Language tutors are a favourite resource in any successful learner’s arsenal. But it’s not always easy to stay excited about your language lessons, and to turn up regularly…If there’s no creativity in online lessons, no one gets to have the results or the fun that they should have.
No problem! Check out the following 5 ideas for lessons in any language, and you’ll be on to a winner!
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Are you in the mood for a new language app? Want to go further than Duolingo?
Allow me to introduce you to...Clozemaster!
Clozemaster is a language learning app designed to help you practice languages quickly and effectively.
Read on to find out more about how it works, what's inside the app, and whether Clozemaster is the right language learning app for you.
The name gives it away: This app is based on the classic Cloze exercise explanation on Wikipedia, which means you will see a sentence in your target language and it's your task to cloze...excuse me, close the gap. The Clozemaster app gives you points for each time you close a gap correctly.
Each sentence you see is written in the target language with a translation provided in your source language. You can choose whether you want to use multiple choice mode or fully type the answers yourself for extra points.
You can set the length of your review session to suit the time and space you have available.
After each review session, Clozemaster shows you a progress review including your points, rank, and what percentage of all sentences you have played and mastered. The style and presentation of all this is simple, designed like a retro computer game. All in all, it's a super fast, fairly addictive and encouraging experience.
After each session, you can also read and listen to all sentences you covered again and add the most important ones to your favourites for easy review.
It's easy! You can download Clozemaster as a free app on your smartphone, tablet, or play it in your web browser. There is a Pro plan for those who want advanced features such as more stats, favoriting sentences, and customizing game play. There's even a lifetime purchase option.
Clozemaster builds its database on natural sentences written by native speakers through the Tatoeba collection, so there's a wide and authentic range of grammar and vocabulary to work with. This use of different base sentences makes a real difference between Clozemaster and most other language learning apps. There are no themed collections of vocabulary and sentences, and you may well encounter a sentence like "Is this your typewriter?" or "Ken climbed down from the tree" the first time you open the language course.
Compared to Duolingo, Clozemaster offers a more challenging set of vocabulary and grammar. Compared to apps like Memrise, Anki, and Quizlet, it gives you a better way to practice language in context.
Many language options in Clozemaster offer you the option of following a track or specific collection designed to build up your language skills extra fast. For example, you may find:
These options make the learning experience more motivating and allow you to adjust the practice session to your level more easily. They are not available in every target language though, so if you are studying a lesser-known language option, you may only find the "Random" track available which can feel like diving in at the deep end. I found all these tracks and collections extremely useful.
In Mandarin Chinese, I could easily follow and benefit from the HSK1 level of Clozemaster, but the "random" collection was a complete guessing game.
Overall, Clozemaster is ideal for people who want to practice, but not complete beginners who will easily get lost in complex vocabulary and grammar points. It doesn't teach you a language, instead it lets you practice the language and it will improve what you already know.
From the CEFR perspective, I would recommend this to users at level A2-B2. The sentences used by Clozemaster are not overly complex, but they are definitely challenging.
It's simple: The Cloze exercise is not designed to you vocabulary only. It is about giving you the skill to quickly spot and recognise grammar and syntax patterns in natural sentences in your target language. When you identify the word that fits into the gap, you are challenged to think about how the whole language works. Over time, practicing the language through Clozemaster will increase your confidence and flexibility, help you settle into common grammar structures, and make you a better speaker of that language.
There are currently 72 languages and 229 language pairings (for example, learning English from Spanish, or learning German from French) available.
The Clozemaster app brilliant for people who are learning a language and want to practice to improve on an intermediate to advanced level.The interface of Clozemaster is simple, but the exercise is not.
Clozemaster isn't for a total beginner. Instead it supports your language learning and helps you build flexibility and maintain the high skills you have been working for!
It's free, simple and engaging, and offers more languages than any other app I've seen - give it a try! You can download Clozemaster and get a special deal on Pro at www.clozemaster.com/fluentshow
Disclosure: Clozemaster is a current sponsor of the Fluent Show and asked me to write this independent review as part of the paid sponsorship package. The review is fully independent and all screenshots are my own. I only recommend and review products and apps I have tested and approved myself. - Kerstin
The other day, I heard from someone who’s got a 1336 day Duolingo streak in French. That’s over 3 years of daily mini-lessons in another language, and a guaranteed confidence boost for her the next time she wants to say something in French.
Duolingo is award-winning, market-leading, venture-funded and impossible to ignore, so I got together with my podcast co-host Lindsay to collect a bunch of unmissable Duolingo tips for you.
Want to hear our discussion? Listen to our episode of the Fluent Show podcast to learn more:
Note: This is not a review of Duolingo Plus. Personally, I have not signed up to Duolingo Plus but my impression is that it can be a worthwhile investment if you want to skip the many ads and give yourself offline access.
Duolingo has also come a long way since it first started out. Here are just a few good reasons to download Duolingo and try it out:
Some people love to commit to the Duolingo language learning streak. Some ignore the streaks completely. Don’t worry, both ways will work just perfectly for who you are.
Adding up a long, long streak alone is not what will teach you a language. But it will keep you connected and interested. You need to make sure that you are combining Duolingo with a productive language learning routine if you want to speak your language in real life. Break out from the apps now and then and get curious about what people who speak your target language like to eat, watch, listen to, and what the world is like for them.
If you do NOTHING else, make sure you download at least one more language learning app to your phone. You want to enjoy a bit of variety every day, and the range of great apps is huge these days. (Need inspiration? Check out our Top Tools Hall of Fame.)
Get Unlimited Hearts:
Use the "Practice" button to get unlimited hearts and review what you've learnt before, without having to watch more ads or sign up for the paid version of the app. This is great if you don’t want to run out of practice time yet.
Take it Out of Duolingo
Got a notebook? Write down sentences from Duolingo lessons by hand or start your own digital practice folder. This will take all those sentences you are learning out of the app environment and help you use them in conversations with real people.
Don’t Miss the Tips
Finally the Duolingo tips are available on the app! These helpful explanations have long been a bonus for web version users, but you can now get Duolingo tips right in the app. If you make the same mistake again and again, the tips will help you understand why.
Use Duolingo as a Level Checker
If you are studying a language outside of this app, you can use it to check your learning progress. Simply jump to the next “Checkpoint” feature in the app and see if you can skip to the next level. If you fall short, you know you’re working on suitable lessons for your level.
Discover Duolingo Stories
Duolingo now offers mini stories in a very limited number of its courses. These little stories are essential practice to help you learn more for longer and break out of the rut of “Sally and Juan go to the market to buy apples” again and again.
Boost Your Gems with Extra Features
Motivated to get more gems? Want to keep that streak going and going? Use the Streak Freeze and Double or Nothing features to boost your gems and keep that momentum for longer.
If you find the streaks too stressful, don’t worry. Here are my tips for becoming a consistent learner without any language apps.
Check the Forums
Duolingo’s community features are limited, but the community of users is fantastic! They make vocab lists and explanations based on the courses and give advice to users from around the world. Start with this unofficial Wiki and FAQ page
Your first stop is the Fluent Show, my awesome language learning podcast where we talk about loving, living and learning languages. This show will give you lots of inspiration and ideas.
If you struggle with motivation and routine in your language, check out the Language Habit Toolkit. It’s a proven system to help you set and achieve every language goal you create for yourself. The Language Habit Toolkit works with any language and any course so it’s perfect if you want to boost your Duolingo results.
I cannot remember the first time I downloaded the Duolingo app, but I know it wasn’t love at first sight. I had studied French all the way to an undergraduate degree in the UK and thought it might be a fun way to get in touch with this language.
Working my way through my first ever Duolingo exercises in 2014 was bewildering. I had not used a language app before and I didn’t understand how these disjointed, mechanical sentences were supposed to keep me excited about a language.
Over time, I learnt more about language apps as a general concept. They play an important role in getting 10,000s of people started with a new language. When I started learning Welsh, it was a great resource for quick exercises in my new language.
I’ve now completed the Duolingo skill trees in French and Welsh, and am about 30% through the Mandarin Chinese skill tree. I’ve also tried it out in a bunch of other languages like Esperanto and Spanish.
Finding a good language teacher isn’t necessarily an easy task. For those who don’t have a lot of local tutoring options or for those learning a less popular language, it can sometimes feel impossible.
Maybe you’ve had no luck finding teachers or language exchange partners in the past and you’re wondering if online teaching sites are a good idea. Maybe you’ve thought about trying one before, but didn’t know which option to choose.
In this review, let’s take a look at what italki is all about, what it has to offer, and how to make the most of its features to help you connect with others.
In short, italki is an online platform that connects language learners with both professional teachers and community tutors.
Currently, there are over a hundred languages for learners to choose from, including German, Chinese, Catalan, Armenian, and Esperanto. Since all lessons are done online, there’s also greater chance you’ll be able to find someone who teaches a language you’d like to learn.
Like lots of language learning resources, it sounds great, but how easy is it to use?
Setting up an account only takes a few minutes and it’s free. After that, you can simply select a language from search bar to start looking for a teacher.
One thing I liked about this process was the fact that I could review all the available teachers before commiting to a decision. Each teacher on italki has a profile with a video introduction, a short description, a list of their teaching strengths, a list of the type of lessons they offer, and different costs. Professional teachers will also have a list of education and experience.
Once you find a teacher you’d like to schedule a lesson with, you’ll have to purchase italki credits, which can be done at any time from one of the options in the top menu. It doesn’t take long and there are a few different payment options, but keep in mind that each option has a different processing fee. After you’ve added enough credits, you can schedule a lesson.
The booking process is simple and straightforward. Clicking ‘Schedule Lesson’ opens a window that lets you pick the language, lesson time, and lesson duration. New italki accounts have the option to select a 30 minute trial lesson, which is meant to help you get used to scheduling lessons and using the platform. It’s also great if you’re feeling nervous about your first lesson. You can use the shorter time period to test your connection, see how things work, and ask the teacher any questions you might have.
Once you pick a date and time for your lesson based on the teacher’s availability, you can also select an alternate way to connect for your session, like via Skype. I’d recommend entering in this information since the italki classroom is currently still in beta and can experience glitches.
After your lesson is completed, italki will ask you to verify that the lesson took place. If you did experience any issues, you’ll want to let them know. Then, you can leave a review for your teacher to share your thoughts on how the lesson went.
italki teacher: A sample profile
Since italki is focused on connecting language learners and teachers, it’s important to remember that your experience will depend on how you use it to interact with others. If you want to make the most of it, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
Do you want to learn a language in order to travel? Are you trying to pass a test?
There are a lot of teachers on italki and they all charge a different rate. I found that knowing my own language goals was one of the best factors in finding a good teacher, not price.
For instance, one of my reasons for learning Spanish is to have conversations with my Spanish-speaking, Latin American side of the family. So, when searching for a Spanish teacher on italki, I’m a bit more particular about finding someone who speaks Latin American Spanish and seems like someone I could easily talk to.
However, someone who wants to learn Spanish to travel to Spain or needs to pass the DELE Spanish Exam will have a better learning experience with a different teacher.
Once you’re a bit more clear on your own goals, you can use that information to help you pick a teacher. Pay special attention to:
Introduction videos
Teacher specialties
Lesson types
Reviews
To learn more about what you get for your money, read How Much Will You Pay For a Language Tutor?.
Even if you think you’ve found a good teacher, you never know what a lesson might be like. You could find it hard to talk to each other or you might not care for their style of teaching.
Just remember that you won’t connect well with everyone. Don’t take it as a sign to give up. There’s nothing wrong with trying several teachers.
One thing that helped me was to be prepared ahead of time. My most recent italki lesson was for Arabic, a language I knew almost nothing about. Before the lesson started, I wrote down a few initial questions and made sure I had a notebook and pen nearby. I think even this small preparation helped me focus a bit more during the lesson, even though I didn’t feel confident.
Be conscious of any practical steps to need to take ahead of time as well, including finding a quiet room and making sure you have a fast, stable internet connection. It can go a long way in making sure your session goes smoothly.
One-on-one lessons aren’t the only thing italki has to offer, but a lot of people either forget about or don’t bother with some of the other cool resources.
An example of the italki notebook feature
Unter the Community tab of the main menu, you’ll find articles, a notebook to write things down in a language you’re learning, a place for questions and discussions, and a way to find conversation exchange partners.
If you’re interested in improving your writing skills, you’ll definitely want to try the notebook feature. You’ll be able to post an entry in your target language and native speakers have the option to give you feedback and corrections.
Similarly, you can check the Answers or Discussions pages if you have small questions or simply want to start a conversation. Any of these options is also a great opportunity to connect with others on the platform and find language exchange partners.
Hopefully, this review has given you a bit more insight into how italki works and how you can make the most of its features to help you learn a language.
My honest advice is to start by making an account and simply searching for teachers. Take a look at the costs and click the small heart symbol to bookmark any teachers that you think might be a good fit. I’ll admit that I nervously did that for a bit before I finally took the chance and scheduled my first lesson.
The nice thing about italki is that you can just add a few italki credits and try it out. It’s not a big commitment, but it has a lot of potential to be extremely helpful.
Overall, I found the site incredibly easy to work with and much better than trying to find a class or a private tutor to connect with locally. So, if you think it might be a good resource for you, try at least one lesson. I think you’ll like your experience.
This review is part of a sponsorship from italki. It was written by Cassie Wright. To learn more about italki and get $10 of free lesson credit, go to www.fluentlanguage.co.uk/italki.
Speaking in other languages is harder than it looks at first. You can read books and study flashcards, and still choke when you speak to a real person.
It can be difficult to practice pronunciation and have conversations on a regular basis. Tutors are awesome, but your lesson time is limited. And many apps and bots make us feel detached.
Speechling claims to have cracked that problem. This new app offers speaking skill training, attractive design, and the most convenient access to a real person tutor that I have ever seen. No scheduling, no exchange of Skype names.
Sounds good, but does it work? In this review, let's take a deep dive and find out.
Speechling's courses use sentence repetition, a premise that you may know from fellow Fluent favourite Glossika. But there is a twist: Speechling includes feedback on everything you record, from an actual human.
After repeating the sentence you see and hear on the screen, you have the choice of listening back to your pronunciation, or to save it for coaching. After you save your recording, you will receive feedback and tips from a Speechling coach.
Speechling's six language options gave me the chance to test ot for at different levels:
In French, my language level is around B2-C1 on the CEFR. I can navigate most conversations without hiccups, and I know for a fact that speaking French is what I need the most.
So for my level, saying a few sentences every day at my own convenience was perfect.
The live feedback here was eye-opening. I have an optimistic blind spot to my own weaknesses in pronunciation and word choice. I always learnt French in academic environments, so I produce great grammar. But in reality, my spoken French sounds textbook and a little uncomfortable. The coach feedback made me more aware of my little mistakes without discouraging me completely. I felt encouraged to try again, to fix what I was saying and carry on.
Describing a picture using Speechling's Freestyle mode
With the freestyle mode, I got to practice free speech instead of repeating pre-written sentences. In the dictation feature, I added listening comprehension at natural speeds.
Russian is a language I studied about two years ago and I was able to have very basic exchanges (“what did you have for breakfast?” - “I had porridge”, that kind of stuff). I pronounce words correctly, and can read Cyrillic. So with this language, I wanted to see
The module I chose was “Beginner (A1)”, which was a great entry point after a few years off. With each repetition, I felt like I was learning. The examples were well pronounced, came at a speed that felt like a suitable challenge, and soon I was improving.
I also felt that pronouncing each new word immediately helped me remember it, especially when I added a recording. The accountability of recording and coaching (“someone will actually hear this”) helped me link the phrase with a strong emotion. For more about how emotions amplify memory, check out my interview with Gabriel Wyner from Fluent Forever.
With a language like Russian, you need regular exposure to stay comfortable with the alphabet and pronunciation. Speechling surprised me here because it felt like the perfect tool. There were so many sentences I had never said before, and so many opportunities for me to improve.
Best of all, I was speaking Russian right there and then without any hesitation.
Of course, exposure to lots of sentences won't teach me more than lots of sentences. If I wanted to get back into Russian and start making steady progress, I would definitely use Speechling and I would add a textbook, dictionary, grammar explanations, and lots of input resources.
Chinese is the only language out of Speechling’s range that I have never studied, so I decided to go for the “simplified” version. Does that mean easy Chinese? No idea, but it's worth a try. The module I chose was “Beginner (A1)”, as there was no way of picking anything even easier.
My Speechling Audio Diary
With Chinese, Speechling shows the sentences in Hanzi (Chinese characters). There is also the option of viewing the sentence in pinyin. Good job - it was the only way I could even start to guess at repeating the sounds I was hearing.
For a complete beginner like me, the sentences were interesting. I had to repeat the audio input 4-5 times before I dared to repeat the sounds. Surely, any Chinese speaker would be impressed?
Well, I do know a Chinese speaker so I was ready to shine. Having newly acquired the sentence 今天很温暖 (“it’s warm today”), I asked my co-working buddy to listen to my Chinese and tell me if it’s correct. And he did understand what I was saying, although “impressed” would be stretching the truth a bit.
I also sent my recorded sentence to the Chinese coach, who drew my attention to the specific parts I got wrong.
Learning mass sentences as a complete beginner isn’t ideal. It leaves you without a sense of what each word means (which one out of jin tian hen nuan huo is “warm”, which one is “today”....and what do any of those symbols mean?). Learners don't get to understand what any of the rules of speaking are. But that’s okay, as Speechling not designed for that. This tool is a great confidence builder and accent sharpener. I could imagine it as a fantastic basis for tutoring, sending students away with homework on a topic.
If you have studied more than one of Speechling’s range of languages, you can view translations in any of the six languages. This means you get to practice two languages at once, and it’s one of easiest ways to train your polyglot muscles.
On several occasions, my recordings were too long to be saved for feedback. This is understandable, but it was frustrating particularly in the freestyle mode. It’s disappointing when you say a complex sentence to send to your coach, and then get a message saying “file too large - cannot save”. It would be great if Speechling could include a guide on how long I can record for.
For languages where I knew nothing at all, I’d also like to see a primer module so I understand what I'm doing. But this is a tiny point, especially since Speechling is not aimed at complete beginners.
All in all, I found Speechling a great addition to my studies. It was challenging and helped me improve my pronunciation and speaking skills in three languages. I was most excited about what Speechling could do for my Russian language skills. I improved both my vocabulary and accent, and the process was efficient and fast.
Speechling is free from robot voices and works with male and female voices (native speakers, of course). Its interface looks great and it gets you into the action immediately.
I love the record-feedback cycle, because it prompts you to re-record a better version of what you said. You get feedback, and you improve pronunciation, confidence, and speed.
The coaches were great for all the languages I tried. They recorded speedy corrections. At the very early levels, feedback is not rich, because they are native speakers and they use their native languages. But even so, it was clear where exactly I was supposed to change something. The more you learn, the more you will get out of these coaches.
If you work with a tutor that you don’t see every day, definitely try adding Speechling to your language routine. You will be speaking your target language more, you'll build a better accent. And best of all, pronouncing all the new words will help you remember them faster.
Create a free account and start speaking at Speechling.com, or by download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
Speechling is currently available in six languages: French, German, Spanish, English, Russian, and two types of Chinese.
It’s a freemium app, and you get 15-20 minutes of feedback for free every month. I would recommend checking out the paid plan (see below for 10% off) if you want to
The unlimited plan is open to Fluent readers at a 10% Lifetime discount: Make sure you use the code FLUENT when you sign up.
Good to know: Speechling is a non-profit company and also has a classroom version called Speechling for Education. I have an existing relationship with Speechling as they are a sponsor of my podcast. This only influenced the amount of attention the product received, not the verdict. It is a cool app.
Are you a pronunciation master now? How did you like the coach feedback? Leave a comment below and share your story.
Since my original review of Speechling in February 2018, these folks have been hard at work and have just emailed me to share the following new developments.
1. A new module called "Speechling Foundations", which will teach newbies from the very beginning. This start from zero module covers teaches the most essential words in context.
2. New listening options: Speechling now offers listening comprehension, multiple choice, fill in the blank, and flashcards. It's all available for free without login. All of this works on mobile too.
3. More language! They've more than tripled our content collection.
4. Offline mode!! Premium users can download a huge chunk of Speechling’s sentence collection (~10k sentences) and even audio books and Anki decks .
And added in March 2020
1. Speechling now includes Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese.
2. The recording time has been upgraded to 15s as Standard! It’s quadrupled to 30s for paid users.
3. There are now over 10k recordings (male + female combined) for each language, from words to complex sentences.
4. Speechling now includes word hints where you can mouse over words and get pronunciation tips and definitions.
I love it when an app listens to its users, this alone makes it worth checking out!