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10 best German learning apps for Android
Busuu
Price: Free / $69.99 per year
Busuu is one of the most popular language-learning apps. It supports 12 languages, including German. Some of the features include the usual array of grammar and vocabulary lessons along with offline support, accent training, quizzes, and more. It’s a fairly standard language learning app. It has a ton of lessons and content to digest. You should get a fairly decent grasp of the language with it. It is a tad pricey, though, although some competitors (like Rosetta Stone) cost more. It’s not amazing by any stretch, but it’s a solid experience.
Drops: Learn German
Price: Free / $7.49 per month / $48.99 per year / $109.99 once
Drops is a one of the newer language learning apps. They have specific apps for 28 languages and yes, that includes German. The app boasts quick, simple lessons. You should only need about five minutes or so per day. You get various vocabulary lessons and it focuses less on grammar than some others. Its addictive nature and simple premise make it an outstanding choice for beginners. There is a monthly and yearly subscription or a single price good for a lifetime license. We love it when you can pay just one time for an app like this.
Duolingo
Price: Free / $9.99 per month
Duolingo is probably the best free German learning app. It supports other languages as well and it’s quite popular. You engage with bite-size lessons where you learn simple vocabulary and grammar. The developers boast that 34 hours of Duolingo is equal to a semester of university-level study. We’re not sure about that, but the app is definitely fun to use. It’s also entirely free and one of the rare free language learning apps that are also actually good. There is a premium version for $9.99 per month. However, it only adds a few extras and is really only there in case you want to support the developer.
Google Translate
Price: Free
Google Translate is an excellent tool for any language. You can translate to and from various languages. Most translation apps do that. However, Google Translate goes the extra mile. You can point your camera at stuff and the app translates the contents of the image. It works with signs, menus, and basically anything between. Additionally, the app has a live translation feature that lets you talk to people in other languages. It’s a lot faster than a phrasebook and more effective as well. Anyone learning German should have this.
HelloTalk
Price: Free / $1.99-$4.99 per month / $21.99-$29.99 per year
HelloTalk is one of the more progressive German learning apps. It works like this. You speak a language and want to learn a different one. Someone else speaks that language and wants to learn yours. HelloTalk matches you two together and you teach each other with text and audio messages. The app also features translation, spelling and grammar correction, text to voice support, and more. It won’t teach you the language on its own. However, it pairs well with other learning apps as a good one-two punch.
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LEO Dictionary
Price: Free / $8.00 per year / In-app purchases
LEO Dictionary is a multi-lingual dictionary. It supports several languages, including English, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian, and others. The app can translate words between all of its supported languages. It includes excellent noun and verb tables, real voice pronunciation, and even some language learning courses for travelers and beginners. There is an $8.00 per year subscription and it removes ads. There are also additional in-app purchases for the various courses. However, we do recommend other apps for actually learning the language. LEO works best as a study aid.
Memrise
Price: Free / $9 per month / $59.99 per year
Memrise is one of the most popular and powerful German learning apps. It supports a number of languages, including German. This one takes every avenue possible for language learning. That includes tons of vocabulary and grammar lessons along with a social element, games, quizzes, an offline mode, daily goals, and more. Some of it may not be super effective. However, we admire Memrise’s approach to covering as many bases as possible. The subscription is fairly reasonable, but we do wish it had a single payment option.
MosaLingua
Price: Free / $4.99 / in-app purchases
MosaLingua is one of the newer German learning apps on mobile (comparatively speaking). It takes a no-nonsense approach to language learning. The app focuses heavily on the 20% of a language that you use most of the time. Thus, you learn the most important stuff first and then the extra stuff over time. It also features over 3,000 flash cards across 14 categories along with ten levels, lessons, study aids, an online dictionary, a voice recorder (to listen to your own accent), and more. There is a free version and a premium version. We didn’t find any subscription costs with this one. It does send a bunch of newsletters, though. You’ll want to unsubscribe from those.
Simply Learn German
Price: Free / Up to $6.99
Simply Learn German is a simple app and it teaches German. The app doesn’t have your usual string of courses and lessons. Instead, it provides a ton of study aids. That includes over 300 phrases, audio with a real German speaker, quizzes, progress tracking, and flashcards. It uses a spaced repetition learning system. That’s a fairly popular system. It’s used in several other apps on this list as well. The pro version goes for $6.99 and adds 600 more phrases and it removes advertising. There are no subscriptions with this one.
Tandem
Price: Free / $6.99 per month / $34.99 per year
Tandem works a lot like HelloTalk. It uses a progressive, social style of learning. You and another individual team up and teach each other the languages you both natively speak. The app includes audio and video calls along with text, audio, and picture messages. It also employs text correction, translation, and more. You can even choose the topics you want to learn that day. Like HelloTalk, we recommend this as a powerful secondary learning experience. Pairing this with something like Memrise or Duolingo is an excellent one-two punch.
Thank you for reading! Check these out too:
If we missed any great German learning apps, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to see our latest Android app and game lists!