Learning a foreign language online has quickly become one of the most efficient and convenient ways to become fluent in a foreign language. Many of the free internet language services and courses, which had been around for years, experienced a significant boost during the pandemic as more and more people decided that this was the time to finally study a foreign language.

For a long time, learning a second language either needed expensive classes, an instructor, or immersion in a foreign place. All of those ways can be fairly costly and time-consuming. However, the development of cellphones and the Internet has made learning a foreign language easier than before. There is an abundance of free online language courses available that may help you learn how to read, write, and converse in foreign languages.

While there are many different free online language courses to choose from, we’ve selected some of our favorites for our ranking below. The ones we chose were based on their ease of use, the variety of languages taught, and their overall reception among their users. Also see 10 Free Online Graphic Design Courses in 2024

List 10 Free online language courses

1. Anki

Anki is an intelligent flashcard program with a variety of purposes that is based on one of the most reliable methods of language acquisition. Learning a new language is one of the most popular uses for Anki among its users. Anki users can study their flashcards on multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, and iPhone/Android. It is also possible to synchronize your progress via the AnkiWeb service. It’s simple to study on your smartphone throughout your commute and then finish up at the end of the day using your laptop.

Anki is an extremely versatile platform that allows you to create and download flashcards created by other people. If you want to learn a new language but prefer a more traditional approach, the Anki flashcard platform could be the ideal option for you. Anki already offers a big collection of existing flash card sets that can be downloaded for free. These flashcard sets include a variety of languages and topics. As an open-source project, Anki features a variety of user-created customizations to enable you personalize the experience to your preferences.

We like Anki for its simplicity and its dedication to openness. If you are looking for a free flashcard system to help aid in your learning of a foreign language, we highly recommend that you check out Anki.

Summary

• An open-source flash card system.
• Available across all devices.
• Progress can be synced via the AnkiWeb service.
• Open source and highly configurable.

2. Busuu

Offered by Chegg, Busuu is a great free online language course app. Available on the web as well as Android and Apple devices, Busuu users can study a number of different languages. Languages in the Busuu platform include Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Dutch, and many others. Busuu has been a very successful language platform with over 120 million users since its creation. Busuu has been used by Uber, DHL, Puma, and many other major companies. What separates Busuu from other language learning courses and language learning applications is that it leverages the use of live lessons to help teach users.

Users of the Busuu platform can participate in live language courses that allow them to interact directly with one another and their instructors. This authentic back-and-forth allows users to hone their skills and become more comfortable with their language abilities. Busuu also offers various bite-sized lessons that you can complete on your own time. The entire experience is guided by a carefully designed lesson plan that has been refined over time to ensure its efficacy. Busuu also has substantial community features.

Busuu is a great free online language course as it includes a lot of live lessons, something that most of the other programs don’t include. Working directly with an instructor to develop your language skills is a great way to develop language skills.

Summary

• Free trial
• Uses live lessons to learn
• Over a dozen languages supported
• Android/iOS devices.

3. Babbel

Babbel is a language learning service designed to be used on your smartphone. A subscriptseeession-based service, Babbel does offer a very generous free trial that allows you to begin your journey with the service and figure out if it is for you. Babbel covers over a dozen different languages including Spanish, French, German, Italian, and more. Babbel is made up of quick lessons, live online classes, and podcasts that help you to learn a new language very quickly. The app is also filled with games and videos designed to help you to continue your language-learning journey.

While not entirely free, the trial for the Babbel app should definitely give you a feel for whether or not the application is right for you and whether or not you would like to subscribe to the service. The service is offered in a few different subscription models, but can be accessed for as little as $6.99/month. While not $0/month, this low price does give you access to what is widely regarded as one of the best subscription services for learning a new language. And if that is too much for you, Babbel frequently runs promotions where they reduce the subscription price even further.

Babbel is a great service for those who are looking for a very polished service that utilizes different media formats to help you learn a new language. The service is offered as a free trial, but to continue learning on the platform a small subscription fee is required.

Summary

• App-based for your smartphone
• Covers over a dozen languages
• Free trial, but does require a subscription to continue

4. Duolingo

During the pandemic, Duolingo, one of the most well-known names in online language learning, exploded in popularity. Duolingo, available on iPhone and Android, is one of the most popular free online language learning systems. The free Duolingo program is ad-supported and limits the amount of courses you can take in a single day using a points system. Duolingo Plus is offered for a modest cost. The subscription removes both the advertisements and makes the point system more generous allowing faster progression through the courses.

Duolingo has a variety of language packs to pick from, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, and others. Duolingo users learn the language through a game-based approach that involves a range of questions and quizzes. These tests comprise typing, listening, and speaking tests. One of Duolingo’s main features is the range of exercises used to help users learn how to speak a new language. Duolingo also includes a friends list and leaderboard, so you can see how you compare to your friends as you move through your lessons.

Duolingo is one of the most popular free online learning resources, and for good reason. It has a great feature set and has perfected making language learning enjoyable. We highly encourage checking out Duolingo

Summary

Offered in a free ad-supported model

Subscription available to remove ads

Available on iPhone and Android

5. Forvo

Forvo is a unique addition to this list of free online language classes. Forvo is not a traditional language course, but rather a tool that teaches you how to properly pronounce different words in different languages. This is one of the features that many online language classes lack. While many people learn to read and write in a specific language through online language classes, they may overlook the nuances of good speaking and pronunciation.

Learning how to pronounce words in different languages is very easy with Forvo. With just ten minutes a day, Forvo progresses you through a course designed to teach you how to speak a language. Each day Forvo generates a list of about twenty words for the user to learn. Users will go through exercises that teach them how to pronounce the words and when to use them. They will learn their meanings and the context for that word. Forvo features a very extensive list of languages to learn how to pronounce.

We like Forvo because it focuses on teaching how to speak a particular language. While some of the other courses focus primarily on reading and writing, Forvo hones in on how to properly pronounce the words you are learning.

Summary

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6. Byki Mobile

Byki Mobile is an excellent free online language course application. Byki Mobile provides a free trial of a whole language course for only $7.99. This is the cost of some applications’ monthly subscription fees. While not fully free, this is one of the lowest-cost language classes available online. Byki Mobile provides an easy way to study and practice your language abilities on the go. Byki’s three-step process helps pupils learn a new language.

Byki Mobile works by using a series of brief lessons and a flash card approach. Using these two sorts of learning approaches, Byki Mobile has been shown to help users learn a new language quickly. Byki also has a pronunciation option that slows down the spoken of words to help you grasp the appropriate way to pronounce the words you’re learning. You can also instantly review previous lectures. This allows you to keep what you are learning fresh and in your memory. Byki Mobile provides three vocabulary lists for free and charges a premium to access the rest.

We like Byki Mobile because it is free to try out and then has a very low cost to access the entirety of a language pack. Many of the other services that cost money cost substantially more than Byki Mobile.

Summary

• Free to try up to three vocabulary lists
• Just $7.99 for an entire language pack
• Available on iOS devices

7. Clozemaster

Clozemaster is a free online language education that uses gamification to keep users interested with the platform. Clozemaster is a free language learning site that uses the cloze test approach, which requires you to replace a missing language piece. Clozemaster focuses on teaching the meaning of words in the context in which they will appear. Rather of studying words on flashcards, Clozemaster educates by demonstrating how a word will be used and where to find it.

Clozemaster is available in over fifty languages and supports more than 170 language combinations. While many of the platforms focus on translating English to another language or another language to English language,Clozemaster offers pairings between many different languages.
Clozemaster is free to register and use. There is a Clozemaster Pro subscription available, however it only provides more statistics regarding your learning. The actual classes are absolutely free and open to anyone who wants to create an account.

Clozemaster uses a leaderboard system and ratings to show users how they compare to others. This makes the learning process more exciting and enjoyable because you may directly compete with others as you progress through the course. What we enjoy best about Clozemaster is that all of its content is available to people who have free accounts. While all of the online language classes on this list contain a free component, several of the courses have their more advanced courses behind a paywall. Clozemaster’s lessons are all free.

What we like most about Clozemaster is that all of its content is accessible to those with free accounts. While all of the online language courses on this list include a free component, some of the courses have their more advanced courses behind a paywall. Clozemaster’s lessons are all free.

Summary

• All lessons are free
• Uses a gamified model to make learning more fun
• Supports over 50 languages and over 170 language pairings

8. Readlang

Readlang is a very interesting online language learning tool that you can get started using for free. The way that Readlang works is that it is an extension for most browsers that will actively translate your web pages to provide you with an immersive learning experience where you can see the content you like to read in a different language. Currently, Readlang supports over forty different languages to choose from. Learn Spanish, German, French, Russian and more as you browse the web during your normal day to day routine.

As you use Readlang, it will work to translate more and more of the web pages you are visiting. This will slowly have you acclimate to reading entirely in a new language. You can scroll over words to see their meaning and have them change back to you native language. Readlang is supported by most browsers and is also available as an application on Android and iPhone. This free online language learning tool is an incredibly powerful addition to any new language learners toolbox.

We like Readlang as it can be user very flexibly across a number of devices and allows you to engage with content that you already enjoy reading. We’ve found that it is much easier to stick with a free online language learning tool when it is using content that you are actually interested in learning to read.

Summary

• Trial is free
• Translates web content that you already are reading
• Available in-browser as well as on mobile devices

9. Memride

One of the more well-known free online language learning resources is Memrise. Memrise is one of the better online resources for language learning; it is available for free and offers premium capabilities only with a subscription. Memrise is an in-browser and Android/iPhone application that teaches you a new language through games, flashcards, and quizzes. Currently, Memrise supports 23 distinct languages to pick from. You can choose to have Memrise concentrate on teaching you a language for travel, which is one of its best advantages. This helps to center your courses around the necessities for traveling to another nation.

Memrise has currently over 60 million learners that use the program. It is simple to switch between languages while working on the platform because enrollment grants you access to all of the languages on a single account. Memrise says that it i twice as fast as learning a language in a classroom setting. They use tried-and-true memorizing strategies to make learning a new language quick. While using Memrise is free to begin with, users must register in order to continue using the service. Memrise frequently conducts promos, making it simple to get a subscription at a drastically discounted price.

We love Memrise because of its customization and focus on goal-oriented learning. When setting up your account you can choose your goals for why you are learning a language and the lessons will be tailored to help you reach your goals.

Summary

• Available on all platforms
• Free trial
• Suppoorts 23 languages

10. LingQ

LingQ is one of the free online language learning sites out there. Covering over a dozen different languages, LingQ works by importing the content that you like from news sites and other places and translating them into a different language. This immersive way of learning a new language has you interact with content that you love to read in a new language that you are learning. This approach is very unique to some of the other approaches on this list.

LingQ is a subscription service that offers a free trial for you to get started with. You can choose from a number of different topics including entertainment, food, politics, business, podcasts, and more to get started. Within these topics you’ll find translated content meant to help you learn a new language in a very practical manner. By interacting with content you like, you are more likely to stay engaged in the learning process and retain more of the information you are learning.

We like LingQ for its practical approach to language learning. Rather than focusing on lessons in a vacuum, LingQ has you engage with the content you already like as a means to learn a new language.

Summary

• Free trial
• Covers over a dozen different languages
• Teaches through translation of content you already enjoy to read