Review of Busuu.com
Web, No pronunciation scores, Expensive, ★
They teach 3,000 phrases in 12 languages, by saying the phrase and showing spelling in your language and the target language, with a photo ($18 per month, $90/year). The voice can be repeated; spelling cannot be suppressed.
It is too hard for beginners. Many phrases in the first lesson have 7 or more syllables, and the average is over 5 syllables, in Portuguese. You cannot slow them down or play them syllable by syllable. Dialogs have words which are not yet taught. They introduce two forms of "you" and two forms of each adjective, without explaining when to use each form.
The "record" buttons, if you subscribe, let you record a limited number of phrases, then press several buttons to compare yourself to the model. There is no voice recognition for immediate scoring, but you may find a native speaker to befriend on their network, to ask for feedback. You can similarly ask for feedback on your short written sentences, but the feedback I saw was often wrong. Intermediate learners might be able to find a reliable pen pal this way to practice with.
A business course in English or Spanish costs $26 per year for intermediate to advanced students. It teaches 600 words and phrases for job applications, phone calls, emails, meetings, presentations, and "Marketing I – discuss products, pricing, distribution channels and promotions."
They also sell a $10 online guide to usage of prepositions and grammar; competitive with finding a used grammar book.
Explanations can be in any of their languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish. However it often jumped to English, though I asked for explanations in Spanish.
Web, No pronunciation scores, Expensive, ★
They teach 3,000 phrases in 12 languages, by saying the phrase and showing spelling in your language and the target language, with a photo ($18 per month, $90/year). The voice can be repeated; spelling cannot be suppressed.
It is too hard for beginners. Many phrases in the first lesson have 7 or more syllables, and the average is over 5 syllables, in Portuguese. You cannot slow them down or play them syllable by syllable. Dialogs have words which are not yet taught. They introduce two forms of "you" and two forms of each adjective, without explaining when to use each form.
The "record" buttons, if you subscribe, let you record a limited number of phrases, then press several buttons to compare yourself to the model. There is no voice recognition for immediate scoring, but you may find a native speaker to befriend on their network, to ask for feedback. You can similarly ask for feedback on your short written sentences, but the feedback I saw was often wrong. Intermediate learners might be able to find a reliable pen pal this way to practice with.
A business course in English or Spanish costs $26 per year for intermediate to advanced students. It teaches 600 words and phrases for job applications, phone calls, emails, meetings, presentations, and "Marketing I – discuss products, pricing, distribution channels and promotions."
They also sell a $10 online guide to usage of prepositions and grammar; competitive with finding a used grammar book.
Explanations can be in any of their languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish. However it often jumped to English, though I asked for explanations in Spanish.
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