HelloTalk - Language Learning 9+

the absolute BEST app for language learners

when i tell you i NEVER write reviews i mean in my entire decade of using the App Store i have never felt strongly enough about any app to even consider writing a review but this app is honestly better than any app out there for language learning and i have used them ALL (the money costing ones too). it’s literally a form of social media for people who want to learn languages! like, i don’t know about anyone else but that is my dream come true. you can set it to show you people in your general age range too which is awesome because you’re socializing and talking about things that are relevant to you while also becoming more and more fluent in a language. i swear I’ve had the app under 24 hours now and i’ve learned more words than i think i’ve learned in total from other apps. even the actual lessons are interesting because they’re immersive and teaching words that you are interested to learn using scenarios you will actually find yourself in. and that is coming from someone who just listened to 20 minutes tops of lessons in a language i’d been putting off learning for years! and i DESPISE studying!
it seriously feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders especially now that i have something to do that isn’t frying my brain while i’m locked up in my house for quarantine. thank you so much to whoever thought up such a marvelous concept!

Great app for making new friends but needs some more effort

Hello talk has been a great assist for me in finding new friends and connection with many interesting individuals with different nationalities and different cultures, from around the world. So much that I even bought the VIP subscription so I’d have less limits when talking to people and making new connections. But recently, I feel like there are many harasser users left unchecked, especially among allegedly female users for me. These users are very rude and offensive, and oddly resentful towards other users, spreading hate in the community of language learners. Most importantly I have seen many cases of privacy violations and abuse, where the violator user posts other people’s chat screenshots -without their consent- on their moments page, to publicly shame and mock them, while most of the time they haven’t said or done anything bad. This makes users like me very hesitant towards messaging new people, since I value my privacy so much. I would very much appreciate it if you look into it.
Moreover, I would like to suggest an app feature that lets you hover over received messages without marking the messages as “read”. It’s already being used in many famous social media apps, and it’s a very useful feature for when you want to take the pressure of replying quickly off of you. Also, there are not clear time stamps for each message showing when the message was sent, so if you add that it would be great. Thank you.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your support and detailed feedback about HelloTalk. We take community safety and user experience very seriously. Regarding the harassment and privacy concerns you mentioned, you can report them by clicking the "..." icon at the upper right corner of the post and selecting "Report" (Moments report), or email specific details to support@hellotalk.com for immediate investigation. Your suggestions about message previews and timestamps have been noted and will be carefully evaluated. To help us better address the timestamp visibility issue, please email screenshots of the relevant pages to the above address. Your input is invaluable to our continuous improvement, and we truly appreciate your help in maintaining a positive community environment.

A Good Intro and Good in Theory

If you're looking to expose yourself to more native content or speakers in a language you're learning, this is a great place to start! But actually finding solid advice and explanations is much harder haha.

I'm learning English > Japanese so my experiences may not be universal among the community, but the user-base as a whole could stand to be far more critical when giving feedback. People will let small mistakes slip through and give learners a pass despite the fact that what they are saying IS incorrect, probably to try and seem polite. And I've seen more than a few people giving straight up WRONG advice- mostly non-native English speakers explaining English to others, but theres been a few native speakers who explain things poorly or give incorrect feedback as well. I think the moments feature is really hindered by the inability to edit comments or corrections after you send them, and the way comments are ordered under posts can be really confusing. The fact that you can't reply to a comment, only tag them in your own under the same post, is mind boggling, especially because they're in reverse chronological order. There's also no way to "downvote" other peoples corrections in those instances where they're giving the wrong advice, which can lead to misunderstanding and misinformation. You basically just have to take all the advice you get from this app with a grain of salt.

Developer Response ,

Greetings! We're glad you like HelloTalk and totally understand that it still needs more work. To help us further improve and give you additional support, please contact us via email (support@hellotalk.com )with your HelloTalk ID or email registered with your HelloTalk account and we'll be able to help you further.