Best Free Online Language Courses
How to Learn a Language for Free
It's a truism that education is getting more expensive all the time. That doesn't have to be the case with language learning, however. While there is definitely language-learning software worth paying for, it turns out that you can get many excellent resources for studying a language for no money at all. In this article, we list the best free language apps we've found.
We should to be clear about one thing, however. These language tools (whether they're Android apps, iOS apps, or web apps) can help you learn, study, and practice, but it's highly unlikely that you'll reach fluency without also getting some formal classroom training or rich and consistent exposure to native speakers. Apps are tools. Many of them are adept at helping you build your vocabulary and understanding of a language. But there is no substitution for real-world exposure.
Language courses that offer a variety of formats (online support/ coaches, audio, visual learners, quizzes) provide the best package to accommodate everyone. Levels of Learning 20%.
Most of the apps listed here are intended as study aids, rather than full-featured language learning software. Those packages, such as Rosetta Stone and Transparent Language Online, usually cost somewhere in the range of $200 per year, although you can often get them for free through public libraries, particularly in the US and Canada, at least. Libraries often license language-learning software that patrons can use and access from
Why No Single-Language Apps?
Best Free Online French Language Courses
For the purpose of this article, we've excluded from consideration any language-learning app that is specific to one language, to keep the suggestions broad enough to be applicable to a wide range of people. That said, there are many fantastic apps that teach only one language, or even one aspect of one language. Human Japanese comes to mind, for example. It has both free 'lite' and paid versions of its apps, but it only teaches Japanese. We know know of people currently studying Mandarin who swear by
To find a free language-specific app, just type the language you need into the search bar of your favorite app store. Something is bound to turn up. But, as mentioned, we've excluded those types of apps from this list to prevent the suggestions from being too niche. If you know of an excellent free app that could be helpful to others, feel free to suggest it in the comments below.
Best Free Language-Learning Apps Overall
Two apps took the Editors' Choice in the category of best free language app: Duolingo and Memrise.
Duolingo has been a fan favorite since its debut a few years ago. It offers a full program of language-learning material in more than 20 languages. It's sequential, meaning you work through the lessons in order. It has gamification elements and the ability to set goals for yourself to help keep you motivated. A lot of the content is crowd-sourced, meaning quality isn't guaranteed to be perfect, but Duolingo has strong communities who actively flag and correct material that's poorly worded, debatable, or otherwise inaccurate.
The other Editors' Choice is Memrise, which shares some similarities with Duolingo, in the sense that it's more than just a study aid and has sequential course material for learning. Memrise has two types of content: that which it (Memrise the company) has uploaded, and that which comes from its user community. The company provides courses in 14 languages, but there are many more language programs if you're open to trying material from unknown sources. Be sure to use the search bar in Memrise! Not all languages surface unless you search for them specifically.
Best Free Language-Learning App for Customized Study Sets
People often learn a language for a specific purpose, such as to work in a particular field abroad. Depending on your purpose, you might need to learn specialized vocabulary. Medical workers, for example, might focus on terminology related to the body and illnesses, whereas a business traveler might need to learn words for negotiating, finance, and so forth.
Quizlet is the best free app to add to your language-learning toolset when you need to customize what you're studying. With Quizlet, you create your own study sets, and the app turns whatever you want to study into flashcards, quizzes, and games.
You can use Quizlet to study anything under the sun, but it has wonderful support for foreign language learning, including special characters and surprisingly good machine-read audio files. For example, you can label the material you're learning as German. Anytime you enter new words into the German area of your app, Quizlet will include a machine-read audio file of the words in a German-sounding voice, with the stress almost always on the correct syllable.
Best Free Language-Learning App for Drills
Learning a new alphabet and new numbers requires repetition. The free app 50 Languages is one of the best resources you'll find for this particular aspect of learning a language. 50 Languages
Best Free Online Language Lessons
Best Free Language-Learning App for Interaction
At some point while learning a language, you need to connect with real speakers. HelloTalk lets you do exactly that. It asks you what language you're learning and which language you speak and finds you appropriate counterparts. You can chat, post status updates and photos, and even request an online video call with people. One downside of HelloTalk is that there aren't any conversations prompts, so it's not ideal for introverts or people who prefer a structured environment.
Best Free Language-Learning App for Reading Comprehension
Beelinguapp is unique in that it focuses on longer-form reading. This is an aspect of language learning that's often overlooked or omitted from free language apps. With Beelinguapp, you can filter what's available in order to find texts that are the appropriate level for your skills and that are on a topic you actually enjoy, such as pop culture or science and technology. Beelinguapp incorporates listening skills, too, as every story comes with an audio file of the text being read by a native speaker. If you get stumped, you can always look at a translation of the material.
Build Your Own Free Language-Learning Kit
When it comes to choosing software, you have to pick the best option from among a list of contenders. That's just not the case with language learning apps. Instead of looking for one app that will do it all, you're better off compiling a bunch of different apps that meet different learning needs. Build a toolkit of resources. Keep yourself engaged by switching apps when you get bored with one. Use different apps to strengthen different skills. Of course, that's extremely easy when the apps are all free.
Best Free Language-Learning Apps Featured in This Roundup:
Duolingo Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free. Wonderful new podcast and interactive stories for some languages. Clear structure. Lets you test out of lessons that are too easy. Long list of supported languages.
Cons: Varying quantity of material for different languages.
Bottom Line: Duolingo is the best free online language learning program. Unique features and a clear structure make it a reliable place to learn new languages or sharpen your skills.
Read ReviewMemrise Review
MSRP: $9.00Pros: Strong language study content for beginners. More than just flashcard learning. Good customization options in settings. High quality.
Cons: No guarantee on quality of user-generated content.
Bottom Line: Freemium study app Memrise has a wealth of content in foreign languages as well as other subjects. Beginners will find it's a valuable resource.
Read ReviewQuizlet Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Simple to use and configure. Excellent for self-study. Various modes. Ample language localization options. Free version quite generous.
Cons: Only suited for quizzing on certain types of information. Limited interoperability. Some spelling errors.
Bottom Line: Though limited in scope, the excellent Quizlet provides a simple, user-centric online tool for rote learning. It's particularly popular among language learners.
Read Reviewbusuu Review
MSRP:Pros: Very well structured courses. Clear and accurate. Excellent value for long-term subscription.
Cons: Relatively small language selection. Some tedious typing exercises.
Bottom Line: Busuu has a modest selection of language courses, but top-notch content. It's well worth adding to a language-learning regimen.
Read ReviewBeelinguapp Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Excellent for reading in foreign languages. Plenty of free materials included. Supports 12 languages.
Cons: Complicated pricing and plans.
Bottom Line: When you need to practice reading in a foreign language, try Beelinguapp, which offers a generous amount of content for free.
Adharam madhuram bhajan. Hey king of all sweetness in this world, Everything about Thee is sweet Geetam Madhuram, Peetam Madhuram, Bhuktam Madhuram,Suptam Madhuram, Roopam Madhuram, Thilakam Madhuram Madhurathipather akhilam Madhuram.
Read Review50 Languages Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: High-quality content. Many languages included, both to learn and for the language of instruction. Free. No data collection; anonymous usage.
Cons: Progress not saved in the cloud or synced across devices. No bird's eye view/road map of all the materials. Lessons lack clear descriptions.
Bottom Line: The 50 Languages app has a wealth of material for studying dozens of languages, and all for free, but the experience is rather low-tech.
Read ReviewHelloTalk Review
MSRP: $6.99Pros: Encourages free-form interactions. Matches language learners with fluent speakers. Good privacy settings.
Cons: No structured learning content. Value of the app is highly dependent on other users.
Bottom Line: When you're ready to experiment with a foreign language, HelloTalk provides an excellent opportunity for interaction with other speakers.
Read ReviewTinyCards by Duolingo Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free. Can build your own flash card deck. Includes language vocabulary from Duolingo.
Cons: Flashcard decks built by others are unreliable and prone to errors. Little variety in study method, quizzes.
Bottom Line: TinyCards, a free app from Duolingo, helps you study with digital flashcards and quizzes. It has some problems, though, and there are better alternatives for language learning.
Read Review
These free sign language classes use a variety of techniques to teach you sign language so you can communicate with a loved one or simply have fun learning to sign.
Included in these free sign language classes are videos, quizzes, puzzles, games, diagrams, and printables that will really help you learn how to sign or how to build on the sign language that you already know.
Some of the sign language classes are huge courses with many units to teach you the complete sign language and some are smaller classes that will just teach you the basics. Whatever free class you choose, you'll have a great time building up your skills.
There are also free baby sign language resources if you're wanting to use sign language with your baby.
American Sign Language University's Free Sign Language Classes
There are plenty of great resources available from American Sign Language University (ASLU). On top of the 30 lessons, dictionary search, and numbers guide, you can find a fingerspelling practice tool, quizzes, and several word search puzzles, among other things.
You'll find many videos on sign language here, and the lessons are in order of difficulty so you can progressively learn to sign like you would with any other language.
Be sure to check out the First 100 Signs video which is a great introduction to common signs used between parents and younger children. There are also some practice sentences you can practice using the signs you learned from the video
Sign Language 101's Free Sign Language Classes
Watch 10 video lessons of Dr. Byron W Bridges teaching you ABC's, colors, pronouns, gestures, numbers, body language, common phrases, antonyms, verbs, directions, time, common phrases, and more.
Videos are around 20 minutes long each, giving you a deep look at signing as you progress from easier to harder lessons. After completing the lesson you should have a great grasp on the basics of sign language.
Expert Village's Free Sign Language YouTube Videos
If you'd like to try out the basics of sign language before you commit to a whole course, try out these free YouTube videos.
Expert Village has a collection of 15 videos to help you learn common phrases. Among other things, colors, everyday words, animals, and beverages are some of the topics of discussion. Each video is just a couple minutes in length.
Start ASL's Free Sign Language Classes
There are plenty of free resources available that you can learn at Start ASL.
There are around 40 units spread across three classes, with lots of videos for easy learning and printable workbooks for answering questions. Units are set up in such a way that you start off easy with the basics and then move toward the harder signs, such as conversation practice and storytelling. There's also a set of units for learning to fingerspell.
Free Sign Language Classes at ASLPro.com
This website has a large dictionary of signs, a set of conversational phrases, and a number of religious signs. They each have a video to explain how the sign is to be performed.
After you've manually gone through the lessons, you can take lots of quizzes and play a handful of games.
SignSchool
SignSchool is a free online sign language class that steps you through the basics (starting with how to spell your name) and then moves you through lessons that progress in difficulty.
However, you can select any difficulty you want if you're already knowledgeable; pick between Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
Besides the lessons, there's also a fingerspelling game and the sign of the day.
Sign Language Learning Apps
Apps are available for mobile devices that let you learn sign language anywhere, a benefit if you don't use a computer often or if you like to squeeze in some ASL courses on the go.
The ASL App
Learn sign language on the go with the free ASL App that makes it easy to understand new signs and practice ones you already know. You get to set the pace and you can jump in and out of learning sign language whenever you want.
The ASL App will help you learn the alphabet, numbers, universal gestures, colors, and tons of other basic signs. There are also handshape exercises to get your hands used to the physical act of signing.
This sign language app is available for both Android and iOS devices.
ASL Fingerspelling Game for Android
Flip through this game to see how to sign every letter of the alphabet using pictures. You can start from A and move through to Z, or you can get random letters to mix it up a little.
There are over 140 flashcards to review in this app, plus dozens of other activities.
This game for learning sign language is for Android devices only.
Marlee Signs for iOS
Marlee Signs is video-based and shows you how to sign any word letter-by-letter. Plus, there's a library of conversation starters, numbers, letters, and other common words.
The great thing about this sign language learning app is that you can learn at your own pace. Instead of being pushed through a course from start to finish, you learn what you want when you want.
iPhone and iPad users can install Marlee Signs.
Printable Sign Language Charts
Printable sign language charts are good for instant reference. Put a few in your pocket, place them around the house, or spend some time memorizing them to learn offline. Sony psp games free download.
Start ASL's free sign language chart of common words provides images of words like 'what,' 'how,' 'hungry,' 'bathroom,' 'woman,' and 'food' being signed. Instructions for how to sign are below most of them.
Alphabet fingerspelling provides two sets of pictures you can print for learning the alphabet. Both sets have the letters on the hands, but they also have a version without the letters for practice.
Print individual letters in sign language for large, printable letters of the alphabet represented in sign language. One way to use these is to print them off and place them next to words that start with that letter for passive learning.
These numbers/common words/letters are similar to the other printables here with four images you can print for keywords, such as 'how,' 'which,' 'where,' 'yes,' 'please,' 'thanks,' 'goodbye,' etc. There are also printables for the alphabet and numbers 1 through 10.
Online Sign Language Games
Online games can make learning sign language fun. If you've completed a few courses or spent some time with a sign language app or worksheet, play a game to test what you've learned.
Choose the Sign gives you random signs, and you must select the right answer from the ones given. There's also a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th section for similar questions.
The Name the Color game on Sporcle tests whether you can name all 18 colors before the 15-minute timer is up.
What's the Number? signs a number to you and you must provide the correct answer. You can adjust the amount of time the sign remains on the screen, and you can play with numbers from zero through nearly a billion!