Busuu vs Duolingo
Overview
Busuu is a language learning app with 120+ million learners. It targets all aspects of communication: speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Lessons are interactive and fun and your written and spoken work can be submitted for feedback from native speakers. An AI tool tracks your progress and revisits content you need to work on more closely.
Duolingo is the world’s most popular language learning app. You can use it for free to learn as many languages as you want with only a few limitations over the paid version. Duolingo combines bite sized activities with gamification to make education fun and to help you set up a daily learning habit. It also uses an algorithm that adapts to your learning and provides material at just the right difficulty level along with content you need to revisit.
Pros
- Comprehensive - Covers speaking, listening, reading, writing and cultural tips
- Fun to use, easy to navigate, interactive and engaging
- Native {{targetLanguage.name}} speakers provide feedback on written and spoken work
- AI powered Smart Reviews revisit content at the right time based on individual performance (Premium membership only)
- You can personalize your language goals
- Lessons cover useful and relevant topics and content is regularly updated
- Available free (with ads)
- It’s free with only a few limitations and there’s no limit on how many languages you can learn at the same time
- Gamification keeps you engaged and motivated
- Uses an algorithm that adapts to your level and learning style and provides personal recommendations to level up your skills
- A Practice Hub for reviewing mistakes, correcting pronunciation (Super Duolingo only)
- Fun to use with well structured exercises that target listening, reading and writing
- You can skip lessons and levels that are too easy
Cons
- Free version ads are distracting and intrusive
- Fewer languages offered than its competitors
- Completion certificates are not accredited
- Quality depends on the language you choose
- Weak focus on speaking activities
- Pronunciation of single words is quite robotic
- Quantity and range of material varies by language
- Not brilliant for grammar or gaining cultural insights
Best for
Best for: Anyone from a beginner to intermediate ability in the target language as there’s a range of levels. And if you’re not sure of your level, you can take Busuu’s placement test. It’s also great wherever you want to learn, either on the go or on a desktop.
Best for: Though it’s designed to have a universal appeal, Duolingo is best suited to those wanting to learn a new language from scratch. That said, it could serve as a good refresher for those with some existing knowledge as you can skip lessons and levels that are too easy. Would especially suit those who enjoy a competitive approach to their learning.
Price
From $6.95 pm
From $6.99 per month
Number of users
500,000 active subscribers
5 milion active users
Overall
Overall: A fun, comprehensive app that effectively develops all areas of language communication. When you join you become part of the community of Busuu users and can submit written and spoken work to native speakers for feedback. I found Busuu to be very effective and started listening, reading and understanding right away. It’s priced competitively and for what’s on offer, it’s good value.
To providerOverall: Duolingo is great fun and can definitely help you develop a secure level of knowledge in a variety of languages. It’s also habit forming, thanks to gamification, so it really motivates you to build a daily learning habit and make incremental progress. But, if you want to become fluent, or just hold more than very basic conversations, you’ll likely need to strengthen your understanding of grammar and your speaking skills elsewhere - or at least sample the paid for version which provides more support in these areas.
To providerSupported languages
Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic and Korean.
Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Zulu as well as Esparanto, High Valyrian and Klingon.
About
“Busuu’s core belief is that amazing things happen when we learn together and combining human interactions, expert-created courses and smart learning technology is the best way to learn a language,” Neil Ballantyne, Busuu.
Busuu is a language e-learning service founded in 2008 designed to provide a complete self-study and language practice environment.
It’s now one of the best known names in the industry with 120+ million learners.
Via Busuu’s global community you have the opportunity to connect with millions of native speakers - proven to be the best way to learn a language.
Busuu also partners with experts on linguistics and learning to design their courses and keep them relevant and up to date.
Studies carried out by the Universities of New York and South Carolina show that 15 hours studying on Busuu premium is the equivalent of one semester of language college.
Duolingo was founded in 2011 with a mission to make language learning accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.
It’s now the most popular way to learn languages with 5 million people using it actively everyday and the mobile app having 500+ million downloads.
Duolingo combines bite sized activities with gamification to make education motivating, easy and fun. You earn rewards (such as gems and badges) for achieving different objectives and gain points to help you scale the rankings on a leaderboard of other randomly selected users. It also uses an algorithm that adapts to your learning and provides material at just the right difficulty level, as well as resurfacing content you need to revisit.
How it works
To get started on Busuu you simply sign up for a free account on your laptop or download the app.
You will be asked some simple questions about which language(s) you want to learn and what you hope to achieve. You then either choose your level or take a placement test if you are unsure what level you're currently at.
All Busuu courses fall into 4 levels based on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This provides an approved standard for identifying language proficiency. Each level contains several lessons which target writing, reading, listening and speaking.
- Beginner A1
- Elementary A2
- Intermediate B1
- Upper Intermediate B2
Duolingo offers a freemium model and a subscription (Super Duolingo) which provides additional features and does not show ads.
To get started, you simply select the language you want to learn, answer a few questions about your goals, then sign up for a free account using Google, Facebook or an email account.
Duolingo then presents you with a learning path divided into units such as:
- Greeting people and Introducing yourself
- Using the present tense and talking about activities
- Days of the week
Saying what you want, etc.
Each unit contains a series of ‘stepping stones’ that hold a series of fun bite sized lessons and challenges designed to meet the unit objective.
Some languages have a placement test meaning that you can skip the easier units. But you always have the choice to start at the beginning, skip ahead or redo units you’ve already taken.
Units follow a curriculum based on an international standard and activities are designed to make sure that new learning gets embedded in long term memory.
As you progress Duolingo’s algorithm will adjust to your learning and vary the level of challenge. To make sure learning ‘sticks’ you will revisit earlier learning at optimum times. New words are highlighted and you often need to figure out intuitively what these might mean.
You can review what you've learned by clicking on the dumbbell icon which provides a practice test.
What a lesson is like
Busuu’s lessons are grouped around communication topics depending on your purpose for learning (eg: business, travel, etc.). Each one is designed to teach useful phrases and sentences which you then practise.
Practice activities include gap fills, multiple choice questions, sentence reordering and writing activities. You can also have written and recorded speaking exercises corrected by native speakers. Or use a private messaging facility, which allows you to chat with language partners in the community.
Generally, whatever the level or language, lessons are structured in a similar way.
- They start by teaching the target vocabulary for that level and topic using video flashcards, translations, audio clips, gap fill, matching and writing activities, etc.
- Within the first couple of lessons you will be given the chance to connect with the community to receive feedback from native speakers. You’ll also be asked what your native language is and will receive requests for feedback from others learning your language
- After each group of lessons there is a checkpoint. This may include quizzes, puzzles, games, missing word exercises and word identification. You must score at least 80% to move to the next level
Lessons are short and sharp - usually only about 3-5 minutes long. They mainly focus on translating - either from your native into your target language or vice versa.
To do this you might:
- Match spoken or written words with their meanings
- Type words and phrases using the keyboard/keypad
- Place words from a selection in the correct order
- Tap or type what you hear
- Provide missing words
Identify the correct spelling of a word from a choice of four
You will also use flashcards to learn new vocabulary, take quizzes, review content and be given the option to make things harder or easier.
For some languages there are stories with comprehension activities as well as podcasts. In the podcasts, native speakers tell stories but with simplified vocabulary and grammar and at a slower, clearer speed. These are supported with some assistance with unusual words or context.
There’s not a strong focus on speaking activities. Where they are available, AI voice recognition grades your pronunciation. During my two weeks using Duolingo, I came across a few speaking activities in French but none in Welsh, despite completing several units.
Who is it good for?
The Busuu learning style would suit anyone who:
- Wants to learn a new language from scratch
- Has some grasp of a language and wants to improve
- Has a busy schedule and needs to fit lessons around their life
- Loves interactive apps with a strong community feel
- Wants a focus on developing conversational language
Likes the flexibility of learning on mobile and desktop
While Busuu would be ideal for anyone who’s always wanted to start learning a new language it will also suit those who are relatively proficient but want to improve.
Right away Busuu will have you speaking, listening and improving your conversational skills and grammar in your chosen language.
Duolingo is an appealing, fun language learning platform that would best suit the following learners:
Anyone who’s:
- Learning a new language from scratch
- Wants to refresh or level up existing basic skills
- Appreciates short, sharp bite sized lessons
- Is strongly motivated by gamified features such as leaderboards, streaks, rewards etc
- Needing to learn flexibly on any device
Features
- Gamification
- Personalized learning
- Fun, interactive lessons that touch all learning styles
- Checkpoints
- Cultural insights
- Flexible learning
- Speech recognition
- Ability to connect to native speakers
- Smart reviews
- Gamification
- Personalized approach
- Practice Hub for reinforcing learned content
- Podcast series to aide language immersion
- Flexible learning with offline mode
- Speech recognition technology for pronunciation practice
Is it worth it?
Busuu aims to help you become confidently conversational in your target language and it does a pretty good job of achieving that aim.
I found it easy to use and thought the lessons were well structured, engaging, effective and ‘sticky’. Not surprising when Busuu partners with the likes of Pearson, McGraw Hill, and El País to keep abreast of the most cutting edge teaching and learning methods.
Busuu’s stand out feature is its strong community feel. Your written and spoken work can be submitted for feedback from native speakers which is the best way to authentically learn a new language.
It’s also comprehensive, helping you to improve all aspects of communication: speaking, reading, writing, and listening.
That said, there’s always room for improvement. Busuu does not offer as many languages as some other apps, and its quality is not consistent across all the languages offered.
It’s great for the more common languages like Spanish and French, but its Chinese, Arabic, and Russian courses aren’t as comprehensive. That said, you can use the free version to see if the language you want to learn is taught in a way that suits you before committing to a subscription.
There’s no free trial, but you can use the free version for as long as you like to see if this is the right platform for you. The pricing point is very competitive and there are frequent discounts available making it even better value.
Busuu is well worth your time and money if you’re considering learning a new language. With the option to use the free version for an unlimited period of time, plus a 14 day refund window if you do purchase premium membership, what have you got to lose?
Well, it depends on your goals.
If you want to develop a solid foundation in a language and enjoy an element of competition in your learning, Duolingo is likely to suit your purposes. It’s super fun and its extensive use of gamification makes it very habit forming - which is great for making steady progress in a language. What’s more, its algorithm learns what works for you and calibrates lessons appropriately.
I found I had committed a good range of words and phrases to memory during my trial of Duolingo and certainly got as far as being able to introduce myself and ask and respond to simple questions like, how are you? What is your name? Etc.
But if you want to become fluent or hold more complex conversations, I don’t think Duolingo will help you achieve that. At least not the free version. Speaking activities are not available in all languages. And even where they are, they do not feature prominently. The Practice Hub in Super Duolingo provides more in the way of speaking opportunities. But if you are willing to commit to a subscription you may find that other apps like Babbel or Mondly are better value.
My advice is to try the free version. If you love it, there is a 14 day free trial for Super Duolingo which gives you a decent amount of time to find out if it’s the right learning platform for you.