Reviews for LingQ - Language Learning

Decent idea, execution lacking, bugs. Started using the app and within a few minutes had reached the limit of 20 "LinQs" (saved vocabulary words) allowed in the non-pay version. They should probably allow a hundred or so (using a flashcards app, I had saved about 100 new words in two weeks, an appropriate time to test an app). Anyway, I figured "fine, I'll delete some LinQs"... I deleted 9 so 11 were left. But the counter still said I had 17 AND still wouldn't let me continue without premium!

It's ok but has glitches. The concept of having to save a certain number of words to maintain your streak isn't such a great idea, imho. It's ok at first, but eventually you'll have days when you quickly mass-save page-fulls of words (cheat) just to get your streak when you don't have the time or energy to do it properly. They should make it *time-based* instead. Sometimes I just need to review! It's the streak nonsense that killed my interest in this app.

Incredible way to learn a language. Sleezy subscription requirements. They allow access to some "premium" features (sentence translation to name one) for about 3 days or 5 lessons (not sure which) to make it seem like it's actually possible to learn a full language for free using this app, but then they lock it behind a subscription. They don't notify you at all. I don't blame them for wanting a subscription, it's a fantastic application and concept. Very sleezy way to do it though.

False advertising. This app is in no way free as the description states. You can download and use it for about three minutes before you get hit with a paywall. What makes it worse is that it's not just an app you can buy once and own it... No, it's a monthly subscription that's about ten times more expensive than it should be. There's a free program called "Learning with texts" that does the same thing as thing as this app but is 100% free.

I started using this after Duolingo and this taught me more in ~6 months than Duolingo did in 3 years. By giving you short stories and news articles instead of a planned curriculum it teaches you the most common words (pronouns, prepositions, etc.) first which allows you to form sentences of your own much quicker. I really wish they had Celtic languages, though. I'd love to learn Irish or Welsh. Overall I would totally recommend this app.

The app is great for immersive learning. I find myself using it more than the other apps I work with. Very entertaining way to learn. Main problem is the robot voice doesn't always pronounce words correctly and this can lead to bad habits. It's okay because in the lessons you can listen to it being spoken by real people but during the quizzes you only get the robot voice. It would be nice if they had an option to snip the audio from the real voices for the tests.

I have found LingQ to be very effective for my language study for three reasons. First and foremost is the "known words" estimate for each article. I can always find a piece of media that is in the learning sweet spot in terms of new word percentage. Second, the large library of articles with audio enables my effective immersion. Finally, the ability to import a wide variety of material I'm interested in. LingQ has definitely been worth the price!

The app is pretty good, but the streak thing is annoying. I use other tools to study in addition to this, and I don't like feeling compelled to log in and do a few minutes in the app to "keep the streak going." I would rather be able notate that I worked on something, or disable it altogether. I can spend a couple hours watching shows in my target language while taking notes and looking up words, but the app doesn't know that. It's just annoying and it can be discouraging.

Wasn't great at partitioning words in Japanese, which I wasn't able to know until after paying for a month of premium. Unreasonably difficult to cancel subscription. Couldn't find any way to cancel from the app, so I had to do it from a web browser. Then they redirect you to a promotion page 5 or 6 times to try to keep you from canceling even after you keep clicking "cancel". I might have given the app another chance with a different language in the future, but I'm turned off by this experience

For me, this is the most convenient way to go through a lot of content. This app makes it so easy to learn new words and frases. Depending on what you upload, you can learn with audio, video, or text. There is also a spaced repetition flash card system to help you review. Unlike many apps, you can get the translation of individual frases, not just single words. You can also keep track of your progress and learning goals.

I find its "proper" use difficult to figure out. Why highlight the words? so they can be used in the app's Anki-like spaced repetition system? Are 5 levels of "knowing" a word (in addition to a not "knowing level") really useful? The tutorial is pretty much only "here is how you do this" but essentially no explanation is given for *why* I would want to do that. It seems to have a lot of language sources, and it is pretty handy to be able to look up a word right there.

I NEVER write reviews for language programs. because 9/10 suck. I tried everything from duo lingo to Bussi and then some. this is the first program that makes me feel like I can potentially learn a new language. instead of just repeating the same garbage, lesson after lesson. the first lesson was a story and not only did I read it and understand it. the words I may have not fully understood, are saved and utilized in future lessons. this program should just monopolize this type of platform.

I pay for the premium version of the app and the most recent update really tanked my desire to use it. I updated this review from 2 stars to 3. I must commend the developers on the rapid response to the criticism of the new update and they have fixed a lot of the issues. My biggest gripe is still with the color of the Lingqs. They updated so it is easier to see but the green still looks bad and does not match the browser version of LingQ. Please give us the option for yellow, at least.

I'll change my review to 5 stars once we get the ability to change the color of lingqs. They used to be yellow, and were very easy to see in dark mode. Now they are green, which makes them very difficult to see in dark mode. Additionally when a word at the bottom of the page is selected, the pop up box that shows the definition now clips off of the bottom of the screen, making it nearly useless. There were no problems before this horrible update.

I tried the free version, then sub'd. Changes I would like, being able to pin just the lessons that I want, putting them all in the same place, creating your own curriculum. I have only been able to pin the different categories, not individual lessons, so far. For Chinese, a setting to turn off the pinyin for known words, while still being able to see the pinyin for unknown words. Should still be able to toggle on and off for individual words if needed. Thanks!

Maybe the best language app I've come across. **I'm changing my review from 5 stars to 3 stars because the new UI is SO BAD. Like who greenlighted this? Why change the color scheme from yellow and blue to blue and "bluish green"? Why make it so the pop up when you click on a word doesn't pop up in the middle of the screen but cut off on the side/top/bottom? And now you have to expand the pop up to change your level and the pop up doesn't go away when you mark a word as known? Revert!

premium is required for most basic features. service is very expensive, not a good deal at all, just a money grab. i could never justify spending that much when there are so many free resources available. beginner lessons are more like intermediate and very repetitive. Cannot change native language, it automatically defaults to system settings, and dictionary language only helps so much to change native language experience. - -

I was excited to try this app today but was dissapointed to find that the usability for free users is limited even more than it is said to be. free users are suppose to be able to save 20 words, even after unsaving every word in each category I was not able to click on any words for the translation or pronunciation, the only feature I can use now is having the entire story read aloud. it's not enticing me to want to pay for a subscription if I'm already having such big technical issues

The app has really helped me understand the Spanish I hear and read. I took a star away because it started using an American accent on many individual words when studying vocabulary. The sentences still have a Spanish accent thankfully. So I'm finding that vocabulary practice is becoming useless for me because I don't want to hear the wrong pronunciation over and over.

Edit: the app is back to being usable again, which is good. I'd give it five stars if there was better sorting of the numbered collections. There isn't a way to sort mini-stories numerically from 1 to the maximum, for example. The main functionality of the app is great, though. It's one of the best ways to learn both reading and pronunciation of a new language IMO.