4.5 stars I haven’t been using the app for long, but already find it easier to listen to media in my target language, Finnish. The repetition/muscle memory model really seems to be an effective learning method for me. Also, this is one of the few resources that teach you to speak and understand spoken language, which is extremely beneficial. That being said, just a couple of suggestions. 1. Tailor things more to individual languages. For example, Finnish has a second person plural ending when speaking to more than one person or in a more polite manner (te -tte, -nne instead of sinä -t). It would be very helpful to hear how to use this when speaking. Like I said, I’m very new to the app, so maybe it’s addresses later on, but a little over halfway through A1, still nothing. 2. Have a way to repeat the previous sentence. I think #1 of these would be the most beneficial. Other than that, great app, use it every day.

Update: I wanted to come and update my review after a year of using it. No other app has such a quality Irish course, and pairing this with other resources has been fantastic. The heavy emphasis on native pronunciations is my favorite, especially with my language of choice. Their customer service is always on top of it, and I can’t wait for another year with Glossika!A week into the free trial I was sitting in my car repeating random Irish phrases that had been stuck in my head, and that’s when I realized I needed to get the subscription. I wasn’t stuck with one off words, I got to remember whole sentences. Pair that with studying grammar off the app, and suddenly I can break down the sentences and make my own. The only issue I have is the voice that reads the sentences. Incredible pronunciation and isn’t some botched robot you’d find on Duolingo, but it might be too native. If I was teaching someone the english sentence “I want to go to the store”, I would pronounce each word clearly. Not “I wanna go to the store.” In my natural speed. But I feel like this is how every sentence is presented to me. They skip words and blend their words together as native speakers do, but as a beginner it’s intimidating to try to pronounce. I don’t have time to practice the correct sounds when I’m flying through the sentence. And I’m not sure exactly what parts of words we’re skipping over. This feels like the instruction I’d get after I learned the language and was interacting with native speakers. The harder the sentence gets, the less I find myself repeating them on my own. Good app and good course, I would like to see it more beginner friendly though.

I know the creators of this app are in the process of making a new product and I hope that works out for them because I like the concept of Glossika. I struggle to use flashcard apps but I know the benefits of SRS are real, I’m good at listening to things on the go and I do better with auditory memory. Thus, I finally caved and gave Glossika a try for Spanish. 5 minutes into and I was immensely underwhelmed. There’s no theme or clear progression to the words/phrases. You can go from “Is this spicy?” to “You look dreadful” to “Do you have insurance?” These are phrases I barely use in English (who even says dreadful), let alone would group together in Spanish. Now I’m not arguing for this to be a phrasebook, but the phrases are so nonsensical that the English stands out more than the Spanish. Keeping some kind of theme or pulling words previously taught into the newer sentences to help you build more connections between words would be useful. Even if it was just blocks of synonyms or similar demonstrating how sentence structure might change or stay the same when you swap out certain words, even when the sentences have close connotations. I guess what I want is context plus SRS and this isn’t it.

I love this method because it's exactly what I needed to be consistent. HOT TIP: DONT TAKE THE EXAM EVEN IF YOU KNOW THE LANGUAGE ALREADY. I wanted something speech-only that was easy to start. Will this make me fluent? Obviously no, it must be paired with other language tools just like any other language tool, but I can do this while getting ready in the morning or going on walks or on my commute. I'm doing Spanish and my boyfriend is doing Cantonese, and he's actually gotten so good at this difficult language in one year, he was making sentences while we were talking to my relatives! And he sounds so accurate. Could there be more features? Yes. But I am happy the most that this lets me be consistent which is the most important part of language learning. I think this is the best used after a little bit of instruction such as using Pimsleur Cantonese in my boyfriends case or my public school Spanish learning in my case.