Of the hundreds of thousands of people trying to learn a new language, very few will actually succeed in gaining fluency. Why is this? Is learning a language really that hard? Or is it lack of motivation? Or that we don't have the time to devote to studying?
There are countless reasons why learning a language is difficult, and these reasons are different for each person. Thankfully, technology has given us tools that can make learning a language a lot easier. These are my top three language learning tools, which have also been used by thousands of other language learners, including many successful ones.
Some of the most well known polyglots in the word swear that immersion is the best and fastest way to learn a new language. There's nothing better than talking to a native speaker. However, how does a person who lives in a mono-lingual society learn to speak a language through immersion? Most of us don't have the time or resources available to up and move to a different country so we can immerse ourselves in that language and culture.
The next best thing we can do is spend as much time as we can speaking that language in a real-life context with a native speaker. This is where HelloTalk comes in.
1. HelloTalk
HelloTalk is a free language exchange app that gives you easy access to hundreds of language exchange partners all over the world. There are over 100 different languages you can learn using this app. For example, if you speak English and want to learn Spanish, all you need to do is make a profile about yourself, set your language-learning preferences, and you'll have a huge list of people that you can send a chat request to who speak Spanish and want to learn English. You can take turns chatting by text or audio clips in your respective languages, give each other tips on grammar, vocab, or anything else language related, as well as make new friends! This app also allows for you to do video calls with your language exchange partners so you can practice your real-time speaking skills.
There are several different ways to search for language partners in the app. You can search by language, country, or city, and even filter your search results by age if you feel more comfortable chatting with people your own age.
A couple cool perks of the chatting platform within this app are the built-in translation and grammar correction options for when you need some extra help. Although it's better for your long term memory to figure out the translations yourself, you can use the text-translation option for when you need a quick reference.
This app is available for free for iOS and Android.
2. Memrise
This is not a normal flashcard-style app. Unlike the popular website and app Quizlet, Memrise has built-in lessons for over 200 languages, and uses your unique accuracy statistics to keep quizzing you on the things you need to review. The system the app uses is based on a learning technique called "spaced repetition." Benny Lewis, a polylingual "language hacker," defines spaced repetition as a better and more complex version of simply using flashcards to test yourself. He explains on his website that the spaced repetition system (SRS) "is a presentation method that gives you the information before you would forget it and makes sure that it stays constantly fresh in your mind. So, you might see a word a few minutes after the first time, then a few days later, then a few weeks later etc. always at the time you need to see it most to make sure it is constantly fresh in your mind." Memrise has been useful for many successful language learners because it uses the spaced repetition system.
Memrise can be used online or on the free app, which is available for ios and android.
3. HiNative
Unlike HelloTalk, HiNative is not just a chat platform for language exchange partners, but allows for collaborative language learning between many people at once. On HiNative, you can ask native speakers of the language you are learning to help you with grammar, spelling, pronunciation and other language aspects. This works by posting text or audio to a forum. Native speakers will tell you if your content is accurate and sounds natural. Since there are many people on the forum, you can get different people's perspectives and advice, as well as help out people who are learning your native language. The best thing about this is that it is free, when you would normally have to pay for a teacher or tutor to answer your questions.
HiNative can be used on its website, or on the app, available for iOS and Android.
The most important thing to remember when attempting to learn a language is that you need to use a mixture of resources. Just taking a class, or just talking to a native without studying on your own is usually not enough to be successful. Learning a language is a long process, which means you need to continue to motivate yourself. Being part of an online community with similar goals as you, like HelloTalk or HiNative, is a great way to stay motivated. Studying on your own using resources like Memrise and other tools while consistently talking to native speakers is arguably the best and fastest way to learn a new language.
