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Add to SafariWhen comparing HelloTalk vs Busuu, the Slant community recommends HelloTalk for most people. In the question“What are the best sites for learning foreign languages?” HelloTalk is ranked 8th while Busuu is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose HelloTalk is:
The community is very large, meaning you'll never have a problem finding someone to chat with.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Very large, active community
The community is very large, meaning you'll never have a problem finding someone to chat with.
Pro Text, Voice, and Video
Chat with language partners via text, voice recordings, voice calls, video calls, and even doodles.
Pro Free
The app is free to use. There are some in-app purchases, but the app is very helpful without them.
Pro Grammar correction
It allows users and native speakers to correct each other's grammar mistakes.
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.
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.
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.
Pro Fast response time
For popular languages, translations can be received very quickly from real people.
Pro Teaches by theme
Instead of teaching words by most used, they are taught by case. This way, users can prepare for specific situations.
Cons
Con chinese company with lacking privacy rules
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
