We find ourselves often giving recommendations of products to learn foreign languages with, and we thought it’d be useful to compile a list for your reference.
We have included a number of our own products, only where we are convinced that they are deserving of their place in the list, and we have included paid and free study resources without discrimination.
Everything on this list deserves your attention, but resources we're particularly fond of, the kind we'd use ourselves, are additionally marked with a little star.
Online courses
Vocabulary building
Speaking practice
Writing practice
Reading practice
Educational games
Podcasts, music & radio
Vodcasts & video blogs
Polyglot blogs
Books on language learning
Forums & communities
Dictionaries & translation
Other
Online courses
LinguaLift
Self-teaching can be much more effective than regular courses, but every once in a while, even self-learners need to ask a question, or receive words of motivation and support. It can also get rather tiresome to keep searching for new resources and learning how to learn, instead of the language itself. LinguaLift combines quality content, advanced algorithms, and personal coaching to give serious self-learners what they need to succeed.
Duolingo
Created by the inventor of ReCaptcha, the ubiquitous am-i-a-robot checker, Duolingo has quickly become the leading free language learning website. Although the methodology is far from perfect, and you may want to complement the site with other resources, the overall experience is really fun & engaging, and you can't really beat the price.
Mango
Excellent online courses composed of interactive mini lessons. The interface is friendly and easy to use, and the program does an especially great job at teaching sentence word order through intuitive colour coding and clear explanations. There's just one catch: you need a school or library subscription to use the website.
Babbel
Babbel is similar to Duolingo, but rather than relying on automatic algorithms to generate the interactive exercises, all content is divided into lessons curated by their teachers. The benefit is two-fold: more immediately useful expressions, and more variety in the type of exercises you get to answer.
Rosetta Stone
You've probably seen its iconic yellow box in airport terminals, your favourite bookstore, or the local library. The Rosetta Stone method of teach languages in a way babies learn their mother thongue is engaging, but becomes rather ineffective once you move beyond the basics. Read our full Rosetta Stone review
Udemy
Udemy is a respository of video courses on every imaginable topic. They specialized in business related content, but there are some great foreign language lessons also, and an excellent advanced English writing course by a former New York Times journalist.
Lingvist
Lingvist is the creation of a CERN scientist turned language educator. The site shows a lot of promise for the future, and features some novel ways to visulize your progress, but the actual learning method doesn't offer anything particularly innovative or effective at the moment.
About.Education
About.com has pretty good articles on virtually every topic, and foreign languages are no exception. Their grammar explanations are particularly helpful and generally explain things in simple language without unnecessarily going into too much detail.
BBC Languages
Similar to About.com, BBC has a variety of resources, both written and audio, on all major languages. If you're learning British English, be sure to check out their excellent pronunciation section.
Vocabulary building
Anki
Anki uses the so-called spaced repetition system to predict when you are about to forget what you're learning, and remind you just before your memory fades completely. There are many SRS applications but the active community and extensive flashcard deck library makes Anki a particularly good choice.
Memrise
Anki has an online version, but if you don't need all of its advanced features and would prefer a friendlier interface and more extensive flashcard library, Memrise is the way to go to learn vocabulary in your browser. The methodology revolves around mems, or mnemonic devices that help you remember a word through imagery and associations.
SuperMemo
Think of SuperMemo as the grandfather of Anki. Wozniak invented the original SRS algorithm and the current iteration of SuperMemo remains the most advanced of its kind, but you pay not just with a hefty price tag, but also with the lack of Anki's online sync or shared deck library.
Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne is a distant third in the spaced repetition software race.
Quizlet
Quizlet may not use any advanced algorithms to predict your memory patterns, but is by far the leading repository of online flashcards. The free library includes hundreds of thousands of decks on any topic, the interface is very easy to use, and the PDF export feature has no equal
Speaking practice
Italki
Self-learning a language is great, but sometimes it's good to take a small class or a one-on-one to catch up with a standardized test curriculum or brush up on more formal language. Italki is the place to find an online tutor or conversation partner to do just that.
Forvo
Not quite sure how to pronounce Yokohama? Meeting your Russian pen-pal for the first time and struggling to read his name? Forvo is a free collection of pronunciation recordings for vocabulary of every language, recorded by volunteer native speakers around the world.
RhinoSpike
On the rare occasion when a particular word is not available on Forvo, RhinoSpike is at your service. Simply enter whatever you're struggling to pronounce, and wait for a benevolent native to send you a recording from across the globe. The service is especially useful for languages where pronunciation changes based on surrounding words and the wider context of the sentence.
Verbling
If italki didn't meet your needs, give a try to its latest competitor, Verbling. The site has a nice interface and makes use of Google Hangouts to automatically set up the tutoring sessions, but the community is still rather small, particularly if you're learning a language other than Spanish.
Fluentify
Another alternative to itaki, similar to Verbling. The feature-set is largely identical, but Fluentify's founder also offers bespoke, one-on-one prep courses for English language job interviews.
Coffee Strap
Pairing you with your conversaiton partners based on interest Coffee Strap does not only allow to practice the language but also find friends. If you don't buy into that cheesy promise, think of it as a completely free language exchange in an app form.
Myngle
mYngle's offer is tailored to learners who need language training in specialist fields (hi-tech, pharma). With a personal coach and study plan all you need is attendance and motivation.
lingo live
Similarly to mYngle, Lingo-Live targets business customers with plans tailored to groups of employees from one organisation. Courses developed following the COmmon European Framework, but personalised to specific groups.
Writing practice
Lang-8
The golden grail of writing practice. Write anywhere from a sentence to an essay in your target language, get corrected by native speakers, help others in return. One of the first, and certainly the most successful site of this kind. Try to write regularly and take the time to understand the corrections and your writing ability will improve in no time.
Skritter
Whether you're learning Japanese, Mandarin or Cantonese, Skritter is the place to learn the stroke order of Chinese characters. The software is a pleasure to use, it is compatible with most popular textbooks, and there's just no better way to practice kanji and hanzi handwriting than by tracing the characters on the screen.
Reading practice
Readlang
The basic concept—open any text in your target language, mark words that you haven't met before, track your progress—has existed before, but the brand new Readlang is free, lightweight and better design than all of the competition. If you're a Google Chrome user, make sure to install the Readlang extension.
LingQ
Devised by polyglot Steve Kaufmann (Lingo Steve), and one of the first websites of its kind, LingQ now pales in comparison to Readlang both in design and the hefty price tag. One benefit is a decent library of texts at different pronunciation level.
Lingualy
Lingua.ly proves to students they can read "native" content even at the earliest stages of language leanring. It pulls internet content appropriate to your level (and topic of interest) asking you to mark words you don't know. Marked words get explained and added to word-library where you can review them.
BliuBliu
Similar concept to Lingua.ly, but with an added community aspect. You can upload your own books, join challenges and find native speakers of the language you're learning. You will however have to "earn more minutes" to use the app without breaks for longer than the initial trial period of 5 minutes.
Listening practice
Pimsleur
If you have the time and money to afford it, there's nothing quite as effective as Pimsleur. The renowned spaced repetition audio course is slow to get going, and only covers a small subset of the language, but you will remember every word, expression, name and location taught in the course forever, with minimal effort.
Creative Language Learning Podcast
Kerstin and Lindsey in discuss language learning methods and invite quests from the language learning sphere. With aasual atmosphere and friendly style the authors' share advice based on their personal polyglot experience and make it both fun and informative.
LanguagePod101
JapanesePod101 is one of the best, and certainly the longest-running podcast for Japanese learners of all levels. The company has since released podcasts and audio courses for other languages, but the quality is not quite on par for many of them.
Survival Phrases
A collection of basic phrases in over 25 languages. In each short, 1-2 minute, audio lesson a native speaker explains one basic phrase giving the context of its use. Each lesson has a free downloadable pdf guide. Great to learn the basics on the plane before you land at your next destination.
Radio Lingua
Longer than the lessons in Survival Phrases, the Radio Lingua 20-5 minute episode-stories are native speaker conversations on levels from beginner to advance. The foreign langauge text is accompanied with word for word or phrase for phrase translations and explanations. Wonderful resource to learn during a commute.
FluentU
Watch trailers and fun YouTube videos in your target language, learn new vocab and expressions through interactive exercises based on the video's subtitles. Excellent resource if you find yourself spending too much time watching the latest adventures of Maru, rather than learning the language.
myLINGO
MyLINGO's mission is to make the world of non-English speaking cinema goers a better place. The service provides synchronised audio for foreign language films so you can watch them in the theatre without subtitles. Currently not a lot of content, but it is one to be watched in the future.
Assimil
One of the most effective and underrated methodologies of improving one's day-to-day conversation, listening, intonation and pronunciation is shadowing. Assimil is the collection to get if you decide to try this method. Read our shadowing how-to
Language Zen
It may be hard to gather from the name and the home page what the site actually offers, but worry not it's actually better than it looks. You learn can words through courses or... through favourite songs. You practice learned words in different contexts, including speaking. Currently only allows to learn Spanish.
Lyrics Training
Careful with this one because it gets addictive even in your mother tongue! Choose a fav song, choose a level of difficulty and try to fill in the missing words in the subtitles while the track is playing. Great way to improve your listening skills and... typing speed!
Tunein
Radio is a great way to improve listening comprehension, acclimitize your ear to regional dialects and accents, and simply keep your language up to date while in commute or doing house chores. Tunein makes it easier than ever to, well, tune in to thousands of radiostations around the world.
Educational games
MindSnacks
A fun little app with a collection of games teaching you the writing system, basic vocabulary and grammar of your target language. The content is somewhat limited but the games provide a nice break from more serious learning.
Fluent Panda
Learn actionable words and expressions through bite-size mini lessons adapted for the small screen and for the busy learner. As you progress, grow your very own virtual panda.
Influent
Crowdfunded on Kickstarter, Influent let's you explore a virtual world from a first-person or third-person point of view. In the learn mode, walk around and click any object to learn its name in a foreign tongue. In the timed review mode, do your best at quickly finding objects whose names appear on the screen.
Language Nut
Languagenut helps teachers create tailored, gamified language classes for students. Schools and individual students can then compete with each other. wide selection of languages, including minority ones.
Vodcasts & video blogs
Babbel Channel
Channel belonging to the creators of the Babbel app. The funniest series of videos features amusing twins covers topic related to language learning methods and learners' concerns. A few other series cover language basics and offer bite size lessons on specific topics.
Introverts by Jade
As far as languages go Jade focuses on English, pronunciation and accents using funny vidoes ot explain the quirks of British English. A second strand of her videos deals with introvertism and its impact on language learning.
Easy Languages
Very friendly videos with basics of a big variety of languages, featuring native speakers as teachers and in conversations with presenters. Everything in casual reporter style.
Lingo Steve
You probably now Steve Kaufmann by now, this time you can actually hear him speak about his personal experiences in language learning and really follow his progress and learning routine. A lot of videos have to do with LingQ, but that shouldn't be s surprise.
Luca Lampariello
If you're looking for an approachable polyglot, Luca is definitely one of them. His channel is a mix of multilingual interviews with him, lectures aswell as his thoughs on and expeirences in language learning.
The Travel Linguist
Travel Linguist is a series of vocab learning videos providing 101 basic phrases in 15 different languages. Each phrase is written on the creen as well as pronouced by a native speaker. It can get pretty monotonous, but nonetheless is pretty useful.
Fluenz
video content from the payable software, so you will not get the interactive exercises here! Yet the videos are very easy to follow and will slowly walk you through the basics of French, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin with clear explanations. A separate strand devoted to learning tips and to success learning stories.
SHOULD WE PUT FLUENZ UNDER COURSES TOO? THOUGH I GUESS THEY'RE A CD, NOT ONLINE.
LangFocus
Paul is not afrais of controversial topics and strong opinions. He answers commonquestions regarding language learning, shares his learning story and honest product reviews. He has separate playlists devoted to Arabic, Hebrew, Tagalog and Japanese.
Polyglot blogs
Fluent in 3 Months
Benny Lewis has only started to learn languages seriously in his early twenties, but has quickly become a polyglot through his 3-month language acquisition methodology based around actively using the language from day one.
The Linguist
Remember LingQ? The prolific polyglot Steve Kaufmann is also an author of this blog - frequently updated resource aimed at learners of all ages.
Speaking Fluently
Richard Simcott is somewhat a celebrity on the polyglot scene... Fluently speaking 16 languages and having studied 40 he definitely has something to say on the matter of effetive learning. He also runs Polyglot Workshops with (another polyglot) Alex Rawlings, so check out his events page to see if there isn't one near you!
Actual Fluency
"Anyone can learn a language" is the tag line of this blog and Kris Broholm is on a journey to motivate us all by producing interviews with language experts, bloggers and product creators. At the same time he is himself trying to learn 10 languages in ten years - visit if you're looking for inspiration!
I will teach you a language
The promise enclosed in the title of this blog may seem to be bold, but Olly speaks 8 languages and to date has recorded over 65 podcasts on language learning methods. Visit to check if he knows what he is talking about ;-)
The Polyglot Dream
This dreamy blog is perhaps unusual in that it has posts in different languages that its author, Luca Lamparello, has mastered. What is more Luca managed to have learned 10 languages in his home country despite the common stereotype that learning without travelling is an impossibility.
Eurolinguiste
Shannon is not only a polyglot, but also a musican proving that language learners are better at music, or that music enhances language leanring abilities? Or both. If you enjoy her posts, check out her resource page too, where she lists all the materials she regualrly uses.
5 Minute Language
Agnieszka is not only a Polish langauge fan (see what I did there?) but also a motivating writer. Her blog started from an attempt to teach her boyfriend Polish with short 5-minutr lessons and grew to be one of the more popular sites in this field.
Lindsey Does Langauges
Lindsay is one of the more creative bloggers out there and her brightly coloured posts on Facebook are hard to miss. She does Instagram challenges and a monthly "Clear the List" where she shares her language learning goals with her fans encouraging them to do the same.
Omniglot
From Abaza to Zuni this site has you covered. Are these even languages? - you may ask. Yes, Simon Ager has made a point in including less known language sin his resources so whether you want to know somehting about a langauge or learn phrases, this is the site to visit.
The Mezzofanti Guild
Donovan from The Mezzofanti Guild is a polyglot, specialized in the Arabic language. A highly recommended read both for language learning tips as well as insights into life and culture in Egypt and Kazan.
Language Mastery
Apart from sharing tips on leanring specific langauges, John also draws from his university education in linguisitcs and writes about psychology, brain health, motivation, among others.
The Polyglotist
Siskia started a bilingual so you may say she had it easier to become a polyglot, but that's not the case! She shars her leanring struggles, tips, product reviews and occasiona videos in an engaging, Mexican style.
RawLangs
Alex Rawlings was not satisfied with the style of langauge teaching at his univeristy and since then he made his mission to show that there are other, more efficient methods to study. If they enabled him, in 2012, to become Britain's Most Multilingual Student, one feels like checking them out.
Itchy Feet Comic
Learning langauges can be dreary, so why not have a fun break? Join the multinational and multilingual of the funny Itchy Feet and laugh at the problems or common situations that happen to all of us abroad.
Languages Around the Globe
there is probably no topic that Brian, the author of this blog hasn't covered. From reviews and opinions about resources through tips on learning specific languages and unsual learning methods to some posts directed at language software and app producers. Brian spares no one! ;-)
Language Crawler
Language Crawler's posts aren't your regular short "7 ways to do X" style posts, but quite well-researched pieces on specific aspects of languages and linguistics.
Language Surfer
Language Surfer Ron aims to turn his blog into a technical manual for language learning. Himself from Florida, he learned Arabic, Spanish and German. All in flip flops of course ;-)
Books on language learning
Fluent in 3 Months
We've already listed Benny Lewis amonth the polyglot blogs, but his new book is an equally good read. All the great tips on self-learning languages quickly by using them from day one, expanded, improved, and adapted for the hardcover format.
Don't Sleep There Are Snakes
Dan Everett is somewhat an Indiana Johnes of language conservation and this book is a record of his life in among the Pirahã in the Amazon. Full of linguistic insights and adventures (imagine living with a wife and a small child in the jungle in the 1970s).
Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe
Short read (like maybe a flight between London and Poland) with fun facts about European lanuages. Not all the facts and not all languages, but definitely a fun choice and a good present for those who seem to have "all the books about languages".
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything
Translation is just rendering one language in another, isn't it? You may think that until you start speaking a foreign language and try to translate to your interlocutor a phrase like "kick the bucket". This funny book shows how our lives are indeed all based on translation and describes some comical results of this set up.
Through the Language Glass: Why The World Looks Different In Other Languages
How do people acquire colour vocabulary? Why would we have a hard time to understand directions as explained by Tzeltal speakers? Topics from linguistic theory and psycholinguistics explained in an approachable manner with a lot of research examples.
In the Land of Invented Languages
Anyone bored of leanring Spanish, German and even Japanese? Why not try Klingon, Láadan or Ido? Arika Okrent tried that and the book is a record of her experiences as well as stories behind constructed languages and their creators.
The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
If you are a language fan you must have at elast heard about Stepehn Pinker. In this book he argues that humans have an innate capacity for language acquisition and, perhaps, an in-built grammar "s"oftware". Is it true? Read and tell us what you think.
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
This one is for those of you who are addicted to SRS language sites and want to upgrade their brain's memorisation skills. Advice in this book comes form a former American Memory Master himself, so there are reasons to believe that after reading you will memorise a deck of cards in 2 minutes.
Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World
Human history is a history of wars, movement and [add whatever you believe]. All this is reflected in languages and dialects we currently speak and the discipline that studies it is called historical linguistics. For those who weren't fans of this topic at school, trust me Nicholas Ostler can make historial linguistics interesting.
Forums & communities
Linguistics Stack Exchange
Stack Overflow has become a go-to Q&A site for programmers, and the Stack Exchange network is promising to do the same for other fields. The Linguistics.SE is a good place for general language-related questions, but you should also explore language-specific subsites such as English Language & Usage.
Online Language Learners Guild
Online Language Learners Guild consiste of a free email course for aspiring polyglots, language learning ebooks, and an invite-only Facebook group where learners and educators share and discuss their insights into effective language learning.
Linguistics Reddit
Language Learning Reddit
HiNative!
Have you ever found yourself at a loss of words in a specific situation, or not quite sure about the precise wording of this or that expression? HiNative! puts native speakers around the world just a click away, ready to answer simple questions about language usage and nuance.
How to Learn any Language
A site that does exactly what it says on the tin - comprehensive self learning guides on around 20 languages covering linguistic information and providing relevant resources. All that combined with a vibrant forum forum with discussions on language leanring methods and materials, also in languages other than English.
Meetup
Language exchange groups, polyglot conferences and other language-related events are a great way to make new friends, practice your target language, and learn about the latest learning techniques and products. Meetup makes it super easy to find a language learners group near you.
Couchsurfing
Most people think of couchsurfing as a fun, personal, and last but not least free way of traveling in foreign countries. If you can't afford to take a holiday, however, the service can also double as a great way to learn your target language by hosting and guiding visitors who speak it.
The Polyglot Club
You must subscribe to gain access to the community which it allows you to connect with language learners in your town, see the meetups that are happening, find language partners for language exchange and ask for advice online.
InterNations
Internations his a "foreigner search" - helping you find and connect with your language community (or simply a community of non-locals) in a new town. We all love new languages and interacting with the locals, but sometimes, when you feel homesick, it's good to have a supportive community-cushion to fall on.
Dictionaries & translation
Babylon
Babylon is an application that sits in the tray and allows you to translate anything by clicking it and pressing a keyboard shortcut at the same time. The free dictionaries included with the software are in no way exceptional, but what makes Babylon unique is the immense amount of premium dictionaries which can be loaded into it, including gems that are virtually unattainable in print.
Lingoes
A great dictionary offering translation in around 80 languages.
Linguee
WordReference
As the name suggests, this WordReference is home to an extensive collection of dictionaries that are especially useful for looking up nuanced translations of set expressions and word groups. Even better, however, is the site's forum which hosts some very interesting discussions on language usage and nuance.
Gengo
Sometimes Google Translate doesn't cut it, but this doesn't mean that you'll have to spend a fortune on a traditional translator. Simply upload your text to Gengo, and the service will instantly match you with the ideal freelance translator that fits your budget and requirements.
ProZ
If your goal is to become a professional translator, ProZ is the community to join. You'll find an extensive collection of resources for translators, niche dictionary tools, and neverending discussions of language usage and nuance.
Other
IFTTT
IFTTT stands for 'if this then that' and the four words pretty much sum up this online service. Choose a source web app or software, define a trigger event, and channel it to one of a myriad other services. If its use for language acquisition isn't immediately useful, check out our guide on automating your language learning.
Triplingo
Trip Lingo wants to make foreign travel less stressful. The app has many features like voice translator (helpful if you want to ask for that soy milk in a Latvian Starbucks), phraseboo and courses, as well also useful tools related to specifically foreign travel (local emergency numbers and currency converter).
OneNote
A journal is a language learner's best friend, but as more and more of our lives is turning digital, you may want to consider online alternatives. OneNote is an excellent digital notebook application that syncs across all your devices and allows you to easuly combine typed text, handwritten notes, audio recordings and even documents in a single entry.
Evernote
Evernote is another digital notebook application, in many ways equivalent to OneNote. There are some differences between the two (such as support for handwritten notes, useful for Asian languages), but you're likely to be happy no matter which one you choose.