Lingvist Review: Useful App Concept But A Bit Monotonous

Lingvist

Pricing: $9.99 monthly, $199.99 once (lifetime subscription), $79.99 yearly

Positives

• Free to trial
• Well-designed and simple to use
• Progress monitoring
• Suitable for a range of languages and learners

Negatives

• Repetitive and monotonous

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Summary

A handy language and vocabulary builder tool that is ideal for learners of all levels.

Depth This is 'content' richness. How comprehensive is Lingvist and does it take you far in terms of levels, or is it more suited to low level/tourist learners?

Uniqueness Is Lingvist innovative or is it just an imitation? Does it have a unique selling proposition (USP) that makes it stand out among competitors?

Quality Overall product quality indicator that covers everything from video/dialogue clarity, authenticity, explanations, and effectiveness.

Cost Is Lingvist acceptably priced and how does its pricing compare to market competition?

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The Lingvist app, founded in 2013 by physicist Mait Müntel of CERN, promises efficient vocabulary learning to students of all levels.

But it has a couple of drawbacks, which I’ve described at the end of the post.

Features of Lingvist

Lingvist offers eight languages, including British English, American English, French, European Spanish and Latin American Spanish.

It boasts a ‘challenge’ section that focuses on grammatical quizzes, a thorough grammar tips section, and even a classroom section for teachers and students.

Setting goals and monitoring progress

Not only does the Lingvist app automatically set a goal to aim for in terms of the number of new words/cards to study, what makes it great is how it monitors your progress.

For instance, you can keep one eye on the number of words you have practiced and the other on your ‘correct repeats’, showing how you have progressed along the way.

As a C1 level Spanish student, I found all of these features encouraging; when using the app, you will feel as though you’re being challenged to increase your ‘best streak’ score the next day.

Vocabulary learning structure

Lingvist breaks down each vocabulary cluster into separate categories.

This makes it simple for students to chunk their learning and memorise new words with ease.

So, if you wanted to learn new vocabulary related to the human body, you’ve got a stack of 35 words that you can explore.

There are plenty more word categories like that, and you can even revisit them when you need to revise — which is what I used it for.

Level assessment

The cofounders of Lingvist were clearly aware that knowing your level when learning a language is important.

They provided a level assessment that’s quite accurate which works by giving you a set of short texts and asking you to fill in the blanks.

I found the level assessment an important part of the app.

I was able to use it as a basis for further study both within the app and beyond it, but note that the assessment has a heavy focus on vocabulary and less on grammar.

Drawbacks of the Lingvist app

Lingvist is a vocabulary app that might struggle to appeal to all learners.

It’s great for targeting all areas needed to master a language — speaking, listening, reading and writing, but if you’re a visual learner, it might not be ideal.

The level assessment you’ll go through at the beginning is also quite monotonous.

If you want to learn new vocabulary, I would recommend it (but also check out Memrise).

There are definitely better alternatives which you can find on the Language Resources page.

Have you used Lingvist before?

Share your thoughts below.

Try Lingvist

Pricing: $9.99 monthly, $199.99 once (lifetime subscription), $79.99 yearly

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