DEEP DIVE

Learn in Your Free Time

Master a foreign language, coding, photography, and more.

Ready to learn a language or a new skill? With these apps, start your course of study while you drive to work, pump iron at the gym, or get the dishes squeaky clean. Here, school is always in session!

For foreign languages

Brush up on your high school Spanish with Babbel’s Refresher course.

‣ Babbel’s bite-size language lessons let you pick up where you left off in school (perfect for those who had trouble retaining their seventh-grade Spanish) or start from scratch. Try a classic Romance language, go Nordic with Swedish or Norwegian, or give Turkish, Russian, or Indonesian a whirl. Babbel customizes the learning based on your mother tongue (lessons for a native English speaker studying Dutch will differ from those offered to a native Russian speaker, for example), and covers pronunciation, spelling, and even a little linguistic history along the way.

For art history

DailyArt can make you sound a lot smarter in art museums.

‣ Wish you had something more substantive to say than “Hmm, interesting,” when you visit a museum? Let DailyArt enrich you. Each day, the app introduces a new work (Claude Monet’s Rough Sea at Étretat, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self-Portrait as a Lute Player) from museums around the world, with details about the artist and the story of the work. Links to more information about the artists, their schools, and exhibitions live at the bottom of each post.

For coding

With Programming Hub, coding can be easier than you think.

‣ Programming Hub breaks down complex coding and programming concepts into easy-to-follow steps. If you’re new to this field, start by learning about the logic of programming, then move on to the heavier stuff. (Fun quizzes help the app check that you’re comfortable with the basic theories.) Because each interactive module is short, you won’t have to sit through hours of class or plonk yourself in front of a textbook to master Swift, Java, Python, or any of the 20-plus languages available for study.

For photography

Now here’s someone who can make your social media feed look better.

‣ Annie Leibovitz has photographed Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and just about every Hollywood star. In the MasterClass app, the legendary artist teaches the finer points of her craft. Join Leibovitz for 15 video lessons, in which she breaks down her creative process, opens up her studio, explains concepts, and tells true stories from her profession. Your social media feed is sure to improve significantly.