study tools – Perapera

Yoyo Chinese Review

Michael — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 05:41:49 +0000

Editor’s Note: This Yoyo Chinese Review has been checked for accuracy and updated as of Aug 10th, 2022.

What’s the best way to learn Chinese? Over the past year, our editors have tested and compared the most popular Chinese language learning resources available. Read on to find out what we thought of Yoyo Chinese, one of the more popular language programs, in our Yoyo Chinese review!

Already made up your mind and looking to start your free trial?

Yoyo Chinese Review: Summary

Name: Yoyo Chinese

URL: www.yoyochinese.com

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: USD

Price: Subscription (to all courses) is $29/month, $149/6 months or $249/year. Lifetime access to everything is $399.

Application Category: Language Learning Software

Description: An online Chinese language learning company that focuses on quality video production to teach Chinese to students around the world.

In A Nutshell: As a program that began as the result of a Youtube video gone viral in 2007, founder Yangyang Chen has been passionately pursuing her goal of making the Chinese language accessible for people around the world. With over 8 million lessons delivered to over 120,000 students worldwide, the consensus is clear that Yoyo Chinese is making good on Chen’s goal to teach Chinese to the world in a structured and effective manner.

Quality:

Quantity:

Effectiveness:

Practicality:

Price:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

Overall Score: 4.2

 4.2/5

The Goods

High quality professional video lessons
Teaches Chinese Characters effectively
Very engaging and likable host
Brilliant grammar explanations
Courses are logical and structured very well
Integrated spaced-repetition flashcards, review quizzes and lesson tracking
The first 45 lessons are free!

The Bads

Uses more English instruction than competitor programs
Limited to beginner & advanced learners
Somewhat expensive
No mobile app for on-the-go lessons
The Chinese character courses only focus on simplified Chinese
Better programs exist for Chinese writing (like Scritter, for example)

Yoyo Chinese Review: Overview

Yoyo Chinese is always being updated and improved, and it’s gone through some pretty major changes since when we first wrote this review over a year ago, however the essence of the program is still the same – high quality video lessons delivered by the very likable host (and founder) Yangyang Cheng.

The program actually consists of 6 unique courses, focusing on both conversational Chinese and the Chinese writing system. These courses are:

Beginner Conversational (60 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L1-2)
Intermediate Conversational (60 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L3-4)
Upper Intermediate Conversational (48 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L4-5)
Chinese Characters (300 commonly-used characters spread over 24 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L2)
Chinese Characters 2 (300 commonly-used characters spread over 24 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L3)
Chinese Character Reader (6 books over 30 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L3)

Each unit contains between 2 and 5 lessons and focuses on a single topic or aspect of the Chinese language (for example, ‘Talking About Hobbies’ or ‘Measure Words’). Some units are also there to review what you’ve learnt so far in the course.

The Pros: Here’s What We Liked Most About Yoyo Chinese

Pro #1: Makes a ‘Difficult’ Language Easy

The Yoyo Chinese curriculum and language is broken down for complete beginners, using concepts that are easy for English speakers to understand. The lessons often utilize mnemonic devices, songs and even some rather comical raps to help you remember what you’ve learnt! Within a few lessons you’re already learning usable vocabulary and building basic sentences in Chinese.

Pro #2: Consistently Good Quality Lessons

One of the things we loved most about Yoyo Chinese was the fact that the program gives off the appearance that the founder, YangYang Cheng is our personal Chinese instructor. You’ll find that every lesson is delivered by her and she maintains the level of engagement and professionalism throughout the entire course (something that can’t be said for some more botched-up curriculums like ChineseClass101).

This sort of personal dedication to the quality of the content by the founder of the company is something that is almost devoid amongst competing Chinese language learning programs and was something we thought makes Yoyo Chinese really stand out amongst the competition.

Pro #3: It’s Very Motivating

Yangyang is very upbeat and positive, always saying ‘good job’ and praising you at the end of each lesson. Now that they’ve introduced the progress tracker into the platform, there’s an extra motivation to maintain your study streak and see your progress bars fill up. The study schedule is also a great help. Knowing exactly what to study on each day, right down to a checklist, really helps you to see the end goal and stay motivated.

Pro #4: Downloadable Resources

Yes, everything can be downloaded (apart from the videos). This allows you to study completely on your own time and fit your learning around your busy schedule. You can listen to the audios whilst driving to work, at the gym or on a lunch break. The Chinese books can be uploaded onto your kindle to read before bed, and you can browse through vocab lists when sitting on the toilet.

Pro #5: Active FAQs & Social Media Channels

In case you didn’t know already, Yoyo Chinese has a BIG YouTube presence – over 300,000 subscribers! They give a lot of their content away for free and are constantly uploading new videos. But it’s not just their social media that’s growing but the course itself. They are always coming out with new updates and adding more content to the blog.

Similarly, the FAQ section for each lesson is always brimming with comments from other students and is definitely worth browsing through. It’s encouraging to see that the support team responds to almost every message, clarifying any confusion and providing further explanations.

Pro #6: Focus on People and Culture

You’ll often get a lesson which is slightly different from the usual ‘stand in front of a digital whiteboard and talk’ kind of lesson and instead takes you out into the streets of China, into a restaurant, or supermarket. These interviews provide you with an insight into how the language is used in context and how people actually speak. Most of the time people don’t use complete sentences or correct grammar, so it’s really useful to get this kind of exposure to the language. It’s also a great way to test your listening skills.

The Cons: Yoyo Chinese Is Very Good, But Not Perfect

So what’s the catch? It’s true, Yoyo Chinese is a brilliant resource for learning Chinese but it’s not perfect. Here’s a few of the things we didn’t like as much.

Con #1: Simplified Chinese Only

Yoyo Chinese only teaches Simplified Chinese characters and completely ignores the traditional characters that are widely used in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan. So if you are looking to base your travels or the majority of your Chinese speaking in either of those places, then Yoyo Chinese might not be the language learning program for you.

Con #2: No Mobile Application

Yoyo Chinese is a great program on a desktop computer, and even works well on a mobile browser. but in the age of the mobile application, we see that as a significant downside, especially given the fact that the majority of Yoyo Chinese’s competitors offer great mobile apps that can be easily used on the go.

Note: They have promised that the new app will be coming out soon, but when exactly is anyone’s guess.

Con #3: Too Much English!

To learn a language you really need to get as much exposure as possible, seeing it being used in different contexts over and over again. Unfortunately, the video lessons contain more English explanations than spoken Chinese which can be quite limiting and even time consuming when you just want to hear the language being used. The street interviews are great, but there’s not many of them. So you may want to supplement the course with outside material if you want to progress faster.

Con #4: The Writing Lessons Could Be Better

There’s better options out there for learning how to write in Chinese, for example Scritter. Yoyo Chinese simply shows you the stroke order and lets you get on with it, but Scritter actually provides real-time grading and stroke-level feedback which is really important for any pictorial language, especially Chinese.

Con 5: Limited To Beginner/Intermediate Learners

While the quality of content contained within Yoyo Chinese is very high, there is a limited amount of content. Each module contains between 100-200 lessons and those lessons tend to be on the short side.

Learning Chinese is no casual affair, and while we believe Yoyo Chinese is great for beginner and intermediate learners of the language, the program does not contain materials that will help someone become completely fluent in the language. You’ll need to supplement the course with extra materials and look elsewhere for an advanced course.

The Main Dashboard & Course Layout

The new update brought about a new sleek facelift to the main dashboard and how everything is laid out. In the top left you have 3 options: Me, Learn, & Mastery.

‘Me’ is where you can see your own personal profile and your learning stats; your current learning streak, number of completed lessons etc. You can change your name and enter your details here, and your profile picture will get changed to your Zodiac animal – pretty cool!

Clicking on ‘Learn’ will take you straight to the meat of the course – the lessons. You can toggle between the 6 courses and move between all the levels. Completed lessons will be shown with a green ring around them.

Finally, the ‘Mastery’ option gives you access to further learning through additional learning resources, namely the integrated spaced-repetition flashcards, a pinyin chart, and access to the download center.

The interactive pinyin chart is super useful for drilling your pronunciation. It’s a chart showing all the possible sounds in the Chinese language, including the tones. Yangyang even has videos demonstrating how to create each sound correctly, and you can listen to each sound by hovering your mouse over it. It’s something that we found ourselves returning to time and time again.

The download center is an absolute treasure trove of content! Here you’ll find all the lesson notes (for every course), complete study schedules, vocab glossaries, all the audio files, quiz worksheets, ebooks, HSK word lists, Chinese resume templates, infographics… the list goes on.

So, what are the lessons like?

Every lesson follows the same basic format. First, you have the video, where Yangyang usually reviews what you’ve previously learnt and then builds upon it by introducing new vocabulary, explaining the grammar, and providing many examples. These videos are very engaging, and you can easily find yourself binge watching your way through them with all the interesting examples and cultural cues.

Yangyang giving a lesson on Chinese Characters.

A typical anime-style reading lesson.

Yangyang giving a pronunciation lesson.

Underneath the video there’ll automatically be a full list of all the vocabulary and phrases from the lesson. You can click on each one independently to listen to the audio again. You can also toggle on/off the English, Chinese characters or pinyin. Plus, you can select either a fast or slow pronunciation.

There are 3 ways to practice what you’ve learnt in the lesson. First, you can click ‘Practice’, which brings up the flashcards onto the screen for you to test yourself and record your own pronunciation. Second, you can listen to the audio which prompts you to repeat the words and phrases in the lesson.

And finally, there’s the FAQ section which is sometimes very useful since you’ll often find other students have exactly the same questions as you, and the support team are very quick to clarify them. Plus you can ask you’re own.

Once you feel you are ready, you can take the lesson quiz. You’ll be guided through 10 questions, asking you to translate specific phrases/words, write down what you hear, put the words into the correct order etc. It’s not necessary to get 10/10 to continue; however if you get anything below around 7 they’ll recommend you review the materials and try again.

The lesson quiz has a variety of diffent question styles.

Who Is Yoyo Chinese For?

Those who’ll benefit the most from Yoyo Chinese are those who:

are serious about learning Chinese and can dedicate time each day to completing the lessons
are independent learners who can study in their own time
plan to travel or work/study in China
are looking for an all-in-one structured beginners course for learning the Chinese language

Who Is Yoyo Chinese NOT For?

Those who might not find Yoyo Chinese as helpful and may want to look elsewhere are those who:

Yoyo Chinese Alternatives

Chinese is indeed a challenging language, and it’s not something you can pick up just by passively watching Chinese TV. It requires dedication, commitment, and a lot of memorization.

Thankfully, there are many different options out there. When compared to competitors such as Rocket Chinese and FluentU, we believe Yoyo Chinese stands as the strongest competitor for self-study of Chinese.

ChineseClass101 Is Our Favorite Alternative

The one program we’ve tried that really competes is ChineseClass101. That said, which one you choose will really depend on your learning style preferences, and which personality you want teaching you Chinese. We’d recommend reading our review of ChineseClass101 and signing up for both free trials to see which one you like more.

Free trial of ChineseClass101

Free trial of Yoyo Chinese

Yoyo Chinese Pricing

Yoyo Chinese used to be only available for a one time fee which restricted you to a specific course (unless you bought them all). However, you’ll be glad to know that they now offer a subscription plan so you don’t have to make that big commitment from the very start. There are 3 subscription options:

Monthly -> $19.99 (full access to all 6 courses, over 1000 video lessons and all the downloadable resources)
Every 6 months -> $89.94 (25% off)

Personally, we recommend the 6 month subscription since it’s unlikely you’ll still be at a beginner/intermediate level after a year of regular study. YoyoChinese do still offer the lifetime option, which gives you full lifetime access to everything and all their future additions/updates:

Lifetime access (pay once) -> $299

Click here to see the current discounts available for Yoyo Chinese.

You can use the Coupon Code PERAPERA10 to get 10% off now.

Yoyo Chinese Review: Conclusion

We loved reviewing this product and are more than confident that Yoyo Chinese will help make you a better Chinese speaker from day one. YangYang’s expertise being a Chinese language instructor for the past 15 years is well-reflected in this product. We believe that the combination of lessons focusing on both Chinese grammar and Simplified Chinese characters will make you a very capable and adept Chinese speaker in a short period of time!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

VietnamesePod101 Review

Michael — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 16:45:24 +0000

Note: This VietnamesePod101 Review is our honest opinion after spending hours testing out the program. There are affiliate links in this post — if you use them, it helps support our site. This review has been checked for accuracy on Feb. 13th, 2023.

There are plenty of reasons to learn some of the more romanticized and popular languages out there, like Japanese or Spanish or even French. But what happens when you want to study a language that most people overlook?

Vietnamese is one of those languages that is often forgotten by the language-learning crowd, despite being spoken by more than 75 million people. In the past, if you wanted to learn the Vietnamese alphabet or learn how to speak Vietnamese, you may have had some trouble getting the help you needed.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry any more. The same people that brought us JapanesePod101 and ThaiPod101 have developed one of the most extensive and thorough online Vietnamese courses available on the internet right now.

VietnamesePod101 can help you master the language faster than you thought possible. Here is everything you need to know about the program to help you decide whether it’s right for you!

Already made up your mind and looking for our unique discount code?

VietnamesePod101 Review: Summary

Name: VietnamesePod101

URL: www.vietnamesepod101.com

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: Depends on region.

Price: 7-Day Free Trial; Free content is also available, whereas subscriptions run from US$8.00 for a 1-month Basic subscription to US$47.00 a month for Premium+ subscriptions. Price depends on subscription period and type.

Application Category: Language Learning Software

Description: VietnamesePod101 is a language program that’s created for beginners, and right through to advanced learners of the Vietnamese language. The extensive library of podcasts, videos, grammar lessons, interactive quizzes, authentic dialogues and additional learning features that can be bought on a subscription model gives the learner tons of information & resources to effectively learn the Vietnamese language, in a way that is both structured and complete. The breadth and overall quality of the material is excellent and even advanced learners get great value for money.

In a nutshell: Learn the Vietnamese alphabet, phrases, expressions, and more with VietnamesePod101, a platform developed by the popular Innovative Language Learning company that gives you video, audio, and other resources to learn Vietnamese quickly and efficiently.

Quality of Learning Materials:

Quantity of Lessons:

Effective and Efficient:

Teaches Useful Vietnamese:

Price:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

Overall Score: 4.1

 4.1/5

The Goods

A Well established suite of grammar notes and vocabulary tools (such as flash cards, vocab lists and word banks)
Distinguishes between northern & southern Vietnamese dialects
Over 1300 audio & video lessons, taught by knowledgeable and energetic native speakers
Convenient mobile app for on-the-go learning

The Bads

VietnamesePod101 Review: Overview

The lessons are arranged neatly into five levels of difficulty, absolute beginner to advanced. Those who are just beginning their studies can start with a placement test to see what they already know, or just jump right into the level 1 beginners course. Each level corresponds roughly with the standard CEFR framework with level 1 equating to A1, level 2 to A2, and so on – right up to level 5 (C1).

Every lesson introduces real-use language that is relevant to daily life, whether that’s going to the grocery store, introducing yourself or asking for directions. The lessons are not repetitive at all, and you can select from a diverse range of topics from the lesson library. Regardless of what you choose to learn first, every video or podcast is packed full of new language. The lessons are well thought-out and are delivered by a variety of very enthusiastic and engaging language tutors from Vietnam.

VietnamesePod101 Features

Aside from the free subscription, every membership option (discussed later) gives you access to the following features:

Extensive library of video and audio lessons
Downloadable lesson notes, transcript & checklist
Responsive flashcard app for on-the-go studying
English to Vietnamese dictionary
Interactive quizzes
Grammar and word banks
Printable worksheets
Pronunciation reviews via an interactive voice recorder

The Pros: What We Liked About VietnamesePod101

Pro #1: Hundreds of Videos and Audio Files

VietnamesePod101 is an excellent place to learn Vietnamese, because you get access to more than 800 videos that range from a basic level all the way to advanced. You can find topics on almost anything, so whatever your goals for learning Vietnamese, you can achieve them easily.

Not only that, but the videos are designed to be interesting and refreshing. You never feel like you are being forced to memorize words or follow a boring textbook. The main idea and methodology behind VietnamesePod101 is one of independent learning, meaning the syllabus is completely down to you.

Maybe you just want to be able to introduce yourself in Vietnamese? Then the basic boot camp pathway will be the one for you. Or maybe you want to learn more about Vietnamese food and culture? There’s another learning pathway dedicated specifically for that. You can pick and choose any learning pathways that pique your interest and add them to your main dashboard, where you’ll be able to track your progress and get recommendations for what to study next.

Pro #2: Easy To Use

What is easier than listening and repeating after a native speaker? VietnamesePod101 immerses you first in the language and then dives deep into the nuts and bolts of how the grammar works with the new vocab. The interface for both the computer-oriented program and the mobile app is clean, crisp, and intuitive. You will find everything arranged by level, category, media type, and so on.

Best of all, you can take the downloadable resources with you wherever you go. Gone are the days of worrying about whether the language app will work on airport WiFi – everything (including the mp3s) can be downloaded for offline learning.

Pro #3: Excellent Features

If you are willing to pay for a subscription (which you should), you’ll unlock hundreds of additional goodies that help keep you motivated. The basic account alone gives you access to full transcripts of the podcasts and flashcards. Premium accounts provide more customized study plans, and if you opt for Premium+ you’ll receive full access to one-on-one tutoring with a native Vietnamese speaker.

Pro #4: Skill-based Learning

When learning a new language, it’s important to focus on all four language skills – reading, writing, listening & speaking. Listening is usually the bottle neck for most people since authentic audio content at the right level can be very hard to come by. This is why VietnamesePod101 is our language program of choice. For listening specifically, it’s second to none.

Research has long been shown that listening to the language whilst reading along with the transcript repeatedly and breaking down the meaning of what you’ve just heard is a very effective way of learning a language. Thankfully, every lesson on VietnamesePod101 is structured exactly this way, usually with some kind of dialogue with the option to listen again to each line in isolation whilst reading along with the transcript.

But what about the other 3 skills? Although the program doesn’t give you direct speaking practice with a native speaker, there is the option to record yourself and compare your pronunciation alongside a native speaker. Not quite as good as a real life dialogue but still a brilliant way to really nail those difficult tones and get you sounding like a local.

For reading and writing, there’s many lesson pathways that are dedicated specifically to improving these skills. In fact, you can filter all the lessons by specific skill type and you’ll quickly discover lessons that cover such things as miniature books and writing exercises.

Pro #5: Cultural Exposure

What’s better than learning Vietnamese? Soaking one of the oldest and most fascinating cultures in the world, of course! As you might expect from a comprehensive language program like VietnamesePod101, there’s a huge cultural emphasis integrated into all the lessons.

You’ll discover the best of Vietnam’s mouth-watering foods like Phờ (rice noodle soup) & Xôi (steamed sticky rice), the most popular festivals and holidays, influential Vietnamese writers, musicians and leaders. The tutors go well out their way to explain the cultural significance of the language and to share their traditions and how society functions. Learning this way keeps the lessons fresh and interesting, and the language becomes far more memorable and fun.

The Cons: What We Didn’t Like About VietnamesePod101

There’s no language program that’s perfect, and VietnamesePod101 is no exception. Here’s a few things we didn’t like.

Con #1: Lack of Community

Since Vietnamese is not widely spoken or learned, the community is not as active as other forums on the same site. This makes finding learning partners difficult, especially if you are looking for someone to practice conversations with. While this is not entirely the fault of the program itself, it can be a bummer for more extroverted learners.

Con #2: Lack of Speaking Practice

Although, like we already mentioned, VietnamesePod101 does allow you to take oral quizzes and practice your pronunciation, it can get repetitive, because you are simply saying phrases over and over again. You are not getting real speaking practice, unless you purchase the most expensive subscription plan—an option not financially viable for everyone.

Con #3: Geared Towards Beginners and Low Intermediate

The content, while broad and interesting, can also be too basic for some learners. If you are someone who has lived in Vietnam for a while or is wanting to brush up on the language after taking a break from it, you will not find a lot of content that will challenge you. Granted, it is good for review, but you probably won’t learn anything new, even in the advanced section of the video and audio.

What Does A Lesson Look Like?

Every lesson first starts with the video or podcast. It’s recommended to listen to the dialogue several times to listen for language you may already know before studying the transcript. You can then listen again, line-by-line and record your own voice. The vocab section gives you a full list of the new words you encountered, and the option to listen again, record yourself, or add a word to a flash card deck or into your word bank. This ensures you never lose a word, saving it to review later.

The lesson content is then summarised concisely into the lesson notes, which includes a grammar section and cultural insights. Finally, you can test yourself by taking a multiple choice quiz before marking the lesson complete and moving on. This process is summarised in a downloadable checklist should you wish to structure your lessons this way – otherwise you’re free to use the platform as you like (for example, just listen to the dialogue, or focus on a specific grammar point).

Find yourself still struggling? You can go to the dictionary that provides hundreds of words with example sentences, sound clips, and pictures to help with recognition. You will also see the Vietnamese written out a couple of ways to aid in pronunciation, as well.

In short, you will never be at a loss about what to learn or how to study. The courses are structured to build upon one another. You can then supplement your studies with vocab lists, customizable flashcard decks, your personal word bank, most common words list, ‘word of the day’ emails, the mobile app, and so much more.

Who Should Buy VietnamesePod101?

VietnamesePod101 is ideal for the following people:

Who Shouldn’t Buy VietnamesePod101?

VietnamesePod101 is not recommended for the following people:

VietnamesePod101 vs. The Competition

Because Vietnamese is a lesser known language that is rarely studied in learning institutions or by travelers, the amount of resources available, including competition for programs like VietnamesePod101, pale in comparison to the competitors for, let’s say, JapanesePod101, which is made by the same company.

That said, there are a couple of language learning platforms that offer similar programs, such as Loecsen, Duolingo, Babbel, and Memrise. Since the last three mentioned are severely limited in their Vietnamese lessons, we can’t truly call them competitors, can we?

That leaves Loecsen. Like VietnamesePod101, you can find the course by simply searching “learn Vietnamese audio” into google, since it utilizes podcasts, free grammar and essential phrases downloads, and video to teach you common phrases. The speakers are native, too. Loecsen’s Vietnamese program is entirely free of charge, including all the resources. The downside, however, is the quantity of study material.

While VietnamesePod101 has over 800 audio and video files at your disposal, Loecsen’s resources will only give you a general understanding of Vietnamese. It’s great for a passing traveler but not for someone who wants to get fluent in the language.

Is It Worth The Money?

The free membership, as mentioned earlier, can be limited, so it is highly recommended that you make the commitment and choose a subscription if you are serious. Otherwise, free access gives you content such as pronunciation practice, grammar practice, information about verbs, the Innovative Language 101 app, and access to the “Daily Dose of Vietnamese.” This might be enough for you right now, especially if you are looking for a taster.

However, if you know that you want to learn Vietnamese, this language learning platform is one of the best on the market and worthy of your money. With a Basic subscription, you can access the language and culture collection, print out notes, and get complete access to archived audio.

Premium and Premium+, which are $120 and $220 for 6-months, respectively, offer up one-click downloads, lesson specific tools like grammar checkers, interactive voice recording, review quizzes, flashcards, transcription translation, and so much more. When you consider other language learning software, like Rosetta Stone, the price on 6-months or even 24-months (at $240-$549) is honestly a bargain that is too good to pass up.

In short, is it worth the money? We think so.

How To Get 30% Off VietnamesePod101

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the Pod101 language programs. So we’ve asked the Innovative Language team for the biggest discount they offer — 30% off!

Check this page for the latest VietnamesePod101 discounts.

The Lifetime Membership Option

This option is not well-advertised (in fact, it was difficult for us to get access to), but if you don’t like subscription payments, you can get a lifetime membership to VietnamesePod101 as a one-time payment of $599. Here’s the link in case you’re interested:

On the same page they even offer a lifetime access to ALL their language programs.

If you’re really serious about becoming a polyglot in multiple languages, the lifetime access to all languages option could be worth checking out:

I think this is actually an amazing deal, despite seeming expensive at first glance. The Pod101/Class101 programs are often the best language courses available for Asian languages (we haven’t tried their others yet!). They’ve got some really smart people on staff building their curriculums, and it shows.

VietnamesePod101 $1 Offer

As soon as you sign up for VietnamesePod101 you’ll get offered a 30-day trial of the Premium membership for only $1. We’re telling you this now because once you click off the page you won’t be offered this again. It’s excellent value, and highly worth it if you want to try out the platform for a longer period of time before buying. Do bear in mind though that after your 30 days are up you’ll be automatically rolled onto the monthly $25 payment plan.

VietnamesePod101 Review: Final Thoughts

Our Verdict: VietnamesePod101 is a Superior Learning Tool For Learning Vietnamese Quickly and Efficiently.

As with many offerings from Innovative Language, VietnamesePod101 is an undisputed champion for studying and gaining fluency in Vietnamese. The course provides you with everything you need to gain confidence with learning this beautiful language. Whatever your goals may be, VietnamesePod101 can elevate your listening, speaking, and reading abilities much higher than the competitors or traditional classrooms.

If you are determined to learn Vietnamese, you have nothing to lose with this program and everything to gain!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Filipino

Josiah — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 23:33:27 +0000

FlipinoPod101 boasts an enormous selection of video/audio lessons and a fully customizable syllabus.

100% audio based, Pimsleur helps you to achieve an intermediate conversational level very quickly.

Highly gamified & fun to use, Ling is packed with dozens of short ‘mini-lessons’ with interactive dialogues

For many, the Philippines is a place of paradise. Friendly locals, dreamy beaches and exquisite cuisine makes this unique country an ideal destination for travelling, with over 7000 islands to explore boasting some of the best natural beauty on Earth. But how important is it for you to learn the Filipino language?

Whilst it’s true that English is widely spoken in the cities, once you get outside the urban areas and really start to explore the country you’ll quickly discover that everyone speaks Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines.

Tagalog is a fascinating language, with a complex grammar system that’s vastly different to English. And yet, those who take the plunge and commit to studying it soon discover that it’s well worth the journey.

So, what’s the best way to learn Tagalog without actually being in the country? Which apps & language programs are the most effective and affordable to quickly get up to speed with Tagalog? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Read on to discover our list of top five apps for learning Tagalog (and a few more runners up at the end).

Are you ready to check out the best apps for learning Filipino?

‘Tara na!’ (it means ‘Let’s go!)

1. Filipinopod101

Best Overall – Most Comprehensive

Overall, the best app by far is FilipinoPod101. A subscription to the app grants access to an enormous library of video and podcast lessons, ranging in topic from travel to dating. The company behind FilipinoPod101, Innovative Language, has been around for a long time and it shows. Not only do you get high quality video lessons with full dialogues & transcripts, but a myriad of extra learning tools all tied up nicely into an intuitive and easy-to-use app.

FilipinoPod101 gives you the ability to fully customize your own learning by selecting specific learning ‘pathways’ from their vast lesson library. The pathway guides you through each lesson, completing exercises & focusing on specialised topics. Alongside the lessons you’ll find frequency word lists, flashcards, topical vocab lists, a word bank, and more. Plus, you can sign up today using our unique coupon code and get up to 77% off.

Click here to read our full FilipinoPod101 review.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Pimsleur

Most Effective Conversational App

The Pimsleur app isn’t for everyone. It’s a rather heavy & intensive course that gets you up to a basic conversational level of Tagalog in a very short space of time. Each 30-60 minute lesson first introduces you to an authentic dialogue and then proceeds to deconstruct it into it’s basic phrases, words and sounds, whilst testing you throughout with a spaced repetition system of learning. It’s not cheap either, but it’s backed by decades of research and is a very effective tool for developing a fluent conversational level very quickly.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

3. Ling

Most Fun & Interactive

Ling is a highly gamified app for learning over 50 different languages (including Tagalog). It motivates you with the possibility to earn bananas, compete with friends and unlock new levels to complete, similar to how Duolingo operates. The basic version is free, and beyond that you’ll need a monthly subscription granting access to a whole library of lessons, games, activites and reading/writing exercises.

The lessons all incorporate high quality audio files, which includes the interactive chatbot that allows you to ‘talk’ with the app by selected pre-programmed responses. Overall, the effectiveness of the app is up for question since it’s mostly just passive learning (without any actual speaking or writing practice) however it certainly is very engaging & motivating, which is an essential ingredient to long term language success.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

4. Learn Tagalog by Dalubhasa

Most Cost Effective

Sometimes the best apps are those that are developed by native speakers, and certainly ‘Learn Tagalog by Dalubhasa‘ is well worth checking out. The app teaches basic vocabulary, phrases and grammar. It’s split into 5 levels, from beginner to expert, with the first two levels being completely free (after this you’ll need to buy a subscription). Whilst it starts off with very basic topics like colors, numbers, pronouns and conjunctions, the content quickly transitions into more colloquial Tagalog which is far more useful for everyday life & speaking like a local.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

 3/5

5. Italki

Best for Conversational Practice

Italki is an absolute godsend when it comes to developing natural, conversational Filipino language skills. Students who use italki regularly find that their speaking confidence skyrockets and they end up enjoying the learning process much more, and therefore keeping up their motivation to maintain a study habit.

You can browse through the many hundreds of available tutors, book a trial class and get speaking right away. Don’t worry if you are just a beginner, the tutor will adjust their level to cater to your experience. Lessons are affordable and can be carried out on zoom, google or using their own built-in learning platform.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

Runners-up for Best Filipino App:

Maybe these top five apps didn’t quite satisfy your tastebuds? Here’s some additional runners up that you might find more useful.

Memrise

Memrise is a very popular option for learners of all sorts of languages, from Chinese to Hungarian. They’ve recently widened their market to loads of new langauges – including Tagalog. You can expect videos of native speakers, natural dialogues, gamified quizes & a nice user interface.

However, the app now allows you to choose from several difference courses that are created by independent course creators. This means that whilst the amount of content & variety is awesome, the quality does vary somewhat. So be a bit careful with this one. It’s also a bit pricer than the other apps we’ve mentioned so far.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

Tandem

If you like the idea of practice with native speakers then you’ll love Tandem. Along with other similar apps (like Hellotalk), Tandem creates a digital space for language exchange students to connect. Rather like a social media site, you can fill in your own profile about your own interests and learning goals and then start messaging other students who share your same interests. The app will automatically pair you with someone looking to learn a language you already possess (English or maybe Russian, for example).

The app makes it easy to spend equal amounts of time speaking each others target language and even suggests conversational promts and questions to ask. It has a built in error corection feature to allow you to correct mistakes, plus a translate button – very handy! It can get quite addictive, I often have many language partners all on the go at the same time, but it’s a great way to get real exposure to the native language and make meaningful cultural exchanges.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

Language Drops Tagalog (Filipino)

Drops is a fun app for learning new vocabulary through games & activities. It follows a predominantly visually-based method of learning by assosiating words with images. Whilst there’s not much in the way of grammar, the short puzzles & word games can be a great way to build up your Filipino vocabulary.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Filipino

If you’ve get anything out of this article I hope that it’s the fact that there’s loads of really cool apps out there for learning Tagalog. Now you have literally no excuse to get out there and start learning this beautiful language.

To recap, overall we recommend checking out FilipinoPod101 as our choice for the best app for learning Filipino. It’s both entertaining & very effective for learning Tagalog, providing you are disciplined enough to follow the learning paths through to their end. Couple this with an app for speaking like italki and your all good to go!

But most of all, try to find out which method works best for you, and have fun!

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Vietnamese

Josiah — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 23:26:33 +0000

The most comprehensive app on the market. Highly engaging & varied content.

A great option for beginners to learn basic vocab & phrases. Gamified & fun.

Practice with native speakers with this affordable & flexible tutoring service.

Vietnamese is a notoriously difficult language to learn, with a complex system of grammar and 6 different tones to master, but don’t let that get you down. In this day and age there’s a myriad of research-based language learning tools that are structured to your needs, using modern techniques to break down the Vietnamese language in a way that’s easily digestible and fun!

There’s apps for learning daily conversation & dialogues, for memorizing the most common vocabulary, for intuitively learning how the grammar works, and to even to converse with real life native speakers! All this through the convenience of your smartphone or tablet.

In this article we’ve done the hard work for you and tested out all the most popular apps on the market (that we could find) and provided you with a condensed list of only the very best apps for learning Vietnamese. With the right tools and some time & effort, anything is possible.

So, without further ado, let’s dive right into the 5 best apps for learning Vietnamese.

Đi thôi! (‘Lets go!’)

1. VietnamesePod101

Best Overall – Most Comprehensive

The winning app on our list is VietnamesePod101, a well established language program with it’s own dedicated app for learning Vietnamese. The lessons are predominantly video & audio lessons delivered by a variety of native tutors. They cover all sorts of topics from ordering food at a restaurant to Vietnamese customs and traditions. Many students love the cultural emphasis of this language app, with lots of cultural nuances being dropped in throughout the lessons, keeping it interesting and engaging throughout.

Alongside the lessons, you’ll be granted access to a whole range of extra learning tools that really help to supplement your learning. You can look things up in the grammar bank, save new vocabulary in your personal word bank or create a flashcard set. Plus, there’s frequency word lists and topical vocab lists to broaden your Vietnamese vocabulary.

Overall, there’s enough material to keep you engaged and progressing in the language for years to come, plus you can also snap up a nice discount by using one of our unique coupon codes (get up to 77% off).

Click here to read our full VietnamesePod101 review.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Memrise

Most Engaging & Fun

Compared with other apps on this list, Memrise is like the new kid on the block. They use a similar teaching method to the more popular Duolingo, only far better. Firstly, with each lesson you’ll get an immersive experience into a real world dialogue with native speakers. The lessons then revolve around these short video clips, testing you on the meaning and pronunciation.

The only thing to bear in mind is that Memrise has now created a platform where other users can now create their own language courses. In many ways this is an awesome thing, allowing for much more varied topics such as ‘cool expressions’ and ‘basic pronunciation’, all included within the subscription. However, the quality does vary, and it’s not uncommon for errors and typos to creep into the lessons.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

3. Italki

Best Conversational App

One of the very best ways to learn any language is to get talking with locals as soon as possible, even if you can barely string together a sentence. Italki has revolutionised the way we now learn languages, granting us access to hundreds of professional native language tutors at an affordable price, from anywhere in the world. You can practice everything you’ve learnt and get instant corrections and speaking practice from your own smartphone.

The process is simple, you find a tutor you like, book a trial lesson and get talking! Don’t worry if, like me, your an introvert who shivers at the thought of making idle conversation in broken Vietnamese. The tutors are always lovely people who have lots of conversational topics that are catered to your level. I recommend making best use of the learning program by making lots of notes, and expect lots of corrections!

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

4. Pimsleur

Most Effective App

Perhaps learning how to read and write in Vietnamese is not so important to you, and what you are looking for is only a basic conversation level of the language. For this, Pimsleur is your best bet. It uses modern & research based techniques to teach you how to speak Vietnamese with a native accent and understand what you hear.

The lessons are comprised of 30-60 minute audio podcasts that prompt you to repeat and respond to the native dialogue. It’s an immersive and thorough technique that systematically deconstructs each individual phrase, word & sound, and then reconstructs its all again, all whilst testing you on your understanding and fluency.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

5. Lingodeer

Best Option for Beginners

Lingodeer is a great option that doesn’t seem to get the same amount of attention as the other more popular apps. It’s quite inexpensive, yet packs a punch. Starting with the Vietnamese alphabet the course will get you learning from a series of ‘mini-lessons’, each focused on a specific topic like ‘animals’ or ‘food’.

Generally, it’s not bad in it’s approach – it teaches full sentences and places appropriate focus on the pronunciation and grammar, but there’s not enough emphasis on speaking & listening (unlike Memrise, for example).

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

 3/5

 4/5

Runners-up for Best Vietnamese App:

Here’s a few more apps for those looking for more options to study Vietnamese.

Simply Learn Vietnamese

On a budget? Simply Learn Vietnamese might be your best bet. It contains thousands of useful phrases and vocabulary, grouped by topic and tested methodically through their spaced repetition system. Believe it or not, the app is actually free, funded only by advertising. Though it’s quite limited in terms of actual lessons, the vocab is very useful, and the audio is high quality which is definitely a plus.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

Ling

Do you struggle to keep up the motivation for learning? Whilst it’s true there’s a lot of very effective apps that work effectively like Pimsleur & VietnamesePod101, sometimes it can be hard to keep up the daily study habit. This is where Ling excels.

Their app is packed full of fun & interesting features that are specifically designed to keep you hooked on learning more. You earn virtual bananas as you navigate each level, completing quizzes, games & even communicating with chatbots! (You can select pre-set phrases for a dialogue to review what you’ve learnt).

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

Glossika

Ever thought about programming your brain to be in tune with the Vietnamese language by ‘working out’ your brain in the same way you would do at the gym? No? Just me then… Glossika is based upon this exact concept – by completing daily ‘reps’ and teaching your brain to intuit the Vietnamese grammar and to daily train your vocal muscles to sound like a native speaker.

After completing a short placement test the app will feed you a series of sentences that systematically expose you to new words, sentence structures & sounds. It then proceeds to test you on them with a spaced repetition system & feed the results into the AI algorithm.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

 3/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Vietnamese

Which ones do you think are the best apps for learning Vietnamese? Let us know in the comments below!

At the end of the day, everyone has their own learning preferences and study techniques. You can’t really go wrong with our list of best Vietnamese apps. To recap:

For affordable speaking practice with native speakers we recommend italki. For those who prefer a more gamified style of learning we recommend Memrise or Ling.

And finally, our best overall app for it’s quality of content & range of learning tools and video/podcast lessons, has to be VietnamesePod101.

Have fun learning and good luck!

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Cantonese

Josiah — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 23:17:37 +0000

A comprehensive language app with an enormous library of practical & trendy topics.

Excellent for focused conversational practice with a wide range of native speakers.

A free app that is packed with thousands of useful phrases with accompanying audio.

So, you’ve decided to brush up on your Cantonese language skills, and you’re looking for the best apps to learn Cantonese. Firstly, congratulations! Cantonese is a beautiful language spoken by over 80 million people – that’s more than Korean or even Persian. It’s practically the main language spoken in Chinatowns across the world and is a hugely advantageous language for both business & commerce. So, you’re definitely onto a winner!

But how exactly can you manage your time and study most effectively? Which programs will get you to fluency the fastest? Luckily for you, there’s a whole host of mobile apps that’ll boost your Cantonese language skills, your range of vocabulary, and even your confidence in speaking. But finding the right ones can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.

That’s why we’ve done that hard work for you and curated a list of only the very best language apps for learning Cantonese, based on their effectiveness, affordability & how comprehensive they are as an established language learning program.

So, without further ado, here are the 5 best apps for learning Cantonese!

1. CantoneseClass101

Best Overall – Most Comprehensive

Coming in at number one on our list of best apps is CantoneseClass101, one of the most established language courses on the market, boasting a vast library of short video & podcast lessons, all bundled up into a well built app.

Unlike other courses, CantonesePod101 gives you, the user, full control over what you learn. You can search through the entire lesson library and filter based upon your level, skill type and interests. The lessons are then packaged up into learning ‘pathways’, guiding you through each lesson and learning exercise.

The lessons are fun and engaging, delivered by young and lively native speakers. They are constantly dropping in interesting cultural notes throughout each lesson and explaining the nuances behind each dialogue. Alongside the core syllabus you get a bunch of extra learning tools, from flashcards to grammar banks.

Overall, there’s really everything you need to progress in the Cantonese language. Plus, right now you can use our unique coupon code at checkout to get up to 77% off your subscription fee.

Read our full CantonesePod101 review.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Italki

Best App for Conversational Speaking Practice & Cultural Exchange

Where would we be without italki? The number one go-to app for communicating with real native speakers. Oftentimes when we first start learning a language we quickly absorb new vocabulary & basic phrases very fast but soon forget them without having the opportunity to practice and thus engrain them into our long term memory.

This is mostly the case when learning a new language without living in the native country. Italki gives you the chance to practice everything you’ve learnt in a natural setting with a real native speaker, for a very affordable price – awesome!

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

3. Simply Learn Cantonese

Most Affordable Option

Believe it or not this app is completely free, paid for only by the ads that occasionally pop up which you are using it (which can be disabled by buying the pro version). The app is essentially a glorified phrasebook with thousands of phrases and vocabulary, each with their own audio files, recorded by native speakers in Hong Kong. You can split the learning down into manageable chunks by taking their quizzes & tests, or by using their premade flashcards.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

4. Pimsleur

Most Effective (for Conversational Cantonese)

Pimsleur has become something of a household name in the language learning industry, well-known for it’s research-based memory techniques and unique learning style. Whilst the enjoyability of the course is up for dispute, the method certainly works – many can testify. The method is purely audio based, broken down into 30-60 minute lessons that each use authentic dialogues and spaced repetition to get you recalling and producing language on demand.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 5/5

 4/5

5. Skritter

Best App for Learning the Cantonese Writing System

Of course, for complete fluency in Cantonese you’ll need to get familiar with reading and writing the Cantonese script. Cantonese uses largely the same characters as Mandarin Chinese, however Cantonese mostly uses the traditional characters over simplified. For studying these characters, we reccomend the app Skritter. It’s generally everyone’s go-to app for learning Chinese and Japanese characters, with a very clever system of studying them.

First it’ll teach you the meaning, then it’ll sound it out with the correct tones, then it’ll teach you the stroke order and how to draw it. You’ll be identifying and writing thousands of new characters in no time!

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

Runners-up for Best Cantonese App:

Looking for more? Well you’re in luck. Check out these apps that didn’t quite make it onto our top 5 list but still deserve a mention.

Ling

‘Learn Vietnamese in only 10 minutes per day with Master Ling’ the app website proudly proclaims… So is Ling a good option for learning Vietnamese? Well, it’s definitely got a lot going for it. The app, which can be downloaded for free, revolves around a set of dialogues grouped by topic. You can interactively select the correct answers and hear the audio played to you. Each lesson then concludes with a short quiz and the awarding of bonus points (or bananas).

Overall, it’s not a bad option as a free resource, but to unlock more than just a few lessons you’ll need to sign up for the pro version which is quite costly and the content doesn’t go much further than a basic beginner’s phrasebook.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

Pleco

A solid dictionary app is essential when learning a new language, so you can quickly look up new words, save them & remember them for next time. For Cantonese, google translate just doesn’t cut it. Instead we recommend the app Pleco, an app that is predominantly focused on Mandarin but has awesome Cantonese capability too.

The app allows to you quickly look unknown words or phrases by using the live camera, importing documents, or even writing the characters with your finger. You’ll get an audio recording from two voices, pronunciation & grammar guide, and you can even save the new words to a flashcard deck of your choice.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 4/5

 5/5

Memrise

Memrise is a very popular app for learning a whole range of languages, and they’ve now added Cantonese to the mix. The lessons are short and varied, with lots of real-use dialogues with videos of native speakers. It’ll then test you on the words and phrases in a duolingo-like fashion. However, unlike Duolingo, Memrise teaches you useful phrases from the get-go, and is far more engaging.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Cantonese

So there you have it. We hope this list has been of some use to you. Do bear in mind that there are many ways to learn a language, and no real ‘correct’ way to do so. For this reason, it’s important to try out lots of new apps and techniques and see what works best for you.

For studying Cantonese, we personally found that CantoneseClass101 was the best option for studying the language due to its sheer volume of high quality lessons and wide range of extra learning tools that are available. However, you may also want to supplement your learning with speaking practice on Italki, and develop your knowledge of the Cantonese writing system with Skritter.

And finally, we wish you the best of luck on your journey to Cantonese fluency. 你得嘅！(nei5 dak1 ge3, you can do it!)

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Thai

Josiah — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 11:32:21 +0000

A sleek, well-designed app that features a massive library of video/audio lessons.

Highly gamified and fun, Ling teaches the basics using native dialogues and quizzes.

The best option for learning how to read and write all 72 letters of the Thai alphabet.

Learning a new language can be an exciting endeavor, and learning Thai is absolutely no exception. It can open doors to wonderful new travel experiences – whether it’s navigating the depths of Bangkok’s exotic food markets, or getting local recommendations for the most off-the-beaten-track island beaches, the Thai language is a powerful entry point to experiencing Thailand’s wonderful culture and friendly people on a whole new level.

But it’s not easy. And without the right tools it can feel like hitting your head against a brick wall, with all it’s complex tones and confusing characters. But here’s the good news – there’s a TON of amazing apps out there to get you up to speed quickly, reading street signs and conversing with locals. Whether you’re a seasoned polyglot or just looking to know a few phrases to avoid being ripped off, there’s an app for everyone.

But which apps are actually worth your time? In this article, we’ve created our top 5 list of apps for learning Thai. We’ve taken into account everything from effectiveness, user experience and price. Furthermore, we know how important it is to develop all your language skills simultaneously so we’ve included the best resources to improve speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. With this list you can’t go wrong. Let’s dive right in!

1. ThaiPod101

Best Overall – Most Comprehensive

Coming in at number one on our list is ThaiPod101, one of the most comprehensive and regularly updated language courses on the market. And, they have an awesome app. The lessons are mostly based around short podcasts (hence the ‘pod’) however there’s loads of video lessons too, all delivered by native speakers in a relaxed and engaging tone.

The unique thing about ThaiPod101 is the ability to completely customise your own learning by selecting your own ‘pathways’. You can filter by level, category, skill type etc. and add pathways to your dashboard to track your own learning. There’s a ton of interesting content, from food to dating. Plus, the app includes flashcards, word lists, a dictionary, and all sorts of bonus features. The only thing lacking is the speaking element of Thai, and the writing lessons could be better.

Click here to read our full ThaiPod101 review.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Ling

Most Engaging & Fun

Ling is a highly gamified app (much like Duolingo) that offers short themed lessons for over 50 languages, including Thai. It’s not the most comprehensive app out there but it does offer a great entry point into the language and it’s very engaging for new learners to use. Unlike duolingo the activities don’t feel overly repetitive and are generally very varied with everything from dialogues to vocab-matching. We love that they’ve incorporated native voice clips into the activities and best of all it’s free! Note, we did find some mistakes in the material and there’s not much in terms of grammar explanations

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

3. Write Me

Best App for Learning the Thai Alphabet

To learn any language, it’s a good idea to start with the alphabet. Once you can read, every street sign, menu or newspaper becomes a language lesson. Plus, you can get locals to write words down for you that you don’t understand, making translation much easier. Write Me does an excellent job at teaching you the Thai alphabet in a pain-free way. This is quite a task given that there’s over 70 letters!

Similar to Ling, it incorporates quizzes and games to keep you motivated to continue – you’ll grow virtual flowers as you progress through the levels. But not only is it fun but seems to be very effective. They’ve incorporated a spaced recognition system to gradually up the ante, until you’re eventually identifying each letter and writing it with precision. The writing software is similar to skritter, giving you real time feedback with handy arrows & animations. It also has voice clips so you can start learning the pronunciation alongside the writing.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

4. Simply Learn

Most Useful for Travel

Planning a trip to Thailand? This app isn’t really a comprehensive course but more of a travel phrasebook that conveniently has all the key phrases you’ll need to get around in Thailand. The app is laid out nicely to make navigation quick and easy, with intuitive categories and search functions. Every phrase has a voice clip by a native speaker and a transliteration to help you. We love that you can favorite specific phrases if you know you are going to use them often.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

 3/5

 4/5

5. You too can learn Thai (podcast)

Best for Listening Practice

You too can learn Thai is an absolute gem for Thai language students. It’s designed specifically for learners of Thai by linguist Dr Khru Nan. Every week she releases a new episode on interesting and relevant topics, often with special guests, all in Thai! But don’t fear, she always guides you along with short interjections of English to avoid confusion, and she’ll repeat everything at both slow and natural speeds. It might be a little too much for complete beginners, but it never hurts to listen anyway to get used to the language and pick out the words that you do know.

The podcasts are available on Apple, Spotify or Youtube, and they are free – supported only by amazon affiliate links.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

Runners-up for Best Thai App:

Here’s our list of apps that didn’t make it into our top five but are still worth checking out.

Glossika Thai

This app is best for only upper-beginner to intermediate learners. It’s audio based and focuses on learning key phrases through their spaced-repetition system. It works very efficiently and is easy to use, however you are expected to already have a good grasp of the Thai alphabet since you’ll be expected to write in Thai. It’s very clever how it adjusts to your level, however for beginners we recommend avoiding Glossika and sticking with ThaiPod101.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 3/5

Pimsleur

Pimsleur is a well known name in the language learning space, and for good reason! They are awesome at getting you up to a basic conversational level fast. Again, it’s purely audio based which is very handy for when travelling or out and about, and the 1 hour lessons each focus on an authentic dialogue and then breaks it down, prompting you to repeat and ‘participate’ in the dialogue. Many students find it very effective for boosting their speaking and listening skills however it does nothing for reading and writing. Furthermore, their Thai course only has one level, so it’s very limited in scope.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

italki

FInally, this article wouln’t be complete without mentioning italki. It’s always a great go-to resource for getting real conversation practice woth native speakers. The tutors are affordable and lessons can be scheduled to fit around your lifestyle. The only con is that you can’t expect the tutors to do all the work for you – to get the most out of each lesson you should keep it focused and structured.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Thai

I hope you’ve found this list useful – now you have no excuse to get out there and start practicing your Thai! And most of, have a lot of fun whilst doing so.

To recap, serious Thai learners should consider a ThaiPod101 subscription, the number one app for learning Thai. For those just looking to wet their feet we reccomend having a play around with Ling or Simply Learn. For writing, we strongly reccomend the Write Me app, and for listening you should check out the ‘You too can learn Thai‘ podcast.

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Chinese

Josiah — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 10:54:24 +0000

A fully comprehensive course with a well developed app. Lessons are taught by a range of engaging native speakers.

Olly’s course is based upon his unique ‘storylearning’ methodology. His method is fun and effective.

A well-structured course with a linear syllabus, perfect for beginners due to it’s thorough explanations and detailed notes.

Learning Chinese is no easy task, and with an endless choice of apps on the market it’s hard to know where to start. Luckily for you, we’ve compiled this list of our 5 best apps for learning Chinese, based on our experience personally using them and testing them all out.

Each app has its own unique style – some are best for just learning the Chinese characters whilst others are just great all-round courses. Whichever app you choose to go for, bear in mind that everyone has their own preferences and specific learning styles when learning a language, so what works for us might not be your best fit.

So without further ado, let’s jump right into it! Coming in at number one on our list is our personal favorite – ChineseClass101.

1. ChineseClass101

Best Overall

ChineseClass101 is technically an online course, but their mobile app has everything you need to access their comprehensive library of lessons, and more! The instructors at ChineseClass101 teach you Chinese through a series of professionally-made video and audio lessons. What’s unique about ChineseClass101 is the fact that you are not limited to a set syllabus but can actually pick and choose your lesson ‘pathways, as they call them, to fully customise your own syllabus based upon your goals and interests.

It comfortably hits the number 1 spot on our list for one main reason – it covers everything. For a beginner or intermediate in Chinese, we feel it is the best option to keep you engaged and learning, providing you with an enormous array of useful content – up to date cultural information, a focus on listening skills (in addition to reading, writing etc.), and the use of authentic dialogues and videos from real native speakers.

Click here to read our in-depth review of ChineseClass101.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

2. Olly Richards’ Chinese Conversations (Intermediate)

Most Effective

This one’s really only useful if you’re already at an intermediate level of Chinese, so if you’re just starting out it’s best to skip this one for the time being (but keep it in mind for later). We kept this option on our list because we just love the teaching methodology, making it one of the most effective techniques for rapidly improving your Chinese language skills.

Olly Richards is a well-acclaimed polyglot, having taught himself over 8 languages and developed a massive range of language courses, each one modelled on his own method he developed for learning languages – through stories. His intermediate conversation courses are a little different, and instead focus on authentic dialogues covering loads of useful topics.

However, the central methodology is the same – to immerse you in as much new language as possible. Only after spending plenty of time with the audio does he then give a comprehensive, line-by-line breakdown of the entire audio clip. You are sure to learn loads from this course, plus everything can be accessed on mobile or downloaded offline.

Note: 'Chinese Uncovered' for beginners will be released this year (2021) and will follow the popular story format as all the other 'uncovered' language courses.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

3. Yoyo Chinese

Most Comprehensive

Coming in at number 3 is Yoyo Chinese, a comprehensive video course that takes complete beginners right through to an intermediate level using a very effective and highly engaging teaching style, delivered by the founder (and course designer), Yangyang Chen.

The course is broken down into multiple sub-courses that each focus on a different skill – reading, writing and conversational skills. It’s ideal for anyone who easily gets overwhelmed since everything is explained in very easy to understand terms, using clever analogies and memory techniques that are suited to the native English speaker. In the custom-built app you’ll find flashcards, downloadable lesson notes, review quizzes and more – and better still, the first 45 lessons are free!

Click here to read our in-depth review of Yoyo Chinese.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

4. Duolingo

Best Budget Option

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s unlikely you haven’t heard of duolingo, everyone’s favorite go-to option for language learning. Despite having it’s flaws, it’s still a great entry-level option for anyone starting Chinese, especially if you’re on a budget. The course is logically structured and gets harder as you progress through all the levels, covering everything from family to eating out.

The main benefit with duolingo is its ability to keep you engaged and motivated – it’s highly gamified. You’ll earn ingots and be able to spend them on bonus levels and all sorts of goodies, and the friendly old owl will be your personal cheerleader throughout every lesson.

Click here to read our in-depth review of Duolingo Chinese.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

5. FluentU

Most Immersive

We LOVE FluentU, it just had to make it onto our top 5 list. Whilst it’s not strictly a language course, there’s a ton of value to be had from it as a supplementary learning tool. You can think of FLuentU as youtube for language learning. You can binge watch your way through thousands of level-appropriate video clips that are nicely categorised into such things as movie trailers, music videos, vloggers, instructional videos, interviews etc. The interactive platform then gives you an instant translation when you hover your mouse over a word in the subtitles, and even tests you on your newly learnt vocabulary.

As mentioned, it shouldn’t be used as a primary learning source, but rather an additional extra to improve your listening skills and to boost your vocabulary. We love how the app automatically logs all the words you know or don’t know, and then gives you a nice indicator for each video to tell you how many words you already know and how difficult it’s likely to be, before you even begin the video.

Click here to read our in-depth review of FluentU.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

Runners-up for Best Chinese App:

Our list wouldn’t be complete without at least giving these runners up a mention, which are still 100% worth checking out.

Rocket Chinese

Rocket Chinese is a very comprehensive language course which covers everything from writing to speaking. They’ve incorporated a handy voice-recognition software into the lesson dialogues which is a nice touch since many language programs are lacking when it comes to speaking. The lessons are primarily audio-based but come with plenty of supplementary notes and loads of memory based games and quizzes.

Rocket Chinese is a very comprehensive language course which covers everything from writing to speaking. They’ve incorporated a voice-recognition software into the lesson dialogues which is a nice touch since many language programs are lacking when it comes to speaking. The lessons are primarily audio-based but come with plenty of supplementary notes and loads of memory based games and quizzes.

Click here to read our in-depth review of Rocket Chinese.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

Skritter

All the other apps we’ve mentioned so far use quite generic methods for learning the Chinese characters. They work, but it’s certainly not the best way to learn. Chinese has thousands of characters, and memorising them all can be quite a challenge. This is where Skritter comes in. It’s a brilliant tailor-made tool for learning Chinese characters that utilises research-based methods such as active recall and spaced repetition to create a very effective learning tool.

There’s no other app that has such a smooth on-screen handwriting tool, and the way it curates purpose-made example sentences for each character is a huge bonus – one that really enhances your ability to retain the new information. Skritter is for learning characters only and doesn’t provide anything on grammar, conversation or reading.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

Pimsleur Chinese

Pimsleur has been around for a long time, but it’s effectiveness still endures. It gets you using useful phrases from the very beginning through a structured syllabus of 30 minute audio lessons. It’s immersive so don’t expect to see any grammar explanations or much English being spoken. Instead, you are first introduced to a native speed conversation and then prompted to repeat each phrase, each sound being meticulously broken down to get you speaking with the right pronunciation. You can then participate in the dialogue when prompted.

Many students feel that their speaking and listening skills have massively improved since taking the Pimsleur Chinese course. It’s a great option for those looking to quickly get conversational before a trip to China, but not if you are looking to get a high level understanding of how the language actually works, or are looking to be able to read and write Chinese.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 2/5

 4/5

italki

Last on our list is italki, an app we always recommend to students who need extra speaking practice. It’s perfect for connecting you with an affordable native tutor who can work around your schedule and adapt to your needs. It’s the perfect complementary app to use alongside a structured course or textbook.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Chinese

So, there you have it. Overall, it really depends on what you are looking to improve to be honest. For a complete beginner looking for an all-encompassing course that’ll keep you engaged and progressing, we recommend checking out ChineseClass101. Likewise, Yoyo Chinese will give you everything you need, but with a more structured approach.

For those already with an upper-beginner/intermediate level of Chinese, check out Olly’s conversational course, and for a quick and easy way to achieve a basic conversational level, we recommend Pimsleur. Unsure which to start with? Give Duolingo a try. Bonus points go to FluentU (awesome for vocab) and Skritter (for learning Characters).

We hope this list helps you decide which Chinese-learning apps are right for you, and we wish you the best of luck along your language learning journey! 再见! (zài jiàn)!

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Korean

Josiah — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 17:45:16 +0000

When trying to learn to speak Korean on top of your busy life, you may want to find some helpful apps and programs that are convenient, easy-to-use, comprehensive and hopefully, inexpensive. With the dizzying array of resources available, it can be tough to figure out which one will be best for you.

Have no fear; we are here to help. We’ve compiled this list of what we think are the 5 best apps for learning Korean. Keep in mind that not all the apps are structured to teach Korean, and some will simply offer supplemental information alongside some more structured courses. We’ve included some top runners-up at the end of the article, but let’s start with our Best Overall pick, KoreanClass101.

1. KoreanClass101

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Basic membership starts at $8/month, Free 7-day premium trial

Best Overall

KoreanClass101 gets our Best Overall nod for meeting all aforementioned criteria for the best Korean app. There are four monthly-subscription levels including a free account. Each level consists of both video and short podcast lessons complete with full transcripts and quizzes. You will even find a variety of learning games and tools to explore. New content is added regularly, so as long as you maintain your membership, it is unlikely you will run out of new material.

Designed for both casual and serious speakers, from absolute beginner to advanced speaker, KoreanClass101 offers a variety of situational pathway lessons like Speaking Perfect Korean in a Restaurant or Top 10 Lines For Introducing Yourself. Additionally, you can use their guided lesson pathway that is structured to align with the CEFR Levels (Common European Framework for Reference).

Check out our full KoreanClass101 review here.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 3/5

 4/5

2. Korlink

(Android only)
Free

Most Comprehensive

The Korlink App gives you on-the-go access to TalkToMeInKorean.com. Available as a download on Google Play, sorry iOS users, Korlink is currently only available for Android devices and laptops. It offers video lessons of dialogs, lesson notes, quizzes, lesson recommendations and completion certificates.

Additionally, you can download lesson notes to look over whenever you need a review. You must be connected to Wi-Fi or have a data plan to use this app. There are also a few hard-copy books for analogue learners including Real Life Korean Conversations for Beginners and Real Life Korean Conversations for Intermediate.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

3. iTalki Korean

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, tutor price varies

Best Korean Tutoring Service

iTalki is a great way to connect with a native Korean speaker right from your phone without the international calling fees! The best part is that you get to look through a list of potential tutors and choose which one is best for you.

Each tutor offers an introduction that includes their main focus while teaching, how much Korean or English they use and their hourly prices. Simply schedule an appointment right on the app, and you only pay for the time you speak with the tutor.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

4. Duolingo Korean

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free, Duolingo plus costs $6.99 per month (with 7-day free trial)

Best for the Casual Learner on a Budget

If you want a structured, grammatically-focused and in-depth course in Korean, Duolingo is NOT the app for you. However, if you want to brush up on your Korean or learn some casual travel or business phrases, Duolingo is a fun way to do so. It is also an excellent supplemental study-guide for someone already enrolled in a Korean class in a school.

The game-like approach to language learning offers you a variety of activities including matching words to pictures, organizing words to form sentences and even some speaking practice. Duolingo encourages users to keep up a daily study time and rewards lingots (to be spent in the Duolingo store for items like extra lives) for level completion and usage streaks.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 2/5

 5/5

5. Learn Hangul

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free – available through the YouTube app

Best for Learning Hangul

Yes, we know this isn’t technically an app, but you can subscribe to Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean on your YouTube app, and that is good enough for us! Each video in the 14-part series is between five and seven minutes long.

The videos begin with simple letters and gradually build upon those letters to make syllable blocks. Vowels and consonants are thrown in eventually. As you progress, you will learn about double consonants, strong consonants and dipthongs (two vowels in a single syllable). The series wraps up with a variety of sound rule changes and irregulars to offer one of the most comprehensive Hangul writing lessons.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

Runners-up for Best Korean App

The following runners-up might not have every single bell and whistle of our Top Five, but still deserve an honorable mention.

Rocket Korean

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$99.95 for lifetime access, or 6 payments of $19.00 /month

Rocket Korean offers one course that promises to take you from beginner to intermediate Korean speaker. There are over 120 hours of lessons, thousands of voice-recognition phrases to practice, 27 writing lessons and 28 language and culture lessons.

Unlike a monthly subscription program, you only pay once for Rocket Korean. This is great if you don’t like the idea of a monthly bill but want to own the content. Unfortunately, the materials are not regularly updated, so you won’t find new lessons. Essentially, what you buy is what you get.

Check out our full Rocket Korean review here.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

 3/5

LingoDeer Korean

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$11.99/mo, $29.99 for 3 months, $55.99 for a year. There’s also a lifetime option for $119.99

LingoDeer is similar to Duolingo in its game-like structure and cute mascot guiding you through the course. It differs in that it offers much more grammatical explanations throughout the activities. Activities include filling in the blank, matching words to definitions and speaking practice. It also offers Learning Tips which helps to explain the history of the language.

LingoDeer is available on a monthly subscription service, but you do not need to be online to use the app. The price point is a bit on the high side when compared to our Top Five. Additionally, some lessons feel a bit out of place. For example, the lesson about Nationalities is first, while Greetings is further down in order.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

 3/5

 4/5

HelloTalk

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
Free – language exchange app

HelloTalk is an app for both Android and iOS. The free version comes with the beloved advertisements and one language. If you want to be able to communicate in more than one language, you’ll need to sign up for the premium subscription.

HelloTalk will not actually teach you to speak Korean, but it will connect you with native Korean speakers to practice what you already know. Because many language learning programs and apps lack extensive speaking practice, this app is a must for anyone learning Korean.

Additionally, the value of HelloTalk is highly dependent on mass participation. You will be matched with a speaker of your language if there is one available.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

Mondly

(Android, iPhone, iPad)
$9.99/month or $47.99 for one year of Korean, 7-day free trial

Mondly is slightly different from other programs and apps in that it encourages you to learn to speak a new language from your native tongue. So, if you are a native French speaker, you will go between French and Korean. The lessons are not structured in an orderly manner, so this is most likely a better app for casual learners wanting to study travel phrases or greetings.

Mondly excels at enhancing your vocabulary, so serious students may consider it as a supplemental resource only. This monthly-subscription program gives you access to a variety of lessons, monthly challenges and weekly assessments.

Pros

Cons

Price:

Effectiveness:

User Experience:

 4/5

 3/5

 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Korean

Well, there you have it. KoreanClass101 gets the nod for best overall, Korlink for most comprehensive, italki and Duolingo come in a respectable 3rd and 4th place, and rounding out the top 5 is the best app for learning to write, Learn Hangul.

What are your favorites? Did they match ours?

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

VietnamesePod101 Coupon Codes

Editorial Team — Thu, 14 May 2020 07:18:41 +0000

The VietnamesePod101 coupon codes below have been tested to work as of February 17th, 2022.

Please let us know if you find any of the codes aren’t working.

VietnamesePod101 Coupon Codes (Verified February, 2022)

If you are considering learning to speak Vietnamese, check out our review of VietnamesePod101 by Innovative Languages. Now, you can start your journey of learning Vietnamese with one of the most comprehensive programs at a massive discount.

30% Off VietnamesePod101

Save up to $165 off a two-year subscription with this VietnamesePod101 discount code. Your 30% discount is automatically applied when you use the link below.

30% Off VietnamesePod101Get Up To $165 Off

New and current VietnamesePod101 subscribers are eligible for this offer.

60% Off VietnamesePod101

This is a special lifetime account offer, and the 60% discount is based on using the program for 5 years (if you use it longer, your actual discount will be more). This one is good if you know you’ll be using the program for a while, and don’t like monthly payments.

60% Off VietnamesePod101Click to see details

77% Off VietnamesePod101

This is another unadvertised lifetime offer. If you buy lifetime accounts for 3 languages, you get all 3 for 77% off (based on 5 years of paying regular price, though you have access to them forever).

77% Off VietnamesePod101Click To Use Coupon

How to Use the VietnamesePod101 Coupon Code

New VietnamesePod101 Users

It’s very simple to get your discount for VietnamesePod101. The following steps will lead you through the whole process.

1. First, Choose Your Discount Code.

Click on one of the blue buttons in the section above. You will then be taken to VietnamesePod101 to choose your monthly plan. Keep in mind that your discount has already been applied to the prices.

2. Choose your Plan

Check out the features the different subscription plans offer and choose which one works for you. Available options include Basic, Premium or Premium PLUS, and we will cover these in detail later on.

3. Enter Payment Information

For your convenience, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal are all accepted forms of payment. Enter this information along with a current billing address.

4. Choose the Subscription Length

You can choose a subscription length from as little as a month up to two years. The longer the length of your subscription, the more money you will save off the monthly cost. Coupled with the 30% discount, you can save a lot of money.

5. Verify your Account

Once you provide a valid email address and verify your account, you can begin studying with VietnamesePod101 right away.

Current VietnamesePod101 Subscribers

If you’ve already signed up with VietnamesePod101, you can activate any of the discounts above by simply clicking the links after you’ve logged into your account.

Are these discounts valid in every country?

Yes! You can use the 30% discount code anywhere you can access VietnamesePod101.

Should you Choose Basic, Premium or Premium PLUS?

Basic

With the Basic plan, you have access to the entire library of lessons. You can use your iPhone, Android, tablet or laptop for your studies. You will also be able to print PDFs for later review whenever you don’t have access to the internet. New lessons are being added continuously. Opt for the Basic subscription if you:

are on a tight budget
want to learn a basic amount of Vietnamese to get by
want to test the waters to be sure Vietnamese is for you

Premium

The Premium plan has the Basic plan features plus HD video, comprehensive word and phrase lists, interactive learning tools, word-of-the-day emails, voice-recording, flashcards, and daily lessons and tests. Opt for the Premium plan if you:

are looking for more learning tools to help you progress & stay motivated
plan to become fluent in Vietnamese quickly
want to keep track of your progress with periodic assessments
want to have conversations with Vietnamese friends or family
want to better understand Vietnamese movies, music and culture

Premium PLUS

The Premium PLUS subscription offers ALL features of VietnamesePod101. It builds on all the Premium plan features including one-on-one instruction, professional assessments and personal learning pathways. Opt for Premium PLUS if you:

prefer to speak with an instructor one-on-one
want a personal dedicated learning plan
want to keep track of your progress with professional assessments

Still haven’t decided? Check out our in depth review of the program.

77% Off VietnamesePod101Click To Use Coupon

Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.

ThaiPod101 Coupon Codes (2022)

Editorial Team — Wed, 13 May 2020 06:06:01 +0000

These ThaiPod101 coupon codes have been tested to work as of February 17th, 2022.

Please note that we receive a small commission if you use our links below (at no cost to you) and it helps support our site.

ThaiPod101 Coupon Codes (Verified February, 2022)

If you are interested in learning to speak Thai, now is a great time to start. With up to 77% off the retail price, ThaiPod101 by Innovative Languages is a great place to begin this journey. Without further ado, here are the discounts you’re looking for!

30% Off ThaiPod101 Coupon

This ThaiPod101 discount code can save up to $165 off a two-year subscription plan. By clicking the link, the 30% discount will automatically be applied.

30% Off ThaiPod101Get Up To $165 Off

Both new and existing ThaiPod101 subscribers can benefit from this offer.

60% Off ThaiPod101 (Premium Only)

This discount is for premium accounts only, and is the secret, lifetime membership offer. The 60% discount is based on using the program for 5 years. If you use the account longer, the actual discount will be higher.

ThaiPod101 6060% Off ThaiPod101

77% Off ThaiPod101 (Lifetime, Multiple Languages)

This offer is only available if you are purchasing multiple lifetime accounts for Innovative Language programs. For example, you can purchase Thai, Chinese and Japanese and get them all for 77% off. This assumes a 5 year use period — if you use them longer, the discount will be even higher.

ThaiPod101 Lifetime77% Off ThaiPod101

How to Use the ThaiPod101 Coupon Code

New ThaiPod101 Users

Grabbing your discount for ThaiPod101 is a piece of cake. Just follow the steps below to start your journey toward speaking Thai.

1. First, click on the ThaiPod101 Discount Code you wish to use.

You will be sent to ThaiPod101 to choose your subscription plan. Please note that your discount has already been figured into the listed subscription prices.

2. Choose a Plan

Determine which plan works best for you. Decide between Basic, Premium or Premium PLUS. We will go over the plans in detail later on.

Note: Some discounts apply only to certain subscription levels.

3. Enter your Payment Information

You can pay by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal. You will also need to provide a valid billing address.

4. Choose your Subscription Length

Choose the length of your subscription – keep in mind that the longer the subscription, the cheaper the monthly cost. On top of this 30% discount, you can save extra money with a longer subscription. You can choose a term length from as little as one month to 24 months.

5. Verify your Account

You will need to enter your email address to verify your account. After this is completed, you are free to begin studying with ThaiPod101.

Existing ThaiPod101 Users

If you’re already using ThaiPod101, you can still benefit from this deal. Simply log into your ThaiPod101 account, then click on one of the above discount links.

Does the ThaiPod101 Discount Code Work Everywhere?

Yes. These discount codes can be used as long as you have access to the internet.

Should you Choose Basic, Premium or Premium PLUS?

Basic

The Basic subscription offers complete access to all lessons over a variety of platforms including iOS, Android and computers. You can also view or print PDFs for later review. There are new lessons being added all the time.

Opt for the Basic subscription if you:

do not have a lot of money to invest in learning
want to learn enough Thai to get by during travel/simple conversation
want to see if you like speaking Thai before making a bigger commitment

Premium

The Premium subscription plan includes all that the Basic subscription plan offers plus extensive word and phrase lists, HD video, interactive learning tools, voice-recording, flashcards, daily lessons and quizzes.

Opt for the Premium plan if you:

would like more learning features
want to work toward fluency in Thai
want periodic tests & assessments
want to be able to communicate with Thai friends or family
want to be able to understand Thai movies, music and culture

Premium PLUS

The Premium PLUS subscription unlocks all of the ThaiPod101 features. It contains all the Premium plan contains plus one-on-one teaching, recurring assessments and personalized learning plans.

Opt for Premium PLUS if you:

prefer the option of one-on-one instruction with a professional tutor
want a learning plan designed just for you
like to know where you stand with regular assessments

Tips to Get the Most out of your Subscription

We are so happy you are learning to speak Thai with ThaiPod101. We’re certain you will have a rewarding adventure. Here’s a few tips that can help you make the most out of your subscription whether you are a new or current ThaiPod101 subscriber:

1. Plan to study at least 30 minutes each day.
2. Take advantage of all features of your subscription including the daily emails.
3. Use commute times or whilst running/waiting in line to listen to Thai podcasts.
4. Print out and read over lessons when you cannot go online.
5. Use all the interactive learning tools to help with vocab memorization.
6. Keep track of your progress with your dashboard.
7. Be sure to use your one-on-one instructor time for important questions — Premium PLUS members only.
8. Learn with friends by sharing this discount code:

ThaiPod101 Lifetime77% Off ThaiPod101

Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.