50 Languages (for Android) - Review 2022

50 Languages is one of the all-time complimentary linguistic communication apps currently on the market, but fair warning: Information technology's not super high-tech. The app is available for Android and iOS—you lot can admission content from the website, too—and it contains high-quality materials for studying and practicing your reading, writing, and listening skills for dozens of languages. Moreover, it'southward entirely free. The only upsell selection is to remove ads, but the ads are few and far between. 50 Languages is an first-class companion to any language-learning programme, despite its dated appearance.

Among free language-learning apps, PCMag has named ii Editors' Choices: Duolingo and Memrise. Both offer an experience that is similar to what you become with pricey full-featured language software, although in a more condensed class. There are many excellent costless language apps out in that location, including 50 Languages, but most of the free apps are better suited to helping you report and practice something yous accept learned elsewhere, rather than learn information technology from scratch.

Languages

Despite the name, fifty Languages has more than than 50 languages on offer, fifty-fifty when not counting American and British English language. They are: Adyghe, Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic (Modern Standard), Armenian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Bengali, Bosnian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German language, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Standard mandarin Chinese, Marathi, Nynorsk, Norwegian, Western farsi, Polish, Punjabi, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbia, Castilian, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

That covers a lot of ground. If you demand a language that'due south non on this list, in that location are other resources to endeavour. Mango Languages, for example, has programs in 67 languages (once more, not counting English language), and you can often get access for gratuitous through a public library. That said, Mango is extremely repetitive and kind of boring.

Transparent Language is another bully option that's besides sometimes supported through libraries. If yous tin't become Transparent or other software through a library, y'all'll find that the best total featured language-learning software programs cost somewhere around $200 per year.

Toll and Plans

With some complimentary language-learning apps, you take to download a specific app for your called linguistic communication, or you have to wade through a long listing of options for upgrading to a paid version, all the while wondering if it'south worth it. l Languages isn't like that. You download 1 app, and there are only two upgrade options. You can pay to accept advertisements removed from one language program for a one-time fee of $2.99, or you can pay a one-fourth dimension fee of $9.99 to have all the ads removed from all the languages. Simple.

It'south also worth pointing out that the adds are few and far betwixt, or at least they were when I used the app. I remember seeing i or two video ads pop up, merely I was able to dismantle them immediately. I never saw banner ads or anything else that stuck effectually on the screen.

Compared to other language-learning apps, both of those prices for upgrading are extremely inexpensive. Many apps charge a monthly fee to remove ads. Duolingo, for case, started supporting its mobile apps with ads in 2022, and it costs $9.95 per month to get rid of them (you also become offline access to lessons for the price). Memrise Pro costs $59 per yr, although yous go a bunch of extra perks for that toll. Quizlet charges $nineteen.99 per twelvemonth for its Premium option. Beelinguapp, a language-learning app focused on reading, charges a one-fourth dimension fee of $4.99 to get rid of ads.

Setup

50 Languages is bachelor on iOS and Android. The 50 Languages website has a ton of reading and listening materials to download also, plus some interactive tests.

50 Languages

When you beginning start using the mobile apps or website, you lot'll notice that y'all're never asked to create an account or authenticate in any style. On the i mitt, it's refreshing to not have to provide whatsoever personal data. Everyone's usage is anonymous. On the other hand, without an account, there'south no way for 50 Languages to fill-in your progress from the app to the cloud, or sync it beyond devices. The locally installed app saves your progress, just it all disappears the moment yous have to wipe your phone. It also prevents you from moving seamlessly from a telephone to a tablet to the web app.

Before you can get started, you have to choose the language you want to larn and your linguistic communication of pedagogy. You can only load one language to learn at a time, although you can switch at any time.

What's Inside l Languages?

The amount of content in 50 Languages is impressive, so is the quality. There are sections in the app for listening, reading, writing, taking quizzes, and playing games. That said, there is no real structure to the app. Everything included is perfectly suited to helping someone review and study a language, only it's exactly designed to teach anything from scratch.

When you apply the app, y'all get to leap effectually at volition. 50 Languages gives you lot free reign to study or practise however you lot like. In theory, yous could work your mode through the material sequentially, seeing every bit all the lessons are numbered, but the app itself doesn't guide you from step one to footstep 2 to stride 3, as typically is the case with other language-learning apps. For example, Duolingo prevents you lot from moving forward in the lessons until you've successfully completed all prior lessons or tested out of them. Duolingo too tracks your progress on an overall roadmap that gives y'all a bird'southward eye view of the whole program. l Languages doesn't do that.

The materials include a phrasebook, downloadable audio files, the alphabet, numbers (ane-100), vocabulary sets, games, and tests. There are a few other types of materials listed in the app, such as Translations and Radio Stations, but they aren't locally stored in the app. Borer on those sections bumps y'all to external web pages.

50 Languages app - no description for audio files

I used the app to review Romanaian while likewise taking an intensive face up-to-face course in the language. 50 Languages was perfect for drilling numbers, as numbers are adequately straightforward to larn. I also like listening to the sound files, which yous download locally. Each audio file has a topic, such every bit Public Transportation, and the phrases all relate to that topic. For example: "Which charabanc goes to the city center?" and "The adjacent train is in five minutes." Each sound file is a few minutes long and contains three people saying the aforementioned thing. The first vox announces a word, phrase, or sentence in English (or your chosen linguistic communication of teaching). The next vox says the same thing in the language yous're learning, but slowly. The 3rd voice repeats it, but at a more natural pace.

As mentioned, the app is pretty low-tech. When you play the audio files, there'due south only a play and interruption button. You don't go a total actor, and so you can't rewind or fast forward. Additionally, the files aren't labeled appropriately. They're just numbered. There's no way to tell what audio file 37 contains until you lot start listening to it. It would greatly improve the app if the audio files had a description or even a descriptive title.

Other sections of the app, such as the vocabulary lists, do have descriptive titles so you lot tin can cull the theme you desire to study.

Interaction is minimal and mostly consists of tapping on the correct word, prototype, or missing letters, depending on the activeness. There is no deductive reasoning either, something for which Rosetta Stone is famous. 50 Languages focuses on the learning, similar to Quizlet, the deviation being 50 Languages comes preloaded with a ton of content to learn, whereas in Quizlet you're often best off creating your ain study sets. The included content in Quizlet mostly comes from other users, so the quality is not guaranteed to be good or accurate.

50 Languages for Report and Review

50 Languages gives abroad an enormous bank of high-quality language content for free. The app itself is low tech, however, and would be greatly improved with a few changes to the design, such every bit adding descriptions and titles to otherwise numbered lessons, and updates to the user interface. The material is excellent for studying and reviewing material y'all've already learned elsewhere.

Amongst free language-learning apps, the Editors' Choices are Duolingo and Memrise. Both have structured lessons, which is rare in free language learning apps. And because they're free, in that location's no financial reason to stick to using just one. I recommend pairing those with 50 Languages and other apps to round out your studies.