Ling offers lessons in more than 40 languages that are not commonly taught, including Bengali, Tagalog and Afrikaans. Pick up difficult languages easily with the app’s gamified lessons and motivational reminders.

What we love: Practising languages by playing mix-and-match or fill-in-the-blank games. As effective as they are enjoyable, these lessons cover Arabic, Burmese, Kannada and more.

Quick tip: If you’re not familiar with how to parse a language’s alphabet, turn on transliteration. The app will show the closest corresponding words in your language. For example, the Arabic script السلام عليكم transliterates to “As-salāmu ʿalaykum.”

Meet the creator: Co-founders Simon Bacher and Kanyarat Nuchangpuek met as university students in Germany. Bacher wanted to learn Nuchangpuek’s native language, Thai, to communicate better with her friends and family. They launched Ling in 2017.