Hello to hallo: Apps for learning languages

If you booked a vacation, need to level up your skills for a job, or want a productive way to spend idle minutes, these language learning apps will help you talk the talk.

This fast-paced, gamified language-learning app has a decade of expertise in teaching and over 40 languages on offer. Build your vocabulary as a variety of cute, animated characters cheer you on through brief daily listening, speaking, and matching exercises. Along with European, African, and Asian languages, Duolingo offers courses in Latin, Yiddish, and even Klingon.

Learn language and grammar with lessons featuring the voices of real-world native speakers. Babbel focuses on teaching casual, everyday conversation, with an emphasis on the local culture of the country whose language you're learning. You’ll need a subscription to access lessons, but you can try out a class first.

Linguists know that your native tongue influences how you learn other languages, so this subscription-based app tailors its program for both the language you want to learn and the one you already speak. As part of your lesson plan, watch clips of native speakers in spaces like offices or coffee shops, with an emphasis on how speech differs based on the situation.