Is This the Perfect Language Learning App?
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- Опубліковано 29 січ 2021
- After four years of testing different LANGUAGE APPS... Could I really have found the perfect language learning app?
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/ @daysandwords
I will be answering the question of does Speakly work?
To download for Android go to:
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
Speakly for Apple:
apps.apple.com/ee/app/speakly...
Website:
www.speakly.me/
Speakly is, in my opinion, probably the best app to learn a language if it happens to have the language you are interested in. From what I've seen, it may be the best language learning app there's ever been for any of those 8 languages that is offers, and like it's Estonian competition, it's beautifully designed and smooth to use.
Subscribe for more awesome language learning content: / @daysandwords
All the language learning apps I've reviewed:
• Language App Reviews
Wow, you actually made it to the end of the description. Where even is this?
What's the screen saver on the monitor behind me inspired from? (Come on, that one's easy.) - Навчання та стиль
Quick update:
ALL 6 month, 12 month or lifetime memberships of Speakly include ALL languages, so it doesn't actually matter which language you "choose" if you want to purchase, but in order to get the 40% off, you'll need to use the appropriate code for the language you happened to click on (but this won't change the fact that you get all of them):
English: FNS1
Spanish: FNS2
French: FNS3
German: FNS4
Italian: FNS5
Russian: FNS6
Estonian: FNS7
Finnish: FNS8
Don't know what I'm doing wrong but promo code doesn't work for lifetime membership. Any tips?
@@anna.mrozek Ah, maybe it's not for lifetime memberships, sorry. I'll just check with them.
@@anna.mrozek Hey Anna - I just asked and he said it's working at their end. Are you sure you're using the correct code for the language you happened to choose? (Even though you will get all of them)
@@daysandwords yup. I've checked the code for 12 months subscription and it works
@@anna.mrozek If you'd like to buy the lifetime one and it still isn't working, it'd be good if you could contact them. I know it's a pain but that's all I can offer since they're saying it's working at their end. 🤷 Just one of those bugs I guess.
One thing Speakly does is they do NOT ask for your credit card info for the free trial - you click a button and you're in. Amazing. Almost every service in the world wants your info before a free trial - I was shocked!
Yeah I should have said that actually. There are so many little things to try to remember when doing these, and then try to squeeze them into the review somewhere too.
But yes, I think the whole thing is really well set up in that way.
@@daysandwords But I indeed want to ask for The mister Cringe's mom's basement adress.
@@twoblocksdown5464 Yeah you like the oldies I know. She lives in Scotland.
@@daysandwords ok we got benz and rolls an shit and right now imma fly to Scotland
@@twoblocksdown5464 You do that. Let me know when you need a boat to go the rest of the way because your geography is as dumb as your trash talk.
But, to be honest, if you start Duolingo Swedish, but then make it to the Finish, you did something wrong. Get it? Swedish. Finish. Nah next pun will be better.
There's Norway this is true
I thought the language for Czechia was Czech republican but I think I should CZECH that again 😂🤣
I think you're Russian a bit with these puns
I don't have time for this, I'm hungary!
@@daysandwords If you are that hungary, have a Mandarin
"I get why people learn lots of languages. It's fun... But it also sucks." perfect description of how it feels to learn a new language 🤣
For me, the main thing I struggle with is that, the more I learn languages, the more languages I want to learn and I am scared I will then speak 10 languages but only really be fluent in 4.
@@AfroLinguo If you stick to one language family you'd pick them up faster
Providing the timestamp here because why not
15:41
"I can see why people like studying lots of languages. I g- I ge- I get it guys, I do. It's fun. And also sucks."
The perfect language learning app is called UA-cam
True
For me, it is actually italki. Cuz I love having a teacher help me learn a language. It feels easier for me.
@@AfroLinguo Interesting! I'll try italki at some point
@@joachim1006 you will definitely not regret it
@@AfroLinguo I'm far too anti-social for that
I almost spit my drink out when i heard you speaking finnish. Ive been learning by myself feeling like a crazy person and alone in the world. Super exited about the app having a finnish course. Kiitos!
I think it's kind of common to learn (measured against it's speaking population) because of its infamous difficulty.
@@daysandwords Yea! Still coming from learning german and italian the scarcity of media in finnish is kinda daunting. It's pretty hard to find quality imersion content thats accessible
@@diogoh3x Personally I love audiobooks and there seems to be plenty of them. But for movies and stuff I can imagine it would be difficult. Karppi and Bordertown are hardly comparable to the Flemish offerings.
It might be hard to find movies but there are quite a few finnish tv shows that you can watch (for free) even abroad from areena.yle.fi (national tv (yleisradio) -content) I would expect that most podcasts there, and news and such are available. There are also "easy spoken" or "simple Finnish" news for example ('selkokieli' or 'selkosuomi', "uutiset selkosuomeksi") and yle.fi has regular written newsmedia. Some comedy/comedy sketch shows on Areena that I love and checked are currently available outside of Finland are:
Pasila - an adults cartoon about a police station in Pasila, Helsinki. This show can be very random, but it was super popular when it came out!
Siskonpeti (Apparently titled pyjama party in english but really means communal bed/sleeping) - a sketch show by 4 female comedians, the episodes have varying themes and the show makes fun of a lot of things that relate to Finnish culture and habits specifically as well.
Kimmo - a comedy about a guy that can't seem to grow up and get his life together. This one had really great actors in it.
Modernit miehet - A comedy about 4 male friends with very different kind of personalities and lives. I find this one really funny :D
Sekasin - a drama/comedy about 4 teens/young people that end up in a mental hospital. It is based on true stories about life in a mental facility. This show is directed at young people but I think it's really entertaining to anyone, I believe you can also find it on youtube. It's crazy, it makes you cry/horrified one moment and hysterically laugh RIGHT AFTER, or the other way around. I absolutely adore this show, and it was first made as part of a mental health campaign. The episodes are quite short!
Problem with all of these of course is that they mainly only have Finnish subtitles available, might have swedish ones sometimes, so no translation in English or other more spoken languages, which means your Finnish needs to already be at quite a high level to actually understand most of what's said. But the "easy Finnish news" seem to be something that could work even at a more beginner level :)
EDIT: if you're not interested in comedy, there's a talk show available abroad, called perjantai, that discusses all sorts of current topics, and they have this mini part called "perjantai-dokkari" they're 6-15 minute documentaries relating to the topic they talk about in the show, and these are nice kind of bite size videos to watch, I think.
"What's a 'meat restaurant'? That's not a thing." When COVID is over, come to Japan. It is *such* a thing here. It is a whole category of restaurants.
Yeah, but it's not something you can say in English.
@@daysandwords Yep not in America anyway. We get like oh you want a steak or hamburger but yeah very awkward language that would provoke a laugh.
Love the honesty and thoroughness of your review, especially the focus on transitioning from classic beginner activities to native-style activities.
"It's going to be hard, or you are doing it wrong" - I love this
Love it, thanks for taking the time to make this! Excited to give Speakly a try!
I have been waiting for an app like this!! Thank you thank you thank you for bringing it to my attention. I have used your code and have purchased a years subscription to work on both my French and Italian. Who knows, it may inspire me to extend to another language..... Oh and Matrix - great movie.
Another great review! Great sense of humor too! I'm working through the 7 day trial but at 40% off, likely will be subscribing. Thanks Lamont!
Been using speakly to learn spanish for 3 months, in that time i learned over 1500 words. I felt my level increase a lot though I have a long way to go. Far better than duolingo
Absolutely.
Your editing is on point, Makes longer videos easy to watch.
This is very interesting, because I'm at an American Military school learning Persian Farsi (I am in the U.S. Air Force) and our courses are taught extremely similar to this. We aren't given these small incremental steps towards more advanced topics, we are thrown into them but not expected to know it yet. I'd love to use this app if they did have Persian but I don't see that happening soon lol.
Yeah... I mean it would be higher priority than some languages but certainly not a super common choice.
Feel free to comment about your experience at... um, is it Monteray or something? That place that's known only for it's language schools haha.
I did the Australian version of the test and did fine in the test but the military said no for other reasons, which I can now see it fair haha.
@@daysandwords Yes, it's Monterey lol. I am 10 weeks in to a 48 week course and they throw you to the wolves lol. I haven't had a normal experience because of Covid-19, so all of our classes online. I have 6 hour classes Monday thru Friday and about 1-2 hours of homework a night. We learn new grammar points in our homework and while we aren't expected to know the new grammar by heart we are expected to be familiar and semi-comfortable with it the next day. We are often times given listening exercises that are very colloquial, which we do not know, and you start picking up things fast like that.
Wow you are lucky to be in Monterey Good luck!
Thank you so much for your hard work. I have been "stalled" with the languages I have studied for a long time and your comments about Busuu has helped re-start the learning process!
I tried the app out and loved it. Thank you for the recommendation!
I checked it out, since your Busuu tip was gold: It's actually really good. I'm at intermediate 2 in French. I feel confident that this will improve my listening and speaking. They have captured that moment where you want/need to say something and have to put it into the foreign tongue. By my reasoning and hopefully, when you can do this with alacrity you have reached a level of fluency. I am impressed.
I like your reviews. They always feel unbiased and honest. I’ll have to look into this app! Also the screen saver is from the matrix (yes I read the description box 😂)
For some reason a lot more people did this time! I guess for the codes but yeah, I'll have to remember to put a question there every time.
Tried the app and have decided to give it a try. I learn English almost exclusively by watching movies and UA-cam and listening to the radio. (I suck at speaking)
How did you learn to write English, it looks great. :)
Everything you say is true! I had trouble logging in and they sorted it within a few hours. Now that I am 'in' I have just spent an hour using it and you are right, there is something different and better about this app compared to the others. It was hitting me with difficult phrases and highlighting the errors, but I didn't feel like it was patronising me - and the combination of tasks and content feel so much more 'natural' compared to other apps (I haven't come across any grammatically correct but nonsensical sentences like 'the boy is an apple' that come up on...well, you know which app I mean!
I will be taking advantage of the generous discount and spreading the word - thanks and keep up the good work!
As ever, wonderfully produced video! I look forward to checking this one out
Thanks Orphelia!
I downloaded it yesterday and I really like it. I especially like that they add listening to music as a listening exercise. I am using it to help with fluency in German, Spanish and French.
Really cool that they offer Estonian--hard to find apps that have it. Thanks for the great video! Your production quality is really excellent, possibly the best of anyone in the YT language learning community, so kudos.
The 3 best apps have Estonian because they are all Estonian haha.
@@daysandwords just out of interest, what are the other two best apps?
I guess busuu is one of them?
@@someoneirrelevant1518 Nah, I should say my 3 favourite. I've kinda (to an extent) changed my mind on Busuu. It's great compared to more traditional things like textbooks and for Euro languages (the "Big 4" for example) but it doesn't encourage immersion and it's bad for the languages far removed from English. By the way it's German/British.
My favourite 3 apps are Drops, Lingvist and Speakly. People might question Drops but it just makes learning vocab (my least favourite activity) fun. Similar thing with Lingvist, and then Speakly encourages immersion. All 3 of them are beautiful designed and logically laid out. So they are my 3 favourites but they're not necessarily all the "best" for learning.
I've been using this for about a week now and it is by far my favorite language learning app I have ever used. I tried busuu after your last review, but it wasn't a great fit for me, but this on the other hand is fantastic. I am a little surprised at their selection of languages (Estonian and Finnish but not Portuguese for example) but as someone who is learning french it doesn't matter too much and its cool to see more niche languages. Im excited to see where the app goes as it continues to grow.
Its made by an estonian polyglot that speaks estonian and finnish thats why
Are you still using speakly?
The app is Estonian, that’s why they teach it. Finnish is the closest language to Estonian and Finland is a very important economic partner for the country, hence they teach Finnish.
I’ll give it a try! French UA-cam and podcasts have been a huge help for me so far. Tolerance of ambiguity is important!
Update: I’m doing the free trial and I quite like it! Busuu has better audio for each sentence but the listening section here makes up for that. I enjoy the opportunity to guess the French translation for a sentence I haven’t already learned. I also like the music suggestions! The brief grammar summary is just the amount needed.
Can you share which channels and podcasts you watch?
Yes can you please share the podcasts channels 🙏🏼
ooh this will be so good once they get to expand their library of languages! i imagine it will take quite a while because of how they go about this, but i'm excited for where it will go from here.
Just tried Speakly and wow I'm impressed. Second your comment about the placement test being accurate - it really feels like the perfect level for me. I can imagine it being frustrating to beginners due to the lack of hand-holding (explanations) but this is a serious gold mine for intermediate levels. I've been using busuu for French, and while it was great at the A1~A2 level, B1-B2 seriously turns into braindead sentence & audio mining for Anki. I'm a lesson away from finishing B2 and once I'm done with that I'm switching over without a second thought. Thanks man. Always love your recs.
Hey, currently studying with busuu A1
Can you say anything about b1-b2? I was going to see it through but have heard a few times b1 upwards isnt as good as the prior levels
I really appreciate these very honest videos you make. But I also have to give you a huge compliment! Your production value has gone up exponentially since I started watching your channel! It's so impressive! I'm sure all of this takes a ridiculous amount of time to do and it really shows.
Thank you!
The new set up was actually an effort to make it take less time, but yes the editing and writing sure takes a lot of time, so I appreciate you saying so.
I think I’m in the same boat as you now - I picked Estonian to learn to see how the app is and now I want to buy the app and learn Estonian intensively
The Turkish language surprised me as being the most rewarding language I ever studied. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts once you begin your Turkish journey.
Hi what have you liked about it I am currently trying it.
AA Croatian, will be silently rooting for that one :D. Awesome review!
Thanks for the great review!
Dude I randomly opened YT today and this was on my homepage so I watched it. I downloaded the app and have literally been using it for hours. What a hidden gem! I think this and Busuu are my 2 favorites.
Speakly is a lot like Falou in the speaking sense. Both have you speak real-world situations. However I wish Speakly was more than 4 sentences!
For some reason I can't get Falou where I am. Speakly goes to more than four sentences when you start getting more right.
They told me they're adding Norwegian and Swedish soon!
Very interesting video! I am studying Dutch with a teacher (online) in a structured course but I am also improving my skills with Babbel and I'm thinking about starting with Pimsleur too. The apps do not substitute the books/face-to-face language classes, but they can be used as a support to improve the skills you already have, at least this is my experience with apps :) Congrats for your videos!
Succes met Nederlands :) . Als je een goed boek nodig hebt, "Nederlands op Niveau" van uitgeverij coutinho is geweldig
@@dant4185 Hallo Dan! Dank je wel :) Ik studeerd met Nederlands in Actie en het is fantastisch! :))
Omg. The part where you explain how the app seems to try and teach you language through immersion in how it works rather than through learning the rules! This sounds so nice.
I don't know the rules of grammar in English! I just know that's how you say it. Hell. Same for my native French. Have you *seen* how many rules and exceptions we have?!
This is interesting. Thank you for taking the time to do this.
Yeah and people who learn French traditionally therefore get the idea that it's hard. But I firmly believe that it's the easiest language for English speakers, assuming the learner immerses.
Nice video recommendation!
Want to start learning French. I think I'll use this, anki for popular words and watch french Netflix shows. Any other suggestions? My main concern is understanding fast speaking and being able to converse in French.
Edit: Which combination of the apps Busuu, Speakly and Lingvist should I use? Can I use Anki? I'm a bit overwhelmed with choice 😕
After watching this review I downloaded the app and have been using it as part of my Russian studies for the past month. I can easily see myself sticking with it for the long term. The fact that it provides you with the narrated stories at an appropriate level is extremely valuable. So far I've been doing the typing exercises but I will probably stop doing that (as much as I like learning to write) so that I can put more time into immersing myself with the stories and dialogues. I would say that if I had come to this app as a complete beginner in Russian then I would have struggled because it doesn't teach you the script or pronunciation. I came to this app after 6 months of studying and I think that was the right time for me. But if I ever decide to take up any of the other languages that use the Latin script I'll use this from day 1.
To be fair, I actually like it. Russian script can be learned in an hour on UA-cam. Too many apps waste time with dumb games to teach it.
Thanks for this review !!! I got the app as I really need something for listening practice - I’ve tried it out and it looks perfect for what I need. The link doesn’t work (it tells me the app isn’t available in my region (France) but when I went to the App Store directly I was able to download it - I think it’s because my Apple account isn’t a French account but I’m accessing it from France so it glitched) but nvm.
Thanks again 😊
Definitely going to check it out! It seems great and I hope they continue to add more and more languages (SWEDISH PLEASE!!). Side note, one of my gripes with the majority of language apps is that with the Spanish option, you never have the option to learn Latin American Spanish... You're almost always stuck with Spanish from Spain. 😩
Yeah... which is this one?
I know Lingvist has Latin American Spanish...
@@daysandwords It's Spanish Spanish unfortunately, but it makes sense since it's European based. I actually checked it out, and decided not to go ahead with it, since I've already found myself frustrated with the language differences. I'll definitely use it once I start with German and Russian though! Or if they add Swedish. :)
@@Ellary_Rosewood the difference between Spanish from Spain and from Latin America is not that vast though and it is still perfectly mutually intelligible, also Spanish varies wildly from one Latin American country to another so usually when apps have 'Latin American' Spanish they actually mean Mexican Spanish.
Placement tests in apps are a big plus for me. I'm studying German and while Busuu is great for beginner level of a language (started French recently and it's going quite well), I've found the B1 and B2 levels of German quite lacking, as in: too many short sentences. Speakly seems to be a solution to that and I will give it a try.
Hey, fellow Busuu German user here. I liked it at first, then I hit a wall where it got too difficult. Starting Speakly today, see ya 'round!
I agree with you 100%
If you are B1 or B2 level you don't need any app other then UA-cam. Just go watch some youtubers in your target language at first maybe you will have problems with comprehension but with only a little bit of practice you will understand almost everything (B1 and B2 level should understand majority of the things they hear or everything they hear, respectively. However if you haven't trained understanding the spoken language you will have difficulties at first but they are easy to overcome. Just practice 15-20 minutes of listening every day and after 2 or 3 months you will reach a level where you understand almost everything youtubers in your target language say)
@@hyggemcb06 How did you find the transition onto Speakly and in retrospect, would you have rather started with Speakly off the bat?
@@smrtfasizmu6161 how do u know what level u are??
Finnish... Hahha...
I live in Finland, i speak Finnish in a good level. Very nice to see that in your video... 😉👌🏽
Please, keep on studying Finnish, im also studying Swedish...
Kiitoksia, tosi hyvä video.
Have you ever made a video about why you chose to study the specific languages you do? I'm relatively new to your channel, so I apologize if I just haven't found it yet. I am studying Spanish because one side of my family is Colombian and some family members only speak Spanish, and French because I would love to spend some time living in France. I've also considered adding Polish because the other side of my family is Polish-American and I'd love to do research into my family tree
I've been trying to buy the lifetime length French course with your discount code but it just resets to the preview page. :/
Love your reviews and am pretty tempted to try this app out. For the screen saver it feels more and more like we're in that world these days...
Also gotta ask about the Chief Wahoo shirt, just a shirt? I thought Aussies only liked cricket?
No no, not at all.
Long story short: more Aussies are into baseball than you would think, but we don't have much of an avenue to follow it.
But I grew up watching and talking baseball. In my view, cricket was for wimps who needed to stand further from the ball and use a bigger bat haha. In my teens I got into cricket and now I love both, although if we mean playing, then I'm much better at cricket (like much much better).
But I've always sort of "gone for" (not really) Cleveland because of the movie Major League... though you'll also see that I have a White Sox hat, because my sister was living in Chicago when I got it.
Summary: these days I don't really have a team but I bought the Chief Wahoo shirt because I knew he wouldn't be allowed for long after that haha.
Hey does the app when it says it teaches 4000 words count word forms. I started Russian on it recently. I started knowing a little Russian already. So the first 100-150 or so words I got through fast. But it seemed I didn't learn much now being at around 270 words. Maybe that is why though.
Me watching this even though I'm learning Japanese. Nice review! I'll keep this app in mind if I choose to return to French.
Sweet! I will be downloading this, and seeing if i want to use it regularly. Now all I've been doing is listening to Helene Fischer every day, and watched Moana in German once haha. Maybe this will help me with vocab, or at least encourge me to try.
3:08 i emailed about the range of languages and they replied within 12 hours
What did they say?
@@georgegilbert4004 we have noted your request and would love to add this language in the future.
”Nu kör vi!”
I was looking for your review of the Michel Thomas courses and couldn't find any. Can you weigh in on these?
Nice vid. Your previous review of Busuu convinced me to check that out and I am so glad that I did. Would you say that Speakly has any major advantages over Busuu? Especially wrt to learning Germanic/Romance languages?
Would like to know the answer to this if anyone has any insight to offer
convinced me to give it a try! excited to hear it has finnish
I recently discovered Speakly and started using it to learn Spanish. Love it so far mainly because it is actually hard. I am not learning trivial things like Hola and Como estas... I found a discounted lifetime membership and bought it. Now unto conquering Spanish and then other languages :)
May I ask you how you found the discounted lifetime subscription?
Me, learning Greek, watching every “this is the best language app” video I see knowing full well they won’t have Greek on there, and then going back to Duolingo & self study...
This sounds cool though thanks for sharing the details! I hope they add more languages soon!
Other stuff has Greek though. I mean I don't know how it compares... But personally I prefer Mango Languages to Duolingo. There is also GreekPod101.
I started with Mango Languages (free through library), but switched to Language Transfer to learn Greek. It's free (UA-cam, website, very basic app). It's not fancy, but I feel like it's giving me a solid foundation that will help with other resources I plan to use in the future (e.g. Super Easy Greek/Easy Greek on UA-cam, Hellenic American Union's Learn Greek podcast, textbooks from library, etc.). I'm really liking it, but could understand if others were to find it boring.
καλημέρα! μαθαίνω ελληνικά :) it is hard to find Greek resources. But Duolingo + self study is the best route. DL is actually quite good and has added lots of new alphabet units. Also yes to Language Transfer... if you find any more - let me know! :)
Is there any apps or websites for urdu I am underaged and can't buy any subscriptions or anything
I also have a speech impediment and I'm scared that I can't learn to speak languages
Mango Languages is my favourite language app for the main bulk of content that you need, that alongside comprehensible input and TPRS is great.
I now have a lifetime subscription to speakly bc im so excited to see where it goes in the future! (And bc I love it 😁) thank you for your recommendation and for your discount code, lamont!
Thank you!
Yeah, they are getting some more languages hopefully by the end of this year!
@@daysandwords that's amazing!
How’s it going, been 8 months. Has it really helped?
Have to say I personally prefer having mistakes explained, otherwise it feels like just memorising the correct way instead of understanding why it is correct (that's also why I use a textbook with all the grammar explanations and use the green owl mostly just for vocabulary and practise). With time sure, I can learn things in a "this is just how this phrase/word is used" kind of way, especially if it's something without a direct 1:1 translation, but at the beginning that is not enough for me.
Nonetheless, good review! Since Norwegian is not available (yet) I won't use it for that, but may try it out for my B1/B2 Italian. For higher levels it actually sounds like a good method :)
Kiitos paljon! Mitä sinulle kuuluu? Thank you a lot! How are you? If you want learn Finnish I make Finnish learning videos, easy stories, learn Finnish naturally:)
@Anneli Erkkonen Moi Anneli, kiitos paljon kommentista. Tervetuloa mun kanavalle! You like his channel and videos also!
What is the best way to improve speaking in a foreign language (English) in a short period of time?
My comprehension of written and spoken English is good enough (I understand about 95% of educational videos without using a dictionary), but when I have to speak I have big problems finding the right words and also problems with pronunciation.
In a month I will apply at the trial month of an international programming school where we'll have to work in groups, with English being the main language. So I have to make best use of my time till then.
My goal is not to have perfect grammar or to be able to always find the perfect words until the beginning of March, but just to speak sufficiently good, so it will be easy enough to understand what I am trying to say and not to be lost for words that often.
You said Speakly is a lot about speaking. Is it more useful for my purpose than Busuu? Can I only take the speaking exercises, without wasting my time on the ones for vocabulary or grammar in those apps?
What about shadowing and italki? If italki, will partners do the job, or do I have to pay for tutors?
I hope you can take the time to help me.
Every advice will help me A LOT!
Can someone please tell me what is the difference between this app and lingvist?
Hey, there is no spanish for german speakers so whats the next best app. I saw you liked Mondly so is it the next best thing?
Thank you for your in-depth review! PS. Rumor has it that the dislikes are from 7 green owls... :)
How can I learn another language to become neigh to fluent? What would I do? Intensive classes? Would you say online intensive classes are trustworthy?
Great video! This seems like a cool app, the approach makes sense. I might try it for Russian.
It's the complete opposite of Drops though. You will have to choose between like "shdjdh7yhå" and "shdjhd7yhå" kind of thing. The listening exercises would probably be better for you, but the fact that you have to unlock them means you might be better off taking a placement test and even cheating on the test to unlock more.
@@daysandwords Yes, I'm going to do the placement test first. Should a language learning UA-camr advice people to cheat on a placement test?!😂
@@Tomanita Totally. I even said that in the other parts of this video that got cut out (this video is like 10% of what I actually filmed).
Experienced learners should cheat in placement tests because all it does it opens up more material. It doesn't mean you can't do the base stuff, so it just gives you more responsibility in terms of managing your own learning. Like in French, I opened up 34 of the 50 listening exercises (without cheating), but in Finnish I would like to have had 15 or 20 as opposed to ONE.
I'm interested in learning Spanish, but really focusing on Colombian Spanish rather than Spanish Spanish (Castellano). Anyone know if this would be useful for that? I know they are fairly different and I don't want to invest tons of time and energy into learning the wrong form of Spanish.
Great review! Does the app allow for you to take a 100% input based approach or does it force you to output?
I think you can just click "can't speak now" and it turns it off for the lesson, but I can't see an option to turn it off permanently. I don't think mimicking as best you can is a bad idea, I consider that a separate thing to actually outputting. Outputting it trying to take your own meaning and turn it into language, which is ineffecient. Mimicking is helping you to remember the meaning/language relationship.
I tried subscribing, but I could'nt get the premium features. I checked the FAQ and nothing helped. I contacted customer support and waiting for their response. Also the app crashes a lot. Does anyone have the same problem?
I quite like speakly, I have used it because it is the only app that has Estonian. They have made so many improvements from when I started using it over a year ago. The only problem for me is that I am so bad at using apps. And it is very ruthless with mistakes, a tiny fuck up and you have to try. I know you talk about this, but like for me in Estonian I write the wrong word because I fuck up due to amount of vowels. It's a little tough
Reads the title:
Did Ikenna finally release his app?
That was my first thought..
As a tech product manager, I can confidently say that a single person working with a single developer is extremely unlikely to make a perfect app anywhere close to this upon release. As a fan of Ikenna, you should manage your expectations. 🤷🏻♀️
The Speakly app shown here took a team to create, and the people who manage it all work full-time. From what I can find from LinkedIn, this app took 5 years of research to develop the method and has been a released app for 4 years. They currently have at least 13 employees (but likely more if some don't have LinkedIn). Some of those employees are language tutors and linguistics experts. Others are developers and product designers. Not to mention customer support, business, marketing, quality assurance, legal, accounting, etc.
Not saying he couldn't eventually make something great happen, but I'm guessing from some of the silence he's had lately about his new app that he's figuring out that he's going to need more than just him and 1 developer to compete with apps of this caliber, not to mention more popular ones like Duolingo. Curious to see what he creates, but the first iteration is not going to be perfect. Much like this Speakly app isn't even perfect based on this review.
@@MelissaJetzt wow that just sent me back to the reality of the way things work and are put together, thanks
@@MelissaJetzt oh we know. I was seeing this more as a joke tbh. Of course I'll check it out when he releases it, but it's not that deep 🤚
I think a big obstacle in the way of changing the dominant approach to language learning is that (like the teachers) learners have a fixed idea of what language learning is supposed to be like. That is why Speakly also tries to "play the game". But also a reason for them to explain why they do things the way they do them, and making the link to their blog more accessible.
For the visual representation they could show the time spent listening/reading, to emphasize the process. As opposed to something like "you can do this now". Don't know if that's the psychologically best idea, though. Because I'm not a psychologist.
I think maybe it could pop up at the start of lessons with little tidbits like "It can take up to 4000 hours of input in the language before you feel comfortable in it, but don't worry, the first 100 are the hardest." (or something, that one was a bit depressingly worded, but something that encourages more input.)
@@daysandwords I personally prefer your wording, but I wouldn't say I'm a beginner anymore. Maybe for beginners a less drastic wording would be more motivating... This depressing wording is something I, and, apparently, pretty much all language apps I've seen, are struggling with as well. Usually they end up using misleading statements like the one you mentioned in the video.
On the other hand, even I felt a little underestimated as a beginner when they assumed I was a beginner (and that wouldn't realize that). I mean, the audacity!
Legal complications? I'm more worried that the green owl will come at you with a knife at night.
Though I still like the app for what it can do, though with heavy help from Anki. The issue is that the questions they ask are of quite varying quality. I'd love for instance to have just listening exercises for a session, but no, it decides that what I need is more matching mini-games that have no value in Japanese as it doesn't even tell you the translation of what you're matching.
Just as a note, due to how Japanese is written, the listening exercises are perhaps more useful there than in other languages you've experienced.
Speakly looks nice, but by the time it has Japanese, I hopefully would not need it. I also do not care about speaking at this point and does not want to be made to do it. I also do not like their price scheme with twice the monthly cost if you only want to commit to one month at a time compared to a year.
I think I actually recognized the vocal piece before you showed the logo…
Was it from the “Miserere Mei Deus”? I think it started off right at the “am” from “tuam”.
It was Allegri's version thereof, yes.
His is by far the most famous and therefore is often known as the Miserere, but that's very similar to saying "the 9th symphony". Whose?
Well, Beethoven's, obviously. Hundreds of composers have written 9 symphonies but only Beethoven's gets the title of "THE ninth", as Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus, is known as the Allegri Miserere or even just Misereri. Even The Cat Empire have wrriten one haha.
What's your take on Fluent Forever App?
The real question is: Does it teach puhekieli or kirjakieli? I've been learning Finnish exclusively for about 8 months now and haven't used any apps because they teach written Finnish - kirjakieli (which is super formal, not a very natural way to speak in conversation according to Finns). An example is the verb Tykätä (puhekieli) which is "to like", rather than Pitää (kirjakieli), which I only find in books. The "we" form of verbs is totally different also. In my opinion learning kirjakieli can help puhekieli a bit, but I've been focusing a lot on the more natural dialect puhekieli through Aleksi's Spoken Finnish Course for beginners as well as the 'Finnished' UA-cam channel. Also if you want to read some Finnish books I'm reading the selkokirja (easy Finnish) 'Punainen Kuin Veri', by the author Hannah Männikölahti, which is an interesting crime mystery. She has some other selkokirjat too. I also like these books a lot because they have a mixture of puhekieli and kirjakieli by the way. Just my thoughts. Ben from Perth
Yeah it was a Finnish woman who started me on this whole languages thing so I know there are crazy different forms but honestly I think you can just learn and immerse, learn and immerse, repeat, repeat and eventually all that stuff becomes clear, like the situations in which Swedes use the formal "ni" or "smaklig måltid".
"Pitää" is a common word in colloquial speech! "Tykätä" might see more frequent use due to the gemination of 'k' rolling off the [Finnish] tongue better than the slightly more problematic 'd' phoneme. But it's true that formal and colloquial Finnish are very different and using formal speech most probably makes you sound clumsy, at best rigid, and at worst uptight and/or arrogant. The last can only happen if there is a reason to assume you're proficient in Finnish, and so choose to use it as a disconnecting device to distinguish yourself from others, instead of connecting with them. You might also temporarily switch to formal speech to communicate some idea more clearly, which is also a de-facto way to communicate to the other party that they're a bit slow in the head.
The possessives are important. For example, in the video the sentence "Tämä on minun ystävä" ("This is my friend") sounds very wrong because "ystävä" lacks the first person possessive suffix '-ni'. Speaking formally you would either say "Tämä on minun ystäväni" or "Tämä on ystäväni." That they "belong" to you is already explicit in "ystäväNI", so you don't need "minun" and the redundancy makes it sound awkward unless you specifically want to emphasize that they are YOUR friend (as opposed to someone else). On the other hand, in colloquial speech using the suffix would sound stiff and/or pretentious, and instead you would say "mun ystävä." Furthermore, "ystävä" is a little heavy word in connotation, and implies a stronger bond between the two of you, and in most cases you would use "kaveri" instead.
In any case I would probably recommend learning formal Finnish first, because it's much easier to proceed from formal to colloquial than the other way around. If one wants to read the newspapers, watch the news, or read prose, then "kirjakieli" will get you there. It will also enable you to converse, even if you sound a bit "off", but everyone will understand you. You will pick up the dialect/slang from conversing with people. It's just a bunch of shortcuts in essence.
@@Anriuko Kuulostaa hyvältä! Mä oon sama mieltä. Mutta mun mielestä sä voit opiskella puhekieli (harjotella kuuntelemista) ja kirjakieli (harjotella puhumistä), sijasta vaan yks - ainakin earlier rather than later
I would like to use this app, but sadly most of the languages dont support German as an interface language. Though I'm fluent in English I'm not a native speaker, so I don't want to make it too hard for myself and learn a foreign language via a foreign language XD
I'm pumped for this app to add Japanese! Thank you for your review.
I’m considering choosing between speakly and busuu
Which app do you think is more efficient?
It's more about which one encourages the right behaviour. If you're a beginner, Speakly is definitely more helpful but Busuu "teaches" you more. But "teaching" language isn't really a thing.
Unfortunately Speakly doesn't have Arabic. Which platform comes close? Monthly fee is okay if it's useful.
✌️
I was just wondering if this would be good for improving intermediate level languages to a higher level, Like maybe b1 to b2 or b2 to c1
B1 to B2 possibly but definitely not beyond there. If you are at B2 you can read novels in the language, like I do in Swedish.
Read 50 novels (preferably with audiobook accompaniment) in your language and you'll most likely be at C1 then.
Re: quality. Overall, I like it. I have played with it in 3 languages (Spanish--intermediate/advanced; French--barely intermediate; German--say what??). I'm tempted to recommend it to two friends who are beginning Spanish, EXCEPT one of the female voices in Spanish pronounces initial "h" on words, and even adds an "h" sound to occasional words that start with a vowel. Which makes me wonder about quality issues in other languages that I might not catch.... But still, overall, I like it. Any app is going to have SOME issues.
Thanks for the review. It sounds very good. Would you consider giving Gabriel Wyner’s Fluent Forever app/approach an evaluation?
I saw a friend of mine review it and I was like "meh"... I dunno. I might have to have a look because a few people have asked now.
@@daysandwords I’ll be honest, I’ve been using it for a while, and I really like it. Just interested in your take. Certainly not perfect, and perhaps not as ‘fun’ as many of the apps out there. But I like how it does follow a lot of scientifically backed language learning principles (which Wyner expands on in his book). Language learning sure isn’t a science, but many of the approaches out there don’t seem to take into account the scientific work that has been done on language learning (which I think most people would agree is important). Worth a look! I’m going to check out Speakly though 👍
So read from comments that Speakly is recommended over Busuu. But money aside, is it better to do just Speakly or Speakly + Busuu? For a complete beginner
Well, money aside I probably still wouldn't recommend multiple apps so much as a weekly lesson on iTalki where you use the teacher more like a coach than a speaking partner, and that's only really for motivation. Which app is kind of just your preference. Remember an app's job is to move you smoothly into native content. The better it can do that the more useful it is.
@@daysandwords Thanks : )
Have you ever tried the “Fluent Forever” app? I haven’t seen many reviews on it but would love to hear your take if you ever give it a whirl.
I haven't. I wasn't heaps inspired by Gabriel's talk, but I might try it one day.
@@daysandwords I regret backing it on Kickstarter. Waste of money. Speakly is way better
I have Busuu but it feels more like a class. Duolingo feels more like a game. Is this better then both?
I tried it yesterday. My personal take is it's better than both. You get a free 7 day premium trial right from the start.
Elgin the cat? Lol. I’ve come back to this video to check out speakly. Are you using speakly for your Spanish? After 18 months of Duo I’ve had enough. The new changes were the final nail. Would you still recommend speakly a year on since you made this vid? Thanks for any guidance!
I have been using Speakly on and off, not because I don't like it... but just because I have a lot to do and a lot of different things I can use for the small amount of time that I do get to learn Spanish.
I still like it quite a lot... although it is Castilian which isn't my particular target dialect.
Thanks heaps for the reply Lamont. I’ve even following you long enough to respect your reviews and thoughts on language learning. I think I’ll give speakly a try! Thanks.
Sorry if this is a stupid question... but are you saying you prefer Speakly over Busuu?
I do but I anticipated this question and filmed a different video on the same day about why I have recommended different apps and where my views have or haven't changed on it. But yes if they both have your language then Speakly is my preference.
Was wondering about the same, great to know, also love your work, thank you for helping us out.
@@daysandwords Okay, thanks :)
@@daysandwords Have you ever tried LingQ?
@@rm9308 Yep. See my chat with Steve Kaufmann for my thoughts on it.
I’ve. Heard oof. A similar app called Fluent You; it. has more languages, even Asian ones like Korean and Mandarin. I would’ve tried it out, but I can’t afford it.
I’m the 1000th like! :)
I gave it a go and I like it. That being said, I don't think pacement tests are quite accurate: it put me on intermediate III in Spanish and on intermediate II in French, though I'm much more fluent and confident in French.
Looks good! Sadly I'm currently looking into Asian Languages. Getting my parent's native language (Punjabi) up to a good level and then going straight into hardcore mode with Mandarin....
but i'll check this out in about 3 years time when I'll probably go for Spanish or earlier if they get around to Mandarin. I understandably have 0 hope for Punjabi making the list lol. The only courses I've found for Punjabi were on Mango Languages and Pimsleur Unit 1 and they both have a TON of languages. Quite frustrating because there's 100m punjabi speakers.
I'm with you there. I've tried several of mango languages' languages, and their Punjabi is by far the worst of them all. I've picked up the colloquial books (they have a "colloquial 2"). I think I will take the audio and cut out all English so that I can have actual conversations to listen to over and over.
@@senorsmile The other issue is mango only has everything in shahmukhi...
But yes I have colloquial and actually got teach yourself too. I was planning on doing the same on both of those and putting it into something like lingq to look over.
Another thing I was thinking of doing was getting the 60 lingq ministories translated and audio recorded somehow. Let me know if stuff like this interests you too. We could also try to figure out any other resources we could share :)
@@Dudewhoswinning finding someone to do the ministories in linq for Punjabi would be amazing.
For mango, there were several common things being said that my Punjabi friends would just laugh at me (the clearly Arabic derived things). I will definitely reach out to collaborate.
@@senorsmile I agree from a "speaking to other Punjabis" perspective, especially because the diaspora around the world is mostly Indian Punjabi. However I think given that there are double the Punjabi speakers in Pakistan than India, it could be beneficial in some way. I imagine Pakistani Punjabi is more Farsi/Arabic influenced.
But yeah, I'm currently weighing up the ministories because it will cost a lot to get someone to translate and narrate all 60 episodes.
Hey I believe LingQ soon may be getting Punjabi. Not sure when but Steve Kaufmann mentioned it.
What do you think about pimsleur app
What do you think of DanishClass101 for learning Danish?
Definitely better than ChineseClass101 for Danish.
Jokes - I really like the Class/Pod101 series. If used correctly (repetitive listening to the dialogues) then they're of enormous benefit.
Does Speakly have any plans for adding languages like Japanese or Korean? I am definitely interested in trying my hand at German, but if they add Japanese soon that would be lovely.
They have 5 in the works but they haven't told me what they are. Honestly I doubt Japanese is one of them, unfortunately (just cos of the inherent complexity of such a course).
@@daysandwords Ahh thank you. I may try German on tbe side then.
Sorry , tried the app yesterday and today but it totally misses what I speak even though repeating exactly the words (español). I have studied some time and know how to pronounce them. Got fed up and deleted app.
YES, that part is annoying...it wasn't bad enough for me to delete the app, but it's a serious problem for folks who don't feel confident about evaluating their pronunciation.
this app sounds awesome, just sucks there's no Swedish on there. btw, cool that you are interested in Croatian, it's my native tongue, but I think it's kinda rare that people are interested in learning it, so it's nice to hear that someone is haha.
They are looking at Swedish by the end of the year. It was meant to be by autumn or something but to be honest I doubt it.
I canceled because the app buffers and is slow I’m trying to find a similar app
you put the wrong link for speakly in your description (for apple)
Oh sorry, I'll fix it as soon as I can.
Hi! There is also a code for the 'All languages included' subscription? Grazie
Unfortunately not at the moment. I emailed them and they said they can't just now. It probably also doesn't fit their approach of acknowledging that it takes a long time and is difficult even in one language.
@@daysandwords Thanks for your time!
@@elenadandrea8778 I just got another response from Ott (the main developer) - he misunderstood my question and now says:
Yes, if you use my code for the 6 month, 12 month or lifetime plan, it should automatically give you all languages because those are included anyway. Like say you choose English, that's code FNS1 - it will give you 40% off but when you choose the 6 month plan or longer, you get all the languages regardless. So I think the code will work as long as you choose the "appropriate" language to that code to begin with (even though that becomes irrelevant). Clear? Didn't think so haha.
If i have an intermidiate level in german, can i choose the level of difficulty?
Yeah you do a placement test, like I said that time... That time in this video. 😄