This is a great review. If feel like you are speaking from the perspective of a real person who is struggling with language learning, rather than some mutant polyglot. I love that you are comfortable making mistakes and admitting that language learning is really hard for some of us.
I've been using it to learn Russian, after 6 months of mostly following Comprehensible Input / Immersion with Anki to build vocabulary. I think I would have found it too hard as a complete beginner, but it fits my current ability quite well. I started from the very beginning and while there are words I already know it's still valuable to see them in new sentences. Although I'm following an input first approach I'm still doing the writing exercises because overall the app is enjoyable and easy to use. Much better than everything I've tried. The best thing about the app is the short conversations and stories which are great to listen to and read over and over. BTW, you can copy and paste the text from the stories on the desktop version. It's great for sentence mining.
Oooooooh good tip! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Yeah it can definitely be overwhelming for an absolute beginner, but with a solid background in the language Speakly is a great option
I have been working with Speakly (Italian) as a beginner for about a week. Mostly, I use the writing option or the combined option for learning. I am at 130 words - sometimes hard fought words. These are not baby achievements, like many apps. While the pace can feel slow, I believe that the depth in understanding will be there. Early going, but so far it seems like a beneficial app. This app is for the long haul, not for a quick course before leaving on vacation. Reaching 4000 words (the limit) in Speakly would be an achievement. I have been using other resources (1 mo) to learn Italian. Speakly on its own would very hard for the absolute beginner. Finally, the way new words and phrases are presented in the context of real sentences makes it possible to grasp usage and sentence structure.
Great content! I was having some buffering/connectivity issues with Speakly where it would get stuck loading between cards CONSTANTLY. I found a similar app called lingvist that uses spaced repetition and common words to build your vocab. Both of them are good for intermediates, especially someone like me who is trying to relearn all the Spanish they forgot back in middle school, high school and college. Still haven't found a good app for Arabic though other than Pimsleur which forces you to speak and repeat phrases and actually has separate classes for each dialect. Lot of the other apps focus on MSA which no one really speaks. There are so many different dialects so don't really blame app makers for skipping Arabic since it's difficult to get straight for a mass market. Pimsleur and italki for now I guess... But man if we had a spaced repetition flash card deck with the most common words/phrases like Speakly or lingvist = GAME CHANGER.
I've noticed the Finnish is really good. For Finnish, as a late beginner/early intermediate, comprehensible input is very hard to find through the internet - only 2 youtubers ('Finnished' and 'Jarps Art') as well as "Easy Finnish/Selkokirjat" books, which are expensive. So in that way, I'm a big fan of the listening component of the app. The study area is similar to Duolingo, Mondley, Buusu, etc - which won't be a big focus for me - but in terms of comprehensible input, I believe this is the first ever app to include graded listening and reading (intermediate I, intermediate II and intermediate III, advanced I, advanced II and advanced III, etc) for Finnish but also for Estonian, which is unique to find.
Estonian was quite unique to find. I tried that until the end. Excellent content but the app had constant technical problems. I hope the team manages to fix these as soon as possible. For me as a Finn Estonian was the easiest language I have ever learned but for the rest of the world the feeling might be a bit different. Finnish resources...if you haven't already tried, try to google: selkosuomea and Selkouutiset in Yle Areena (site & app). I think there are other programs with Finnish subtitles there, too. This strategy to find a site & app of a national broadcasting company works in many languages including Estonian (ETV). I haven't watched any programs with subtitles yet but I plan to.
I've been using Speakly for the last week to practice my Italian and just popped by to see your take on it. I agree that it's currently one of the best, if not the best app out there for language learning and I wish I'd found it earlier. I messed up the placement test a bit because of fat fingers and got placed at intermediate 1, whereas I have a B2 certificate and probably should have been placed a bit higher. Revision never hurts though and I've powered through to where I probably should have been. One thing I really like is that there appears to be very few inconsistencies / errors. The only one that really bit me was a speaking exercise where it just would not accept my spoken input even though I tried multiple times, am certain that I was correct, and even checked with Siri on my iPhone which accepted the same phrase first time without problem. For me it is the consistency of the language used that means Speakly scores higher than Busuu, at least for Italian. With Busuu you are faced with the occasional very odd phrase that simply isn't used in real life and where there is another very common alternative available. Also Busuu is inconsistent with whether or not it requires a definite article for some flashcard type exercises which makes things something of a guessing game. Here again Speakly so far passes with flying colors.
I'm glad you're liking it! Yeah, speech recognition can be iffy, and I don't ever trust it 100%. BUT at the very least you can always retake the placement test in settings, which is an excellent perk I think. I've used resources as a beginner, left them, and came back as intermediate/advanced and couldn't recalibrate my level which isn't great.
Hi, how to use the code? I go Settings on the app, go to Subscription screen, but I dont see anh box to fill the code, just only see the payment button.
I’ve been learning Spanish with Speakly and it’s really helpful. I’m also learning Chinese and I haven’t managed to find a good technique for learning it or any supplementary apps except for for the written language. Does anyone know of an app that is similar to speakly that has mandarin Chinese?
I signed up for a lifetime subscription to Speakly, they sent me a receipt and notified me I had a 100 year subscription, I was so mad I could hardly Speak!! All kidding aside, I recently signed up to Speakly. Speakly adds a totally different angle from most other apps and I think it will benefit my language learning studies, ( I did sign up for a lifetime subscription and they did send me a notification for a 100 year subscription ..........LOL)
@@MultilingualMastery But it's a key part of the language, even more frequently used in Spanish than in French. If you want to go beyond A1-A2, you have to have at least some ability to use it. Not sure how Speakly can claim to take you to 'fluency' if it indeed doesn't teach the subjunctive. But to each their own :)
And that's exactly why "fluent" is a relative term and I avoid it as much as I can 😂 every language learner has different goals/motivations, so it's important to be open-minded!
@@MultilingualMastery True, but without the subjunctive you can't even correctly say a fairly basic sentence like 'I want you to be there'. You'll probably still be understood either way, so yeah it depends on the learner's personal aims and expectations I guess.
@@MultilingualMastery I was considering using Speakly, but if it really doesn't teach the subjunctive in Spanish it's pretty much useless, except for beginners. You're not going to be able to get through a book or newspaper article, or follow a movie without it. It's a core part of the everyday language.
Is Speakly right language app for you? Get the free course: multilingualmastery.com/asc?
This is a great review. If feel like you are speaking from the perspective of a real person who is struggling with language learning, rather than some mutant polyglot. I love that you are comfortable making mistakes and admitting that language learning is really hard for some of us.
Great info! Your channel deserves more subscribers.
I’ve heard great things about this too.... if only they did one for Arabic! Maybe sometime I’ll have a go at it for Spanish or french
I've been using it to learn Russian, after 6 months of mostly following Comprehensible Input / Immersion with Anki to build vocabulary. I think I would have found it too hard as a complete beginner, but it fits my current ability quite well. I started from the very beginning and while there are words I already know it's still valuable to see them in new sentences. Although I'm following an input first approach I'm still doing the writing exercises because overall the app is enjoyable and easy to use. Much better than everything I've tried. The best thing about the app is the short conversations and stories which are great to listen to and read over and over. BTW, you can copy and paste the text from the stories on the desktop version. It's great for sentence mining.
Oooooooh good tip! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Yeah it can definitely be overwhelming for an absolute beginner, but with a solid background in the language Speakly is a great option
I have been working with Speakly (Italian) as a beginner for about a week. Mostly, I use the writing option or the combined option for learning. I am at 130 words - sometimes hard fought words. These are not baby achievements, like many apps. While the pace can feel slow, I believe that the depth in understanding will be there. Early going, but so far it seems like a beneficial app. This app is for the long haul, not for a quick course before leaving on vacation. Reaching 4000 words (the limit) in Speakly would be an achievement.
I have been using other resources (1 mo) to learn Italian. Speakly on its own would very hard for the absolute beginner.
Finally, the way new words and phrases are presented in the context of real sentences makes it possible to grasp usage and sentence structure.
Great content!
I was having some buffering/connectivity issues with Speakly where it would get stuck loading between cards CONSTANTLY. I found a similar app called lingvist that uses spaced repetition and common words to build your vocab. Both of them are good for intermediates, especially someone like me who is trying to relearn all the Spanish they forgot back in middle school, high school and college.
Still haven't found a good app for Arabic though other than Pimsleur which forces you to speak and repeat phrases and actually has separate classes for each dialect. Lot of the other apps focus on MSA which no one really speaks. There are so many different dialects so don't really blame app makers for skipping Arabic since it's difficult to get straight for a mass market. Pimsleur and italki for now I guess... But man if we had a spaced repetition flash card deck with the most common words/phrases like Speakly or lingvist = GAME CHANGER.
I've noticed the Finnish is really good. For Finnish, as a late beginner/early intermediate, comprehensible input is very hard to find through the internet - only 2 youtubers ('Finnished' and 'Jarps Art') as well as "Easy Finnish/Selkokirjat" books, which are expensive. So in that way, I'm a big fan of the listening component of the app. The study area is similar to Duolingo, Mondley, Buusu, etc - which won't be a big focus for me - but in terms of comprehensible input, I believe this is the first ever app to include graded listening and reading (intermediate I, intermediate II and intermediate III, advanced I, advanced II and advanced III, etc) for Finnish but also for Estonian, which is unique to find.
Good to know! Thanks for sharing
Estonian was quite unique to find. I tried that until the end. Excellent content but the app had constant technical problems. I hope the team manages to fix these as soon as possible. For me as a Finn Estonian was the easiest language I have ever learned but for the rest of the world the feeling might be a bit different. Finnish resources...if you haven't already tried, try to google: selkosuomea and Selkouutiset in Yle Areena (site & app). I think there are other programs with Finnish subtitles there, too. This strategy to find a site & app of a national broadcasting company works in many languages including Estonian (ETV). I haven't watched any programs with subtitles yet but I plan to.
I've been using Speakly for the last week to practice my Italian and just popped by to see your take on it. I agree that it's currently one of the best, if not the best app out there for language learning and I wish I'd found it earlier. I messed up the placement test a bit because of fat fingers and got placed at intermediate 1, whereas I have a B2 certificate and probably should have been placed a bit higher. Revision never hurts though and I've powered through to where I probably should have been. One thing I really like is that there appears to be very few inconsistencies / errors. The only one that really bit me was a speaking exercise where it just would not accept my spoken input even though I tried multiple times, am certain that I was correct, and even checked with Siri on my iPhone which accepted the same phrase first time without problem. For me it is the consistency of the language used that means Speakly scores higher than Busuu, at least for Italian. With Busuu you are faced with the occasional very odd phrase that simply isn't used in real life and where there is another very common alternative available. Also Busuu is inconsistent with whether or not it requires a definite article for some flashcard type exercises which makes things something of a guessing game. Here again Speakly so far passes with flying colors.
I'm glad you're liking it! Yeah, speech recognition can be iffy, and I don't ever trust it 100%. BUT at the very least you can always retake the placement test in settings, which is an excellent perk I think. I've used resources as a beginner, left them, and came back as intermediate/advanced and couldn't recalibrate my level which isn't great.
Hi, how to use the code? I go Settings on the app, go to Subscription screen, but I dont see anh box to fill the code, just only see the payment button.
It doesn't exist anymore...
I’ve been learning Spanish with Speakly and it’s really helpful. I’m also learning Chinese and I haven’t managed to find a good technique for learning it or any supplementary apps except for for the written language. Does anyone know of an app that is similar to speakly that has mandarin Chinese?
I signed up for a lifetime subscription to Speakly, they sent me a receipt and notified me I had a 100 year subscription, I was so mad I could hardly Speak!! All kidding aside, I recently signed up to Speakly. Speakly adds a totally different angle from most other apps and I think it will benefit my language learning studies, ( I did sign up for a lifetime subscription and they did send me a notification for a 100 year subscription ..........LOL)
Speakly doesn't teach the Spanish subjunctive? So it basically just takes you up to about A2 level max.
Grammar-wise, sure. Many Spanish language learners don't need to learn the subjunctive. If you want to, maybe Speakly isn't right for you :)
@@MultilingualMastery But it's a key part of the language, even more frequently used in Spanish than in French. If you want to go beyond A1-A2, you have to have at least some ability to use it. Not sure how Speakly can claim to take you to 'fluency' if it indeed doesn't teach the subjunctive.
But to each their own :)
And that's exactly why "fluent" is a relative term and I avoid it as much as I can 😂 every language learner has different goals/motivations, so it's important to be open-minded!
@@MultilingualMastery True, but without the subjunctive you can't even correctly say a fairly basic sentence like 'I want you to be there'. You'll probably still be understood either way, so yeah it depends on the learner's personal aims and expectations I guess.
@@MultilingualMastery I was considering using Speakly, but if it really doesn't teach the subjunctive in Spanish it's pretty much useless, except for beginners. You're not going to be able to get through a book or newspaper article, or follow a movie without it. It's a core part of the everyday language.