Why invest in language courses when free mobile apps can teach you to speak fluent Polish?
Ah, Poland! This magnificent country, at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe, is rich in heritage and impressive history, with cities like Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk.
Learning Polish gives you the opportunity to discover these wonders and to gain a better understanding of local culture, customs and traditions. By mastering the language, you’ll be able to integrate easily into local society: nothing pleases a Polish person more than meeting a foreigner who speaks his or her language.
Rest assured, although Polish is one of the most difficult languages to learn, it’s not difficult to get started learning the basics. We’ve selected 6 apps for you to learn Polish, without breaking the bank on private lessons. All you need is your tablet or smartphone to start learning Polish.
1. Babbel
Our top/flop:
👍: its personalized learning
👎: the lack of a community
To learn Polish, you can trust Babbel. It’s one of the best language learning apps around. Its proven methods enable you to learn the basics or consolidate what you’ve already learned. Whether you’re a complete beginner or not, you’ll find what you’re looking for with this application.
With its playful interface, Babbel is gaining in popularity year after year. The application enables you to make rapid and effective progress in learning Polish grammar, vocabulary and conjugation. But above all, the application places great emphasis on comprehension and written and oral expression.
Thanks to its voice recognition system, you’ll be able to improve your pronunciation and accent – a great way to impress your future Polish friends or acquaintances! Whether you have a basic or advanced level of Polish, Babbel’s mission is to make you perfectly bilingual.
The only drawback is that, although Babbel is a very complete application, it does not come free. You’ll have to pay around €5 a month for a year’s subscription, or €7.5 a month for a 6-month subscription.
2. Mondly
Our top/flop:
👍: its very intuitive chatbot
👎 : its repetitive side
This Polish language learning application has been designed by Mondly. It lets you learn the basics of Polish in just a few minutes a day, thanks to little games: grammar and pronunciation, sentence formation, vocabulary and expressions to use in future discussions.
It features conversations recorded by native speakers, voice recognition to perfect your accent and statistics to track your progress. This application for learning Polish can be a good complement to other applications in this top list, to vary exercises and methods!
Prices range from €9. 99 for a month to €47. 99 for a year. The application also offers numerous deals throughout the year. Alternatively, you can opt for the « lifetime subscription » version, at €60, so you never have to spend another cent.
3. Memrise
Our top/flop:
👍: its user community
👎: its lack of diversity
Your vacation or stay in Poland is coming up! Memrise is the perfect application for learning Polish and developing your vocabulary. In fact, the application is a learning tool based on the use of vocabulary cards that you’ll need to memorize little by little by repeating them at certain intervals of time.
The user community enriches the database by creating new maps for you to use. Memrise is the perfect tool for learning Polish and its local words and expressions. Free of charge, this application is an excellent tool for beginners, or to accompany you on your Polish escapades!
If you want to take your training to the next level, a range of paid subscriptions is also available. A basic version is free. For advanced use, three subscriptions are also available: monthly($8.99), quarterly($18.99) and annual($45.99).
4. Busuu
Our top/flop:
👍: perfect for learning vocabulary
👎: the false hope of freemium
If you want to learn Polish and be sure of a warm welcome, Busuu is the app for you! It lets you learn Polish grammar, conjugation and vocabulary. The application offers you lessons just like at school, and you can even read dialogues in story format, or listen to audio documents to help you understand the phonetics of words.
Whether it’s about everyday life or more serious, professional subjects, Busuu is the ideal companion tool for Duolingo, even if intermediate learners can use it to perfect their skills.
The downside is a minor disappointment… Initially free for the first few lessons, the application then becomes a paying application! On the other hand, the application is quite economical, costing just €34. 99 per year for the premium version!
For the premium plus version, you’ll have to pay around €6.50 per month. But don’t worry, the application often offers attractive deals…
5. Duolingo
Photo credit: Apps.apple.com
Our top/flop:
👍: the app is 100% free
👎: the fun aspect is too present
Like Busuu and Babbel, Duolingo lets you learn all the basics of the Polish language: grammar, conjugation, vocabulary, comprehension and expression. For the moment, it’s only possible to learn from English, but soon it will be possible to learn Polish on Duolingo from French.
The application is a lot of fun, using modules in the form of mini-games and offering a system of progression and successes, with series to keep up. An essential asset for keeping up the pace and not giving up during the learning process!
6. Learn Polish 6,000 words
Photo credit: Playstore
Our top/flop:
👍: the method
👎: the lack of conjugation and grammar
Developed by FunEasyLearn, this application helps you develop your vocabulary. Divided into 3 levels, words and expressions are taught through fun games and exercises.
We recommend that you use this application to work on your Polish alongside Babbel, Duolingo or Busuu, which are much more comprehensive. Its only advantage is that it expands the number of words and expressions you know, and varies your learning methods to keep you motivated to learn Polish!