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Readers’ tips: What’s the best smartphone app for learning French?

Each week The Local asks its readers to share their tips about various aspects of living in France. This week we asked their opinion on the best mobile phone app for learning the lingo. Here’s what they had to say.

Published: 25 September 2018 11:00 CEST
What’s the best app for learning French?
 
Our readers overwhelmingly chose Duolingo as their favourite app for learning French.
 
What is Duolingo?
 
With more than 300 million users worldwide, Duolingo claims to be “the most downloaded education app in the world”.
 
Users in all 37 available languages are guided through grammar and vocabulary learning games by Duolingo’s green owl mascot, symbolizing knowledge and learning.
 
The company’s theory is that games, rewards and bright animations introduce a sense of fun that motivates learners to continue using the app and advancing their language skills. 
 
Users practice listening, reading, writing and speaking, passing through different levels as their language skills progress. 
 
Many users access the app on the go for a few minutes of language practice every day. 
 
Photo: Pe3check/Depositphotos
 
Why is it so popular?
 
Users rate the apps’ variety of teaching methods, clear structure and stylish interface. The app also gets positive reviews for the speed at which learners start to pick up new words.
 
The Local reader Robert Tennet said that the app is recently “much improved with the 'skip a level' option” which allows users start learning at a level matched to their ability, rather than automatically having to start at the beginning.
 
One user wrote “what an addictive, supportive and fun way to learn. In three days of about 20 minutes my vocabulary was easily over 100 words and I found myself translating food items.”  
 
Another user also appreciated the apps's approach to teaching vocabulary.
 
“Duolingo adds new words but they are integrated with repetitions of previously studied words. This keeps everything fresh and keeps the language alive, even if you are starting from nothing.” 
 
“It’s great to learn a language at a pace I can choose and not have to force myself to enjoy, I actually want to learn!”
 
Other readers cited the fact that the app is free to use as a huge benefit, although reader Ken Stern feels that the opportunity to make in-app purchases means that the “app has gotten way worse during the last year” due to its refusal to “sell a subscription instead of constantly stopping your progress to 'buy' more time.” 

 
Were any other apps recommended?
 
Busuu, Babbel, Memrise and Frantastique were also popular for learning grammar and vocabulary.
 
For more specific skills, SayHi Translate, an app which translates directly as you speak, got a mention for helping with “fast communication” as did La Conjugaison for quick reference, searchable verb tables. 
 
If you would like to ask The Local's readers a question to hear their tips on life in France, email us at [email protected].
 
READ ALSO:

Decoding the French: Eight YouTube channels to help explain life in France

Member comments

  1. Yeah Right Duolingo is the Best App for French Language Learning…
    Some how I Also Recommend a French Language course By Virginie She’s a French Language Expert and Also have French Immersion Courses in Different Cities and Online..

    Regards:
    Learn French Online

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HOLIDAYS

Readers’ tips: How to get the most out of a holiday in Denmark

We asked our readers for tips on how to save money when holidaying in Denmark and for some of the best things to do. This is what they said.

Published: 2 July 2020 12:16 CEST
Readers' tips: How to get the most out of a holiday in Denmark
The ferry to Anholt, the far-flung island in the middle of the Kattegat Sea is free for foot passengers and cyclists. Photo: Visit Anholt
HOW TO SAVE MONEY
 
Take advantage of the cheap train tickets
 
Fabrizio, from Italy, recommends the Rejsepas (travel pass) from the Danish train company DSB, which gives holders a week's totally free public transport across the whole of Denmark from June 27th until August 9th, and only costs 299 kroner. It's an incredible deal, so incredible in fact that all 50,000 tickets were quickly snapped up this year. If you missed it, you'll have to wait until next year. 
 
But you can still get so-called 'orange tickets', which are on sale for a maximum of 99 Danish kroner, which is also a pretty good deal. 
 
Nadine Morgan says it's important to book train tickets in advance, as they are then much cheaper than on the day. 
 
Take advantage of the free ferries 
 
As part of the government's “summer package”, pedestrians and cyclists travelling to Denmark's smaller islands, as well as to Fanø, Læsø, Ærø and Samsø in August and September can travel for free, points out Martin, a Danish reader.
 
There are also reduced prices on all ferries for cars, and reduced prices on the ferry to Bornholm. 
 
 
Go camping 
 
Vanessa Lima, from Brazil, recommends camping wild on some of Denmark's less frequented beaches. “Just find a place to camp there and spend few days with nature,” she says. 
 
Don't eat in restaurants too much 
 
Denmark's restaurants are some of the most expensive in the world, so a great way to save costs is to buy food in supermarkets and cook it yourself. “You don't necessarily need to eat out at every restaurant for every meal, so consider packing or making your own meals. Food costs go a long way,” Morgan says. 
 
Marta, from Poland, agrees, adding that you can save a lot of money by having barbecues while camping. 
 
Take advantage of the summer freebies in cities. 
 
“There are plenty of free things to do in Copenhagen. And until the middle of August a lot of museums are half price,” says the British travel blogger Karen Smedley. “The harbour bus is great for sightseeing, as is walking around the capital and admiring the architecture. There are plenty of lovely parks, especially the deer park, which are all free.”
 
Use student discounts
 
One Hungarian international student recommends take advantage of the thousands of student discounts on offer in Denmark, many of which relate to things you'd like to do on holiday. The train company DSB offers 25 percent discounts for students, and the student website Studenterguiden, has a whole section devoted to them, with discounts to most museums, and many theatres. 
 
 
WHERE TO GO
 
The smaller islands
 
Morgan thinks Rømø Strand is Denmark's best beach. It's such a unique beach where you can drive for a few kilometres on the beach itself and enjoy the low tide of the water, and then when high tide comes, you have to hurry out. It's great because you can stay there for hours, it's family friendly, and its really beautiful with soft sand and seashells and few crabs walking around.” 
 
Allegra De María, from Italy, also recommends Denmark's “smaller islands”, as the best places to get away from it all. You can check out a list here at the Visit Denmark website.  
 
Beaches between Aarhus and Skagen 
 
Lima recommends travelling a little south down the coast towards Aarhus from the most popular areas around Skagen. “Not too close to Skagen or Aarhus, [the beaches are] usually good places to enjoy nature.
 
Enjoy the parks around Copenhagen 
 
Morgan is a big fan of the Dyrehaven, or Deer Park in Klampenborg north of Copenhagen.
 
“Dyrehaven is really beautiful and its my favourite park in Denmark that I have visited so far. I arrived there the first time on a fall [autumn] morning and they sky was clear blue and the air was brisk, and the colour of the leaves were a perfect beautiful orange and brown and there were deers roaming all over the park. It's a beautiful walk in the park and you can bring a picnic and sit there and enjoy nature.” 
 
Megan Miller, from Scotland, recommends bicycling around Copenhagen's Amager island to Dragør, the prosperous 19th century sea-faring town south of Copenhagen. 
 
Day trips to sea near Copenhagen 
 
Maria Andrianova, a tour guide from Russia, recommends the chalk cliffs at Stevns Klint, a UNESCO site with a great sea view. “I was quite impressed to learn that a part of the church fell down onto the seashore in 1928. The island of Møn has a very similar breathtaking landscape, but Stevns Klint is closer to Copenhagen”.
 
“I am also a big fan of Bellevue Beach near Klampenborg station – especially because of all the history and architecture behind it,” she says. “The small lifeguard towers on the beach were designed in the 1930s by famous Arne Jacobsen, and there are a whole bunch of great buildings also designed by him just next to the beach (like the Bellevue Theatre, Bellavista Housing Estate, and Skovshoved Petrol Station).
 
 
Visit Denmark's excellent open air museums
 
Morgan is also a fan of Den Gamle By [the old city] in Aarhus and the Frilandsmuseet in Lyngby, both of which showcase Danish architecture of different periods and try to recreate how life has changed across the centuries. 
 
“In Den Gamle By, you get to go inside a pretty big area where it feels more like a city or small town, and you get to go into all of the houses that were imported from different parts of denmark and placed there and rebuilt to their original state, and also travel through time the further you progress into the open-air museum.” 
 
 
 
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