5 Popular Language Learning Sites to Help Expand Your Skills From Home

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Learning a new language can expand your skillset for work and travel, and give you a new hobby that’s fun yet challenging. But finding the time to attend weekly classes doesn’t always work for your schedule. That’s where a good language learning site comes into play.

The best online language learning sites allow you to learn everything from Spanish to Italian on your own time no matter where you are. If you plan on traveling outside of the country, knowing another language is practically a travel necessity. Back home, meantime, it can make you standout on a resume if you’re looking for a new job or promotion. Plus, you can also surprise the avid traveler or linguaphile in your life with a subscription gift to one of the various platforms available if you’re looking for a unique gift idea.

Artists and musicians even use their multilingual skillsets to create some of their most popular singles including Lady Gaga, who worked in some French and Italian with her songs “Bad Romance” and “Born This Way” respectively, as well as Shakira who can speak seven languages, according to Business Insider. K-pop fans, meantime, are using online language sites to learn Korean so they can sing-along to their favorite artists.

What Are the Best Online Learning Sites?

Instead of leaving you to do the research yourself, Billboard Shopping has rounded up some of the most popular online language learning sites to help you find the right platform for you or to gift your loved one.

Keep reading to discover the best language learning sites below.

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is one of the most-popular online language sites, thanks to its easy-to-follow format and long list of languages. Once you sign up, you’ll be given a personalized learning plan that you can follow on your laptop, tablet or complete lessons straight from your smartphone. Live-streamed classes are offered or you can download lessons and audioguides to take with you on the go.

Rosetta Stone is currently offering 50% off almost all of their plans — including on the lifetime membership subscription that’s normally one payment of $399, but has dropped down to $199 for a limited-time. With a membership, you can choose from the 25 languages available and take advantage of immersive lessons that you can complete on- or offline as well as high-end speaking technology to help you perfect your pronunciation.

Udemy

Unlike Rosetta Stone, which only offers language courses online, Udemy offers a variety of online classes, including languages, photography, business skills and even health and wellness. Whereas Rosetta Stone gets you lifetime access to all the classes on its site, Udemy lets you choose individual classes to take. When you sign up, each course comes with on-demand videos and practice tests to assess your skills. Most courses come with downloadable articles and a certificate of completion when you finish — and you can do it all on a smartphone or a computer.

For a more customizable experience, Udemy is offering a new-learner offer that’ll get you classes for as low as $14.99/month. The platform also offers a seven day free trial, so you can access more than 11,000 classes, certification prep, goal-focused recommendations and AI-powered coding exercises. You can choose from a personal plan or if you’re looking to share it with your entire workforce, there’s an enterprise option.

Coursera

Similar to Udemy, Coursera provides a range of online courses including languages like Korean and French. Each course will come with a set amount of lessons with an estimated amount of time it will take to complete. The lessons also list out how many videos you’ll be required to watch, if there are any readings and the total amount of quizzes. If you’re in a time crunch, each lesson also tells you how much time it’ll take to get through. If you’re traveling you can do most of the work through your smartphone or you can use a laptop.

Whether you’re looking to brush up on your French or want to dive into beginner Chinese, Coursera offers a large library of online course offerings to fit your needs. You can take a mix of free classes or pay as little as $10/month to learn skills from universities and companies that will even earn you recognized credentials to add to your resume.

Preply

Preply offers a more interactive experience no matter if you want to learn Arabic or Japanese. When you sign up, you will be able to find a tutor who you’ll connect with for up to 50 minutes virtually. From there, you’ll get to know one another and create a customized learning plan based on your goals. Then, you get to decide how many lessons you want to have a week or month, and you’ll be charged on a 28-day cycle. You can do it all through a computer, tablet or smartphone.

More than 30,000 real-life tutors are available with lessons starting as low as $5 per session. You can choose how many lessons you want to do and read reviews based on other learners to discover the best tutor for you.

Babbel

Babbel looks to teach you language skills you can apply to your life right away. Using a focus on speaking and pronunciation, you’ll be able participate in live online courses with real instructors or use the online app to play language games, listen to podcasts and more using your smartphone. When you first sign up, you’ll be able to create your own personalized language learning routine based on your schedule all through the app.

Choose from a one, three, six or 12 month subscription or you can pay a one-time payment for a lifetime subscription.

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