Lessons for lockdown: five language apps to help you get the most from your next trip

Learn the language of the next country you plan on visiting, using one of these apps, while you plot your trip and wait for international travel to resume

These five language learning apps can help you pick up the essentials through your smartphone

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Use a language app to get more out of your next holiday. You can learn through your smartphone while you’re stuck at home. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:15pm, 27 Jul 2020Updated: 7:20pm, 27 Jul 2020

Being able to speak at least a few sentences in the local language will make a huge difference to almost every aspect of a travel experience.

Not only will it help ensure you don’t eat snake head soup when you expected lamb chops, it will also help you to avoid being overcharged and other potentially sticky situations, and can open up a new world of cultural understanding, communication and acceptance by local people.

Long gone are the days of night classes and cassette tape courses. Thanks to the digital era and our mobile devices, learning a new language is now literally at your fingertips. From basic translation apps to full-on interactive language courses, and even social media chat-based learning, you can find them all in the app stores. Unlike regular classes, these apps allow you to choose how much you want to learn and when you want to learn it.

You can try most of these apps free of charge, and within hours of signing up you will be offered substantial discounts on their stated monthly fees.

Rosetta Stone offers 25 languages and costs from US$11.99 a month.

1. Rosetta Stone

Android, iOS and desktop. Fees are US$11.99 per month for a single language, US$14.99 monthly for multiple languages (if paid annually); 25 languages available (including Mandarin Chinese).