Best Language Learning Apps for 2025

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CNET’s experts have tested top language-learning apps, from Duolingo to Rosetta Stone, and these are our top picks.

Our Experts

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.

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Shelby Brown (she/her/hers) is an editor for CNET’s services team. She covers tips and tricks for apps, operating systems and devices, as well as mobile gaming and Apple Arcade news. Shelby also oversees Tech Tips coverage. Before joining CNET, she covered app news for Download.com and served as a freelancer for Louisville.com.

Credentials

  • She received the Renau Writing Scholarship in 2016 from the University of Louisville’s communication department.

If you’re looking to learn a new language this year, there are several options to help you achieve this goal. There are a lot of reasons why you might be interested in learning a new language, whether it’s in preparation for an international vacation, to bolster your education or just for fun. But once you decide to start, it can feel overwhelming trying to figure out where to begin. That’s where a language-learning app can come in handy.

Language apps or other online services can help you build a solid foundation of vocabulary and grammar to help you learn to speak and read in another language. CNET has tested many different apps, comparing their lesson structures, features, the number of languages offered, pricing tiers and the different learning methods they use. There are a lot of different options, but no matter what language you want to pick up or how you want to be taught, there’s an app that is right for you.

Here are the best language learning apps for any and all avid linguists.

Learning a new language can feel overwhelming at first. There are many areas to begin in — vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, reading and writing. Many of these language learning apps will walk you through a combination of these to give you a strong foundation to build on.

While many people make New Year’s resolutions to learn a new language, no season or time of year is better than another. 

There are varied stats about how long it takes to learn a new language, but there are a number of factors that can affect how quickly you learn. Most estimates say that you can become conversational in a couple of months, while fluency can take up to a year or longer.

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