Lingvist: Learn Languages Fast Reviews

by TroisMilleMots

Don't see a new word for months. Very difficult to stay motivated and I am sick and tired of seeing and hearing the same sentences over and over. It’s better to read with a dictionary. Please consider giving an option to select how many new words I want to see in a 50 word stack. Otherwise, your system is a waste of time. Fast progress in the beginning and essentially no progress after 3K words even if I am studying every day. The more words are learned, the more words need to be reenforced. At 3K words, a state is reached when the application gives 50 repeat words a day and only occasionally a few new words. Makes no sense. Another extreme annoyance is an accumulation of old words to repeat if I take a break. Do you think it’s reasonable that 2week vacation puts me in a situation to repeat 6 months of learning ? With such an algorithm, nobody would finish school. Please fix these annoyances. I payed for a full license and I am not happy.

by PA-viewer

I’ve been using Lingvist steadily since Spring 2021. It’s decent. They just did an upgrade, though, and the slots for the words no longer fit the word properly. I read some previous reviews and noted that other users said they wanted this change so it would force them to use their brain to remember the word. So I guess it’s good that they listen to their users. But the slots are all kinds of various sizes now - not a standard blank line/box. It’s a little haphazard to me so I’ve adjusted by not even looking at the sentence. I just look at the English word and type the French word without looking at the box because I hate how it looks now. So basically I’ve just made them flash cards. I guess I’ll see if that helps my memory. The boxes that actually fit the words helped me because if I thought of several synonyms, the size of the box would lead me to the appropriate synonym. I have the yearly subscription $80 but I don’t think I’ll renew because it’s not giving me $80 worth of value. It’s flash cards with random sized boxes at this point.

by Rebecca M Scott

I like the idea of Lingvist, but I’m just not learning with it. Since I’ve been using Lingvist I have been learning one or two words per day. I have found that I get tired very quickly as I do the deck of cards. I do not look forward to doing lessons; it’s a chore. With the same amount of time spent on other apps I can learn 15 words and some new grammer rules and I’m not as tired at the end of the session and want to do multiple sessions per day.
I think maybe they need to break up the decks into lessons or organize them some way. How it’s organized now, one card might be in the present tense and about clothes shopping. Then the next card is future tense and about the church. It’s all over the place. I’m not seeing any patterns. As it’s designed now, it seems like it would be a good app for someone who is already fluent and wants to learn a couple new vocabulary words.
It’s a big disappointment that I’m not learning with Lingvist because I think it has a lot of potential.

by My Kingdom For A Ux Expert.

I pay for the subscription for Lingvist, so the subtext for this review should be that I consider it to be an improvement on most language learning apps in the space. Still, it’s hard to understand what they are thinking with certain choices. For example, the UI is atrocious in certain respects. If you are answering prompts verbally, the X button (to turn off the mic) and the “Reveal” button are in the same place, so you’d better make sure you’re timing your tap perfectly, or else you end up getting you answer “wrong”. All of the “mic”, “cancel mic” and “reveal” buttons are very small and right next to each other. The proper design would be to use the big open space on the page for two big “Reveal” and “Mic” buttons. (The mic button would be an X when mic is engaged). Theirs is such an obviously inferior design it’s hard to understand what these folks are thinking. It’s also frustrating how slow they are with certain features. It’s been a while since the “create a deck” feature for Spanish came out, and there’s still no similar option for Russian. I promise you, Cyrillic OCR is a solved problem.

by DestanSavazh

Lingvist has one of the neatest interfaces I’ve seen. I actually really like it and enjoy the teaching style it employs. I’m sure it would be great for beginners, but it needs further depth in topics. The Spanish courses are incredibly detailed, but the other languages are severely lacking in intermediate to advanced topics. The Russian one looks practically unfinished. I do like the graphs and visuals and I LOVE that I can speak my answers and practice pronunciation or type if I’m in a situation where I can’t talk. I am using the free trial right now and might consider the year option, but I honestly feel that it’s too expensive given the lack of topics and there are no grammar lessons. There’s basically a section that is basically a condensed quick cover of the grammar but again, it’s really lacking. I would probably pay about $50 for the yearly option but no more for Lingvist in its current state. I highly recommend that you use the free trial. Overall, Lingvist has potential and it’s worth watching!

by Kam090

I naturally liked the method that Lingvist uses and practicing was more fun and less like a chore. I also liked that in incorporates listening, reading and writing.

However I don’t like the inaccuracies in translations and synonyms especially when they fit into alotted spacing. Especially when the words i enter or actually more common than the words provided. There were some translations and words I never seen used in the same context and when I looked up the words in the dictionary, there is no trace of it being used the same way as Lingvist does. I don’t understand that. I am worried that I am not learning the correct words.

Also I wish there was an offline option, even if it is just flash cards. I take 10+ hour flights and it would be ideal if I could spend some of this time practicing, especially at this price point.

by Emax3729

I downloaded this app a few days ago because I have a passion for learning languages, and there are very few resources for learning Estonian out there. I was almost immediately put down from the very limited word and phrase count, after having searched for months on end. From what I’ve heard, this app is an Estonian-made app, and so I can imagine it wouldn’t be very hard to teach a comprehensive Estonian course for English speakers. After thinking about alternatives for a while, finding none, I decided I’d make the most out of what I had. I started learning for a while, but then, I came across a banner saying I had 48 hours until my trial ended. What? I understand that you need to tax people for your blood sweat and tears while making Lingvist, but you’re cutting off my lifeline to a slowly dying language that I would expect you (developers) would want to revive like the Duolingo-Irish relationship. You have no idea how sad I was to think that there was no way I could look back at the words I learned in 48 hours and many more disappointments. Please, I’m completely fine with you being no better than the crap Rosetta Stone pulls on the world, simultaneously lowering potential for attracting users, but PLEASE, save Estonian !!!

by JoeMD666

Lingvist is amazing. It’s everything you need to expand your vocabulary in German, Russian, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. Most apps give you just the basics and some structure—even Rosetta Stone— Lingvist teaches you an immense amount of words. Absolutely worth the subscription price for the serious learner.

Having all that said, there is one thing Lingvist desperately needs—to understand we’re busy and we can’t always manage daily studying or even weekly studying. It desperately needs “levels” of some sort so we can go back and study all the words we’ve learned before. I remember quite a bit of them, but after two months of not using them or more, it would be great if I could go back and review those words at-will.

Having all that said, I’ve completed the Rosetta Stone and Duolingo courses and they were okay for the basics, perhaps a few days travel in a country that speaks your targeted language, but this was the vocabulary breakthrough I needed to make German radio stations much more intelligible. It’ll help you get to the point where you can reasonably understand most of the conversations others speak. Great job, this app team, now please consider those additions to Lingvist .

by Luk 4567

I took German in school but it’s been years. A lot of the grammar and vocab is still buried in my brain and this is a good refresher app. I don’t need to start from scratch like many other apps force you to, I know how to say “hello my name is _.” I like that Lingvist adjusts itself to my skill level. Sentences are just complex enough to expose me to new words while letting me work out the meaning on my own. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how many words randomly pop into my head that I didn’t realize I still knew. I also like that it doesn’t feel like a game. I don’t need cartoon characters and coins and power ups, I just want to practice.

That said, I wish there were a bit more grammar lessons, including on the cards themselves. It would be really helpful if there was an option to explain why an answer is correct or why the sentence is structured a particular way, as I’m a little shaky on intermediate to advanced grammar and I imagine this would be especially helpful for beginners. But this is an excellent vocabulary builder.

by Runkasnorkraka

I’m between a high 3 and a 4.

It’s a beautiful, simple to use language learning app with a minimal interface that allows me to focus on the content. I love that aspect. The current release does has somewhat ugly grey shading over the action buttons which were not there before. Seems like an error to me?

I also love the new slow Spanish news addition!

Top request of mine:
The ability to turn off the word length visibility on each card sentence. This was very helpful in the beginning but now I’m seeing I can almost guess the word based on the length alone. Removing that visual hint would give me a better challenge at this stage. This would make it a 5 star app for me.

Minor requests:
The progression is well paced, though I do see occasional “bursts” of new words which inevitably I trip up on in following days. Maybe those could be eased in a little better. 20 new words at a go is difficult to keep pace with if introduced multiple days in a row. This can be discouraging.

Wish the top 5 most practiced was targeted at trouble words. My top 5 are words I practice often, but I also get them correct often too. I don’t see the words I have trouble with as I would expect.

Wish there was Latin American Spanish but I appreciate the options available so far.

by YaMom-69-420

I tried to edit my previous review but couldn't, so I'm doing another brief one. App is great for vocab and even for some grammar points; love the resources and tips tab. But I am downgrading my rating to 4 stars because I'm still getting my progress obliterated if I even get one wrong answer. (It actually stopped doing that with one of the updates, but I think the newest one reverted that element).The correction is necessary, and I don't mind having my well cards come up more often, but I hate how getting one wrong answer basically puts you back at Square One in terms of finishing the 100 card goal. I'm going to be less inclined to practice everyday with Lingvist when it's practically impossible to get to the daily goal. I'm *learning* a new language; I'm guaranteed to make mistakes. Correct me, but don't make progress seem unattainable.

by Dairhenien

I like Lingvist very much. Unlike most other language learning apps, the user is forced to recall the word and spell it out, rather than simply recognizing it or selecting it from a list of options. Presenting the material in cloze sentences shows how the words are used in context, which is so important. There is a great deal of additional content, and additional strong features like the voice recognition and quizzes.

My only quibble — and it's a small one — is that the blanks in the cloze sentences are the exact size of the target word. This is a kind of hint that I don't want—it makes me lazy! I'm targeting French right now, and there are lots of words that may end with a "e" that does not appear in English. I use the size of the blank to figure out the spelling, rather than having to remember it.

It would be stellar if the blank were a standard size, or else this could be adjusted with a setting (much like requiring diacritics.)

Thanks for a great app! I'm definitely going to get the lifetime version when my trial expires.

by Papercutexit

Ugh. This is so good. I've tried duolingo for a few months and even a class to learn Spanish and somehow nothing ever stuck. I think knowing things like the gender or tense really helps making sense of a language and not just learning individual words or phrases. While this app totally works without getting deep into grammar, I find it super helpful to really understand what's going on. The repetition for words you get wrong is also spot on and I can tell I'm retaining a lot more after a few days already than after months of duolingo. Good stuff.

by RSlade

I’ve used Lingvist to learn French and Spanish as a supplement to Duolingo and it’s been a really useful tool. I love seeing the words in context—so useful for language learners like me. I also appreciate hearing native speakers repeating the sentences. My only suggestion for the developers is that they offer more synonyms or other uses for the words in the expanded view. That would create a richer learning experience. I also wish the sentences were less business-focused and had more thematic variety. Those minor criticisms aside, this is an invaluable tool if you want to build your vocabulary.

by Benjfriedrich

I’ve found that Lingvist is really effective compared to some of the other popular apps, especially if you are willing to put some time into it. It is less gamified feeling than others and more focused on learning the language, which is refreshing.

When you don’t understand why you made a mistake on a word, the explanations it provides are really helpful. You aren’t as limited to learning by rote...it shows you the rules behind the grammar.

For me, the free mode has been more than adequate. I do like using it alongside an app like Duolingo or Memrise—seems like mixing up the approach helps things stick better.

by Ahoymehearties

I’m using 6 different language learning apps right now for their different strengths. I’m a backwards learner, though - I like to try something, and then figure out why I was right or wrong. this app is perfect for me that way. Unlike other apps, you’ll get further explanation on your answers to Lingvist ’s questions. I’ve found its grammatical database far more easy to understand than other apps which just throw the problem in your face again and again until you get it.

I’m okay with failure, and this app embraces it. It’s not going to autocorrect and it’s not going to let you go without explaining what you did wrong. For that, I’m paying gladly.

by Al2017-TX

So I’ve tried literally every single popular language app that is available, even paid subscriptions. I feel like a majority of language apps are boring, unorganized, and unproductive. Duolingo is just too repetitive, delays your progress, teaches you useless phrases, and gamification is just annoying/distracting. this app on the other hand does not have distractions, does not delay your progress, and actually teaches useful vocabulary and phrases that result in a productive learning experience. Also, I actually enjoy using Lingvist . I find myself spending more time studying. Overall I rate Lingvist 10/10. Great job by everyone involved in its creation. Thank you!

by Katelin_mc_loving

Using a free version. Couldn’t be happier. Approximately 100 flesh cards per day is enough for learning, revising and memorizing (together with the other types of learning of course). The only minus I could bring up is that sometimes it jams with calculating of the right amount of cards you’ve already done. Thus it just keeps going over the limit of cards you were supposed to cover, I suppose, in one sitting, which is not a bed thing at all unless you’re doing it before going to bed and instead of dealing with a 100 cards end up doing 200+ half asleep and a bit annoyed. Or maybe I simply haven’t figured out the whole system yet. All in all it’s a great app as an addition learning source!

by Smedley22

this app is an excellent language learning tool. Extensive capabilities & challenging. User friendly. After using Lingvist for several weeks, I became increasingly disgruntled with the assigned daily goal of 50 sets / words – which I thought was exorbitant for users with busy schedules. I complained about the high daily goal to this app’s customer support. this app’s project manager & a programmer took the initiative to conduct an on-line video conference with me to address my concern about the high this app goal – they were highly informative and pleasant. They told me this app goals are irrelevant; however many words a user chooses to do per day will advance the user in this app language learning. They dispelled my concern.

In reiteration, this app has extensive capabilities, it’s challenging (interesting), user friendly, and has excellent customer support. A superb app.

by Jacqu1marr1

I love Lingvist! I use it in conjunction with Duolingo and it has helped so much with my vocabulary retention as well as pronunciation. I have one critique/idea that I hope you implement: I’ve recently found in the word list area (where you review all of your known words) that you can write notes to help recognize or remember certain words. This is super helpful for a few different reasons, but I wish you could see the notes you write when you come across the word during a lesson. Maybe underneath the English version of the sentence? Other than that I literally have no complaints! Thank you for making Lingvist 💗

by Basikuser

Lingvist used to be free with no limits on how many words I could learn or challenges I could attempt, but has since been monetized.

This is extremely disappointing as it was and remains a quality app. However, the price point is outrageous for what is essentially a dressed up flash card/dictionary combo app.

Duolingo, a mainstay in phone-based language learning, has all of its content available for free and the paid options are more quality-of-life so there is little pressure to pay if you don’t want the frills.

this app has opted to gate their content and I have seen few developer responses that adequately address this change in business model. I don’t want to hear about how the “free users help our algorithm.” All that tells me is you’re using free users to improve your product while cutting us off from key features and content. No thanks.

I’ll be uninstalling Lingvist. Devs, I hope you reconsider this current model, or at least its price-point. I understand, however, if this is something above your heads and was instituted by some suit interested in the bottom line rather than education.

by Donls

Yes, they mentioned the vosotros form in high school 50+ years ago, but didn’t seriously teach it. Today, none of my friends who speak Spanish as a first language have heard of it. I asked a friend’s parents (in their 80s) about it and they had not heard of it. I don’t know how to look it up in any of my references.
The reference in Lingvist claims that Spaniards use tu y vosotros, but latinoamericanos don’t. On the Contrary, I’ve always been taught tu & all my friends from Texas, Mexico, Honduras, Puerto Rico, etc use it.
I like the references. Would be nice to have as separate app.
Would be nice to be able to choose which dialect of Spanish to practice.

by Yellownape22541

I work at LAX and come in contact with people from all over the world but the majority are from France or other French speaking countries.
I was introduced to this application by a French-Canadian customer who said it was the best he had sampled, needless to say he was correct 100%. I truly enjoy learning with this platform, it is very engaging and I look forward to spending time with my 100 daily cards. Slowly but surely I am progressing in française. Highly recommend this application.

by Trilingual, Seeking Growth

A bit better than Duolingo as it’s a bit more pragmatic about learning and retaining words than duolingo’s exhaustive tree system. Lingvist continues developing you, plus, the challenges, and specially the news reading, really simulated the classroom: the best language learning environment. Thanks for a great app, developers. Further enhancements could be made by helping users retain and develop sentence structure, too. Language goes beyond simply vocabulary!

Please consider Greek for an additional language!

by Netvoyeur

I’ve used this app for about a year to improve my French language skills, and find it to be a valuable tool among several complementary learning aids I’m using. Even though I’ve made it through all 5000+ words, I try to review 100 cards per day in order to cement my vocabulary, as well as continue to learn how to read whole sentences quickly and intuitively. Would definitely recommend Lingvist in your language-learning toolkit.

by Mr Fireblaze

I’ve tried using Duolingo, Memrise, and other apps before for learning languages, but I would have to say that this one has been the most effective. It is great for vocab memorization due to the repetition, but also makes it really easy to figure out the grammar. Rather than learning a ton of rules that make zero sense at all, I can actually see how the words work in a sentence and how to replicate them. Overall, great app and I would love to see further development on more languages and pre-existing ones.

by Scott.Richards

this app is a deceptively simple program, but with consistent use it is extraordinarily effective at building and retaining basic competence in several languages. The algorithm revisits words and phrases over time, re-activating your memory and supporting the transition from passive to active memory.

I have used Rosetta Stone & Busuu in the past. I found both somewhat effective and enjoyed the use of pictures to establish visual associations, but I prefer the rapid pace of this app.

Weakness: this app does not have a way to highlight particular phrases that I’d like to return to for further study, which is unfortunate. In those cases, I tend to snap a screenshot to return to those key phrases, which is a simple workaround, but a “Favorites” list would be a nice addition to Lingvist .

Response to the developer: many thanks for your feedback. I’ve contacted the this app team a couple of times, and each time I am deeply impressed at your team’s swift and attentive responses. Truly exceptional!

by Olyolyfox

I’ve tried lots, but nothing has advanced my German so rapidly and effectively as Lingvist. Seeing and hearing the vocal in context, with the surrounding grammar getting increasingly difficult with the words is amazingly helpful. My grammar has improved far more from just practicing these words and phrases than from studying all the little rules of German. I highly recommend and am proud to have contributed to this great app with an annual subscription!