I am going to start this off by saying that I took French for several years and I still don’t speak it very well. I decided in our current world with Globalization, I should probably learn a language or become familiar with one. I decided to pick up on my French and see where that would take me. I began my epic Google search where I generally saw, “Become Fluent in (fill in language here) for only (fill in large amount for college student here)!”. Safe to say that I decided to search again with the word free front and center. These are the two websites that I have discovered that have helped me the most on my language journey.

Duolingo

I came upon an app called Duolingo and I was intrigued. I downloaded the app and then began to explore. I am addicted. This app is like a game and you will be up late at night just to use it. Through interesting learning techniques like word match, reading, listening, and speaking activities, this app gets an A+ from me. For every level in your target language, you gain an amount of “ingots” which you can use in the Duolingo store. The store has items you can buy to challenge yourself as well as extra lessons. Also, the app detects your progress and helps remind you to refresh on certain topics. This app is perfect if you want to do something during your commute or fill the time in between waiting for a Chinese food delivery (I have done both).

HelloTalk

This is an app only option which is kind of bummer but I still find it very interesting to use. HelloTalk is a Language Exchange app that lets you speak to people from all around the world. You can have what they call Exchange Learning Partners where you can help each other jointly learn the others language or help someone learning a new language. I went on and posted that I would like to learn French and I am willing to help someone with English. Oh boy! I constantly receive messages from people from all around the world. I have spoken to people from France, India, Cameroon, Mongolia, Madagascar, and Morocco. There are free options for communication such as phone calls and video calls. Other people can edit your sentences so they are grammatically correct. It is a unique and fun way to learn.

In Conclusion

Learning a language is never easy. But I think these apps will give you an interesting and addicting start on your journey. Have you ever tried a free language learning program? How did it work out for you? Please comment below!