Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
User avatar
Soclydeza
Orange Belt
Posts: 249
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:36 pm
Location: United States
Languages: English (N)

Actively Studying:
German (B2)
Italian (False beginner)
Norwegian (Beginner)

Dormant:
French (Lower intermediate)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9066
x 530

Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby Soclydeza » Thu Jan 21, 2016 5:50 am

I've come across a few sites/app like these and wanted to hear opinions from anyone that's used them and also others like them. I've played with Readlang, which is great, and am thinking about getting the premium membership, but I want to know what others I should look at before I settle one into my routine. Any thoughts?
2 x
END OF YEAR
: 108 / 108 Babbel Italian (Beginner)
: 47 / 47 Babbel Italian (Intermediate)

CONTINUOUS
: 27 / 100 Assimil Italian

Tomás
Blue Belt
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:48 pm
Languages: English (N). Currently studying Spanish (intermediate), French (false beginner).
x 661

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby Tomás » Thu Jan 21, 2016 4:07 pm

LWT is the open source analogue of those programs: http://lwt.sourceforge.net/

I use Readlang.
2 x

User avatar
Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=11484
x 5821
Contact:

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby Brun Ugle » Thu Jan 21, 2016 5:33 pm

BliuBliu is nice for beginners , but a lot of languages are still in beta.
2 x

User avatar
Serpent
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3657
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:54 am
Location: Moskova
Languages: heritage
Russian (native); Belarusian, Polish

fluent or close: Finnish (certified C1), English; Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian
learning: Croatian+, Ukrainian; Romanian, Galician; Danish, Swedish; Estonian
exploring: Latin, Karelian, Catalan, Dutch, Czech, Latvian
x 5179
Contact:

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby Serpent » Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:42 pm

In terms of ethics, the founder of LingQ got banned from old HTLAL twice, and the lingQ forum automatically replaces the letters lwt with asterisks.
Whereas the folks from ReadLang and LWT have been great at interacting with the HTLAL community.

I'm not saying that any member is obliged to take this into account, just stating the facts :)
13 x
LyricsTraining now has Finnish and Polish :)
Corrections welcome

Online
User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:17 pm

Soclydeza wrote:I've come across a few sites/app like these and wanted to hear opinions from anyone that's used them and also others like them. I've played with Readlang, which is great, and am thinking about getting the premium membership, but I want to know what others I should look at before I settle one into my routine. Any thoughts?

I once used LingQ and now use LWT. I signed up for Readlang, but did not use it because of the limit on phrase translations.

LingQ: what LingQ can provide that LWT cannot provide.

A library of materials for several languages, varying in difficulty from beginner to intermediate to advanced. Some languages are better stocked with materials than others. Many of the materials are user provided.
Tutors for many, but not necessarily all, of the languages that LingQ offers, who can provide conversations and corrections of written texts for a price of payment in LingQ points, which cost an amount over and above the basic monthly fee of $10.
A running count of the words read.
You can sign up for a limited trial of LingQ. See here for LingQ's pricing structure. You can also follow for free LingQ's forums, which I would suggest anyone do who is thinking about paying LingQ money.
If you do sign up for LingQ, take care to not use a nickname or ID that you use on any other site. I also recommend using an email address devoted exclusively to LingQ.
As for using LingQ, nothing I say in this post should be construed in any way as a recommendation for signing up for LingQ. I use LWT, and if there were no LWT, I would use Readlang.

LWT: what LWT provides that LingQ does not provide

Nothing, but it's free.
Note that LWT does have a mobile app, but I have never tested it, so I don't know how well it works.

Also note that some folks find installing LWT to be very difficult if not impossible to do on their computers. I have installed LWT (NOT LingQ, as originally stated) on a Mac, a Linux box, and Windows free of problems, provided that I followed the installation instructions EXACTLY. See the site provided above by for help on installation.
You can also sign up for a free account of LWT at Benny Lewis' site. I tried Benny's version for a couple of weeks and found it flawless, but I preferred having LWT on my own machine.


Finally, as to the usefulness of the LWT method: I took my ability to read first French and then Spanish from the level of false beginner to probably a C1 level but at least a B2 level studying just an hour a day for 18 months (for each language) using no other method. At the same time, I took my understanding of spoken French and Spanish to about a B1 level. I did use the LingQ sms system for a while, found it a waste of my time, and quit. I jumped from LingQ to LWT after I finished French but while I was still studying Spanish and had started to work on Ancient Greek.

The only glitch I have in LWT is that I did a bulk load of over 900,000 Ancient Greek vocabulary items into LWT and thereby brought LWT's backup function to a halt. How I did that and how I manage backups devolves into technical gibberish, but a normal user is extremely unlikely to ever have over 900,000 lexical items (though I suppose a budding polyglot just might hit that limit after language 10 or 11: hard to say).

Bottom line: this line of study has been so successful for me that it surprises me that more people don't try it. And by "it" I refer to LWT, which I use and recommend, though this recommendation should be seen and without prejudice against Readlang.

Disclaimers: I am not and have never been affiliated in any way with the developer of LWT, with Benny Lewis, or with the developer of Readlang. My connection with LingQ was only as a customer from about December of 2009 to February of 2014.

Feel free to PM me with questions if you have any.

Edit to change LingQ to LWT as shown above.
Last edited by MorkTheFiddle on Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
18 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

Tomás
Blue Belt
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:48 pm
Languages: English (N). Currently studying Spanish (intermediate), French (false beginner).
x 661

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby Tomás » Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:45 pm

MorkTheFiddle wrote:If you do sign up for LingQ, take care to not use a nickname or ID that you use on any other site. I also recommend using an email address devoted exclusively to LingQ.


Pretty much all the for-profit language websites will spam you. I'd use a burner account for all of them.

But why do you suggest a different login for this one?
0 x

User avatar
smallwhite
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2386
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:55 am
Location: Hong Kong
Languages: Native: Cantonese;
Good: English, French, Spanish, Italian;
Mediocre: Mandarin, German, Swedish, Dutch.
.
x 4876

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby smallwhite » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:27 am

MorkTheFiddle wrote:Also note that some folks find installing LWT to be very difficult if not impossible to do on their computers. I have installed LingQ on a Mac, a Linux box, and Windows free of problems, provided that I followed the installation instructions EXACTLY.


I think you meant "LWT"?

- - -

The LingQ method works well for me, but I don't use it much, because to me it's just a pop-up dictionary plus SRS app, and I have my own favourite pop-up dictionary and SRS app. I usually only go to LingQ when I (1) lack transcripted recordings suitable for my level, or (2) don't have any better course or resource to work on, or (3) want some variety.
1 x
Dialang or it didn't happen.

Stefan
Green Belt
Posts: 379
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:59 pm
Location: Sweden
Languages: -
x 920
Contact:

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby Stefan » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:47 am

I find LWT useful and like it because it's free and open source so you can enhance it yourself. I've changed it so I can import a text automatically by pressing two buttons and I included the API from Google Translate (from the version mentioned below).

There hasn't been a lot of improvements since september 2014 so someone forked it and began a new version. I'm no stranger to beta software but in this case I continued to use the original version because you never know how new projects will develop. Today I might have made a different decision considering it's 1.5 years later and still getting new features. It might be worth switching just to get the feature that remembers where you stopped reading - extremely useful when adding a whole book chapter and reading it over several sessions. Here's a demo site.

I don't know if it's better or worse than the alternatives.
6 x

Online
User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:05 am

smallwhite wrote:
MorkTheFiddle wrote:Also note that some folks find installing LWT to be very difficult if not impossible to do on their computers. I have installed LingQ on a Mac, a Linux box, and Windows free of problems, provided that I followed the installation instructions EXACTLY.


I think you meant "LWT"?


Yes, thanks. I have corrected that.
0 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

User avatar
language2015
Yellow Belt
Posts: 91
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2015 4:08 am
Languages: English (N) French (A0) Spanish (A0)
x 106

Re: Sites/Apps like Readlang, Lingq, Lingua.ly, etc.

Postby language2015 » Fri Jan 22, 2016 4:11 am

Serpent wrote:In terms of ethics, the founder of LingQ got banned from old HTLAL twice, and the lingQ forum automatically replaces the letters lwt with asterisks.
Whereas the folks from ReadLang and LWT have been great at interacting with the HTLAL community.

I'm not saying that any member is obliged to take this into account, just stating the facts :)


lol

Please explain why.

I need to know.
1 x
Why did I decide to become a polyglot when I knew I am a super lazy student?!?

Anki or Die

: 700 / 10000 Mine 10,000+ Spanish Sentences
: 700 / 10000 Mine 10,000+ French Sentences
: 80 / 10000 Anki All Of It


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests