested in trying out Time4Learning and want to be able to include a foreign language course as well.
Petra Lingua – Best App to Learn a New Language #6
Next we have another foreign language homeschool course that’s just for kids called Petra Lingua. With this program you can choose from English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German and Russian. I chose French this time to test it out. It’s only $7.99 a month so even though there is no free trial, it’s affordable enough to pay for a month to see if you like it.
This app to learn a new language is definitely geared towards younger children. It has cartoon videos to teach the lessons, and I have to say I really didn’t like the videos very much. The cartoon people were a little creepy to me, I don’t know why. I also found it kind of hard to figure out what I was supposed to do when answering the questions.
This is another foreign language program that uses pictures to help guide you to choosing the right answer. But the way the questions were asked often made it hard to determine what they actually wanted me to do. So, I think kids may struggle with that aspect. It was definitely not my favorite on the list. But it’s affordable, so it may be worth a try with your kids to see if they like it.
Rocket Languages
Next is a foreign language learning app that you can try out with no credit card required called Rocket Languages. This language learning program has audio lessons, so you have an actual lesson and not just practice like some of the other programs we’ve reviewed. You’ll also have a lesson transcript to follow along with. It’s weird that it’s just a picture with audio and not a video, but that’s what you get.
They also have conversation role playing exercises, vocabulary, flash cards, writing and speaking practice and quizzes. So there’s definitely a lot to this program, and you can test all of this out before your purchase it so you really get an idea if this is something you think your kids would like. It seems very comprehensive, but maybe not quite as fun as some of the other programs on this list.
Pricing for Rocket Languages is based on the language you choose and the level you want included. For instance, you can purchase Spanish level 1 for $99.95. Or you can purchase all levels either as a 1 time payment of $259.90, or as a monthly payment of $47 a month for 6 months.
Dino Lingo
Finally, last on our list is another foreign language curriculum for kids that I had never heard of but really ended up liking called Dino Lingo. Not to be confused with Duolingo which we review earlier. Dino Lingo is a foreign language learning program just for kids, and you can get a 7-day free trial to test it out. After that, the cost is $19.99 a month.
There are a lot of languages to choose from on here, so I chose Japanese again. You’ll watch cartoon lesson videos and I liked these a lot better than the cartoons we saw on Petra Lingua. This is another program that has no English at all just pictures and Japanese characters.
I found it harder to do the lessons with just the cartoon characters. I was not always sure what part of the picture they were referring to. It was easier with photographs like on Rosetta Stone. So I got used to which pictures went with which sounds but I didn’t always know what it meant. Was I learning the word for cat or fur or ears? I wasn’t always sure. But it was fun and I think it would be good for kids who would prefer a more cartoon like program. It also helps that it starts teaching things like animal names which definitely would appeal to children who may be reluctant to learn a new language.
Best App to Learn a New Language?
I hope you enjoyed this list of some online foreign language programs and apps that you can use in your homeschool either as your entire foreign language curriculum or as a supplement. Some of these look really great, but for now we’ll be sticking with Duolingo. It’s fun and my daughter enjoys it and is definitely learning a lot.
Once we get past the basics, I’ll see about getting something more. I really liked Rosetta Stone, so maybe we’ll move to that next. I know she’d never want to do one of the cartoonish-type programs geared towards younger kids, but if I had to pick one for the twins, I’d probably pick Dino Lingo. That one seemed really fun and is probably a good way to expose younger kids to a foreign language.
If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to help.
