I think what most people fundamentally misunderstand about language learning apps is that there is a shortcut to fluency. That you're going to pick up an app and put your 15 minutes a day into it and then suddenly you're going to be able to go somewhere and speak the language and not need to take a class. That's not really the case. You won't become fluent in a language with an app. Honestly, that's a lifelong pursuit. Instead, I personally see them more as a productive way to waste time on your phone. It's an alternative to, you know, Instagram or TikTok more than an alternative to a classroom.

You should be able to expect that with a bit of time in the apps, you should be able to say hi, order a coffee and a croissant and point across the room and say, "This is a cat." The apps will get you saying simple sentences. They'll help you practice vocabulary. The big difference between apps though is some apps focus on quick conversations, dialogues that you may have memorized and sort of like if you took a class in a foreign language and they're going to teach you how to say hi and introduce yourself and where's the restroom. Others are more about building your vocabulary so cat, horse and pizza. You don't end up knowing an assortment of words and how to form simple sentences. That's more versatile but less practical in the moment.

For that, I would recommend Babbel. This one actually surprised me. I'd heard of Babbel before, never actually used it. I was putting it in the box mentally like Rosetta Stone, which is a language learning app that teaches through immersion. And for some people that one actually works well, but to me I found that really, really difficult to use because you're looking at pictures and matching them to words and it's just sort of like playing the memory game as a kid, but over the over to try to language in your mind.

But Babbel felt more like a grown-up version of Duolingo. So it's 5-minute lessons. They teach vocabulary, you fill in the blanks in sentences, and that type of activity. But, interspersed in those lessons, it gives you language tips. Things like when to use "bonjour" as a more formal greeting versus the more casual "salut". It described how to pronounce the e in French. And so, more the kind of thing you might expect if you had a one-on-one tutor that was trying to help you figure out how to pronounce stuff better. But, it's again not going to get you fluent, but it does have grammar guides and built-in podcast episodes that teach full conversations. But, it was a set of things I felt like that I walked away with a bit of a broader understanding of the language than I did with other apps.

There's this app called Speak. That was my favorite from sort of a visual learner perspective. It is basically language lessons designed as TikTok. So, each lesson is a vertical video. You have an instructor starts out by speaking a bit of the language. They're going to say, "Bonjour. Welcome to the class today. Today, we're going to learn something." And then they sort of tell you something in that language. And you're going to have subtitles come up on the top. And if you're used to watching TV shows nowadays with your subtitles turned on, that's going to feel natural. But, it has a few tweaks where if there's silent letters, it will show those faded as sort of a visual cue of, you know, how to pronounce the words a bit better than like karaoke style where they sort of light up as they're pronounced. It's a more of a interactive video version of a lesson.

And they're still short. They're still five, six-minute lessons that you're going through. It's very conversational. It's also good for practicing pronunciation. It's built around sort of repetition. And so, every time it's going to make you say the same thing three times. Use AI to grade how well you pronounce the words. And so, in five minutes you were able to learn a few things and feel like it's less work. Whereas, other apps are more like you're tapping multiple times, you know, throughout each lesson. This one you're just sort of like watching a video and talking back to it.

Well, here's where the Duolingo time might pop into your head. If you've ever tried learning a language on your phone, odds are you've tried Duolingo. It is really good at getting you to practice, right? It makes language learning addictive. It is the app that it's going to teach you, you know, this is a cat and this is a horse and this is a pizza and the boy wants a pizza. And it sort of drills those words into your head enough that, honestly, months later I can remember more of those individual vocabulary words I learned from Duolingo, albeit I don't feel like they're as practical to use as the stuff I learned in other apps. So, I feel like it's a good way to make the things that make your phone addictive, notifications and, you know, sounds and vibrations and all this stuff, and put it to a productive use.

This is one that you actually possibly might have heard of before if you ever took lessons on cassette tape. One of the most popular versions of that was this course called Pimsleur. It's a very serious language learning app and it's basically the same lessons that have been there for decades redone in an app form. So they're 30-minute audio lessons. You turn it on, it's like listening to a podcast. There's no interaction. It will ask you to repeat after it, but it's just the guy in the recording saying this and it doesn't check to see if you actually did it. Which means it's not at all interactive, but the good thing is that means you could do it anywhere. You can turn it on in the car as you're driving, you can listen to it on the train, you can go for a run and listen to it. Pimsleur also is because it's those long-form lessons, it does teach a lot more than the other apps do. You're going in more more in-depth. It's taking a whole conversation, breaking it down into individual words and sounds.

So, at best, most language learning apps offer lessons up to a B2 level on the CEFR or Common European Framework of Reference for Languages scale. So, it's a basically a standardized grading level to say, "Okay, you're doing a course that's at this level or this level when you're taking real-world language courses." And these apps, some of them offer up to B2. B2 should get you to where you can, quote, understand the main ideas of complex text both on concrete and abstract topics. I think that's even a stretch for where you're going to get to with an app.

Instead, I think the sweet spot is if you can introduce yourself and perhaps order a meal in the new language or ask for directions or something on that level. That's where you should start practicing with real people. And I think restaurants are a great opportunity to do that if you're not traveling beyond where you live. Find a chance to go to a restaurant where there's likely to be staff that speak that language and perhaps ask them first. You're not going to be great at this. And so, maybe, you know, be like, "Hey, I'm studying a bit of French. I would like to practice it. Would you mind?" And see if they're okay with that. If so, give it a shot. Those kind of interactions are where you would start, I think, feeling a connection to the language and maybe see, "Is this something I want to take more seriously? Or am I good here?"