16 best alternatives to WordBrewery as of 2019 - Slant

HelloTalk

Top Pro

Very large, active community

The community is very large, meaning you'll never have a problem finding someone to chat with. See More

Top Con

The number of messages can get overwhelming

Because it is such an active community, you may find yourself getting 20+ messages an hour when you are online. It can quickly get overwhelming. However, there is a setting that allows you to hide your profile from search. See More

Top Pro

The interface is very intuitive/easy to use

Despite being feature-rich, the app is very easy to use. It provides a tutorial which you can revisit at any time if you can't remember what certain icons are. It has a very clean, uncluttered design. See More

Top Con

Keyboard can't be used in landscape

The app doesn't let you rotate to landscape, instead you're stuck with portrait. Using the condensed keyboard when writing long messages can be a pain for some. See More

Top Pro

Allows you to share "memories" with the whole community

"Memories" act similar to a Twitter feed. You can post pictures, ask questions, or let the community know what kind of chat partner you are looking for (for example: maybe you want to discuss a specific topic with someone). You can "love", and comment on memories. See More

Top Con

Free version has restricted search

On the free version, it won't let you change the language of the people you can search, though you can still access the profiles of other language speakers. For example, if they comment on a memory you made a comment on, you can access their profile through that. Even if you can still send them friend requests and chat with them, being able to just search for them would've been so much easier. See More

Top Pro

Free

The app is free to use. There are some in-app purchases, but the app is very helpful without them. See More

Top Pro

Grammar correction

It allows users and native speakers to correct each other's grammar mistakes. See More

Top Pro

Text, Voice, and Video

Chat with language partners via text, voice recordings, voice calls, video calls, and even doodles. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android

Number of languages:150+

In app purchases:Yes

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50 0

Duolingo

Top Pro

Motivates through creative gamification

Progress is measured gaming-like by gaining XP, and leveling up. They use other creative gamification techniques to keep you motivated such as making wagers and improving your position on the leaderboard. See More

Top Con

Mobile app is less beneficial because it's too easy

Some of the games available on the mobile app are different from that on the desktop version, and are oversimplified/make it very easy to guess. See More

Top Pro

Generous free plan

Duolingo is completely free to use, with no features limited to upgraded accounts. If you want to go ad-free, the cost is $12.99/month. See More

Top Con

The hype in the community creates false ideas about what level Duolingo gets you to

Duolingo is a good tool for a beginner, and a good supplement to other resources. But it cannot get you from zero to understanding natives, tv, and books; and their "do the reverse tree and just speak" is usually not the correct answer to "what should I do after finishing the tree". See More

Top Pro

Engaging learning method

Each lesson uses a variety of different learning methods to keep it interesting and fun. The lessons are short so you aren't forced to focus for long periods of time. See More

Top Con

Little production of target language

Duolingo focuses heavily on reading comprehension and translation into one's own language rather than encouraging production of text/speech in the target language. See More

Top Pro

Friendly, active community

There is a discussion board available on the site, and a really active community on reddit in r/duolingo (30k + members). Everyone is friendly and happy to help or offer support. See More

Top Con

The health system on the IOS app disrupts learning

5 mistakes and you're out, unless you pay, wait several hours, or use a special review that currently doesn't let you choose what to review. Especially terrible if you're learning multiple or more difficult languages. See More

Top Pro

Has a mobile app

Top Con

Available languages are predominately European

Duolingo teaches 23 languages from English at the moment: Latin American Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Irish, Turkish, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, Polish, Welsh, Greek, Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Swahili, Vietnamese and Japanese (the last currently only on the app). Popular non-European languages such as Mandarin and Arabic are not currently available (although Korean and Indonesian are in development). See More

Top Pro

Extensive

Duolingo is exceptionally thorough when it comes to teaching the nuances of language. It has plenty of audio material, articles to translate, and a cooperative development made by users. See More

Top Con

Tediously repetitive with not much advancement

Not good choice for brushing up on a rusty language. Teaches through constant repetition of same few (very basic) words over and over. Little progression. Range of vocab and grammar very limited. Tedious in extreme! See More

Top Pro

Frequently adding new languages

You can check out the courses page to see what languages are "hatching" (being developed) and what languages are in beta. See More

Top Con

Repetitive questions on entire lessons

Same questions all over until one section completed. See More

Top Con

Doesn't take you to an advanced level

Top Con

Counting only on Duolingo is a waste of time

Top Con

Dangerously addictive

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Windows phone, Web

Number of languages:~30 from English

In-app purchases:Yes

Ads:Yes (Android, iOS)

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133 13

Memrise

Top Pro

Helps grow your vocabulary quickly

Memrise uses "mems" to increase your vocabulary, which are a way to connect a word to its meaning. A common example is associating a word with an image. Mnemonics are another one they use to help you remember new words. For example, "le parcours" (route or course) could be remembered with the mem "People who do parkour pick their own route". See More

Top Con

Doesn't teach much grammar

Memrise is more focused on increasing your vocabulary, so has very little on grammar and sentence structure. See More

Top Pro

Free account without a time limit

The Basic account is totally free (has no time limit) and is very generous. An upgrade (with more features) is available for 9 USD / month. See More

Top Con

No grammar

Top Pro

Huge vocabulary

The courses can teach you a very large vocabulary (for example, the first level Spanish course has 1705 words). See More

Top Con

Typos and other mistakes in target languages

There is no guarantee that the word you just learned is the correct spelling, because there are so many errors throughout many of the user-made courses. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

You will understand quickly what you should do, and you will begin to learn in less than a minute. See More

Top Con

No context

Top Pro

Foreign keyboard on screen when necessary

This saves you from having to copy/paste characters or worry about your keyboard settings. See More

Top Con

Lack of uniformity

It is driven by community, that can be good, but quality isn't always the same and it misses some uniformity. See More

Top Pro

Learn from natives

Official courses have videos of natives, recorded recently, to help you along. See More

Top Con

Not really effective

Top Pro

It makes you write the words

If you choose this option, writing is a very efficient way of memorization. See More

Top Con

Some useful functions like pinning your active courses were removed

It is hard to have an organized dashboard if you have more courses, which is most likely to happen, as starting them is the only way to bookmark them for later. See More

Top Pro

Android app can be used offline

You can download courses to use offline with the Android app. Great for when you're traveling. See More

Top Con

Lack of diversity in some courses

Some courses will have a very poor diversity for vocabulary lessons. For example, a Russian reading lesson, will repeat the 5 same people names for 8 to 10 minutes. It can be annoying, or demotivating. See More

Top Pro

Awesome community made courses

Top Con

Low level and mistakes in the official courses

Memorization of a phrasebook is not a good system for many learners. See More

Top Pro

Courses available using Tim Ferriss' method

Top Con

The search function is broken

It is very hard to find most courses, many user-made jewels are hidden at the bottom of the pile and are quite impossible to find without knowing precise details. See More

Top Con

No way to rate courses in the official or the community made ones

Top Con

Not funny

Top Con

The staff doesn't communicate well with the userbase

Explanations of changes, responses to feedback by large groups of users, implementation of new stuff based on user's needs and not against them, all that could use improvement. See More

Top Con

The app is too easy

Top Con

Rhythm is too slow

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Web

Number of languages:~50

User generated?:Yes

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92 10

Clozemaster

Top Pro

Helps you to remember vocabulary by giving you context

Clozemaster helps you learn vocabulary in a natural way by giving you regular sentences and asking you to fill in the missing word, either by typing or using multiple choice. For example, "Apenas hay __ en esa ciudad". The additional context using natural speech helps get you comfortable with the language. See More

Top Con

Not a good starting place for beginners

Clozemaster jumps right in with expecting you to fill in word blanks in the language you are learning. If you have little or no understanding of the language you wish to learn, it doesn't give you enough information to get started. See More

Top Pro

Free to play

There's a paid version with extra features, but it's free to sign up and play. The free version is quite generous and will give you plenty of material to learn from. If you want to upgrade, the cost is $8/month. You can see the additional features here. See More

Top Con

Translations are sometimes inaccurate

This can be a problem when in a given sentence there are multiple words that could go in the text field, and the translation narrows it down to one possible answer, but then it turns out the translation gave the wrong word for that slot. This is particularly an issue with pronouns for some reason. See More

Top Pro

Large variety of languages to choose from

Currently offers over 50 languages from around the world. See More

Top Con

Some sentences are inaccurate

Sentences are from the user-curated database Tatoeba and not all of them are written and checked by native speakers. It is impossible to know the original source of a sentence. Additionally, because they do not control the database they pull the words, reporting individual sentences will not help that much. See More

Top Pro

Gets you used to hearing your target language

After completed a sentence, it is read out loud by a native speaker of your target language (some sentences will allow you to hear it spoken by multiple speakers). They read it out clearly, but at a conversational pace. It gets you comfortable with hearing the words spoken in a normal, conversational way. See More

Top Con

They do not know the languages they teach

You cannot teach something you do not know. The sentences are taken from [Tateoba], and most of the time, the developers have no clue about what the written sentences say. See More

Top Pro

Lots of repetition helps you remember new words

Words are used in a variety of different sentences to help you remember them. See More

Top Con

The alphabets are not taught

There is no problem if you're learning a language that uses the same alphabet as your native language, but if you speak English and you want to learn Russian, Arabic, Yiddish, etc., this app is not a good start for you. See More

Top Pro

Lots of options for users who don't speak English

A lot of language learning sites expect your starting language to be English. Clozemaster teaches target languages in a variety of different starting languages. For example: if you want to learn Spanish, the language used for explanations could be English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and a few others. See More

Top Con

This app will ask you fill in the translations of given names in the blanks

The app randomly selects a word from the sentence and ask you translate it, and this word is frequently a given name, like Tom or Stuart. or the names of cities. See More

Top Pro

Makes you write the vocabulary

This active approach helps save the words for active use. See More

Top Pro

Effective support

The developer is very receptive to user feedback and ideas. Bugs are fixed quickly and new features are regularly added. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Web

Number of languages:50

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35 3

Busuu

Top Pro

Teaches realistic conversation behavior

Since Busuu puts learners in direct contact with natives, the learning is done in a realistic way - not an idealistic textbook way. See More

Top Con

Ineffective "review" section

When a section is over, there is a multiple review session. Many of the questions are totally irrelevant and are not useful for learners. See More

Top Pro

Fast response time

For popular languages, translations can be received very quickly from real people. See More

Top Con

Chat system doesn't support letters with accents

Busuu only accepts regular characters in the text fields, so non-native languages may be limited. See More

Top Pro

Teaches by theme

Instead of teaching words by most used, they are taught by case. This way, users can prepare for specific situations. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Web

Number of languages:12

User generated?:No

13 1

InternetPolyglot

Top Pro

Games focus on practicing the words you've struggled with

It remembers the words that you've scored poorly on in the past, and repeats these more often in games/tests than the words you know well. See More

Top Con

Should be used along with another course/book

InternetPolyglot states on their site that the program is meant to aid in memorization only, and should be used along side other resources. See More

Top Pro

Free

Access to the whole site/program is completely free. See More

Top Con

Games do not end on their own

You have to decide when you've had enough playing the games, or set a timer. The games do not end the game for you, so it's not smart about conserving your energy or ending the session when you've learned the material or when you've gone beyond 25 minutes which is the limits of most people's ability to focus. See More

Top Pro

Five different games to choose from for variety

You can choose from 5 different types of learning games so you can learn in a way that best suits you. There is a picture game, typing game, guessing game, matching game, and word search. See More

Top Pro

Very easy to use and covers most of your needs

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Web

Number of languages:37

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5 2

Readlang

Top Pro

Translates native content quickly

You can read any content in your target language using the browser extension, and translate any words/sentences you don't know quickly. See More

Top Con

Not a good way to learn a language by itself

It's not your standard learning website with structured courses. Instead, it helps you get more familiar with your target language by translating content when needed. This can be really beneficial for someone trying to improve their fluency, but isn't going to directly teach you grammar. Readlang is better used to supplement your learning while learning from structured courses. See More

Top Pro

Creates flashcards from words you don't know

Readlang takes the words you translate most often and turns them into flashcards for you to practice. See More

Top Pro

You can import long texts, including whole books

This is impossible or very annoying with other similar services. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Web

Number of languages:40+

User generated?:yes

11 0

Lingvist

Top Pro

Beautiful user interface

Top Con

Frequently gives you a word with different translations, of which it only accepts one.

No real way to discern what you are asked to enter. See More

Top Pro

Helps users learn thousands of words in a short amount of time

Top Con

Sometimes teaches vocabulary out of context

Top Pro

Helps you to write fluently

Lingvist helps to greatly improve your target language vocabulary. See More

Top Con

Few language pairs available

Currently only offers English and French. The website says there are 6 other languages in the works. See More

Top Con

Not enough variety in exercises

Words are learned only through fill-in-the-blank style problems. The user is not challenged enough to be able to remember and use the learned words in circumstances different from the fill-in-the-blank sentences. See More

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4 0

Bliu Bliu

Top Pro

Gives you real-world practice

Rather than simply expecting you to remember vocabulary, Bliu Bliu gives you practice reading real content in your target language. See More

Top Con

Not all translations are accurate

Each word is translated individually by google, which only displays one definition. If a word has more than one use, it may show you the definition of the incorrect word. See More

Top Pro

Unique way of adjusting lessons to your level

You can tell Bliu Bliu which words you are comfortable with and which you aren't by rating them as "easy" or "hard". The site keeps track of these and gives you pieces of writing that use a good ratio of words you know and words you don't. The more familiar you get with the language, the more difficult the reading becomes. See More

Top Con

No way to interact in case of questions

If you happen to have a question, you are out of luck. The only resource for you is to resort to Google. See More

Top Con

Not a great starting place for complete beginners

The site will test your knowledge of your target language after signing up. If it finds you are just starting out, it will suggest you come back after you know a bit more vocabulary. Bliu Bliu throws you right in by giving you things to read in your target language, rather than giving you structured lessons. See More

Specs

Number of languages:12

User generated?:Yes

3 0

Udemy

Top Pro

Wide range of courses

If one course doesn't meet your needs, there is a sea of other courses to choose from. See More

Top Con

Quality varies

The quality control for the content offered is fairly limited. As there are so many different instructors offering courses on Udemy, many of which lack formal training and teaching experience since anyone can be a teacher on Udemy, the quality varies quite a bit between the different courses. See More

Top Pro

Offers intermediate and advanced courses

Udemy offers plenty of courses for beginner programmers, but also has a large variety of more advanced courses to choose from. See More

Top Con

Most courses are expensive

While Udemy does offer free courses, most of them are around $100. See More

Top Pro

Some courses are free

Top Con

Difficult to take multiple (10+) courses at the same time

The system becomes messy and hard to follow if you plan on using the site to learn more than a handful of things at once. See More

Top Pro

Friendly community

Both on site and on various social networks Udemy aims to create a community of friendly people that can help each other out. See More

Top Pro

Courses available in over 80 languages

Specs

Features:Progress saver / video tutorials

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56 9

Lang-8

Top Pro

Gain experience writing in your target language

Where many programs will have you writing single sentences at most, Lang-8 encourages you to write short stories or diary entries. Having to actually write in the language rather than simply remember vocabulary is a really beneficial feature for improving real-world use of the language. See More

Top Con

New sign ups are currently put on hold

They are not accepting new registrations now, and it is not clear when will they accept them again. See More

Top Pro

Get feedback from native speakers

Native speakers of the language you are learning will give you pointers on your writing, such as grammar corrections and advice on word choice/sentence structure. See More

Top Con

Not a good starting place for beginners

The site doesn't teach you your language, instead it allows you to get advice on your writing in your target language. It's better if you have a basic understanding of the language at first. See More

Top Pro

Self-directed learning

Write as much or little as you like, about the subject of your choice, at the level of difficulty of your choice, taking as much time as you wish. Intermediate and advanced learners can benefit the most from this, but beginners can still use the site to practice what they've learned elsewhere. See More

Specs

Number of languages:90

9 2

Ayni

Top Pro

Focuses on practice

It is focused on practice with penpals and it provides content about how to get the most out of language exchange. See More

Top Con

Not a lot of users to interact with

It is very hard to find a Japanese or Korean pen-pal on Ayni. However even some of the more popular languages don't have many users to talk with. See More

Top Pro

Engaging conversations

Writing a real person is much more engaging than repeating words from a program. You are more likely to continue with Ayni than other programs because you can actually have a conversation instead of simply learning words and phrases. See More

Top Con

Website has a lot of grammar mistakes

The website itself (English version) has quite a few grammar errors throughout. The lack of attention put into the site, especially language errors on a language site, are concerning. See More

Top Pro

Free

Top Con

Not recommended for beginners

There is no content if you start learning a language from scratch. See More

Top Pro

Great to find an active penpal

This is a small community (+2000 active users) but active, as it does not look like a social network but more like a collaborative platform for matching. See More

Specs

Number of languages:80+

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4 1

Pimsleur

Top Pro

Principle of anticipation

Rather than simple listen-and-repeat, you also have to translate phrases and answer questions in the target language during the lessons. See More

Top Con

No writing practice

Pimsleur is an audio-only course. This can be easier for beginners learning languages that don't use the Latin alphabet, but for serious language learners, it's a gap they'll have to fill using something else. See More

Top Pro

Learn while you commute

Pimsleur uses daily 30-minute audio lessons. You can probably fit this in while you're driving to work. See More

Top Con

Limited vocabulary

It teaches hundreds of words. A great start, but not enough to achieve the thousands required for fluency, even with all three levels. Pimsleur deliberately focuses on the most common words of the target language for maximum recall. See More

Top Pro

Very effective for beginners

Pimsleur is based on proven memory science, it's not perfect, but it is very effective. Intermediate learners may not get as much out of it. See More

Top Con

Expensive

All the CDs for one language cost nearly a thousand dollars. The .mp3's are about half that. Your local library may carry the CDs, those that don't may be able to get them via inter-library loan (ask your librarian). You can also find them used and re-sell them for nearly as much (depending on how long you want to wait), after you finish. Be certain to get the same edition for all levels. See More

Top Pro

Graduated interval recall

Spaced repetition in and between lessons are timed for maximum recall. This also means you can't skip days between lessons, or work ahead. Each level takes one month. See More

Top Con

Too slow-paced and repetitive for some learners

If you learn quickly, you may find that the 30 minute lessons covering only a small handful of vocabulary move too slowly for you. See More

Top Pro

Teaches pronunciation well

Uses the backchaining technique with native speakers. See More

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3 1

Rosetta Stone

Top Pro

Speech recognition technology

Instead of teaching word recognition, Rosetta Stone uses speech recognition technology to make sure that students are learning to pronounce the words correctly. See More

Top Con

Makes no use of native language

While Rosetta Stone tries to emulate "learning by immersion," many people find the inability to find direct translations of words to be an unnecessary an ineffective part of the program. See More

Top Pro

Provides immersive learning without uncomfortable experiences

While trying to cary a conversation in a foreign language can be an effective way to learn, sometimes it causes a lot of stress. Rosetta Stone takes this concept and applies it to a stress free environment. See More

Top Con

Uses the same course for learners of different nationalities

For a user learning English, the course will be the same whether they are Chinese, Russian, Italian, etc.. While this is a good way for the company to remain efficient, many cultural differences are overlooked. See More

Top Pro

Real human contact

At the end of each lesson, students are able to review live with real teachers. See More

Top Con

Inconvenient meeting times for teachers

For users in the US, it can be easy to find a teacher to work with. In any other country, it can be extremely difficult to find an available teacher because of the differences in timezones. See More

Top Pro

Games with other students

When learning another language, a learner from that language can be invited to play a game for mutual learning purposes. Unfortunately, Rosetta Stone hasn't spread very much to countries outside of the US, so this game system isn't very developed yet. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS, Android, Web

Number of languages:24

User generated?:No

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5 7

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