Drops: Language Learning Games 4+

It’s been 133 days now!

Currently learning Korean and Drops has been a great tool in learning vocab and phrases. It gives five minutes and refreshes about every nine hours or so. It’s nice for when I’m busy and can’t fill an entire lesson for the time being. I like that I can also get added time after my lesson sometimes it’s 40 seconds - 1 min. or if I hit a new streak goal it’s an added 5 minutes. Besides that the lessons can be adjust from beginner to advanced. You can toggle on or off exercises such as if you want to focus on just listening or just writing for that session. In learning Korean I’ve found that romanization can make things a bit confusing so that’s another feature that can be turned off or on. It can be overall customized to how your personal learning style. The topics offer a wide variety to choose from. So that’s nice since I don’t have to stick to one topic for the entire 5 minutes. When starting a new topic it will introduce all of the words you will be learning in that section. It’ll show an image alongside the word and meaning. Then it will go through a variety of different exercises, but again customizable if needed. I’d suggest playing around with the settings to see how you learn best. Hide or favorite words and later on you can review words in the review topic or see them in your collection. So far it’s been nice being able to pick up on words and phrases that I’ve learned on here. Gives me a nice boost to learn more for the day.

Makes you actually *want* to study!!

This app is the greatest thing to happen to language learning ever. Seriously. I’ve been studying one language or another my entire life and have never looked forward to vocab drills before. I actually get excited about getting to do my Drops review every evening. It’s fantastic. Right now I’m using it to tackle Mandarin Chinese and it’s incredibly helpful for learning the characters. The sounds are paired with the characters (or words) so you have a “See & Say” learning experience, which is the best way to learn. The system is smart and shuffles back to the ones you flubbed on recently so you can practice them more. It also has an immediate reinforcement after you make a mistake so that the correct answer is cemented in your brain. Many of the other apps don’t do that, leaving you to wonder “then what WAS the right answer!?” This app reinforces the correct answer immediately. Clearly the developers know a thing or two about the language learning curve. One thing to remember - learning any language is hard. You’ll have places where you struggle. That’s where an app like this can help so much. Even if you feel like you’re just repeating the same cards over and over (and making errors), you ARE learning. Stick with it and don’t give up! But honestly, download this app already. You’re here because you’re serious about learning that new language, and this is the way to do it!

Developer Response ,

Hi, Thanks for choosing Drops to learn Mandarin Chinese, and taking the time to write us such a nice, positive review! We're thrilled to hear you like the app, and your kind words are much appreciated! Keep playing and let us know if you would suggest us anything to refine or improve! :)

Give it a try!

I was looking for a constructive distraction during the pandemic, so figured learning a new language might do the trick. Read a few reviews on different language apps and picked a month plan on Drops. I figured if I lost interest quickly, I wouldn’t be out much. I stayed with it, and renewed with another basic plan for a year. Then after that year, I said why not, and got subscribed to a lifetime premium plan.

All was going well, until recently, when my app somehow reverted back to a basic plan, which had continual pop up ads prompting me to upgrade (back) to a premium plan, and also limiting session length to only 5 minutes. Not sure what happened, but contacted Drops support, and they worked with me to get the app restored to what I had purchased last fall. It did take a few days to get this resolved, but ultimately the issue was taken care of satisfactorily.

The actual sessions are fun and can keep you engaged to keep learning. I spent about a year learning Hindi, and now have been learning Greek since then. Unfortunately I don’t have anyone to practice my learned words with, so that would be helpful to really lock in the words you’ve learned. But that is no fault of the app. The bottom line is it’s kept me engaged since I’ve started. My streak is currently at 613 days which probably is the only time in my life I’ve started something and stayed with it! Give it a try!