Discover Our Picks: The Best Free Languages Online - Choose From the Top 9

Why pay for expensive software when you can use dozens of language learning websites for free? These sites use lessons, videos, images, games, and interactions to help you learn a new language or brush up on an existing one, just as expensive programs do.

Dozens of languages are available through these resources, including Spanish, English, German, Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew, Chinese, and many others.

If you’re looking for a more interactive way to learn a new language, free language exchange programs allow you to practice with someone who actually knows the language.Translation sites , on the other hand, are good for one-off translations.

01

of 09

Duolingo

What We Like

• Great visual design and quality.
• Lots of languages available.
• Lessons include verbal responses to train pronunciation.

What We Don’t Like

• Not a lot to purchase with the custom currency.
• The website can be difficult to maneuver.

Duolingo is one of the best places for learning a new language for free. The website is clear and easy to grasp, there are tons of languages to pick from, and you’re incentivized to learn through a fake currency.

This free language learning site has several functions. There’s a_Learn_ section for starting with the basics (or you can jump ahead),Leaderboards to compete with other users, and_Quests_ to earn rewards. There are also monthly challenges to unlock exclusive badges and Duolingo for School that provides teachers with lessons and progress insights.

At any time, you can switch to a different language to start that course without losing your place in your current one.

Languages you can learn: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew, High Valyrian, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Klingon, Korean, Latin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Zulu

Visit Duolingo

02

of 09

Busuu

What We Like

• Initial placement tests that gauge your best starting level.
• Lessons are varied, well structured, and challenging.

What We Don’t Like

• Smaller selection of languages compared to similar sites.
• Free account doesn’t offer advanced grammar lessons, certificates, the ability to skip lessons, and other useful features.

Busuu includes beginner, elementary, intermediate, and advanced language learning lessons. You can skip to any lesson you want and easily monitor the progress of all of them from one page.

Like some of these other websites, this one encourages you to compete with others through Leagues. We also like the community features where you can connect with native speakers for feedback.

The courses at Busuu are unique. While you can learn in the traditional order, with the basics first, there are also specialized courses if you know what you’re after. For example, Spanish for Travel is designed specifically for people interested in learning important words and phrases for an upcoming trip.

There are lots of free lessons here, but you can also pay for more lessons, no ads, offline mode, native speaker feedback, and more.

Languages you can learn: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish

Visit Busuu

03

of 09

Memrise

What We Like

• Speak with an AI-powered language tutor.
• Most features are available for free.
• User-generated content in addition to official learning tools.
• Customization options, like choosing how many words and phrases to learn per session.

What We Don’t Like

• Some features require an expensive premium membership, although there is a lifetime option.
• User content may not be of consistent quality.

Memrise provides techniques for remembering every concept you run across. Some of these courses are provided by Memrise and others are created by users like you.

There’s a good handful of languages to pick from, and you can jump around to any course you want; you don’t have to follow a standard start-to-finish order. You collect points as you complete courses, and there’s a leaderboard for inspiration to keep learning and compete with other members.

You can also make groups on Memrise to study with friends, classmates, or other people you know.

Some options require a paid membership. You can pay a monthly, annual, or lifetime price depending on how long you plan to use it and how much you want to spend.

Languages you can learn: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Danish, Korean, English, Slovenian, Dutch, Mongolian, Spanish, French, Norwegian, Swedish, German, Polish, Turkish, Icelandic, Portuguese, Yoruba, Italian, Indonesian, Greek, Thai, Hindi, Hebrew, Ukrainian

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04

of 09

StudyStack

What We Like

• Community-created flashcards.
• Variety of games and puzzles.

What We Don’t Like

• User generated content might not always be accurate.

StudyStack is a simple language learning website that offers flashcards and other games to help you study a new language.

You can also learn a set of words through crossword puzzles, quizzes, matching, word scrambles, and other games. Since each game uses the same set of words, you can test yourself in numerous ways.

Languages you can learn: Arabic, Bengali, Bisaya, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh, Yiddish, and others

Visit StudyStack

05

of 09

123TeachMe

What We Like

• Registration isn’t required to start learning.
• Variety of Spanish lessons specific to situations or careers.
• Lessons and games for children.

What We Don’t Like

• Only lets you learn Spanish.
• Dated-looking site that isn’t super user friendly.
• Lots of ads.

123TeamMe lets you learn Spanish for free with games, quizzes, lessons, and audio files. There’s also a sentence maker, verb conjugator, and Spanish-English translator.

ASpanish placement test can tell you where you should start learning if you’re unsure.

There are lots of free language learning resources here, but if you want no ads and extra features, you can pay monthly or yearly to get the Premium Content package.

Languages you can learn: Spanish

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06

of 09

Mango Languages

What We Like

• Free in libraries and schools that offer the program.
• Useful cultural notes relating to current lessons being learned.
• Recommends specific movies as an additional resource.

What We Don’t Like

• No fun, game-like elements.
• Lessons can seem dull after a while.
• Common languages cost.

Mango Languages lets you learn a handful of languages for free, but to access more, you can either sign up through your local library or school (if they have a subscription to the website) or pay.

The website and mobile apps are simple to use, offering interactive lessons where you can listen to particular words of a sentence over and over until you get it right. With a microphone, you can test your pronunciation with a side-by-side comparison of your voice versus the one spoken in the lesson.

Languages you can learn: Arabic, Cherokee, Chaldean Aramaic, Pirate, Dzongkha, English, Ancient Greek, Hawaiian, Irish, Potawatomi, Scottish Gaelic, Tuvan, and others

Visit Mango Languages

07

of 09

FSI Languages Courses

What We Like

• Courses were used by the U.S. government for training.
• Languages are covered thoroughly.

What We Don’t Like

• Some content is outdated.
• Courses tend to be dry and uninspiring.

The resources at Foreign Services Institute (FSI) Languages Courses were developed by the U.S. government and are now freely available in the public domain. There are dozens of language learning courses here.

Everything on the website is ordered by unit, featuring an MP3 file for every tape within each unit. You can follow along with the audio tapes using the attached PDF files, and some of the units also include a workbook for practice.

Languages you can learn: French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Italian, Korean, Cambodian, Japanese, Portuguese, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, and several others

Visit FSI Languages Courses

08

of 09

LearnALanguage.com

What We Like

• Some lessons are offbeat and fun.
• Good for improving on a language you’ve already been introduced to.

What We Don’t Like

• Not as comprehensive as many language sites.
• Lesson content is inconsistent from language to language.
• Site design is outdated.

This website supports a good handful of languages, but it’s not nearly as comprehensive as the competition. Some languages only feature a list of basic words and phrases with pronunciation help, while others have full courses with flashcards, greetings, and more.

LearnALanguage.com is best for brushing up on basic and common words only after you have a good introductory feel for the language.

Languages you can learn: Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish

Visit LearnALanguage.com

09

of 09

MIT OpenCourseWare

What We Like

• Broader range of language-related courses.
• Useful if you want to expand your knowledge beyond basics.

What We Don’t Like

• Site’s content is somewhat difficult to navigate.
• Language resources are inconsistent.

MIT’s list of language courses isn’t well organized, making it difficult to identify resources. The website also doesn’t have a consistent set of lessons, which means some languages may have only audio files, others just PDFs, only videos for some, and maybe even assignments without answers.

Consider this resource if you’ve exhausted all the other websites in this list and are still looking to learn more about the few languages it supports. You can filter the results by level, such as high school or undergraduate, and by videos, textbooks, and other features.

Languages you can learn: Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, and others

Visit MIT OpenCourseWare

5 of Our Favorite Free Language Learning Apps of 2024

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