As a casual language learner, you might think it’s not worth it to pay for language courses.
Especially if there are more features behind a paywall that will help you reach your language goal.
If you’re aiming for the next phase of your language learning journey, try to get premium plans.
Reaching the native speakers’ level will take some time, especially if it’s far from your mother tongue.
Discover how you can efficiently learn languages with our Busuu review.
How Busuu created a premium but comprehensive learning experience
Busuu started in 2008 when the name was taken from an endangered language in Cameroon.
It ended up being the brand of a successful app with interactive lessons for languages.
The Busuu app ensures that every learning experience for a foreign language is up to date.
The Busuu efficacy is: 22 hours of Busuu Premium is equivalent to 1 college semester.
By immersing yourself in the language you’ve chosen to learn on a daily basis, you’ll most certainly have a far greater comprehension of intricacies such as syntax and masculine/feminine terms than by studying longer and less frequently.
Today, everyone can benefit from having a language certificate due to Busuu’s partnership with McGraw-Hill Education since 2015.
So for anyone that wants an excellent choice in paying for an app, Busuu is the perfect app with a collection of languages to teach.
What you’ll get in Busuu Free
Right off the bat, Busuu is not a free app.
Although it does have a free option to use some of its features, it is very limited to the point that you’ll get frustrated.
Busuu has a free and paid edition, and it has the least quantity of free material of the applications available.
However, the free stuff it does provide includes interactive activities and quizzes that are both entertaining and educational.
Overall, the Busuu app for free only has vocabulary flashcards and access to five lessons.
Check our list of other free apps to learn languages.
More services with Busuu Premium
A Premium subscription is not something beginner learners of a foreign language will sign up for.
Especially if that language learning app is too expensive to keep up every year.
With Busuu, you’ll get to enjoy the perks of paying for a monthly or yearly subscription for your target language without thinking it’s not worth it.
The ability to give language mastery examinations and certificates for varied levels of competency is one of Busuu’s unique features, which is exclusively available in the premium edition.
The Premium Plus membership grants access to all of Busuu’s content and services in all of their languages.
A tailored study schedule, grammar courses, feedback from native speakers, AI-powered review sessions, the opportunity to download lessons for offline usage, and authentic McGraw Hill language examinations are among the supplementary features.
Pros of learning languages through Busuu
Choose from a selection of popular languages
There are a total of 13 options to choose from when learning a new native language.
You can choose which level you will start. If you’re only confident to start at the beginner level, Busuu will guide you to improve your skills in that target language.
The selection of languages includes:
- English
- Spanish
- French
- Japanese
- German
- Russian
- Dutch
- Italian
- Polish
- Turkish
- Arabic
- Chinese
Dedicate an amount of time to your classes
Busuu allows users to set a time per day for their personalized study plans.
This method is really helpful, especially for those who are having a hard time with a difficult language.
Offline mode
One of the most effective language learning strategies for people that pay premium plans for an app is learning it while on the go.
While most courses are online, there are only several of them that has a downloadable PDF or an option to make it available in offline mode.
Busuu excels in this category since its app is always updated and has new features to make your language learning process better.
Cons
There are limited language options for you to learn
As opposed to what we’ve mentioned earlier, there are only 13 popular languages.
You still need another resource or tool to practice becoming fluent in that native language
Not ideal for speaking or developing conversational skills
Since Busuu’s lessons are mostly quick drills and work like a flashcard app most of the time, you still can’t expect to speak and converse with native speakers perfectly.
For the premium plans, you can at least get feedback from a teacher that speaks that native language.
But, it is not a guarantee that they can give you all the time you want to correct any pronunciation mistakes or grammar problems.
Overall Review
Busuu is a great language app suitable for people of all language levels.
A quick 15-minute lesson will help you at the beginner level memorize conversational phrases, greetings, and necessary words to use for basic conversations.
You will be presented with numerous phrases in the form of text or audio.
Busuu contains puzzles, quizzes, and questions that require you to completely interact with the language and demonstrate what you have learned from the online courses.
However, with any language learning app comes any downside. As mentioned, it is not a good resource tool to speak with a native speaker.
You may have to look for someone to converse with like learning a language through a forum or using Skype for your speaking practice.
We recommend Busuu for people who have little to no time studying since it fulfills a great online course for busy learners.
