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Finding the perfect language learning app can feel like navigating a crowded marketplace. With countless options vying for your attention, each promising fluency at your fingertips, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
What I’ve realized over the last few years of studying languages is that the “best” app is often the one that best suits your learning style, language goals, and available time. And for those just starting their language journey, the search narrows slightly, focusing on apps that offer a gentle introduction to new sounds, vocabulary, and basic grammar.
Among the many contenders, especially in the beginner-friendly arena, is Ling. This app takes a bit of a different approach by offering a vast library of languages, including many that are often overlooked by more mainstream platforms.
I spent a few months using this app and ultimately came up with this review. By the end of this Ling app review, you’ll know what Ling app offers—its core features and benefits—and whether it could be the ideal companion for your first steps into a new language.
What is Ling App?
Ling came into the language learning scene in 2017, founded by Simya Solutions based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
What sets Ling apart from many of its competitors is its impressive roster of over 60 languages. While other apps feature the usual popular choices, Ling truly shines by offering courses in a wide array of less commonly taught languages from various parts of Asia and Eastern Europe, such as Mongolian, Lao, Albanian, Hungarian, and more. This makes it a great option for learners venturing beyond the typical Spanish, French, or German.
Like others, Ling focuses on teaching languages through short, engaging, and highly interactive lessons. This means you get bite-sized lessons that cover core skills but are also easier to fit within busy schedules. But that’s not all.
Ling offers more substance by incorporating native speaker audio throughout the lessons. This helps learners get accustomed to authentic pronunciation right from the start.
Beyond the core lessons, Ling packs in lots of sample dialogs, writing drills, grammar lessons, and even culture notes. These elements work together to create a well-rounded learning experience, particularly for those who are new to language learning.
Here’s a quick look at its key features:
| Number of languages offered | 61 languages |
| Learning methods | Interactive, gamified lessons focusing on vocabulary, listening, and speaking skills; Uses a mix of matching, flashcards, fill-in-the-blanks, sentence ordering, quizzes, speaking drills, and finger-tracing writing drills; Focus on active recall; Grammar and culture explained separately |
| Course structure | Level-based learning with five levels per language (beginner, intermediate, upper intermediate, advanced, expert); Modules contain four short core lessons that cover vocabulary introduction, speaking practice, and a dialog section; Speaking drills, writing drills, a short exam that covers the core lessons, grammar notes, and culture notes |
| Pricing structure | Ling offers a freemium model with tiered subscription options. A 7-day free trial and a discounted annual plan are available. |
| Free features | Users can typically try out the first 1-2 units/lessons of any language for free (for 7 days) to get a feel for the app’s style and content. This usually includes access to basic vocabulary and introductory dialogs. |
| Other features | Review section with flashcard option; Dialog section with native speaker audio and chatbot; Statistics and achievements for progress tracking; Ad-free interface |
| Devices | iOS, Android, desktop |
What languages can you learn with Ling?
Ling has courses for over 60 languages (and counting). This includes the usual suspects such as French, Spanish, Chinese, and even English.
However, Ling takes pleasure in teaching languages beyond the mainstream, those that are typically more difficult to learn because of the lack of resources. This includes Asian languages such as Burmese, Khmer, Marathi, and Malayalam. It also covers Eastern European languages like Georgian, Lithuanian, and Slovenian, as well as African languages such as Amharic and Yoruba. Talk about diversity!
What’s great is that the quality and coverage for all these languages are the same—you get five levels regardless of the language you’re studying.
For this review, I used Ling to learn Korean.
How much does Ling cost?
Ling offers tiered subscription plans that cater to various budgets and commitment levels. Here’s how it looks:
- Monthly – $14.99
- 3 months – $29.99
- 1 year – $79.99
Looking at this, you can obviously save more by signing up for the annual plan. But here’s good news for our readers: you can save even more through our special partner discount, which gives you 40% off Ling’s annual plan!
Learning with Ling App
Now that the overview’s done, you’re probably wondering, what does a Ling lesson look like? How can you actually learn from Ling? Read on.
Core vocabulary lessons
Ling structures its courses into five progressive levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. Each of these levels is then divided into 10 distinct units. Within each unit, you’ll find four core lessons that introduce new vocabulary.
The app presents these new words within practical sentences, helping you see them in context right away. To cement that recall, Ling uses a variety of exercises, from matching and fill-in-the-blanks to sentence ordering and listening drills.
At the end of each lesson, you’ll encounter a dialogue between two native speakers. Following this listening exercise, the same conversation appears with a few blanks, challenging you to fill in the missing words, directly testing your comprehension (and reading, in Korean’s case, as the answers are in the native script, Hangeul).
Since I used the app mainly for Korean, the lessons and dialogues are shown in both Hangeul and Romanization, alongside English translations. What’s particularly handy is the option to turn off the Romanization once you feel comfortable with the native script. You can also adjust the voice speed, which is great for slowing down rapid speech when you’re just starting out, or speeding it up to challenge yourself later on.
It’s worth noting that Ling doesn’t explicitly teach grammar rules. Instead, the idea is that you’ll develop an understanding of grammar naturally through repeated exposure and context.
To solidify your learning, each unit concludes with an exam that covers most of the material introduced in the four lessons.
While working through the lessons, you’re awarded crowns based on your accuracy—three for no mistakes, two for one or two, and so on. However, you can always correct your mistakes to earn those crowns back, which, while helpful for learning, might slightly diminish the “gamified” motivation for some.
Earning more stars does contribute to “banana points,” helping you climb the in-app leaderboard. Despite this point system and leaderboard though, the app doesn’t push the gamification aspect too heavily, keeping the focus more on the learning content itself.
Writing and speaking lessons
Ling does a solid job of integrating writing and speaking practice into its units.
Each unit includes a short writing lesson that zooms in on four Korean characters. It starts with an animation showing you the correct stroke order, then you get to practice by tracing the lines on your screen. The final step is writing the characters on your own, without any tracing help.
The speaking lessons are a separate but equally important part of the app, designed specifically to polish your pronunciation. You’ll encounter words, phrases, and even full sentences presented in Korean script, Romanization, and English translation.
To practice, you simply hit a button to record your voice. The app’s speech recognition system then gives you immediate feedback on your pronunciation. You can also listen back to your own recording to compare it with the native speaker audio. If you don’t get a perfect score, you’re free to try again, although the app doesn’t force you to achieve 100% before moving on.
Just like in the core lessons, your performance in both writing and speaking is graded with crowns, up to a maximum of three, depending on how accurately you complete the exercises. This system provides a clear visual cue of your progress and encourages you to revisit lessons where you might need a bit more practice.
Review
The Review section of the Ling app acts as a dedicated space for reinforcing what you’ve learned. It’s separate from the main lessons, offering a focused way to revisit material. Here, you have a couple of options for review: you can take an exam that covers all the units you’ve completed, or you can opt for flashcards to refresh your memory on specific vocabulary.
Beyond just testing yourself, the Review section also houses a comprehensive collection of everything you’ve encountered. This means you can find all your previously learned vocabulary, dialogues, and both grammar and culture notes conveniently organized in one place.
You might be wondering how this differs from simply going through the core lessons again. The key distinction is that the Review section provides quick and easy access to all your learned material. Instead of redoing entire lessons, you can pinpoint and review specific vocabulary items or grammar points whenever you need a quick refresher.
Dialog
The Dialog section in the Ling app offers a distinct way to hone your conversational abilities. It’s a separate area where you can practice conversing across various topics.
The core of this section is interacting with Ling’s chatbot (which genuinely sounds like a native speaker). You get to choose your responses, which you can also hear in authentic native speaker audio, with the helpful option to slow it down if needed.
Unlike the speaking lessons, this section doesn’t require you to record your voice. Instead, its main purpose is to sharpen your listening comprehension. And by presenting different ways to respond to questions, it also helps broaden your vocabulary and gives you a feel for natural conversation flow.
In short, it’s less about perfect pronunciation and more about understanding and formulating appropriate replies in a real-world context.
Grammar and Culture Notes
Ling thoughtfully incorporates Grammar and Culture Notes into some of its units, though not every unit includes them. These notes are also conveniently accessible in the dedicated Review section, making it easy to revisit important concepts.
The Grammar Notes function as concise articles that break down different parts of speech, like nouns, pronouns, and verbs, along with explanations of how sentences are put together. They offer a helpful, digestible way to understand the mechanics of the language you’re learning.
On the other hand, the Culture Notes dive into various aspects of Korean history, customs, and traditions. These are a valuable addition, providing context and deeper insight beyond just the language itself. They help you understand the cultural nuances that shape how the language is used, from social etiquette to historical influences.
Statistics and Achievements
Ling has a Statistics and Achievements section, though it’s not immediately obvious to new users. You’ll find it by tapping on your profile picture within the app.
Once there, the “Statistics” portion provides a quick overview of your progress, displaying your banana points, your longest learning streak, your estimated fluency percentage, and your current monthly rank on the leaderboard.
Below your stats, you’ll see your “Achievements.” These are essentially badges you earn by hitting various milestones, such as finishing your first lesson, maintaining a 14-day streak, or accumulating 5,000 banana points. It’s a nice way to visually track your accomplishments within the app.
As I said earlier, unlike some other language learning apps that heavily highlight competitive elements, Ling keeps its gamified features a bit more in the background. For example, unless you specifically click on your profile picture, you won’t readily see your standing on the leaderboard. This means the gamification serves more as a subtle motivator for individual progress rather than an in-your-face competition.
What I love about Ling App
After months of trying Ling, I can say that this app is a fantastic language learning tool for beginners and intermediate learners. Here are the standout reasons why I loved this app:
Practical vocabulary
One of Ling’s strong suits is its focus on practical vocabulary. The app is designed to equip you with words and phrases that you’ll actually use in real-life situations, rather than throwing a bunch of obscure or random terms at you.
Each unit introduces vocabulary and phrases across relevant themes and topics such as eating out, occupations, relationships, and more. This means that as you progress, you’re building a usable foundation for communication. You’ll learn how to navigate common scenarios, express basic needs, and understand everyday conversations—all because you’re consistently exposed to language that has a direct purpose.
This also helps you grasp not just the meaning of individual words, but also how they fit into natural sentences and common expressions. It’s about giving you the tools to genuinely interact in the language, rather than simply memorizing isolated words.
Multi-skill approach
Many language apps tend to prioritize one or two aspects, such as vocabulary acquisition or listening comprehension, but Ling strives for a more comprehensive and balanced experience. Within each unit, you’ll find activities that systematically build up your core skills across the board.
For instance, the app integrates lessons that explicitly teach new vocabulary. Alongside this, there are dedicated exercises for listening comprehension, where you’re exposed to native speaker audio and challenged to understand words and phrases in context.
Speaking practice is also a significant component, with features that allow you to record your voice and receive feedback on your pronunciation, pushing you to actively produce the language.
And, of course, it weaves in writing practice, at least for individual characters. This well-rounded approach ensures that you’re not just strong in one area but are developing a more complete understanding and command of the language.
Native speaker audio
Another great feature of Ling is its high-quality native speaker audio. The app teaches the right pronunciation, enunciation, and intonation, helping you develop both listening and speaking skills.
Ling goes a step further by allowing you to slow down the audio. This is incredibly helpful, especially for beginners or when you’re encountering new, complex sounds. Being able to listen at a slower pace allows you to dissect the pronunciation, catch subtle nuances, and then attempt to mimic them yourself.
This combination of authentic, high-quality audio and the flexibility to control the playback speed makes Ling a very effective tool for training your ear and refining your spoken language.
Flexible structure
While Ling organizes content into five distinct levels—Beginner, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert—it doesn’t force you into a rigid progression. This means you have the freedom to jump ahead to higher levels if you already have some familiarity with the language or feel confident in your abilities.
This flexibility extends even within individual levels and units. You’re not obligated to complete lessons in a strict sequence. If there’s a particular topic or skill you want to focus on, you can dive directly into those units or particular lessons without having to go through everything that precedes it.
It’s not much, but I like the freedom it offers.
Some areas for improvement
No app is perfect—what works for me may not work for you. And while exploring Ling, I did spot things that I think could be improved. Here they are:
Absence of individual word translations
One area where the Ling app could improve is in its presentation of vocabulary within sentences. Unlike other vocabulary-centric apps, Ling doesn’t offer individual word translations when a word appears within a sentence. This means you can’t simply tap on a word to see its isolated meaning if you’re unsure.
This is not at all a dealbreaker, but if you’re like me and you’re used to apps where every word is “clickable” for an instant definition, this can be a minor inconvenience. If you encounter an unfamiliar word as part of a phrase or sentence, you’ll need to rely on the overall context or potentially consult an external dictionary, rather than getting an immediate in-app translation for that specific term.
Lack of grammar explanations within lessons
In Ling’s main learning path, grammar is primarily demonstrated in context. You’ll encounter sentences and phrases that naturally use various grammatical structures, and the expectation is that you’ll begin to pick up on patterns through exposure and repetition.
In short, there aren’t any “tips” or detailed explanations popping up as you go through these exercises.
This means that if you’re a learner who prefers a more direct, rule-based understanding of grammar, you might find yourself wishing for more guidance within the immediate lesson flow. The explicit grammar explanations are instead housed in a separate “Grammar” section, which you need to navigate to independently.
While this section does offer articles discussing different parts of speech and sentence construction in detail, it requires you to step away from the active lesson to get those insights.
Inadequate writing and reading practice
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Ling’s finger-tracing exercises, and I wish more apps would offer this feature. But I see that the way these writing drills are implemented can be a bit limiting, especially for a language like Korean.
The focus in these lessons is predominantly on practicing individual Hangeul characters, which is a good start for stroke order and recognition. However, the exercises don’t include examples of words where these newly learned characters are used.
This means you don’t get a sense of how these characters combine to form sounds within actual words, or how their pronunciation might subtly change in different contexts, unless you already have some familiarity with the language’s phonetic rules.
Furthermore, there are no dedicated reading drills that break down words into their syllables, which is crucial for Korean’s syllabic structure. Unlike some other apps that might highlight how individual characters form larger sound blocks, Ling presents words as a whole.
This can make it challenging for learners to truly grasp the nuances of Korean pronunciation and word construction beyond the individual letter level. If you choose to stick with Ling to learn Korean, you’d better build your Hangeul foundation first, and you’d have to do it elsewhere.
My verdict: Is Ling App worth it?
When all is said and done, is Ling worth recommending? I say, yes!
Despite a few areas where it could improve, Ling offers a genuinely practical approach to language learning. Its strengths lie in its focus on vocabulary you’ll actually use, a well-rounded multi-skill approach that covers listening, speaking, and writing, and the invaluable inclusion of high-quality native speaker audio, complete with the option to slow it down.
Plus, its flexible structure means you can tailor your learning path to suit your own pace and existing knowledge, which is a big plus. If you can look past the absence of individual word translations, the lack of in-lesson grammar explanations, and the somewhat limited writing and reading practice, you’ll likely find Ling to be a very useful tool in your language journey.
It’s important to keep in mind, however, that while Ling boasts an “expert level” and a “fluency tracker,” no single app alone is going to make you completely fluent. True fluency is a much broader undertaking. You can think of Ling as a valuable component in a larger language learning arsenal.
To truly master a language, consider combining an app like Ling with an online course or a tutor, relevant books, and other resources. Most importantly, nothing beats consistent immersion and regular conversation with native speakers to solidify your skills and bring your learning to life.
FAQ about Ling App
Is Ling app free?
Ling isn’t entirely free, but it does offer a generous 7-day free trial. Its first two beginner language units are also accessible to all users at no cost and without ads. To unlock all lessons and features beyond these initial units, a subscription is required.
Is Ling app any good?
Yes, the Ling is good, especially for beginners. It helps you learn practical vocabulary, and its multi-skill approach effectively hones listening and speaking abilities through high-quality native speaker audio. While not a comprehensive solution for complete fluency, it’s a balanced and engaging way to build foundational language skills.
How much does Ling cost?
Ling offers tiered subscription plans to access its full content. You can choose a monthly plan for $14.99, a 3-month plan for $29.99, or an annual plan priced at $79.99.
Does Ling have a free trial?
Yes, Ling does offer a free trial. You can enjoy a 7-day free trial that unlocks complete access to all of Ling’s content and features. This includes all lessons across every one of the 60+ languages available on the platform, allowing you to fully explore the app before committing to a subscription.
Is Ling good for learning Tagalog?
Yes, Ling is an excellent app for learning Tagalog, a language often overlooked by more mainstream apps like Duolingo or Babbel. It makes learning Tagalog accessible and engaging through its bite-sized lessons and fun, interactive exercises. Ling’s strong focus on practical vocabulary and conversational skills provides a solid foundation for beginners learning Tagalog.
Is Ling or Duolingo better?
This depends on individual preferences and learning goals. Ling often excels at teaching practical vocabulary, focusing on words and phrases you can use in conversations, unlike Duolingo’s occasional random word choices. Ling’s dialog chatbot also provides valuable conversational practice.
Duolingo, on the other hand, is generally recognized for its highly effective gamification, which can keep learners motivated through streaks and competitive elements.
Can you use Ling offline?
No, Ling currently doesn’t support offline learning.
Can you become fluent with Ling?
While Ling provides a solid foundation with its practical vocabulary and conversational practice, it’s not a standalone solution for achieving full fluency. No single app can guarantee complete mastery.
To become truly fluent, you’ll need to combine Ling with a diverse set of resources, including online courses or tutors, books, and various other learning materials. Crucially, consistent immersion and direct conversation with native speakers are essential for developing real-world fluency.