That’s what happened to me I got incredibly bored with Duolingo saying dog, cat,horse, toy for weeks and when I use Busuu in one week I can have a basic simple convo nothing major but big improvements
@@charlesluciano9745 I think at a certain point (intermediate level-ish) it becomes basically necessary if you want to quickly expand your vocab. If you are happy learning an average of 2-3 words a day while you just plod along in the language then cool, but if you want to develop anything CLOSE to a native speaker vocab, then it'll have to be some kind of spaced repetition.
Busuu is amazing if you are willing to pay for the premium subscription and that is definetely how it is meant to be used but if you want to use it for free than a lot of the features, such as the study plan, McGraw Hill exams and about half of the content will be unreachable.
@@DanielaGarcia-jk8hbMobilism app. You can get mods for most famous apps (all safe and virus-free). AFAIK Balatan and Derrin make the best mods. Ofcourse I must inform you that this is illegal. So don't do it😉
I’m 2 weeks in German with Duolingo and we haven’t reached the “red” aspect of an apple yet. It’s actually quite annoying when starting a totally new language
I learnt how to say my name by asking my german friend. I'm about 5 weeks into duolingo in german rn. I'm swapping to busuu once the fucking website can display anything other than "technical errors".
I like Duolingo to start a new language but Busuu is much more comprehensive and like you point out Busuu makes you speak and pronounce words and write responses that are graded by native speakers. I like to use multiple resources for learning languages like Duolingo, Busuu and Mondly but if I had to use only one app I would also choose Busuu for all the reasons in this video.
Haha, I have actually met one, but I've only met two people who use it at all. The Michel Thomas method is another old one but that is actually quite clever and as a general rule it WORKS, unlike Rosetta Stone. It matters not now, Busuu is here haha.
@@prestokrs1 - Yeah, there is a fair bit of evidence to suggest that it doesn't actually work. Because even though they use pictures, your brain already has a native language, so when I see a picture of a dog, I think "dog". And then it says "chien" (or "hund" or whatever) and then I think "dog = chien". So you're not actually using pictures at all. Plus, how do you use pictures to convey "I was going to take the train but then I decided not to." ? Which is not even a very complicated sentence by, say, B2 level.
i bought it about a year ago and i was only 18, but was not impressed. i was under the impression that it was the biggest and best program for language learning but it was a big waste of money.
I used it for English, Arabic, Persian, German even a little Japanese and I think it's one of the most practical apps for language learning. Becauase it has an awesome method which it uses with almost every languages, it is perfect for learning several languages.
I'm so glad I found your review because Busuu is exactly what I've been looking for in a language learning service: conversation, real-time memory recall, meaningful input. I all but threw my money at it and it was immediately worth it! Thank you for your commitment to languages and seeing others advance as well. Merci pour ton aide!
I purchased Busuu after watching your review and I must say so far I feel like it was the right decision. I was considering either purchasing Busuu or just learning French by myself, but I figured for just £40 for a year (with access to 11 other languages), it would probably be a much better use of my time than searching around on online dictionaries and becoming more and more frustrated with myself. After 10 days, I’ve completed 90% of the A1 section and I will hopefully take the A1 test today. I really love how Busuu teaches you really relevant content. I already had a good basic grasp of French from school and some Duolingo here and there, but I wasn’t at all conversational by any stretch, I wouldn’t last 5 seconds in France. That’s the problem with the language learning system in schools, you’re taught how to pass an exam, not how to speak the language. I worked at grade 9 (A**) level at GCSE French yet I had massive gaps in my knowledge. Also, please could you make another video or at least state your opinion on Nathaniel’s new video on learning Portuguese? I know you’ve probably already been bombarded with comments on it but I loved your last video on it and I’d love to hear your views on his latest approach, no matter how controversial! That’s why I love your channel, it’s very down to earth and practical. Keep it up!
I like how in Busuu you can skip some lessons if you feel like you know that already and I like the how the lessons are actual lessons with explanations.
I guess since so many people learn English, there are a lot of people who feel pretty confident about their English knowledge. I’ve seen people erroneously correct others’ English in some Facebook groups for English learners. I’ve had people “correct” my English, and I’m a native speaker! For example, I had said that I like to eat yams when they are in season, and someone tried to correct me by telling me that yams aren’t a season. 🙄 And there are so many people doing this, that I imagine it would be hard to regulate.
argh, I generally don't like apps where other users correct you because I have a feeling that often they don't pay enough attention to do it properly. Also, I hate when some people try to use language learning app as a dating app, which happens surprisingly often :/
I think for english it must sucks cuz there is too many non native speakers in the world so more often than not you will be "corrected" by some one who partialy knows english.
I have seen some busuu corrections in english where the corrector was not a native speaker(very rarely). I just add another correction, ultimately they can see my rep. I suppose you can say that this type of correction is not by a qualified teacher but if you think about it most native speakers can manage grammatically correct basic english and thus this form is quick dirty and has a use for instantaneous feedback.
For what it's worth... there are quite a few native speakers who don't understand the language very well, and quite a few ESL speakers who understand English perfectly.
I’m using Busuu and I love it tbh. I’m using it to learn French and I love the speech recognition feature too! I might really let them charge me for the year lol it seems worth it. I want to be at a conversational level within a year
Thanks for recommending busuu! I love it! I studied french for a couple of months at the Alliance Française, studying italian with busuu just felt like that, the app makes it so simple and fun. This is my plan now: italian for 3 or 4 months, then I'm gonna get back to french. Later italian again. I don't want to study 2 langauages at the same time. But definitely those two are my target languages. You got yourself a new subscriber here! Greetings from Ecuador! :)
Lol...it's like I've just found the Love of my life. What I've always been searching for in a language app. What even gave me goosebumps was how I took the test to tell my level after signing up. It was real!... Lol. I'm very glad I saw this video. Thanks for the beautiful content you make. ‼️👏🏾🔥
I've just completed 500 days of Spanish on Duolingo and it has been very useful to get me, a very reluctant and incompetent language learner, to make the habit and even believe I can learn a language. That said, I am not able to hold even a basic conversation so I am very interested in the Busuu app as a next step and make actual progress in communicating with Spanish speakers! Thanks for the review!
The BEST review of a language app I've ever heard. What made it the best is your enthusiasm and commitment to providing a great review. Your passion was excellent and you voice was always clear. Although with your accent I did have to turn on Closed Captions but just to confirm I'd heard the word I thought I heard correctly. As proof yours was a good review, I'm going to go check out BUSUU now.
I have been using Busuu. What I love about it is that aside from the grammar and vocab lessons, you get to write in sentences or record your voice, then the native speakers who get to read your sentenses or hear your recordings could give you feedback. It's like Busuu is giving you no choice but to be fluent, especially if you put effort and take it seriously. I learned English with it.
Can you actually speak it at B2 with Busuu? Not just write and read? I’m finding they aren’t giving me enough information to complete exercises and I feel like I’m only learning weird vocabulary
@@susw8841 I also did practice on hello talk an hour a day after 3 months..for the last Couple months ..I know it seems strange but I took all the sentences in BUSUU and I created an Anki deck with the sentences and voice not just the random words and then did language exchanges after 3 months and now I'm comfortable enough with Spanish..at least conversational fluent..and already got the first 30 days of Portuguese on BUSUU done doing the same thing..if you want to practice Spanish or use my Anki deck it really works ..and I'll can send it to you..I have tried them all and BUSUU was the best. ...I did pass the B2 test but I can understand novelas and I can speak pretty good..not perfect..I still can't roll my Rs
Also to add..I went and spent over 500 bucks for Fluenz..worst mistake of my life..that was one language and I learned nothing..then I found BUSUU.. and just felt if I memorized everything there.. I can speak this language..it's the sentences and the people who correct your written work..will do language exchanges with you for free...if you practice those sentences with native speakers you will be fluent with BUSUU..
Hi!! I just wanted to pop in and say thank you so much for this video - I have been trying to teach myself French with the basic knowledge I have left from school, iTalki and some grammatical study, but I was finding it quite hard/not understanding certain concepts I was hearing. Just done my first half an hour on Bus and its amazing! So helpful, well laid out and really in depth grammatical study too. Duolingo could never.
Yep, absolutely. It's definitely a good program for French, and probably all the languages that resemble English closely... though even when I did like 2 hours of Chinese, I found it useful.
I knew about Busuu but never really tried it. I used to be a borderline B2 French speaker when I worked in Disneyland Paris 5 years ago for a summer, with just secondary school French , and have since become very rusty. You sold me on Busuu and oh my God, it's the best thing ever for bringing me back up to the standard I was at, and hope to be even better. You definitely converted me from Duolingo to Busuu for French. Thank you so much!
I am learning Polish with Busuu now, thanks to you - I was using Duolingo for around 100 days and it got me into the grammar and the basics of the language but I just found myself getting bored with repeating the same stuff again and again and none of it being useful (I constantly joke with my Polish friends and girlfriend about how I can't wait until I see a "bad fish eating a sandwich" so I can actually speak Polish) - Through my 100 days I was already using connectives and describing how a mirror was between the desk and the window yet it had never taught me numbers or how to say "My name is" - So I watched your channel and saw Busuu, tried it and paid up for it because I love it. I've started right from the beginning and I am learning it all over again (With a lot of help from a foundation that Duolingo gave me) and I can actually speak and get feedback, the open questions were something I've never really had to face before and it was a hell of a challenge but it made me pull out my lexicon and struggle to form sentences and I felt myself actually achieve something for the first time since I've learnt. So thank you for introducing us to this because I had never heard about it before.
Thank you very much for this video. I have now joined Busuu for Italian and it is just superb for motivation and for keeping its contents relevant and truly interesting. You don't have to start at the beginning if you know some of the language as they give you a quick test to measure which is the best place in the course for your first lesson. Great!
Learning polish and had Duolingo for over 500 days. Learnt a lot of words and no where near close to being comfortable in having a conversation. 3 days into Busuu and it’s brilliant. Was getting demoralised thinking I would never get it but after only 3 days with Busuu I am very confident. So good
Duolingo is good for me for Spanish because it lets me remember the words and grammar easier without trying. I also like the stories. The biggest problem is it's too repetitive and I waste a lot of time. But for Japanese, I prefer Busuu because it explains the grammar and it helps me remember the words properly. It also gives more than just translating and clicking a few buttons to make a scentense. I think it depends on the language you are learning. If Busuu was more repetitive (just a little ) it would be perfect, but if I really need to repeat things more I could just write, simple sentences (or read and listen)
What an EXCELLENT review. Thank you! I just got my year end report from Duolingo. I am in the top 1% of users. I have 55,000+ points so far this year. I haven’t missed a day since I started, 243 days ago, and I can confirm… Duolingo is a giant waste of time. I studied 3 languages in school, 8 years, I was accepted into the best language school in the world (The Defense Language School in Monterey), I have traveled to 30+ countries, I am very familiar with learning languages. Duolingo is a giant waste of time, BUT… so are many things we enjoy doing. The gamification can be addicting. Competing with friends is fun. The barrier of entry is so low, anyone can join. And I liked that I could try out many languages. I used Duolingo primarily to practice and keep up with Spanish and French (I studied in school), but I also got over 10,000 points in Chinese, 10,000 points in Japanese, and prior to Duolingo, I knew ZERO Chinese or Japanese. I also did several lessons in 19 total languages! Spanish French Mandarin Japanese Korean Vietnamese Portuguese Italian Hindi Hebrew Yiddish Swahili Zulu Esperanto Russian Navajo Hawaiian Haitian Creole Arabic Latin Greek and… Klingon Duolingo was entertainment for me, and for that, it was GREAT. For learning languages, it was terrible… EXCEPT for one thing. I got to learn a little about a LOT of languages. I learned Chinese and Japanese aren’t as hard as I thought they would be. I learned Vietnamese is near impossible, at least for me. Same with Navajo, but their Navajo course is clearly very subpar. I learned Korean, Hindi, Arabic, and several others are also very hard. I learned Zulu and Swahili are far easier than I would have imagined. While in school, I studied French, Spanish, and German. I found I enjoyed French and Spanish, but I really didn’t like German. Then I had to spend a YEAR in a class learning a language I didn’t enjoy at all. I wish Duolingo was around back then, I could have saved myself a year studying a language I didn’t enjoy when there are SOOOO many I do enjoy learning. So, if you want an intro into many languages, Duolingo is great. If you want an alternative to playing stupid games on your phone, Duolingo is a great alternative. I would absolutely LOVE to use Busuu, but my next target language is Farsi and unfortunately that isn’t available on Busuu (yet). I just bought a lifetime all language membership to Rosetta Stone because they have Farsi, and so far… I hate it. It seems like they haven’t updated anything since 1995, their mobile apps are just condensed versions of their courses made for a full size computer screen, just shrunk down, the navigation is awful, it is difficult to even figure out what you are supposed to do, or what they are teaching you. I’m genuinely shocked how bad Rosetta Stone is. I also bought Farsi from Pimsleur and I like it very much so far. I think I will learn the MOST from Pimsleur. I also bought a lifetime, all languages pass to Mondly and Drops. Just because I got their Black Friday deals and I think I can use them for supplemental practice, but I don’t think either is good for actually learning a language. As soon as Busuu has Farsi, I’m going to start!
After using Duolingo non-stop at least an hour every day for almost a year now, and having looked into busuu for about a week, I can see why people might think Busuu is better, but If I had to choose one app to use, I would still stick with Duolingo. Yes, most people will probably get bored of using Duolingo, but drilling in the repetitions and engraining the grammar subconsciously through trial and error has helped me so much once I started branching into other resources and exercises. Duolingo tests your knowledge of certain grammar points by forcing you to be comfortable in manipulating in various forms. Busuu, however lacks enough exercises to hit home the point if you were just using it - especially for learners who aren't focusing and want to get their daily tasks finished. I strongly believe to master something you have to put in the time to perfect the basics, and Duolingo does that through the reps. For a lot of language learners who don't have the patience - especially new learners - it's probably more important to retain their attention and motivation to continue learning. However, if you are focused and are self-motivated, you don't need something to tell you that you're progressing. But, as using one app doesn't limit you from using the other, using both would be very complimentary as you would get the exercise practice from Duolingo and the interactivity from Busuu. PLUS Duolingo's free resources are WAY better than Busuu's free resources. To access a lot of the content on Busuu, you have to get premium, and I honestly don't think it's worth it because there are so many other resources that can do what Busuu does (Hellotalk for partners, SRS tools like memrise and anki). TLDR: At first glance for new language learners who give up easily, Busuu is probably better. Duolingo is better to drill that knowledge until it becomes second nature. Use both to get maximize learning.
So over 80 days ago I started with Duolingo and I honestly felt like I was getting nowhere fast. Four weeks ago I saw an ad for Busuu and I am glad I found it and more importantly decided to use it. I love the community and the feedback they give. It is the encouragement I need at 50 to learn a new language.
I’m trying to learn Spanish and have recently downloaded Duo and Busuu. Busuu gives me a more structured experience right away. And this video confirms Busuu is the go-to app for learning a new language... Thank you for the comparison and I will be going premium on Busuu 👍🏼
This review makes a lot of thoughtful points. I’ve used Busuu for Italian, French and German. There is a lot of content there but it’s uneven: sometimes it’s very strong but then other times quite weak. I think this review oversells the strengths, but it’s also quite honest about the weaknesses. I do think Busuu has a lot to offer for those who really get into it and this review he makes some good suggestions about how to do that. I found that when I took extensive notes and went over difficult things again and again, I got a lot out of it.
Yes actually I agree - there are some negatives I didn't mention (they are small and I don't have time for a 50 minute video) but also, since doing this, I started using it for Arabic and actually found Duolingo MUCH better which is saying something because you know I rag on Duolingo quite a bit, and normally Busuu kills it. I think Busuu is the most helpful when the language is close to your own, and the least helpful when it's far from it, such as Arabic. Your technique sounds great - basically, the learner, their discipline and their attitude is 90% of the job, and the app or program you use is 10% of it.
@@daysandwords One more thing: Busuu content is clearly produced by people pushing a strong political correctness agenda; much stronger than in Duolingo. If you like that sort of thing, you'll love Busuu.
@@petra1995 I've since moved on to Pimsleur since they dropped their prices, and it's refreshing not to have to deal with all the political agenda stuff. I'm guessing the recordings were made decades ago. By the way, I once thought Pimsleur was way to boring to even consider, but to my surprise I now think it's great. It helps with speaking, something almost no other language app does, at least in my experience.
@@tonym2540 But is it really an "agenda" to depict (for example) interracial lesbians, or more a reflection of reality? Duolingo is, after all, a US company. The US has legalized same sex marriage and the demographics inevitably lead to some mixing. People fell in love across racial lines even during Jim Crow. On another hand, I have heard Pimsleur is pretty good.
I started using busuu 20 days ago and I finished a1 in spanish and I got back to repeat it while continuing through a2 its impressive and very practical .
Thank you for this video. I am a nurse, and I frequently take care of Spanish only speaking patients. I have been trying for a while to learn Spanish with Duolingo with very little luck. I'm going to give this app a try and hopefully be able to communicate better!
I managed to complete an official A1.1 german level all by myself and Busuu, I really loved it! I bought a 1 year membership for -supposedly- half the price, the App said I was level A2 after 8 or 9 months, but I stopped learning for a few months and started formal clases and they put me in level A1.2 after de diagnosing exam, so I'm pretty happy with the results!! The feature of interacting with natives it's unvaluable!
I just started Busuu after almost 3 months of duolingo (japanese) and so far I like it better. I love the fact that you can ask native speakers to correct your writing and speaking, and in return you can correct people learning the languages you already know. So far I've only done it with spanish, my mother language, as I don't feel confident doing it with english. However, do you have any advise on how to keep going? I love what I've learned so far (japanese is a beautiful language that kicks my butt every time), personally I think I'm in a good path, but boy we all locked in our houses and I need constant stimulus to function. Great video btw!!!
I just subscribed yesterday to Busuu (one year) after seeing your previous YT video on programs for language learning. So you know, for Italian, I’ve done (absolutely completed all levels at 100%): Duolingo, Memrise, and Rosetta Stone. I completely agree with your analysis of the programs. I especially like the native feedback option where my writing or speech can be corrected. I’ve taken the placement test on Busuu (another fantastic feature) and I’m at the B1-b2 level. I feel seriously challenged by the exercises, and as you said, you have to THINK in the target language to respond to many questions. The rest were just memorizing a set of phrases or words. Rosetta Stone was exceptional in one category: speaking. However, if you’re learning to say inane things, all you’re really improving is your accent but not your fluency in the language. I am hopeful for this app. Just started my journey with it. I also use grammar workbooks and listen to Italian radio when I can to saturate my life in Italian. Cheers!
Aaaaaaamazed! I had to come back on here after using Busuu! You were so right! I've been using Duolingo for years and was never really sure if I was pronouncing French sounds correctly. Busuu has held off on the elementary stuff and basic grammar in the first few lessons to target my problem area---pronunciation! I am unbelievably grateful to you for this video and for sharing your bountiful knowledge! All hail Days of French 'n' Swedish!
I started with doulingo and RUclips (I’m not putting money into something I’m not guarantied to do) I’ve heavily been considering moving my focus to other things, these videos are handy, they organise the information to bring me to a decision
Thanks Nick. Just check though - it's great for French, Spanish, I think German is fine, and maybe for some of the others, but I've heard bad things about its Russian and the Arabic isn't great either. So just see if you can give it a try first.
I'm listening to Make It Stick and right now and there's a quick mention of how filling in blank spaces of words consolidates learning and how the initial struggle is what makes it stay in long-term memory for much longer. I didn't like that exercise in Busuu either, but now I get it
Thank you so much for your channel!! I appreciate your no BS honesty approach when it comes to your reviews regarding language apps. I am a beginner at learning French and I have been using the free Duolingo, LingoDeer Memrise apps but still have not paid for any of their programs. After watching this review I think I will take a look at the Busuu app more seriously. I also really enjoyed your Verbling review, because I agree that having a tutor is the best way to get out of our comfort zones when learning a new language. Your message about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable when learning a language resonates loud and clear. Thank you for all that you do!!
I used Premium Busuu to learn some Japanese for about a month or two, at first focusing on phrases and words, then switching to learning the characters first, and it worked a hell of a lot better than apps like Duolingo. It really is an excellent site/app and I highly suggest it. I learned 40 Hiragana and got all of them in my long term memory in about a week before I stopped. I only stopped using it because I wanted to start learning Korean instead. I totally love it and if they would ever add Korean to their list of languages, I'd jump back onto their site in half a heart beat.
I liked this video. I like your style. Subscribed and will try it. Duolingo 320 day streak but started memrise and Clozemaster and utalk and dozens they all have good and bad. Agree the only way to be fluent is to talk it with natives. I started reading short stories Watching tv shows with no sub titles Set phone and computer to target language Listen to music of that language All of this seems to help. This streak thing annoying. I do minimum of duolingo each day as I don’t want to lose my streak where really I am taking a week to learn three new words that I will forget as the next lesson will be over repetitive on the new set of words.
Just drop the streak now man, I promise it's worth it. Duo is not helping you, and it will only get harder to drop it (trust me, it wasn't easy at 1070 haha). "Duolingo 320 day streak but started memrise and Clozemaster and utalk and dozens they all have good and bad. " - Don't use too many! Choose 2 or 3 favourite resources and do more of them, not a little bit of everything!
Love your content Lamont! Keep it coming. I have just done 50 days on Duolingo and though I did find it beneficial my motivation has dropped off a cliff! I went from hammering Duolingo (hours per day - I got to almost 200 crowns) and feeling like I was learning tons to just wanting to stick pins in my eyes rather than go back to it. I am starting with Bus today! I will continue with Duolingo only for the stores which are much more useful.
I think that in order to provide reviews and corrections, the person would have to confirm their English fluency (or any language) and perhaps sit through a qualification test (like the one in the B2 of the app). Though this method might have some flaws in it, it would greatly reduce the number of inaccurate corrections. The test shouldn't really be too extensive though or else people would be lazy to take it.
I've only been using busuu for 3 days and i have learned so much. This app can definitely get you to b2, just redo lessons , write and record yourself speaking and also learn more on RUclips on each lesson you do
I agree w you 100 percent,,,,,I m in 3 Duolingo courses German. Russian . And Hebrew. I speak English and Spanish fluently but u are correct. I got so disappointed w Duo.......I tried bussu before n lost my comp, access so I quited but I m back.......if all goes well I 'll do French then when I feel comfortable w Hebrew n German. Thanks ur info is great😑
Days of French and Swedish guy . I enjoy replaying your videos ( they are awesome) . Glad to see that your subscription has almost doubled in a week or so. I launched a challenge of Spanish on Busuu . I want to complete the whole course in a month . I already have completed A1 in 6 days (my score is 96 because of a little gender confusion) Wish me good luck . And I want to wish you good luck in your everyday life and language learning.😉
While the site doesn't seem much use to me, (I tested B2 in both my target languages. However, there are some lessons I wouldn't mind reinforcing here or there.) , I was impressed at the proficiency test. Definitely more in-depth than Duo. I'll definitely send this site to some friends and keep it around for when I finally get around to German.
Yeah, like all language apps, I do think it's more useful at the beginning than in the middle or at the end. In Swedish I just read books now; no need for an app. But I'll definitely be using Busuu for my next language (assuming it has that language, whatever it is).
I completely agree, I just tried it like right now, and I have to say, I haven't seen something like this. For example, in the Japanese course, they actually include small but important facts in-between learning the basic Hello and Nice to meet you. Like bowing, which is crucial in Japan. As someone who is beyond that beginner stage, I would've loved to know this when I first began. It makes it seem less cluttered, and I like how it has those made-up conversations, that you most likely would have in real life.I would've felt like it was simple, and that I could go on further. I also agree that native speakers correcting you is very very important as well. I guess I'll have to keep using it.
Yeah, it's just so we'll laid out. And in mine (French), they had a whole unit about spoken French which talks about how it differs from "classical" French. How much better is that than just letting us GUESS.
@@daysandwords That's one of the biggest problems in my opinion. Just letting the learner guess is a terrible way to learn. It makes the language seem random and more difficult, when in reality there is often a reason for that. Like in Japanese where all particles consisting of two or more particles, like for example だから (Dakara) which is because in English, which is actually made up of だ (to be/ informal) and から(from), so the literal meaning is something like, from A,B or From fact A we can derive Fact B. But most people just use だから without really understanding why it is used to mean because. I learn this from Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly (really good youtube channel for learning Japanese, would recommend).
@@user-ry3kd5nh8w Yeah, and I believe they have the same in all the languages. So in English, there would be a section explaining that English speakers tend to say "I'm gonna" and "I wanna" rather than "I am going to" and "I want to". Your Japanese example is a very good one too.
i think the apps work best as a complimentary tool. it's very hard to slow and and grasp concepts when an app is forcing you to finish an exercise. I think they are better for maintenance than learning.
So... Anyone here still remember when Busuu had a garden where you had a tree representing each language which grew with every completed lesson, and could water flowers and get scarecrows etc. to decorate it ? Edit: and Busuu berries! Pretty sure they're also gone by now xD
The great thing of Busuu is that its premium is really cheap! I downloaded it just to learn German and immediately I got addicted it is really way more efficient than Duolingo. I got your video recommended and I gave Busuu a try and it rocks! I tried the free version for few days then I bought the subscription and everything is wonderful there in Busuu.
Hello again, thanks for this review I'll definately start using busuu from now, can't express enough how much I love your videos I hope the algorithm picks you up soon
Thank you for your videos. I love the way you talk about language learning and apps in such a straightforward way. Just started to use busuu too and liking it.
I used Duolingo years ago for a couple of languages but definitely felt like it only scratched the surface and wouldn't actually teach the language. I am a language teacher myself and understand the process pretty well. I decided to try out Busuu and pay for it. I started learning Spanish, but after watching this video I became interested in French. I already speak French at the advanced level, but there were some words in this review I didn't know and some little cultural tidbits I wanted to be more familiar with. Also, I never have the opportunity to have my own French listened to and corrected by native speakers, so I jumped at the chance for that. For me, I really love the ability to record myself and have others listen, and I love being able to give back by helping others, and I feel like I can do that in an effective way since I'm a language teacher. I also like the feature that allows you to save certain vocabulary words. Obviously I know the majority of the words in the program already for French, but I've run into a few I didn't know and being able to "star" them and only study those without having to wade through a sea of easy words has been great. The cultural tidbits are awesome and I can't wait to pass some of them onto my students next year. I plan to take this app as far as I can in Spanish because I wish to be fluent one day. I learned Japanese in college but have since pretty much forgotten so I plan to try that language out after Spanish as well. As a language teacher, I think that this is probably one of the best ways to get the basics of communication, grammar, and vocab down so you can start actually communicating with native speakers. I've taken various classes in a language but they are not self-paced and they spent so much time focusing on simple words and grammar that you never actually get to the important parts of communication. This app allows you to learn the basics at your own pace and get to the B1/B2 level where you can move on to authentic input like videos, movies, songs, etc. If I have any suggestions for it, I would like it to specify which dialect of Arabic it teaches (there are many distinct dialects, I assume it teaches Modern Standard Arabic but that actually isn't very useful for communication). I would love to see Vietnamese on there as well as Hindi or Swahili. I also would really love to see languages like Welsh, Irish, and languages spoken by indigenous populations in countries that have a different "official language" (such as Navajo or Maori).
Dang I missed out on the good prices because now 5 years later it’s on SALE for $84/yr for premium plus. 😩 I’m still gonna do it though! I know a decent amount of Spanish but need to review and have started learning French. This review has been SO helpful ! I could’ve listened to another 30 minutes. Thank you!
I've been using Busuu now for about 5 months for German and Spanish. For the most part I've enjoyed using the app, but I do have some reservations. My biggest concern is really the lack of deep content. I've completed B1 level of Busuu German yet, according to Busuu, it looks like I've only learned about 1000 words. But looking at CEFR guidelines a B1 learner should know probably at least double that number, if not more. For Spanish A2 my word count is just 470. My other concern is that the exercises are fairly simplistic - they are mostly filling-in-the-blanks and I didn't find them particularly challenging and didn't feel stretched. Very rarely do you even have to write out a whole sentence. Yes, you can use the social media capability to write more and get feedback from the community. It's really a great feature, but as others have noted it's not moderated so the advice and corrections you receive may be questionable. I can certainly see that in some of the English feedback which is often quite poor and inaccurate (there's nothing to stop a non-native speaker providing feedback). I think I read somewhere that Busuu states that there is about 25-30 hours of tuition for Spanish. And as far as I can tell other languages have a lot less. Sounds like a lot, but compare that to Duolingo which I believe can take 350-400 hours to complete the tree. I'm also using Ouino and again that has an enormous amount of content that again takes up to 400 hours to complete. And again I read that it takes about 350 hours or more to complete Levels 1-5 of Rosettastone. I looked at some sample B1 German exams online, and it was quite clearly that even though technically I'm at level B1 with Busuu, there was no way I am even close to being able to pass those exams. So I think it's important to realize that Busuu does not provide the same in-depth experience as these other tools, but then I suppose you can argue that's reflected in the price too. So for me it's a good supplement for learning, but on its own it really isn't nearly enough. But it's a good platform and I hope they can expand it and build on it to provide more content and exercises.
I have literally been binge watching so many of your videos, not sure if i'm procrastinating or something but your videos are so so genuine and actually informative. Cheers for the videos mate :)
Well, i started to learn English when I was 16 using mainly Rosetta Stone, of course I made several different things(listening, practicing with some friends who lived in UK, writing practices, etc), but my core vocabulary at the beginning was from that app, I don't know, I always recommended it because it worked for me. Anyway, as I'm now learning Japanese I feel encouraged to try Bussu. Thanks for the video
YO! Unfortunately, some of the information in this review is no longer correct, and some of it wasn't complete at the time. For example, I have it from many people that Busuu is no good for Russian, Japanese or Arabic. Personally I thought it was fine for Chinese but that was like 2 lessons... Also, after almost a year of delay, Busuu finally created the possibility of an affiliate link for me... but they sent me to an EXTREMELY clunky website to try to be approved as an affiliate. After this review generated them a lot of income without them having to pay for anything, I was disappointed that this is the best they could do for me... they could have done this a year ago. If you are going to use Busuu, Google "Busuu 50% off code" and save yourself some money. That's all. Cheers.
@Meatball Denino It doesn't pay me for you to use it. Maybe it is TECHNICALLY an affiliate link but it doesn't directly pay me, and I have no promise from Busuu that it will ever do anything other than help them to know where the traffic came from. Seriously dude... Reconsider your goals.
Thank you for the advice! I’ve tried other apps and have been working on Duolingo for a year in French. I checked out Busuu and like it much better! “Il y a une vache dans le jardin.” Really, Duolingo?!
@Meatball Denino If you can make a video on why Kay (or anyone else) should, or at the very least link to a good video, then fair enough. Otherwise you're making your comment out to be equally valid to a 15 minute analysis.
@@sdrawkcabmiay Yes. This guy has gone round a few of my videos basically making it his personal goal to point this out to as many people as possible. They also did this to me back in the day, and I explained to them that I had not realised that it would auto-renew, and they gave me my money back. So I am guessing that when he asked for a refund, he was rude. *shocker*
Just discovered something by mistake! Any audio clip that you can play during lessons can be played slowly. You just hold down the play button rather than tap it! (You don't need to hold down the play button during the whole clip)
I am not sure that I did know your opinion on Busuu actually. I found your channel when I was searching for other people who had done reviews, but I don't remember you being VERY positive about it haha (that may just be my memory though). Ah yes, the age old question of how to progress beyond B2... There are hardly any programmes out there for ANY language that can take you that far. I think the problem is that it's a bit like an upside pyramid. At the bottom (A1), there is only a tiny bit to learn. You have covered "My name is", "She is a girl" etc etc., then you have covered everything in A1. A2 is more. B1 is a lot more, and B2 is much much more. C1 would cover literally twice as much language and idiomatic usage as B2. So if I were trying to teach C1 level English, I would have to find literally THOUSANDS of expressions which all native English speakers know, but many non-natives don't, plus a lot of words as well. So a C1 level to Busuu, if it were legitimate, would probably be 50 more units, even though all the others are only 20. It's true that it would be great to be taken that far by a program, that way it would present you the idioms and how they used etc., but honestly I think it just involves listening to audiobooks and podcasts and watching native speaking RUclipsrs etc etc., all the while speaking and trying to use that new language in your own speech. It's not great to do it without a guide, but I feel if I did this for 2 more years in Swedish, I would reach C1, and you'd probably do so in French. Thanks as always for the comment!
The Reykjavik Review Haha, yes, I was very neutral in that video (typical Swiss😅). Yes, that's true. It would be difficult for any app to do so. Ah yes, I'm trying to do that as much as I can.
Cheers for this review. I wasn’t sure about the app but I’m sold on it now after hearing about the native speakers function. Your completely right in the way that you take your time when recording yourself. I would do the same. And I feel like knowing that a native speaking is going to listen to my German, would make me want to be as perfect with what I’m saying. Because it’s as close to a real life conversation without actually being in Germany itself.
Hey guys! Sorry about the rubbish compression on this one (it'll be fixed with the next video!) - I accidentally exported a 25 minute video that just had 10 minutes of black at the end, and then I needed to quickly remove that bit, so I just used the basic program to cut that bit rather than doing another 2 hour export, but that compressed the video significantly. To be honest it's annoying me haha... But BUSUU doesn't annoy me. Busuu makes me happy. How about you?
Hi there! You've convinced me to try Busuu, but I have one more dilemma. I'm trying to improve my English to get to a C2 level and I'm not a native in any of the languages Busuu currently has on their list. My main wish is to communicate with natives, but I've noticed that this feature is not available in the free version. I'm now contemplating buying the full version, but I'm not sure, if I will be able to get what I'm looking for. I'd like to study with the books I already have and use Busuu just to communicate with natives (chat, ask grammar questions, get corrections). Can you give me some advice? Thanks. :)
@@TotuusEtsija Hi - sorry for the slow reply, I didn't see this here! Are you perhaps Finnish or Estonian? I am just guessing from your username, so apologies if that is wrong. Anyway, hmm, for what you want, I would probably recommend iTalki. You can click "language partners" and start looking for a partner who wants to learn your language and is an English native, so that you can both teach each other and not pay any money. Otherwise, you can hire teachers on there for as little as $6-8 US an hour, although the better teachers are often more like $12-18 an hour. But if there are some English speakers who want to learn your language, then that "language exchange partner" is probably the best way to do it. I hope that helped, thanks for your comment.
@@daysandwords Thank you for your reply, I'll give iTalki a try. I have to say that this Busuu review that you did was REALLY thorough & professional. I've watched a couple of times. :) Although this app is currently not helpful for my English learning, I will return to it in a couple of months, when I get back to studying German. My nickname is Finnish, but I'm not. Just a fan of everything Finnish and I've lived there for 6 months. ;)
@@TotuusEtsija If you wanna talk with natives, get corrections and ask questions iTalki is less specific and can help in its way too! [Edit] Oops sorry, I answered too fast, even before reading the previous answers 🙊
Yesss! I've discovered Busuu thanks to you and it's really amazing. My English has improved so much since I'm using it. I spent a few months being consistent and learning one lesson each morning before anything else. Since I have the opportunity to practice every day I could use what I've learned straight after! And now I'm so much more comfortable making complex sentences and using all the tenses, while I mostly had vocabulary from passive input before and very poor sentence structures. Now I'm taking a break from Busuu and doing some exercises on the Cambridge apps because I'm still lost with phrasal verbs and some other stuff. But I think Busuu is really the best way to improve the quality of our expression in a language!! I'm so excited to go back to it in a few months, and I feel so lucky that they offer lessons in 3 out of the 4 languages I'm learning. So yes, Busuu makes me happy too 🥰
Okay, you convinced me. I'll head Busuu's way now 😁 I keep on meaning to learn Spanish, as I watch a LOT of shows that are in Spanish, or have a good amount of Spanish language, and I would love to not have to use subtitles.
Sorry but I am going to call false on this. Matt vs Japan talks about the difference between competence and performance. Competence is how well you understand the inner workings of a language. If a verb appears in a form like, "appearing", do you intrinsically understanding why it did so? etc etc. That's competence. Then there is performance which is how well you speak the language. Your performance will never exceed your competence, you will not be able to say things correctly without understanding how the words work. (Even in your own language, you know how it works even without knowing that you know.) I am going to say that if you carefully do Busuu in say, Spanish, all the way through, making sure you grasp everything... then your competence will reach B1 while your performance will also be quite close to that. Whereas on Duolingo, your competence will reach B1 or it may even reach B2 but your performance will not exceed A1. You will basically learn to READ in the language. One might argue that Duo is better in this way, but it is not true that both of them can get you to A2.
I tried Busuu, Duolingo, LingQ, and Seedlang (developed in partnership with Easy German) for German. I think Busuu has nice contents whenever available, but to me it doesn't have enough varieties, at least for upper intermediate (B2) to advanced German learners (C1-C2). I went through 6 out of the available 33-40 'chapters' in around 1 hr. Maybe I missed something ... As you say, everywhere is deep water when you learn a language, so I think one needs to be exposed to a wide variety of contents. For this reason, I've settled with LingQ and Seedlang, and I use lots of Anki Flashcards as well, which can be fine tuned.
I started Busuu after reading this review. I'm doing Spanish and so far the one thing which really irritates me is that if you don't guess they word they want, they mark you wrong, even if your answer is also correct. For example, in the very first question in the placement test I had to give the word for a female 'shop assistant' and I said 'la vendedora', which was marked wrong because they wanted the alternative, 'la dependienta'. It's fair enough to present alternative words, but not to mark one correct alternative wrong. Also, in the placement test, you had to say what the time on a clock face was. It was fourteen minutes to twelve on the drawing, which is what I said, but the only acceptable answer was quarter to twelve (and it seemed that two 'mistakes' and they set your level!). In a level they asked for the opposite of salir, 'go out' and I said 'quedarse en casa' (stay at home), but they wanted 'volver'. There's no way (that I've found) to report these anomalies. Really annoying, especially in a paid app. I'll probably pull on day 13 of my trial if this goes on. It's just bad pedagogy. Eliminating "guess what the teacher is thinking" questions is drummed into trainee teachers.
I used Duolingo and memrise for 3 years. After watching your video, I've switched to busuu and enjoy the interaction between native speakers. Much prefer busuu. Thanks for your advice.
I only just stumbled upon Busuu a few days ago and I do like it so far. Duolingo *does* have an uncommon approach when it comes to vocabulary. However I am making good progress on Duolingo with Dutch. Duo just asked me to translate "The ducks are unsure about the rhinoceros' clothes" to Dutch :D Which seems silly at first, but sometimes I remember vocabulary better when I learn them in unusual context. Haven't really had the chance to test anything because of Covid-related travel restrictions, but I'm somewhat confident. Other than that, it seems to depend a lot on the language you are trying to learn. For example, learning Russian did not work for me at all on Duolingo. Busuu seems a lot more... intuitive? I hope you get what I'm trying to say! The apps do have different approaches and whatever works for one person may not work for the next. I can't learn Dutch with Busuu (yet?), so I'm happy to use both :)
I will have to say you are right. I have been using Babbel for German and thought it was pretty good, but based on your video I downloaded and started using Busuu today. I like it so much better.
I think duolingo may be for a specific type of learner, I used busuu for a day and it's a good app with clear, concise, short explanations but it's too much information at one time, I'm a hands on type of learner I solve first ask questions later (or should I say as I go along) or lessons become too overwhelming.
Hey man, awesome video! I think i'll get a busuu subscription asap, and combine it with Assimil (I am on lesson 21 so far.) Have you ever tried Babbel and Lingvist? Really hard to pick one of those apps. So many options.
Thanks for your comment! I tried Babbel almost 3 years ago and I found it CRAZY clunky, like, not bad content, just really weird and annoying to use. There are tonnes of things that work well (depending on the language) but they work better if you use them a lot and stick to one or two supplementary sources, e.g. Busuu + a podcast. Busuu + conversations on iTalki. Busuu + random youtube + random podcast + forums + a million other things is actually NOT helpful, even though you would think it would be. I have never heard of Lingvist actually, but it sounds Swedish haha. I will have to try them, but like I said, I don't like to go too crazy when choosing my sources. P.S. What language are you learning or planning on?
@@daysandwords Wow, that was a really comprehensive answer. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the language i am currently learning is French! I'm a native portuguese speaker, so I can get plenty of the stuff just by assimilating what i hear. I'll try to not get crazy with the infinity of resources we have on the internet nowadays, haha. My main source now is Assimil, and I also listen to the intermediate french podcast by InnerFrench while commuting, work some grammar with Grammaire Progressive du Français: Debutant by CLE International and had 3 classes on Italki with a tutor. Assimil is great for working the listening comprehension and for speaking (repeating the dialogues aloud), but i think it lacks some work on making you able to develop your own sentences. So, i am looking for an app to supplement that and get a bit more exposure to grammar. Grammair Progressive du Français is great, but it is TOO SLOW. Need to get things going a bit faster in order to practice speaking on Italki. My regular study routine for french is basically doing 1 lesson of assimil, then listening to a 30 min podcast by innerfrench. Think I can just place 20 ~ 30 minutes of busuu afterwards. Also, they are offering me an amazing deal. 30 dollars for a 2 year subscription. Many thanks for the video and for the reply!
@@renanlolop I had forgotten about this comment but now reading it again, it's funny because I am now a HUGE fan of Lingvist (I dunno if you saw my review) and also I am listening to the Inner French podcast, it's fantastic. I am trying to watch basically all RUclips and do all my listening in French for the next 3 months. Wow, that is a great deal on Busuu. I already got a good deal and paid $100 AU (~70 USD) for 2 years.
Hi reykjavic im sandra one of your french corrector on busuu and i agree with you .This app is not borring, its really addicting. For my part and i see in your video that its the same i often do more then the recommanded time . For me what is missing is the possibility to really discuss and make friends in the other language because it could be a better way to improve our new langage. Bon courage avec le Français😉
Salut ! Je vais reponder en français mais je suis un peu pressé donc je n'ai pas le temps pour "ecrire bien" haha. Il y a des fautes alors. Merci pour avoir vu ma chaine ! Oui, Busuu, c'est fantastique. Je pense que presque TOUTES les apps qui enseignenet des langues n'ont pas le possibilité à faire les connections entre des amis et je pense que la raison est si on trouve des amis, donc il n'y a pas de besoin à continuer utiliser l'app. Je suis sûr que c'est la raison avec Duolingo. Par example, si tu veut apprendre angalis et moi, je veux apprendre français et on peut se trouver sûr Skype et cetera, peut être on va arrêter utiliser Busuu. Mais je voulais dire aussi MERCI pour l'aide que tu me donnes tour les jours, je l'ai bien apprécié. J'éspaire que je peux t'aider un jour aussi, mais juste maintenant, tu apprends l'Italien... Si tu veux apprendre le suédois ou améliorer ton anglais, je suis ici ! 😃
@@daysandwords Pour quelqu'un qui repond vite tu fais peu de faute. Et oui tu as raison il faut tout de même qu'ils de l'argent:) Le suedois ne me tente pas encore but i could imprive my english perhaps after finishing italien. Je ne veux pas tout mélanger. Avec plaisir pour l'aide. N'hésite pas si besoin:)
@@sandrabenc7002 Merci. Si ça t'intéresse, j'ai aussi une petite vidéo en français ici sur ma chaîne. C'est pas très bien parceque ça fait 2 mois environ, mais je vais faire une autre.
Ha, I'm not sure if this a serious criticism or not, but just in case it was: I had less than 300 subscribers when I made this video; there is no way anyone would have (or did) pay me to make this. Busuu have since emailed me but I still get nothing from this since they don't have an affiliate program.
You’re my favorite language youtuber, I just bought busuu for a year since you recommended it and me and my boyfriend are gonna use this for starting French (he’s learning English) I’ll try to make a video maybe of my French progress one of these days and then what it’ll be like in a year. I hope it’ll be good.
Nej, unfortunately. To be fair, basically no mainstream apps or programs do have it. Even the pod101 series, which has a pretty wide range (35 I believe) doesn't have Icelandic.
I have used Busuu for about a year (to learn Japanese) and I agree that it is a good app to learn the basics of one of the languages that Busuu teaches. I wish Busuu also had Thai, but their Japanese course is clearly worth Premium.
Will check it out. I've found success in combining two methods and mixing them together. I'm sure someone will hate that, but _old_ (like 1998 old) Rosetta Stone and Michel Thomas complement each other very nicely. They're essentially complete opposites, and the shortcomings of the one are made up by the other. You can do a bit of both on the same day, or move between them as you get sick of using one or the other.
I'm using it right now to learn Italian and to brush up on my French and the progress surprised me, every other app or course almost made me give up but you're absolutely right, if something makes sense it's more likely to stick
That’s what happened to me I got incredibly bored with Duolingo saying dog, cat,horse, toy for weeks and when I use Busuu in one week I can have a basic simple convo nothing major but big improvements
Exactly. Thanks for the comment.
@@daysandwords What do you think about using flashcards?
@@charlesluciano9745 I think at a certain point (intermediate level-ish) it becomes basically necessary if you want to quickly expand your vocab. If you are happy learning an average of 2-3 words a day while you just plod along in the language then cool, but if you want to develop anything CLOSE to a native speaker vocab, then it'll have to be some kind of spaced repetition.
@@daysandwords Thank you for your reply.
"Il y a une vache dans la maison"
Busuu is amazing if you are willing to pay for the premium subscription and that is definetely how it is meant to be used but if you want to use it for free than a lot of the features, such as the study plan, McGraw Hill exams and about half of the content will be unreachable.
Cough, cough... There are mods to have it free
@@livig4639 Which are...?
@@livig4639 shhh 🤫
@@livig4639 oh come on, tell us more :D
@@DanielaGarcia-jk8hbMobilism app. You can get mods for most famous apps (all safe and virus-free). AFAIK Balatan and Derrin make the best mods. Ofcourse I must inform you that this is illegal. So don't do it😉
I’m 2 weeks in German with Duolingo and we haven’t reached the “red” aspect of an apple yet. It’s actually quite annoying when starting a totally new language
I learnt how to say my name by asking my german friend. I'm about 5 weeks into duolingo in german rn. I'm swapping to busuu once the fucking website can display anything other than "technical errors".
I like Duolingo to start a new language but Busuu is much more comprehensive and like you point out Busuu makes you speak and pronounce words and write responses that are graded by native speakers. I like to use multiple resources for learning languages like Duolingo, Busuu and Mondly but if I had to use only one app I would also choose Busuu for all the reasons in this video.
I never met anyone under 30 who uses Rosetta stone.
Haha, I have actually met one, but I've only met two people who use it at all. The Michel Thomas method is another old one but that is actually quite clever and as a general rule it WORKS, unlike Rosetta Stone.
It matters not now, Busuu is here haha.
@@prestokrs1 - Yeah, there is a fair bit of evidence to suggest that it doesn't actually work. Because even though they use pictures, your brain already has a native language, so when I see a picture of a dog, I think "dog". And then it says "chien" (or "hund" or whatever) and then I think "dog = chien". So you're not actually using pictures at all.
Plus, how do you use pictures to convey "I was going to take the train but then I decided not to." ? Which is not even a very complicated sentence by, say, B2 level.
i bought it about a year ago and i was only 18, but was not impressed. i was under the impression that it was the biggest and best program for language learning but it was a big waste of money.
I use Rosetta and I'm under 18 what's wrong with it?
I used it for English, Arabic, Persian, German even a little Japanese and I think it's one of the most practical apps for language learning. Becauase it has an awesome method which it uses with almost every languages, it is perfect for learning several languages.
I had a Babbel ad before the video: priceless 😂! They knew the danger was coming 😏
I guess they were trying to "alienate you" hahaha (will make sense if it was the alien ad)
I'm so glad I found your review because Busuu is exactly what I've been looking for in a language learning service: conversation, real-time memory recall, meaningful input. I all but threw my money at it and it was immediately worth it! Thank you for your commitment to languages and seeing others advance as well. Merci pour ton aide!
I purchased Busuu after watching your review and I must say so far I feel like it was the right decision. I was considering either purchasing Busuu or just learning French by myself, but I figured for just £40 for a year (with access to 11 other languages), it would probably be a much better use of my time than searching around on online dictionaries and becoming more and more frustrated with myself. After 10 days, I’ve completed 90% of the A1 section and I will hopefully take the A1 test today. I really love how Busuu teaches you really relevant content. I already had a good basic grasp of French from school and some Duolingo here and there, but I wasn’t at all conversational by any stretch, I wouldn’t last 5 seconds in France. That’s the problem with the language learning system in schools, you’re taught how to pass an exam, not how to speak the language. I worked at grade 9 (A**) level at GCSE French yet I had massive gaps in my knowledge. Also, please could you make another video or at least state your opinion on Nathaniel’s new video on learning Portuguese? I know you’ve probably already been bombarded with comments on it but I loved your last video on it and I’d love to hear your views on his latest approach, no matter how controversial! That’s why I love your channel, it’s very down to earth and practical. Keep it up!
I like how in Busuu you can skip some lessons if you feel like you know that already and I like the how the lessons are actual lessons with explanations.
I guess since so many people learn English, there are a lot of people who feel pretty confident about their English knowledge. I’ve seen people erroneously correct others’ English in some Facebook groups for English learners. I’ve had people “correct” my English, and I’m a native speaker! For example, I had said that I like to eat yams when they are in season, and someone tried to correct me by telling me that yams aren’t a season. 🙄 And there are so many people doing this, that I imagine it would be hard to regulate.
argh, I generally don't like apps where other users correct you because I have a feeling that often they don't pay enough attention to do it properly. Also, I hate when some people try to use language learning app as a dating app, which happens surprisingly often :/
@@Mielikki1 simps every where hahahaha ffs
I think for english it must sucks cuz there is too many non native speakers in the world so more often than not you will be "corrected" by some one who partialy knows english.
I have seen some busuu corrections in english where the corrector was not a native speaker(very rarely). I just add another correction, ultimately they can see my rep. I suppose you can say that this type of correction is not by a qualified teacher but if you think about it most native speakers can manage grammatically correct basic english and thus this form is quick dirty and has a use for instantaneous feedback.
For what it's worth... there are quite a few native speakers who don't understand the language very well, and quite a few ESL speakers who understand English perfectly.
I’m using Busuu and I love it tbh. I’m using it to learn French and I love the speech recognition feature too! I might really let them charge me for the year lol it seems worth it. I want to be at a conversational level within a year
You could definitely do that with a bit of Busuu and a bit of iTalki. I was fairly conversational in French in that time.
You look like you’re wearing body paint from a distance, it’s distracting, no offense.
How did you do, now, one year later?
Thanks for recommending busuu! I love it! I studied french for a couple of months at the Alliance Française, studying italian with busuu just felt like that, the app makes it so simple and fun. This is my plan now: italian for 3 or 4 months, then I'm gonna get back to french. Later italian again. I don't want to study 2 langauages at the same time. But definitely those two are my target languages.
You got yourself a new subscriber here! Greetings from Ecuador! :)
Great plan!
Lol...it's like I've just found the Love of my life. What I've always been searching for in a language app. What even gave me goosebumps was how I took the test to tell my level after signing up. It was real!... Lol. I'm very glad I saw this video. Thanks for the beautiful content you make. ‼️👏🏾🔥
“They shouldn’t have their language corrected by Shifty McDumbass!!” 🤣
That’s absolute gold, my friend! I’m going to start using that!
I've just completed 500 days of Spanish on Duolingo and it has been very useful to get me, a very reluctant and incompetent language learner, to make the habit and even believe I can learn a language. That said, I am not able to hold even a basic conversation so I am very interested in the Busuu app as a next step and make actual progress in communicating with Spanish speakers! Thanks for the review!
The BEST review of a language app I've ever heard. What made it the best is your enthusiasm and commitment to providing a great review.
Your passion was excellent and you voice was always clear. Although with your accent I did have to turn on Closed Captions but just to confirm I'd heard the word I thought I heard correctly.
As proof yours was a good review, I'm going to go check out BUSUU now.
I have been using Busuu. What I love about it is that aside from the grammar and vocab lessons, you get to write in sentences or record your voice, then the native speakers who get to read your sentenses or hear your recordings could give you feedback. It's like Busuu is giving you no choice but to be fluent, especially if you put effort and take it seriously. I learned English with it.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm so glad you told me about BUSUU it's amazing and I finally made it to a B2 in Spanish...it is awi
Great job!
Man I need to get back to using it myself... too much other stuff to do!
Can you actually speak it at B2 with Busuu? Not just write and read? I’m finding they aren’t giving me enough information to complete exercises and I feel like I’m only learning weird vocabulary
@@susw8841 I also did practice on hello talk an hour a day after 3 months..for the last Couple months ..I know it seems strange but I took all the sentences in BUSUU and I created an Anki deck with the sentences and voice not just the random words and then did language exchanges after 3 months and now I'm comfortable enough with Spanish..at least conversational fluent..and already got the first 30 days of Portuguese on BUSUU done doing the same thing..if you want to practice Spanish or use my Anki deck it really works ..and I'll can send it to you..I have tried them all and BUSUU was the best. ...I did pass the B2 test but I can understand novelas and I can speak pretty good..not perfect..I still can't roll my Rs
Also to add..I went and spent over 500 bucks for Fluenz..worst mistake of my life..that was one language and I learned nothing..then I found BUSUU.. and just felt if I memorized everything there.. I can speak this language..it's the sentences and the people who correct your written work..will do language exchanges with you for free...if you practice those sentences with native speakers you will be fluent with BUSUU..
Corey Fatafehi-Falo thank you so much for your reply!!!!! That’s very helpful. It’s there a way for me to access your anki deck? :)
Hi!! I just wanted to pop in and say thank you so much for this video - I have been trying to teach myself French with the basic knowledge I have left from school, iTalki and some grammatical study, but I was finding it quite hard/not understanding certain concepts I was hearing. Just done my first half an hour on Bus and its amazing! So helpful, well laid out and really in depth grammatical study too. Duolingo could never.
Yep, absolutely. It's definitely a good program for French, and probably all the languages that resemble English closely... though even when I did like 2 hours of Chinese, I found it useful.
I knew about Busuu but never really tried it. I used to be a borderline B2 French speaker when I worked in Disneyland Paris 5 years ago for a summer, with just secondary school French , and have since become very rusty. You sold me on Busuu and oh my God, it's the best thing ever for bringing me back up to the standard I was at, and hope to be even better. You definitely converted me from Duolingo to Busuu for French. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I just switched from Duolingo to Bussu. Upgrade is immediate. Merci!
I am learning Polish with Busuu now, thanks to you - I was using Duolingo for around 100 days and it got me into the grammar and the basics of the language but I just found myself getting bored with repeating the same stuff again and again and none of it being useful (I constantly joke with my Polish friends and girlfriend about how I can't wait until I see a "bad fish eating a sandwich" so I can actually speak Polish) - Through my 100 days I was already using connectives and describing how a mirror was between the desk and the window yet it had never taught me numbers or how to say "My name is" - So I watched your channel and saw Busuu, tried it and paid up for it because I love it. I've started right from the beginning and I am learning it all over again (With a lot of help from a foundation that Duolingo gave me) and I can actually speak and get feedback, the open questions were something I've never really had to face before and it was a hell of a challenge but it made me pull out my lexicon and struggle to form sentences and I felt myself actually achieve something for the first time since I've learnt. So thank you for introducing us to this because I had never heard about it before.
Thank you very much for this video. I have now joined Busuu for Italian and it is just superb for motivation and for keeping its contents relevant and truly interesting. You don't have to start at the beginning if you know some of the language as they give you a quick test to measure which is the best place in the course for your first lesson. Great!
Learning polish and had Duolingo for over 500 days. Learnt a lot of words and no where near close to being comfortable in having a conversation. 3 days into Busuu and it’s brilliant. Was getting demoralised thinking I would never get it but after only 3 days with Busuu I am very confident. So good
Duolingo is good for me for Spanish because it lets me remember the words and grammar easier without trying. I also like the stories. The biggest problem is it's too repetitive and I waste a lot of time.
But for Japanese, I prefer Busuu because it explains the grammar and it helps me remember the words properly. It also gives more than just translating and clicking a few buttons to make a scentense.
I think it depends on the language you are learning. If Busuu was more repetitive (just a little ) it would be perfect, but if I really need to repeat things more I could just write, simple sentences (or read and listen)
What an EXCELLENT review. Thank you! I just got my year end report from Duolingo. I am in the top 1% of users. I have 55,000+ points so far this year. I haven’t missed a day since I started, 243 days ago, and I can confirm…
Duolingo is a giant waste of time.
I studied 3 languages in school, 8 years, I was accepted into the best language school in the world (The Defense Language School in Monterey), I have traveled to 30+ countries, I am very familiar with learning languages.
Duolingo is a giant waste of time, BUT… so are many things we enjoy doing.
The gamification can be addicting. Competing with friends is fun. The barrier of entry is so low, anyone can join. And I liked that I could try out many languages. I used Duolingo primarily to practice and keep up with Spanish and French (I studied in school), but I also got over 10,000 points in Chinese, 10,000 points in Japanese, and prior to Duolingo, I knew ZERO Chinese or Japanese.
I also did several lessons in 19 total languages!
Spanish
French
Mandarin
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Portuguese
Italian
Hindi
Hebrew
Yiddish
Swahili
Zulu
Esperanto
Russian
Navajo
Hawaiian
Haitian Creole
Arabic
Latin
Greek
and… Klingon
Duolingo was entertainment for me, and for that, it was GREAT.
For learning languages, it was terrible… EXCEPT for one thing.
I got to learn a little about a LOT of languages.
I learned Chinese and Japanese aren’t as hard as I thought they would be.
I learned Vietnamese is near impossible, at least for me. Same with Navajo, but their Navajo course is clearly very subpar.
I learned Korean, Hindi, Arabic, and several others are also very hard.
I learned Zulu and Swahili are far easier than I would have imagined.
While in school, I studied French, Spanish, and German. I found I enjoyed French and Spanish, but I really didn’t like German. Then I had to spend a YEAR in a class learning a language I didn’t enjoy at all. I wish Duolingo was around back then, I could have saved myself a year studying a language I didn’t enjoy when there are SOOOO many I do enjoy learning.
So, if you want an intro into many languages, Duolingo is great. If you want an alternative to playing stupid games on your phone, Duolingo is a great alternative.
I would absolutely LOVE to use Busuu, but my next target language is Farsi and unfortunately that isn’t available on Busuu (yet).
I just bought a lifetime all language membership to Rosetta Stone because they have Farsi, and so far… I hate it. It seems like they haven’t updated anything since 1995, their mobile apps are just condensed versions of their courses made for a full size computer screen, just shrunk down, the navigation is awful, it is difficult to even figure out what you are supposed to do, or what they are teaching you. I’m genuinely shocked how bad Rosetta Stone is.
I also bought Farsi from Pimsleur and I like it very much so far. I think I will learn the MOST from Pimsleur.
I also bought a lifetime, all languages pass to Mondly and Drops. Just because I got their Black Friday deals and I think I can use them for supplemental practice, but I don’t think either is good for actually learning a language.
As soon as Busuu has Farsi, I’m going to start!
Got this in my recommended, I’ve been learning Swedish on duo and teach yourself. Ill definitely check out this app thank you. Subbed you.
Tack för kommentaren! Unfortunately Busuu doesn't have Swedish but I'm trying to work on a video about how to learn Swedish. Thanks for the support!
"you don't know this boy and you don't care about his apple" I can't lmaoooo
After using Duolingo non-stop at least an hour every day for almost a year now, and having looked into busuu for about a week, I can see why people might think Busuu is better, but If I had to choose one app to use, I would still stick with Duolingo. Yes, most people will probably get bored of using Duolingo, but drilling in the repetitions and engraining the grammar subconsciously through trial and error has helped me so much once I started branching into other resources and exercises. Duolingo tests your knowledge of certain grammar points by forcing you to be comfortable in manipulating in various forms. Busuu, however lacks enough exercises to hit home the point if you were just using it - especially for learners who aren't focusing and want to get their daily tasks finished.
I strongly believe to master something you have to put in the time to perfect the basics, and Duolingo does that through the reps. For a lot of language learners who don't have the patience - especially new learners - it's probably more important to retain their attention and motivation to continue learning. However, if you are focused and are self-motivated, you don't need something to tell you that you're progressing.
But, as using one app doesn't limit you from using the other, using both would be very complimentary as you would get the exercise practice from Duolingo and the interactivity from Busuu. PLUS Duolingo's free resources are WAY better than Busuu's free resources. To access a lot of the content on Busuu, you have to get premium, and I honestly don't think it's worth it because there are so many other resources that can do what Busuu does (Hellotalk for partners, SRS tools like memrise and anki).
TLDR: At first glance for new language learners who give up easily, Busuu is probably better. Duolingo is better to drill that knowledge until it becomes second nature. Use both to get maximize learning.
So over 80 days ago I started with Duolingo and I honestly felt like I was getting nowhere fast. Four weeks ago I saw an ad for Busuu and I am glad I found it and more importantly decided to use it. I love the community and the feedback they give. It is the encouragement I need at 50 to learn a new language.
I’m trying to learn Spanish and have recently downloaded Duo and Busuu. Busuu gives me a more structured experience right away. And this video confirms Busuu is the go-to app for learning a new language...
Thank you for the comparison and I will be going premium on Busuu 👍🏼
Thanks for the encouraging comment, it's very much appreciated!
Good luck with it, let me know how it's going!
Did you learn Spanish at the end?
This review makes a lot of thoughtful points. I’ve used Busuu for Italian, French and German. There is a lot of content there but it’s uneven: sometimes it’s very strong but then other times quite weak. I think this review oversells the strengths, but it’s also quite honest about the weaknesses. I do think Busuu has a lot to offer for those who really get into it and this review he makes some good suggestions about how to do that. I found that when I took extensive notes and went over difficult things again and again, I got a lot out of it.
Yes actually I agree - there are some negatives I didn't mention (they are small and I don't have time for a 50 minute video) but also, since doing this, I started using it for Arabic and actually found Duolingo MUCH better which is saying something because you know I rag on Duolingo quite a bit, and normally Busuu kills it.
I think Busuu is the most helpful when the language is close to your own, and the least helpful when it's far from it, such as Arabic.
Your technique sounds great - basically, the learner, their discipline and their attitude is 90% of the job, and the app or program you use is 10% of it.
@@daysandwords One more thing: Busuu content is clearly produced by people pushing a strong political correctness agenda; much stronger than in Duolingo. If you like that sort of thing, you'll love Busuu.
@@tonym2540 I haven't used Busuu but Duolingo always makes me smile when it has pictures of interracial lesbians.
@@petra1995 I've since moved on to Pimsleur since they dropped their prices, and it's refreshing not to have to deal with all the political agenda stuff. I'm guessing the recordings were made decades ago. By the way, I once thought Pimsleur was way to boring to even consider, but to my surprise I now think it's great. It helps with speaking, something almost no other language app does, at least in my experience.
@@tonym2540 But is it really an "agenda" to depict (for example) interracial lesbians, or more a reflection of reality? Duolingo is, after all, a US company. The US has legalized same sex marriage and the demographics inevitably lead to some mixing. People fell in love across racial lines even during Jim Crow.
On another hand, I have heard Pimsleur is pretty good.
I started using busuu 20 days ago and I finished a1 in spanish and I got back to repeat it while continuing through a2 its impressive and very practical .
Thank you for this video. I am a nurse, and I frequently take care of Spanish only speaking patients. I have been trying for a while to learn Spanish with Duolingo with very little luck. I'm going to give this app a try and hopefully be able to communicate better!
Hello anna i am heidy . I from peru . i speak spanish ,i am trying to speak English i would like that you teach me English, i teach you spanish
"...shouldn't be corrected by Shifty McDumbass." You've got my sub, good sir.
I managed to complete an official A1.1 german level all by myself and Busuu, I really loved it! I bought a 1 year membership for -supposedly- half the price, the App said I was level A2 after 8 or 9 months, but I stopped learning for a few months and started formal clases and they put me in level A1.2 after de diagnosing exam, so I'm pretty happy with the results!! The feature of interacting with natives it's unvaluable!
I just started Busuu after almost 3 months of duolingo (japanese) and so far I like it better. I love the fact that you can ask native speakers to correct your writing and speaking, and in return you can correct people learning the languages you already know. So far I've only done it with spanish, my mother language, as I don't feel confident doing it with english.
However, do you have any advise on how to keep going? I love what I've learned so far (japanese is a beautiful language that kicks my butt every time), personally I think I'm in a good path, but boy we all locked in our houses and I need constant stimulus to function. Great video btw!!!
I just subscribed yesterday to Busuu (one year) after seeing your previous YT video on programs for language learning. So you know, for Italian, I’ve done (absolutely completed all levels at 100%): Duolingo, Memrise, and Rosetta Stone. I completely agree with your analysis of the programs. I especially like the native feedback option where my writing or speech can be corrected. I’ve taken the placement test on Busuu (another fantastic feature) and I’m at the B1-b2 level. I feel seriously challenged by the exercises, and as you said, you have to THINK in the target language to respond to many questions. The rest were just memorizing a set of phrases or words. Rosetta Stone was exceptional in one category: speaking. However, if you’re learning to say inane things, all you’re really improving is your accent but not your fluency in the language. I am hopeful for this app. Just started my journey with it. I also use grammar workbooks and listen to Italian radio when I can to saturate my life in Italian. Cheers!
Just clicking on and you saying hope your having a great day. Made me smile and my day great 👍🏻
That's good! I should try to get back to saying that haha.
Aaaaaaamazed! I had to come back on here after using Busuu! You were so right! I've been using Duolingo for years and was never really sure if I was pronouncing French sounds correctly. Busuu has held off on the elementary stuff and basic grammar in the first few lessons to target my problem area---pronunciation! I am unbelievably grateful to you for this video and for sharing your bountiful knowledge! All hail Days of French 'n' Swedish!
I started with doulingo and RUclips (I’m not putting money into something I’m not guarantied to do) I’ve heavily been considering moving my focus to other things, these videos are handy, they organise the information to bring me to a decision
Bro, what a stellar review! I've been researching different language learning apps, and you totally sold me on Busuu
Thanks Nick.
Just check though - it's great for French, Spanish, I think German is fine, and maybe for some of the others, but I've heard bad things about its Russian and the Arabic isn't great either. So just see if you can give it a try first.
I'm listening to Make It Stick and right now and there's a quick mention of how filling in blank spaces of words consolidates learning and how the initial struggle is what makes it stay in long-term memory for much longer. I didn't like that exercise in Busuu either, but now I get it
Thank you very much! I started to learn German on Busuu, after watching one of your videos, and I love it!
You're very welcome!
Me too!
I actually laughed out loud "Shifty McDumbass" :)
I try to make them entertaining haha. Thanks!
Me too😂
Same lmao
Saaaaame 🤣
Thank you so much for your channel!! I appreciate your no BS honesty approach when it comes to your reviews regarding language apps. I am a beginner at learning French and I have been using the free Duolingo, LingoDeer Memrise apps but still have not paid for any of their programs. After watching this review I think I will take a look at the Busuu app more seriously. I also really enjoyed your Verbling review, because I agree that having a tutor is the best way to get out of our comfort zones when learning a new language. Your message about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable when learning a language resonates loud and clear. Thank you for all that you do!!
I used Premium Busuu to learn some Japanese for about a month or two, at first focusing on phrases and words, then switching to learning the characters first, and it worked a hell of a lot better than apps like Duolingo. It really is an excellent site/app and I highly suggest it. I learned 40 Hiragana and got all of them in my long term memory in about a week before I stopped.
I only stopped using it because I wanted to start learning Korean instead. I totally love it and if they would ever add Korean to their list of languages, I'd jump back onto their site in half a heart beat.
I’d never heard of Busuu until today... on this channel. Sounds excellent. I will be checking it out. Great review!
I liked this video.
I like your style.
Subscribed and will try it.
Duolingo 320 day streak but started memrise and Clozemaster and utalk and dozens they all have good and bad.
Agree the only way to be fluent is to talk it with natives.
I started reading short stories
Watching tv shows with no sub titles
Set phone and computer to target language
Listen to music of that language
All of this seems to help.
This streak thing annoying. I do minimum of duolingo each day as I don’t want to lose my streak where really I am taking a week to learn three new words that I will forget as the next lesson will be over repetitive on the new set of words.
Just drop the streak now man, I promise it's worth it. Duo is not helping you, and it will only get harder to drop it (trust me, it wasn't easy at 1070 haha).
"Duolingo 320 day streak but started memrise and Clozemaster and utalk and dozens they all have good and bad. " - Don't use too many! Choose 2 or 3 favourite resources and do more of them, not a little bit of everything!
Love your content Lamont! Keep it coming. I have just done 50 days on Duolingo and though I did find it beneficial my motivation has dropped off a cliff! I went from hammering Duolingo (hours per day - I got to almost 200 crowns) and feeling like I was learning tons to just wanting to stick pins in my eyes rather than go back to it. I am starting with Bus today! I will continue with Duolingo only for the stores which are much more useful.
I think that in order to provide reviews and corrections, the person would have to confirm their English fluency (or any language) and perhaps sit through a qualification test (like the one in the B2 of the app). Though this method might have some flaws in it, it would greatly reduce the number of inaccurate corrections. The test shouldn't really be too extensive though or else people would be lazy to take it.
Yeah, not bad a idea!
That's a great idea!!!
I've only been using busuu for 3 days and i have learned so much. This app can definitely get you to b2, just redo lessons , write and record yourself speaking and also learn more on RUclips on each lesson you do
I agree w you 100 percent,,,,,I m in 3 Duolingo courses German. Russian . And Hebrew. I speak English and Spanish fluently but u are correct. I got so disappointed w Duo.......I tried bussu before n lost my comp, access so I quited but I m back.......if all goes well I 'll do French then when I feel comfortable w Hebrew n German. Thanks ur info is great😑
Great job!
I mean they don't have every language (or as many as Duoling), but yeah Busuu works well.
Days of French and Swedish guy . I enjoy replaying your videos ( they are awesome) . Glad to see that your subscription has almost doubled in a week or so. I launched a challenge of Spanish on Busuu . I want to complete the whole course in a month . I already have completed A1 in 6 days (my score is 96 because of a little gender confusion)
Wish me good luck .
And I want to wish you good luck in your everyday life and language learning.😉
I’ve really started to get bored with Duolingo. I do it every day but don’t feel like I’m learning much. I will try out bussu, I’ve never heard of it!
One brain cell left how is it going?
Just getting in minute 8 I was like okay u CONVINCED ME! Let's TO GO DOWNLOAD IT!!!! ✨
While the site doesn't seem much use to me, (I tested B2 in both my target languages. However, there are some lessons I wouldn't mind reinforcing here or there.) , I was impressed at the proficiency test. Definitely more in-depth than Duo. I'll definitely send this site to some friends and keep it around for when I finally get around to German.
Yeah, like all language apps, I do think it's more useful at the beginning than in the middle or at the end. In Swedish I just read books now; no need for an app.
But I'll definitely be using Busuu for my next language (assuming it has that language, whatever it is).
I completely agree, I just tried it like right now, and I have to say, I haven't seen something like this. For example, in the Japanese course, they actually include small but important facts in-between learning the basic Hello and Nice to meet you. Like bowing, which is crucial in Japan. As someone who is beyond that beginner stage, I would've loved to know this when I first began. It makes it seem less cluttered, and I like how it has those made-up conversations, that you most likely would have in real life.I would've felt like it was simple, and that I could go on further. I also agree that native speakers correcting you is very very important as well. I guess I'll have to keep using it.
Yeah, it's just so we'll laid out. And in mine (French), they had a whole unit about spoken French which talks about how it differs from "classical" French. How much better is that than just letting us GUESS.
@@daysandwords That's one of the biggest problems in my opinion. Just letting the learner guess is a terrible way to learn. It makes the language seem random and more difficult, when in reality there is often a reason for that. Like in Japanese where all particles consisting of two or more particles, like for example だから (Dakara) which is because in English, which is actually made up of だ (to be/ informal) and から(from), so the literal meaning is something like, from A,B or From fact A we can derive Fact B. But most people just use だから without really understanding why it is used to mean because. I learn this from Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly (really good youtube channel for learning Japanese, would recommend).
@@user-ry3kd5nh8w Yeah, and I believe they have the same in all the languages. So in English, there would be a section explaining that English speakers tend to say "I'm gonna" and "I wanna" rather than "I am going to" and "I want to".
Your Japanese example is a very good one too.
Im so happy about the fact how u made a vid about this amazing app!
Thanks Grincs. What language are you planning to use it for?
@@daysandwords I am already using it! i am 54% past A1, however my real level in japanese is a bit over JLPT N5!
The Reykjavik Review also, what I wanted to ask is that does the B2 Level really represent B2 knowledge? I am not sure
i think the apps work best as a complimentary tool. it's very hard to slow and and grasp concepts when an app is forcing you to finish an exercise. I think they are better for maintenance than learning.
So... Anyone here still remember when Busuu had a garden where you had a tree representing each language which grew with every completed lesson, and could water flowers and get scarecrows etc. to decorate it ?
Edit: and Busuu berries! Pretty sure they're also gone by now xD
I miss Busuu berries and the old interface. The new one looks so boring ;-;
I remember it, I started using busuu and I thought it was a game. I started learning English as a kid without even knowing what I was doing.
The great thing of Busuu is that its premium is really cheap!
I downloaded it just to learn German and immediately I got addicted it is really way more efficient than Duolingo.
I got your video recommended and I gave Busuu a try and it rocks! I tried the free version for few days then I bought the subscription and everything is wonderful there in Busuu.
Thanks for sharing!
Hello again, thanks for this review I'll definately start using busuu from now, can't express enough how much I love your videos I hope the algorithm picks you up soon
Thanks Sam!
It just did :)
Thank you for your videos. I love the way you talk about language learning and apps in such a straightforward way. Just started to use busuu too and liking it.
I used Duolingo years ago for a couple of languages but definitely felt like it only scratched the surface and wouldn't actually teach the language. I am a language teacher myself and understand the process pretty well. I decided to try out Busuu and pay for it. I started learning Spanish, but after watching this video I became interested in French. I already speak French at the advanced level, but there were some words in this review I didn't know and some little cultural tidbits I wanted to be more familiar with. Also, I never have the opportunity to have my own French listened to and corrected by native speakers, so I jumped at the chance for that. For me, I really love the ability to record myself and have others listen, and I love being able to give back by helping others, and I feel like I can do that in an effective way since I'm a language teacher. I also like the feature that allows you to save certain vocabulary words. Obviously I know the majority of the words in the program already for French, but I've run into a few I didn't know and being able to "star" them and only study those without having to wade through a sea of easy words has been great. The cultural tidbits are awesome and I can't wait to pass some of them onto my students next year. I plan to take this app as far as I can in Spanish because I wish to be fluent one day. I learned Japanese in college but have since pretty much forgotten so I plan to try that language out after Spanish as well.
As a language teacher, I think that this is probably one of the best ways to get the basics of communication, grammar, and vocab down so you can start actually communicating with native speakers. I've taken various classes in a language but they are not self-paced and they spent so much time focusing on simple words and grammar that you never actually get to the important parts of communication. This app allows you to learn the basics at your own pace and get to the B1/B2 level where you can move on to authentic input like videos, movies, songs, etc.
If I have any suggestions for it, I would like it to specify which dialect of Arabic it teaches (there are many distinct dialects, I assume it teaches Modern Standard Arabic but that actually isn't very useful for communication). I would love to see Vietnamese on there as well as Hindi or Swahili. I also would really love to see languages like Welsh, Irish, and languages spoken by indigenous populations in countries that have a different "official language" (such as Navajo or Maori).
Dang I missed out on the good prices because now 5 years later it’s on SALE for $84/yr for premium plus. 😩 I’m still gonna do it though! I know a decent amount of Spanish but need to review and have started learning French. This review has been SO helpful ! I could’ve listened to another 30 minutes. Thank you!
I've been using Busuu now for about 5 months for German and Spanish. For the most part I've enjoyed using the app, but I do have some reservations. My biggest concern is really the lack of deep content. I've completed B1 level of Busuu German yet, according to Busuu, it looks like I've only learned about 1000 words. But looking at CEFR guidelines a B1 learner should know probably at least double that number, if not more. For Spanish A2 my word count is just 470. My other concern is that the exercises are fairly simplistic - they are mostly filling-in-the-blanks and I didn't find them particularly challenging and didn't feel stretched. Very rarely do you even have to write out a whole sentence. Yes, you can use the social media capability to write more and get feedback from the community. It's really a great feature, but as others have noted it's not moderated so the advice and corrections you receive may be questionable. I can certainly see that in some of the English feedback which is often quite poor and inaccurate (there's nothing to stop a non-native speaker providing feedback). I think I read somewhere that Busuu states that there is about 25-30 hours of tuition for Spanish. And as far as I can tell other languages have a lot less. Sounds like a lot, but compare that to Duolingo which I believe can take 350-400 hours to complete the tree. I'm also using Ouino and again that has an enormous amount of content that again takes up to 400 hours to complete. And again I read that it takes about 350 hours or more to complete Levels 1-5 of Rosettastone. I looked at some sample B1 German exams online, and it was quite clearly that even though technically I'm at level B1 with Busuu, there was no way I am even close to being able to pass those exams. So I think it's important to realize that Busuu does not provide the same in-depth experience as these other tools, but then I suppose you can argue that's reflected in the price too. So for me it's a good supplement for learning, but on its own it really isn't nearly enough. But it's a good platform and I hope they can expand it and build on it to provide more content and exercises.
I have literally been binge watching so many of your videos, not sure if i'm procrastinating or something but your videos are so so genuine and actually informative. Cheers for the videos mate :)
they've gotten bored and started watching pewdiepie: i'm dying ahahaha
I must admit, i may or may not have done that with duolinguo.
How’s it goin bro’s?
Well, i started to learn English when I was 16 using mainly Rosetta Stone, of course I made several different things(listening, practicing with some friends who lived in UK, writing practices, etc), but my core vocabulary at the beginning was from that app, I don't know, I always recommended it because it worked for me. Anyway, as I'm now learning Japanese I feel encouraged to try Bussu. Thanks for the video
YO!
Unfortunately, some of the information in this review is no longer correct, and some of it wasn't complete at the time. For example, I have it from many people that Busuu is no good for Russian, Japanese or Arabic. Personally I thought it was fine for Chinese but that was like 2 lessons...
Also, after almost a year of delay, Busuu finally created the possibility of an affiliate link for me... but they sent me to an EXTREMELY clunky website to try to be approved as an affiliate. After this review generated them a lot of income without them having to pay for anything, I was disappointed that this is the best they could do for me... they could have done this a year ago.
If you are going to use Busuu, Google "Busuu 50% off code" and save yourself some money. That's all. Cheers.
This link is the same as the application you download on the playstore isn't it?
@Meatball Denino It doesn't pay me for you to use it. Maybe it is TECHNICALLY an affiliate link but it doesn't directly pay me, and I have no promise from Busuu that it will ever do anything other than help them to know where the traffic came from. Seriously dude... Reconsider your goals.
Thank you for the advice! I’ve tried other apps and have been working on Duolingo for a year in French. I checked out Busuu and like it much better! “Il y a une vache dans le jardin.” Really, Duolingo?!
@Meatball Denino If you can make a video on why Kay (or anyone else) should, or at the very least link to a good video, then fair enough. Otherwise you're making your comment out to be equally valid to a 15 minute analysis.
@@sdrawkcabmiay Yes. This guy has gone round a few of my videos basically making it his personal goal to point this out to as many people as possible.
They also did this to me back in the day, and I explained to them that I had not realised that it would auto-renew, and they gave me my money back. So I am guessing that when he asked for a refund, he was rude. *shocker*
Just discovered something by mistake! Any audio clip that you can play during lessons can be played slowly. You just hold down the play button rather than tap it! (You don't need to hold down the play button during the whole clip)
Great review👍 I'm sure I've mentioned it before but I agree that Busuu is truly the best app out there! I only wish they could add another level.
I am not sure that I did know your opinion on Busuu actually. I found your channel when I was searching for other people who had done reviews, but I don't remember you being VERY positive about it haha (that may just be my memory though).
Ah yes, the age old question of how to progress beyond B2...
There are hardly any programmes out there for ANY language that can take you that far. I think the problem is that it's a bit like an upside pyramid. At the bottom (A1), there is only a tiny bit to learn. You have covered "My name is", "She is a girl" etc etc., then you have covered everything in A1. A2 is more. B1 is a lot more, and B2 is much much more. C1 would cover literally twice as much language and idiomatic usage as B2. So if I were trying to teach C1 level English, I would have to find literally THOUSANDS of expressions which all native English speakers know, but many non-natives don't, plus a lot of words as well. So a C1 level to Busuu, if it were legitimate, would probably be 50 more units, even though all the others are only 20.
It's true that it would be great to be taken that far by a program, that way it would present you the idioms and how they used etc., but honestly I think it just involves listening to audiobooks and podcasts and watching native speaking RUclipsrs etc etc., all the while speaking and trying to use that new language in your own speech. It's not great to do it without a guide, but I feel if I did this for 2 more years in Swedish, I would reach C1, and you'd probably do so in French.
Thanks as always for the comment!
The Reykjavik Review Haha, yes, I was very neutral in that video (typical Swiss😅). Yes, that's true. It would be difficult for any app to do so. Ah yes, I'm trying to do that as much as I can.
Cheers for this review. I wasn’t sure about the app but I’m sold on it now after hearing about the native speakers function. Your completely right in the way that you take your time when recording yourself. I would do the same. And I feel like knowing that a native speaking is going to listen to my German, would make me want to be as perfect with what I’m saying. Because it’s as close to a real life conversation without actually being in Germany itself.
Hey guys! Sorry about the rubbish compression on this one (it'll be fixed with the next video!) - I accidentally exported a 25 minute video that just had 10 minutes of black at the end, and then I needed to quickly remove that bit, so I just used the basic program to cut that bit rather than doing another 2 hour export, but that compressed the video significantly. To be honest it's annoying me haha...
But BUSUU doesn't annoy me. Busuu makes me happy.
How about you?
Hi there! You've convinced me to try Busuu, but I have one more dilemma. I'm trying to improve my English to get to a C2 level and I'm not a native in any of the languages Busuu currently has on their list. My main wish is to communicate with natives, but I've noticed that this feature is not available in the free version. I'm now contemplating buying the full version, but I'm not sure, if I will be able to get what I'm looking for. I'd like to study with the books I already have and use Busuu just to communicate with natives (chat, ask grammar questions, get corrections). Can you give me some advice? Thanks. :)
@@TotuusEtsija Hi - sorry for the slow reply, I didn't see this here!
Are you perhaps Finnish or Estonian? I am just guessing from your username, so apologies if that is wrong.
Anyway, hmm, for what you want, I would probably recommend iTalki. You can click "language partners" and start looking for a partner who wants to learn your language and is an English native, so that you can both teach each other and not pay any money.
Otherwise, you can hire teachers on there for as little as $6-8 US an hour, although the better teachers are often more like $12-18 an hour.
But if there are some English speakers who want to learn your language, then that "language exchange partner" is probably the best way to do it.
I hope that helped, thanks for your comment.
@@daysandwords Thank you for your reply, I'll give iTalki a try.
I have to say that this Busuu review that you did was REALLY thorough & professional. I've watched a couple of times. :) Although this app is currently not helpful for my English learning, I will return to it in a couple of months, when I get back to studying German.
My nickname is Finnish, but I'm not. Just a fan of everything Finnish and I've lived there for 6 months. ;)
@@TotuusEtsija If you wanna talk with natives, get corrections and ask questions iTalki is less specific and can help in its way too!
[Edit] Oops sorry, I answered too fast, even before reading the previous answers 🙊
Yesss! I've discovered Busuu thanks to you and it's really amazing. My English has improved so much since I'm using it. I spent a few months being consistent and learning one lesson each morning before anything else. Since I have the opportunity to practice every day I could use what I've learned straight after! And now I'm so much more comfortable making complex sentences and using all the tenses, while I mostly had vocabulary from passive input before and very poor sentence structures.
Now I'm taking a break from Busuu and doing some exercises on the Cambridge apps because I'm still lost with phrasal verbs and some other stuff.
But I think Busuu is really the best way to improve the quality of our expression in a language!! I'm so excited to go back to it in a few months, and I feel so lucky that they offer lessons in 3 out of the 4 languages I'm learning.
So yes, Busuu makes me happy too 🥰
Okay, you convinced me. I'll head Busuu's way now 😁
I keep on meaning to learn Spanish, as I watch a LOT of shows that are in Spanish, or have a good amount of Spanish language, and I would love to not have to use subtitles.
I finished Duolingo and Busuu with both apps the most you can get is A2 level.
Sorry but I am going to call false on this.
Matt vs Japan talks about the difference between competence and performance. Competence is how well you understand the inner workings of a language. If a verb appears in a form like, "appearing", do you intrinsically understanding why it did so? etc etc. That's competence.
Then there is performance which is how well you speak the language. Your performance will never exceed your competence, you will not be able to say things correctly without understanding how the words work. (Even in your own language, you know how it works even without knowing that you know.)
I am going to say that if you carefully do Busuu in say, Spanish, all the way through, making sure you grasp everything... then your competence will reach B1 while your performance will also be quite close to that. Whereas on Duolingo, your competence will reach B1 or it may even reach B2 but your performance will not exceed A1. You will basically learn to READ in the language.
One might argue that Duo is better in this way, but it is not true that both of them can get you to A2.
I tried Busuu, Duolingo, LingQ, and Seedlang (developed in partnership with Easy German) for German. I think Busuu has nice contents whenever available, but to me it doesn't have enough varieties, at least for upper intermediate (B2) to advanced German learners (C1-C2). I went through 6 out of the available 33-40 'chapters' in around 1 hr. Maybe I missed something ... As you say, everywhere is deep water when you learn a language, so I think one needs to be exposed to a wide variety of contents. For this reason, I've settled with LingQ and Seedlang, and I use lots of Anki Flashcards as well, which can be fine tuned.
Man, I’m really hoping they come out with a korean course soon. For now I’m going to do japanese since it’s my 2nd interest.
Ivan wait they don’t have korean yet??
k z y m e e nope
I started Busuu after reading this review. I'm doing Spanish and so far the one thing which really irritates me is that if you don't guess they word they want, they mark you wrong, even if your answer is also correct. For example, in the very first question in the placement test I had to give the word for a female 'shop assistant' and I said 'la vendedora', which was marked wrong because they wanted the alternative, 'la dependienta'. It's fair enough to present alternative words, but not to mark one correct alternative wrong. Also, in the placement test, you had to say what the time on a clock face was. It was fourteen minutes to twelve on the drawing, which is what I said, but the only acceptable answer was quarter to twelve (and it seemed that two 'mistakes' and they set your level!). In a level they asked for the opposite of salir, 'go out' and I said 'quedarse en casa' (stay at home), but they wanted 'volver'. There's no way (that I've found) to report these anomalies. Really annoying, especially in a paid app. I'll probably pull on day 13 of my trial if this goes on. It's just bad pedagogy. Eliminating "guess what the teacher is thinking" questions is drummed into trainee teachers.
Unfortunately, the obscure language I want to learn isn't available on Busuu.
what language is that?
Same here
@@johnxd5116 More generally, literally any of the indigenous American languages.
@@109Rage if you know spanish you have guaraní, and in english you have navajo and hawaiian
I used Duolingo and memrise for 3 years. After watching your video, I've switched to busuu and enjoy the interaction between native speakers. Much prefer busuu. Thanks for your advice.
Thank you!
Shifty McDumbarse, love it :-)
Haha, thanks.
I only just stumbled upon Busuu a few days ago and I do like it so far. Duolingo *does* have an uncommon approach when it comes to vocabulary. However I am making good progress on Duolingo with Dutch. Duo just asked me to translate "The ducks are unsure about the rhinoceros' clothes" to Dutch :D Which seems silly at first, but sometimes I remember vocabulary better when I learn them in unusual context. Haven't really had the chance to test anything because of Covid-related travel restrictions, but I'm somewhat confident.
Other than that, it seems to depend a lot on the language you are trying to learn. For example, learning Russian did not work for me at all on Duolingo. Busuu seems a lot more... intuitive? I hope you get what I'm trying to say! The apps do have different approaches and whatever works for one person may not work for the next. I can't learn Dutch with Busuu (yet?), so I'm happy to use both :)
I desperately want Busuu to have Esperanto.
yes!
I will have to say you are right. I have been using Babbel for German and thought it was pretty good, but based on your video I downloaded and started using Busuu today. I like it so much better.
2:31 lmao
Ha, I'm glad someone appreciated it. And it only took eight and a half thousand views!
savage
I know! LoL
I also laughed my ass off.
I think duolingo may be for a specific type of learner, I used busuu for a day and it's a good app with clear, concise, short explanations but it's too much information at one time, I'm a hands on type of learner I solve first ask questions later (or should I say as I go along) or lessons become too overwhelming.
Hey man, awesome video! I think i'll get a busuu subscription asap, and combine it with Assimil (I am on lesson 21 so far.)
Have you ever tried Babbel and Lingvist? Really hard to pick one of those apps. So many options.
Thanks for your comment!
I tried Babbel almost 3 years ago and I found it CRAZY clunky, like, not bad content, just really weird and annoying to use.
There are tonnes of things that work well (depending on the language) but they work better if you use them a lot and stick to one or two supplementary sources, e.g. Busuu + a podcast. Busuu + conversations on iTalki.
Busuu + random youtube + random podcast + forums + a million other things is actually NOT helpful, even though you would think it would be.
I have never heard of Lingvist actually, but it sounds Swedish haha.
I will have to try them, but like I said, I don't like to go too crazy when choosing my sources.
P.S. What language are you learning or planning on?
@@daysandwords Wow, that was a really comprehensive answer. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the language i am currently learning is French! I'm a native portuguese speaker, so I can get plenty of the stuff just by assimilating what i hear.
I'll try to not get crazy with the infinity of resources we have on the internet nowadays, haha. My main source now is Assimil, and I also listen to the intermediate french podcast by InnerFrench while commuting, work some grammar with Grammaire Progressive du Français: Debutant by CLE International and had 3 classes on Italki with a tutor.
Assimil is great for working the listening comprehension and for speaking (repeating the dialogues aloud), but i think it lacks some work on making you able to develop your own sentences. So, i am looking for an app to supplement that and get a bit more exposure to grammar. Grammair Progressive du Français is great, but it is TOO SLOW. Need to get things going a bit faster in order to practice speaking on Italki.
My regular study routine for french is basically doing 1 lesson of assimil, then listening to a 30 min podcast by innerfrench. Think I can just place 20 ~ 30 minutes of busuu afterwards. Also, they are offering me an amazing deal. 30 dollars for a 2 year subscription.
Many thanks for the video and for the reply!
@@renanlolop I had forgotten about this comment but now reading it again, it's funny because I am now a HUGE fan of Lingvist (I dunno if you saw my review) and also I am listening to the Inner French podcast, it's fantastic. I am trying to watch basically all RUclips and do all my listening in French for the next 3 months.
Wow, that is a great deal on Busuu. I already got a good deal and paid $100 AU (~70 USD) for 2 years.
Hi reykjavic im sandra one of your french corrector on busuu and i agree with you .This app is not borring, its really addicting. For my part and i see in your video that its the same i often do more then the recommanded time . For me what is missing is the possibility to really discuss and make friends in the other language because it could be a better way to improve our new langage. Bon courage avec le Français😉
Salut ! Je vais reponder en français mais je suis un peu pressé donc je n'ai pas le temps pour "ecrire bien" haha. Il y a des fautes alors.
Merci pour avoir vu ma chaine ! Oui, Busuu, c'est fantastique. Je pense que presque TOUTES les apps qui enseignenet des langues n'ont pas le possibilité à faire les connections entre des amis et je pense que la raison est si on trouve des amis, donc il n'y a pas de besoin à continuer utiliser l'app. Je suis sûr que c'est la raison avec Duolingo. Par example, si tu veut apprendre angalis et moi, je veux apprendre français et on peut se trouver sûr Skype et cetera, peut être on va arrêter utiliser Busuu.
Mais je voulais dire aussi MERCI pour l'aide que tu me donnes tour les jours, je l'ai bien apprécié. J'éspaire que je peux t'aider un jour aussi, mais juste maintenant, tu apprends l'Italien... Si tu veux apprendre le suédois ou améliorer ton anglais, je suis ici !
😃
@@daysandwords Pour quelqu'un qui repond vite tu fais peu de faute. Et oui tu as raison il faut tout de même qu'ils de l'argent:) Le suedois ne me tente pas encore but i could imprive my english perhaps after finishing italien. Je ne veux pas tout mélanger.
Avec plaisir pour l'aide. N'hésite pas si besoin:)
@@sandrabenc7002 Merci. Si ça t'intéresse, j'ai aussi une petite vidéo en français ici sur ma chaîne. C'est pas très bien parceque ça fait 2 mois environ, mais je vais faire une autre.
My brain keeps wanting to read it's name as "bushu"
Not sure if it's because I'm trying to learn Japanese or what
The French say "Boo-zoo" because single S = Z. I dunno which is right.
thank you for your advice I am using Busuu for three days now. it is really usefull
Thanks for the 15 minute ad!
Ha, I'm not sure if this a serious criticism or not, but just in case it was: I had less than 300 subscribers when I made this video; there is no way anyone would have (or did) pay me to make this. Busuu have since emailed me but I still get nothing from this since they don't have an affiliate program.
I would also add you discuss all your criticisms of the app, making it a review as oppose to an ad.
@@MrRyuTko Correctomundo.
You’re my favorite language youtuber, I just bought busuu for a year since you recommended it and me and my boyfriend are gonna use this for starting French (he’s learning English)
I’ll try to make a video maybe of my French progress one of these days and then what it’ll be like in a year. I hope it’ll be good.
The only relevant question is: Icelandic, Y/N ?
Nej, unfortunately. To be fair, basically no mainstream apps or programs do have it. Even the pod101 series, which has a pretty wide range (35 I believe) doesn't have Icelandic.
I have used Busuu for about a year (to learn Japanese) and I agree that it is a good app to learn the basics of one of the languages that Busuu teaches. I wish Busuu also had Thai, but their Japanese course is clearly worth Premium.
When you follow this channel because your learning Swedish but there is no Swedish option on busuu
Me: am I a joke to you?
Just mine the crap out of SwedishPod101.
Will check it out. I've found success in combining two methods and mixing them together. I'm sure someone will hate that, but _old_ (like 1998 old) Rosetta Stone and Michel Thomas complement each other very nicely. They're essentially complete opposites, and the shortcomings of the one are made up by the other. You can do a bit of both on the same day, or move between them as you get sick of using one or the other.
😂😂😂I didn’t realize you were funny 😆
I’m going to talk about this all day so get comfortable jk ✌🏽
I'm using it right now to learn Italian and to brush up on my French and the progress surprised me, every other app or course almost made me give up but you're absolutely right, if something makes sense it's more likely to stick