When travelling, the ability to speak even a few basic words and phrases of the local language can go a long way to opening doors. At the same time, it shows a degree of respect for the history and culture of the area you’re visiting.
Thankfully, these days there’s really no excuse for the old ‘point and speak loudly’ method. Smartphones have revolutionised language learning, with literally thousands of language learning apps out there vying for your attention.
We tend to stick to a few reliable favourites, which have proven invaluable during our travels. These apps helped us try our hand at everything from Russian to Arabic, and Georgian to Portuguese – with varying levels of success. From Duolingo to Google Translate, here are our top 6 apps for language learning on your travels.
1: Duolingo
Best for: Fitting language learning around busy lifestyles – the perfect app for a quick 5 minutes on your commute!
Cost: Free, with a paid option to remove ads and have unlimited learning.
Duolingo is easily one of the most popular language learning apps out there. Indeed, it boasts that more Americans are learning a language using the app than in US schools.
All the major languages are represented, and the user interface is delightful to navigate. Duolingo prides itself on its simplicity and doesn’t disappoint. It’s even started adding grammar & learning notes to its various ‘stages’ to help you get to grips with the formal structures of the languages.
In 2024, Duolingo continues to be our go-to app for picking up a basic understanding of a language before travelling somewhere. We think their premium version is worth the investment, as it allows for unlimited mistakes and gives a little extra boost of motivation.
The only downside to Duolingo for travellers is that the app is structured like a course, rather than a quick reference. This means that it’s less useful once you’re actually travelling, since you can’t simply jump to a phrase or word. However, for building up your knowledge before your trip, there aren’t many better options – Duolingo really does make language learning fun and accessible to all.
2: Google Translate
Best for: Quick and easy translations whilst you’re on the move.
Cost: Free
Google Translate is our go-to app when we need to know a word or phrase fast. With translation software which is constantly learning and improving, this is, without doubt, the most popular language tool out there at the moment.
It won’t necessarily help you learn the language. However, it can certainly prove invaluable when you get to a restaurant and discover you’ve forgotten all that Spanish you’ve been practising on Duolingo.
In 2024, Google Translate’s abilities continue to amaze us. Even the text-to-speech functionality works most of the time, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for interacting with locals when on your travels.
3: Memrise
Best for: Intuitive, in-depth language learning – possibly the best vocabulary trainer out there.
Cost: Free, with a paid option.
Memrise has done a great job of building a language learning app, where much of the material is sourced from users themselves. Through a combination of flashcard-style games and audio clips from native speakers, Memrise will guide you through structured learning journeys in over 20 major languages.
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4: Any App by Robert Theis
Best for: A comprehensive collection of key phrases, numbers and more. Each language has phonetic spelling and two-speed playback to help you pronounce correctly.
Cost: Free, with a paid option to remove ads.
Dig around on your app stores and you’ll find a collection of language apps by a gentleman called Robert Theis. Generally, these are titled ‘Russian Basic’ or ‘Serbian Basic’ etc etc. They seem to focus on less mainstream languages than many of the other apps on this list.
There could be a reason for this, as nestled in among the usual ‘thank you’ and ‘good morning’, you’ll also find comprehensive lists of military phrases such as ‘put your weapon down’ and ‘don’t shoot!’. It appears these apps were developed for people visiting unstable areas of the world. However, I’ve found it to be one of my go-to apps for its simplicity and wealth of key phrases.
I am, however, thankful that the Russian border guard who asked to look through my phone when entering Kaliningrad stopped short of opening up an app whose second phrase from the top is ‘Stop or I will shoot!’
5: Tiny Cards
Best for: Flashcard-style vocab training
Cost: Free
Tiny Cards is an off-shoot of Duolingo, benefiting from its parent app’s wonderfully simple user interface. It provides travellers with a great way to learn vocabulary whilst on the go. The nifty thing about Tiny Cards is that you can link it into your learning journey on Duolingo, to really double up on your efforts.
Unfortunately, in 2024, Duolingo seems to have pulled the plug on Tinycards. We think this is a huge shame, as there aren’t really any great alternatives out there. If we find one, we’ll add it to this post.
6: TripLingo
Best for: A comprehensive bank of phrases for all major destinations
Cost: Free
TripLingo is a marvellous app for travellers. It has a great collection of all the most useful words and phrases you could possibly need, packaged up into an easy-to-navigate interface. It even provides voice translation and culture tips, particularly useful when travelling to a country or area for the very first time.
Like Tinycards, Triplingo has also closed down. Again, we think this is a big shame, as it was one of the better language learning apps out there.
Of course, there are far more apps out there for travellers looking to brush up on their language skills. The likes of Babbel and iTranslate spring to mind – but this list is definitely the ones we’ve found most useful whilst journeying through Europe and beyond. We tend to have all of them installed, mixing and matching depending on whether we’re prepping for a trip or bang in the middle of it.
If you have any other great language apps which you’ve found useful, please do leave a comment – the more the merrier.
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Last updated: February 2024
These look like winning apps guys. Well done.
Thanks Ryan, they certainly do the trick for us!
We’ve used Google translate frequently, however these other Apps look like they would be so useful when travelling. The locals are much friendlier if you at least try to speak some of their language, don’t they?
Yes Google Translate is always a winner whenever we’re out and about – hard to beat it when you just need a quick word or two.
Definitely goes down well with the locals! Especially if it’s somewhere where they wouldn’t expect many/any English speakers to know the local language – always a big plus.
The apps you mentioned were good and free. If anyone has some
money to spend and a month or two before their trip, Pimsleur is a good bet too.
I may reference this post in my next post about visiting non English speaking countries.
Absolutely, we’d love that! Hope you found it useful!
Oh I did. I use Duolingo to learn German. I didn’t know about a few others.
Brilliant – Duolingo is probably still our go to. A great platform for learning on the go.