50 languages

Fifty languages has numerous practical phrases (presented as written and spoken) which allow comparison between the student’s native language and the language being studied. There are dozens and dozens of day-to-day subjects covered. That allows building a broad vocabulary base. As a bonus, the phrases are written using various grammatical patterns in the new language. Therefore as the student is building new vocabulary, he or she is also learning different ways to construct sentences. That’s a generic skill that carries over into other topics beyond the topic of the phrase being studied that builds speaking and listening skills.

If you are brand new to learning languages, or if you find that you learn better with bright color schemes in your visual palette, then you may want to check out another application, called Mondly. That application is closer to a Rosetta Stone type of feel. but, regardless, even if you start with another app, you’re going to want this 50 Languages app eventually. If you speak more than three languages, already, once you get used to their word list patterns, this application can help you learn an additional two languages d at once. For serious learners, polyglots, and those for whom languages comes easily, this is the most efficient, and fastest way to add languages to your repertoire that I have found in 10 years of study.

I don’t know how else I could have integrated as much Albanian studying into my life before I depart in 8 days, and the native speaker recordings are fabulous. But the further along you get, weird things crop up. Some of this is attributable to the fact that everything is translated from German. Luckily I have a decent grasp on German, so when the English says “they” but the Albanian speakers are using second person plural, I know it’s because they’re the same in German. Sometimes the speakers break from the script, and I’m inclined to trust them over what’s printed. In lesson 90 there’s a typo in Albanian, where it writes “moj” instead of “mos.” This app is a very useful supplement to studying a language rather than the answer to one’s language learning dreams. As other reviewers point out, there are no lessons about structure and grammar apart from what you can absorb from the phrases. Take it for what it is, though, and make the most of hearing native speakers.