When people start learning languages, they usually find flashcards first. Flashcards are great for learning vocab. But language is more than just vocab. But people don't just learn languages to know them, they learn them to communicate. So we need a larger set of tools to learn to communicate well.
Flashcards handle vocab, but what other skills are there?
- Vocab
- Sentence Building
- Pronunciation / Speaking
- Conversations
- Grammar
Many of these skills intersect. You need to know grammar to write good sentences, and you need to know sentences to have conversations. But each skill is important, so here is the best tools for each of these skils.
Vocab
As we said, flashcards are great for vocab. Using flashcards to learn the first 100 words is a perfect way to start. To do this, we want to add 2-10 new words per day and review the most recent 20-100 cards. So each day, we may make 5 new flashcards, take out 1-2 that we know really well, and then study the whole list. Over time, we will make hundreds of cards. Once we are more advanced we can add sentences to the cards aswell.
Making flashcards on paper helps reinforce learning by writing, but it's time-consuming and not as time-effective as studying premade items. Online flashcards programs can help with this. It's quicker to make flashcards online, and you always have them instead of having to carry paper around. There is also a large community that has created premade decks for many languages. Some have sentences, images, and even audio. Anki is the favorite of many people online it's mostly free, has many extensions, and has been around for close to 20 years.
Anki flashcards are nice and can keep track of your progress, but it doesn't have decks for every language. It can be hard to find sets that are for your specific knowledge level though. And some sets may contain words you already know or not have words you want to know.
Lang Goo solves this in its flashcards game. It offers over 10,000 words for each language. And the words are ordered by how common they are. So you learn the most important words first. These flashcards also solve the issue of words that don't translate to a single meaning. Each flashcard provides translation variantions for every word. So you know exactly what each word really means.
Lang Goo also tracks your language level, so you automatically get the right level words to learn. You can just click new session, click start, and you will be learning at the right level and pace no setup needed.
Sentence Building
What is the point of vocab words if we can't put them together? So we need to be able to build sentences. What's the best way to build sentences?
- Cloze
- Building sentences from words
Cloze is where we get sentences with words missing from them. We fill in the words either using a word bank or by writing them. They look like:
translation: Halo, apa kabarmu?
cloze: Hello, how are ___?
choices: They, You, The Dogs
Answer: You
The most popular option for cloze is Clozemaster. This is a fun cloze tool that looks kinda like an arcade game. You earn points by completing clozes. It supports over 50 languages and lets you do clozes. It's a bit limited as it's just focused on this. But if you like just clozes, it's a great option for you.
As we get better at clozes, we can take out words until we can build whole sentences.
Once we can build whole sentences we can add sentence building from word banks. This looks like:
translation: Halo, apa kabarmu?
choices: Hello, you, it, they, school, thought, are, how
Answer: Hello, how are you?
These get us better at putting together our vocabulary and learning not only words but sentences. As we do more and more, we build intuition for how words fit together. They don't really explain the rules behind this, but we can still figure some of them out just by doing these.
The most popular language learning tool for these is Duolingo. Starting in 2011, it's over 14 years old! Duolingo has a cute UI and makes it fun to build sentences. It's a really fun version of sentence building. It may lack grammar learning, and it may be a bit too gamified for some people. A lot of the focus is on XP and tournaments and Gems and In App Purchases. But other than this, it is really fun and a bit addicting. Some people feel the sentences are not that useful in the real world, but they are funny and keep you engaged at least.
If you want an app that has a learning track with both Cloze and word sentence building, Lang Goo is again a great option. Its game called Questioneers allows you to have quick lessons that include both Cloze and sentence builders. When you first start, it gives you easy clozes to not overwhelm you. As you progress, you get more sentence builders automatically. You just get to keep learning. You can always change the lesson and question types to suit your preferences though! The Lang Goo questions also have beautiful images for each sentence, which builds brain paths between the words and images. Duolingo typically just has small animated characters, which usually aren't that relevant to the sentence, but they are still fun and encouraging to watch.
Grammar
Although you can build sentences without knowing grammar, learning it makes everything easier. By knowing the rules that a language follows, it removes the stress and confusion behind sentences. It is very frustrating to think you got something correct, only for it to be wrong due to a rule you didn't know about. That's why tools like Duolingo can often cause users confusion, and you see them ask questions on forums and Reddit, only for the answer to reference a grammar rule that they were not taught yet.
By actively learning grammar at the same time as our other skills, we boost everything else. Grammar rules are just sets of ideas we need to follow, so the best way to learn these is through structured articles, reference materials, and courses. If you like audio lessons, then Language Transfer makes some well-loved courses that include teaching grammar rules. It has podcast-like audio courses that teach you the rules of the language.
They have very high-quality content, but there is a limited number of courses that they teach. There are 20 courses, and most are taught in English. So it is a bit limited if you are learning a smaller language, but the quality is top-notch for the languages they have! Most of the content they provide is also free! You can just play them on SoundCloud or other podcast services, and there are even ways to download the content, so if you are offline or on a road trip, you can still listen to it!
Another great option for learning grammar is Lang Goo. With support for over 200 languages, it provides grammar lessons that differently are built for whatever language you speak. Every concept has multiple levels of difficulty, which keeps you from being overwhelmed. You learn a small section of grammar, take tests and quizzes on both concepts and sentences for these topics, and then get back to learning. All of this is tracked, so you know what you have worked on before and know how you are advancing. The whole time you are learning, you can just highlight a section and automatically ask a chatbot a question that has context about your language, course material, learning level, and the topic you are learning. This really makes Lang Goo's game called Resource Wrangler stand out.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is a key step before we have conversations. If we don't say the words correctly, then people will not understand us. In many languages, the tone of the words changes the meaning, so it's crucial we learn how to say them correctly. Some people also want to work on their accent to sound more local or more natural. So to practice pronunciation, we need to speak! But just saying random words feels strange, so many want a structured path. Pimsleur is an audio-based course that includes pronunciation in every lesson.
Its lessons often ask you to say a word or phrase out loud a few times to get familiar with it. Given that the first half of the lessons are audio-based, you can do them while doing other things like working out or driving or laundry, which makes it very time-efficient. These lessons aren't just focused on pronunciation though. Which is a good thing if you want to learn the entirety of a language. But if you are focused on pronunciation, it's a bit broad. A tool that is focused only on pronunciation is Lang Goo's Pronouncer game.
Pronouncer is like if you had flashcards but for words and sentences. It works like this:
- You are given some language audio
- You record yourself speaking it
- You listen back to it and decide if it's good or needs work.
It's just like flashcards but for audio. You still get spaced repetition, and you still work through sentences based on your proficiency level. And all of this is done automatically, so you don't have to keep track of different files or items. And all of this is tracked, so you know what your proficiency level is and where you currently are.
Conversations
This is what the end goal for most language learners is. We want to be able to speak to other people in this world, whether it's your grandmother, your wife's family, or just other people in this world. We need to be able to have conversations.
Conversations are different than just thinking of sentences, as we have to quickly think of things that we don't control. We are asked questions and need to find the right words. We have to be quick, so it doesn't feel awkward or like we are slowing people down. So we need to practice having conversations and talking with others. There are a couple ways we can do this:
- Speak With Others
- Speak With Chatbots
Speaking with others is one of the best ways to learn. Tools like HelloTalk help solve this by pairing you with others from around the world that speak the language you are learning. It is a great service for those that want to talk with real people! Sometimes there are not enough people speaking the language you are learning though. So wait times can be high. Some people are not comfortable talking to others, as people can occasionally say bad words or mean things, and this can get through the filters. Luckily, HelloTalk tries its best to filter these bad words out and ban people who misbehave!
For those who can't or just don't want to speak with others, there are other options. New chatbot technology allows us to talk with a chatbot instead of a human. Their patience is unlimited, so we can take as long as we want to reply, they are always nice and safer with what they say, and they are available 24/7. Chatbots are amazing new technology that allows us to practice conversation. The most commonly used chatbot for this is ChatGPT. It can speak over 80 languages and has a generous free tier. You can also make custom GPTs, which you can ask to be a teacher and give you feedback. The feedback is not structured or tracked though, and over time it can forget where your progress is, so you have to tell it each time what level you are at.
Lang Goo has its own chatbot game called Conversate. You get to pick from fun real-world scenarios like ordering a taxi or buying items at a market, and then you talk back and forth with the bot. The whole time, you have quick access to tools like a translator, quick reference word lists, and a separate chat window to ask questions about the current session. It also keeps track of different aspects like the proficiency level you currently are. So the chatbot isn't too difficult. It analyzes how many unique words you use, the amount of time you spend, and every time you make a mistake, it will give you notes in a separate view on how you can improve. So it doesn't interfere with your conversation but still gives you the feedback you need. Lang Goo's Conversate game is a step above when it comes to language learning. You are also able to create your own scenarios and choose your own difficulty level!
Additional Skills Depending On Language Pairs
This article primarily talked about skills that apply to all language learners, but some skills are needed for specific language pairs. It's hard for an English speaker learning Arabic to understand the letters. This is a primary skill that is needed before learning. Here are some additional skills that may be necessary:
- Letter Learning
- Writing/Calligraphy
- Reading
Letter Learning
Letter learning is something that people can dread when starting a language. It can be so overwhelming to try and understand the different letters. We can read articles and look at charts, but it's hard to really know if we are building progress. Lang Goo offers the game Letter Learner to solve this. We get to work our way through the alphabet and learn the sounds that letters make. We build until we see how letters sound in words and eventually sentences. We get constructed grammatical equivalents for whatever language we speak, so we can see how a word would sound in our own language's letters first. Over time, you can remove this to make it so you are really just learning the language you want.
Reading
For some people, language is not all about speaking. Some people want to read books, newspapers, and articles online. Having many levels of reading materials is crucial for improving reading skills. We want to have stories that start easy and get more difficult with time. It can often be hard to find. Readlang offers a great place that has stories in over 100 languages. They have tools to allow you to translate, but the free tier is a bit limited. You can't translate many sentences. But it's a great tool other than that. Some people find the variety of stories a bit small, but many love the service.
Another option is Lang Goo Stories. We offer short stories in the language you're learning that start out easy and advance over time. These stories maintain the same characters, so you feel like you are really building over time. You can also change the difficulty of a story section at any point, whether you want it easier or more difficult. The same story at many different levels. The stories have pictures to make them fun, and you have access to all the same tools as the rest of the app. If you want to translate a word or sentence, your tools are right next to you. If you want to ask a question to the chatbot, you can do that too, all in one place. It keeps track of your progress with a timer, so you know how much time you spent on different items and different difficulties.
Writing
Writing is often done with pen and paper, so that's what we recommend. If you want to learn to write on paper, then use paper. To maximize your learning, we recommend doing translation flashcards with words or sentences. Instead of translating it in your head, write down the translation on paper. Then, once you flip the card, you can see if you were correct or incorrect. When you first start out, you can actually just copy the word down. Just the act of writing it will help build the pathways.
As you become more advanced, that may become boring though. So this is when you can switch to short essay writing. Ask a chatbot to generate a list of 5 short essay topics, and then choose one that you like the most. Set a timer and practice writing. Once you are done, you can actually take a picture of what you wrote and upload it to a chatbot like ChatGPT or Grok and ask it to grade how well you did. If it supports the language you are learning, it can actually give you feedback and tips to improve.
Don't Forget To Check Out Lang Goo
If you want to learn any language in the most effective manner possible, don't forget to view Lang Goo. You get access to games that actively work on all key skills and you progress is tracked. You have access to built-in tools like translators, chatbots, and quick reference lists so you no longer need to switch between 5 apps.
Start your journey today and explore one of 200+ languages in your native language with Lang Goo!