A teacher in a classroom can adapt to your learning style in ways that software cannot. That is why it is so important to find an app that clicks for you when choosing to learn a language online. Fluenz is a language-learning program that feels more like a private class than a series of flash cards and games. You learn by watching videos of an instructor who gives you new vocabulary, explains grammar, and teaches you things you cannot pick up from exercises alone-though Fluenz has those, too. It is a thorough program, with loads of content to keep you busy for months on end. Fluenz is an impressively well-rounded app for learning a language as a beginner, as it teaches you how to speak, hear, and write the language of your choice. The exception is writing in the Mandarin course, where you learn Pinyin rather than Chinese characters.
Fluenz is a wonderful alternative to apps that do not provide any instruction in the learner's native tongue, Rosetta Stone being the chief among those. Rosetta Stone does not go to lengths to explain grammar or break down the meaning of a word, while Fluenz does. That said, Rosetta Stone is one of the best programs on the market, even if it is not right for everyone. Another top pick is , the Editors' Choice among free programs. It is great on its own or as a complement to another method of learning. If you have tried those apps and did not like them or want to supplement Duolingo with another app, look at Fluenz. It is refreshingly different.
Fluenz has programs for seven languages: Chinese (Mandarin with Pinyin), French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Latin American Spanish, and European Spanish. They all use English as the language of instruction. It is not a huge selection, but it does cover some of the most popular languages that English speakers learn.
If there is a language, you need that is not covered by Fluenz, try Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, or Pimsleur. Duolingo has courses for more than 35 languages and Rosetta Stone has 23. Pimsleur has courses in 50 languages, but you should know going in that it is an audio-only course. It is very good, but if you are looking for an app with interactive exercises, Pimsleur is not it.
Fluenz costs anywhere from $187 to $408, depending on the package you choose. These are one-time payments, not subscriptions. Every language is broken into levels. French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish (both Latin American and European) each have five levels. There are only three levels for Mandarin.
The options to purchase are:
Level 2 ($187)
Levels 1+2 ($258)
Levels 1+2+3 ($308)
Levels 3+4+5 ($320)
Levels 1+2+3+4+5 ($408, often discounted to $378)
When you buy Fluenz, you get access to it online and through apps for Apple and Android mobile devices.
Compared with other plans, Fluenz's prices are a little high, but not wildly so. Every level comes with a lot of material, keeping the overall value quite high. In addition, it is a one-time payment rather than a subscription fee. One difference is that some of the best competitors, such as Rosetta Stone and Duolingo, have been beefing up their content catalog in recent years and Fluenz has not. For example, Duolingo has added podcasts and interactive stories for some of its language programs. Rosetta Stone has a new series of lectures that stream online, as well as pre-recorded videos explaining everyday scenarios. Fluenz has not added anything new more or less since it first launched. We would like to see Fluenz keep pace with its competitors by adding new elements to its core product. It does not take more than a few years of stagnation for a language app to start feeling outdated.
In general, online language apps cost in the ballpark of $10-$13 per month. Even Rosetta Stone, which was once among the most expensive language software products, has moved to a subscription model that charge $170 for a year subscription. There is also an option to buy a lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone that includes all 23 of its languages, for $299 (sometimes discounted to $199); that is a great value.
Finally, if you are on a budget, check your public library for language-learning programs. Many in the US and Canada can give you online access to these same programs with your library membership.
We have used Fluenz to brush up on some French and learn a few phrases in Chinese with no prior experience, picking up the app every year or so to see what is new. Learning a little Chinese gave us a good understanding of what's included with the Pinyin instruction. It also let us see how Fluenz tries to boost your confidence when approaching a language you have never learned before.
To give you an idea of how much content is inside Fluenz, Mandarin levels 1 and 2 have 45 lessons, plus an introduction and conclusion. Level 1 in French has 30 lessons. A lesson takes us anywhere from 35 to 50 minutes to complete. They are meaty, and sometimes they are a little slow going. If you study consistently, you might spend four to six weeks completing a single level. That is a lot of content.
Structurally, Fluenz is very clear. Progress markers show exactly where you left off and what you have completed. You are meant to move through content sequentially, though you do not have to.
Levels are broken into sessions, and within sessions are so-called workouts or exercises. Each session starts with a video that frames the upcoming lesson. The workouts that follow then introduce new material and then help you review it. Between many workouts, you watch more videos that help break down and further explain the concepts you have just learned.
The programs begin with a welcome video. An instructor appears on screen to explain how Fluenz works in the most general sense. Sonia Gil, the company's founder, is a staple in these videos. In the Mandarin Chinese course, Gil assures you that she is nowhere near native-level fluency with Chinese, but she can navigate plenty of cities in China with a good deal of confidence and more than adequate pronunciation. In the French program, Gil introduces the early lessons but is quickly replaced by a native French speaker once the material moves past the basics.
The videos are staged and scripted. They are clear in delivery, and the production value is high. At first they feel slow, but once you get into more challenging content, the pacing feels like it was designed to give you time to absorb whatever you're learning. Even so, the videos can be tedious at times. They are a little too scripted. Still, the material is excellent, and there is real value in seeing the face and mouth of a person who is teaching pronunciation.
One good design feature of the web app is that if you leave the window while a video is playing, it stops. In other words, you cannot passively listen to the video while reading your email. The video has to be the active window or it will not play. We see this anti-distraction feature as a positive point.
Fluenz starts most of its exercises, or workouts, with a dialogue the learner is told to play three times: once with subtitles in both the new language and English, once with the subtitles in only the new language, and once with no subtitles at all. Then the words and phrases you heard from the opening dialogue appear in writing, speaking, and listening exercises that follow.
In the exercises, you might hear a word or phrase and have to type it or translate it. Alternatively, you might see a list of words, phrases, or sentences in two languages and have to match up the translations. That is not unlike the way other language-learning apps work.
The real difference comes when Fluenz slots a video lesson in between some of your exercises. It is in these videos that your guide breaks down what you have just learned. In the videos, you learn how to parse different words and phrases, rather than having to guess their meaning from context, pictures, or process of elimination, which is how Rosetta Stone teaches. In Rosetta Stone, you might understand that some word is the opposite of "child," but whether it means "adult" or "person" is anyone's guess. In Fluenz, you get a teacher who explains the subtleties of the language, like the difference between an and année. Both mean "year" in French, but they have different uses.
Fluenz has mastered the art of repetition. When the program introduces a new word or concept, you see, hear, and write it many times over in both the current lesson and future lessons. For beginners, the drill-and-kill method is highly effective, as long as you study consistently.
In typing exercises, Fluenz is precise in that it requires you to spell everything correctly, accent marks and all. If you get an answer wrong, you do not get any hints or suggestions as to where you made an error. The most you can do is reveal the correct answer, which feels a lot like giving up. Duolingo is more lenient. If you miss only one accent mark in a spelling exercise, the app points out what you got wrong, but scores the exercise as correct and lets you move on. Babbel requires precision, but it highlights where you went wrong so that you can try to correct yourself.
Fluenz works extremely well for beginners who want to learn a handful of useful phrases quickly. More experienced speakers may have trouble figuring out where to start. We jumped ahead in French and found it easy to understand most of it, but we still struggled with spelling. Quite a few of the interactive exercises test your spelling skills, which can slow you down.
Within the program, you can jump around at will. If the current lesson seems too easy or difficult, you can back up or move forward. Not all language courses let you do that. With Duolingo, for example, you must progress sequentially or test out of levels.
Fluenz pushes writing a little more than speaking, especially in the early units, but overall it blends listening, reading, speaking, and writing well. It also has that classroom feel because of the instructional videos.
If you want someone to explain how the language works, Fluenz is the app for you. In the Chinese course, for example, the videos explain tones, as well as how to answer yes/no questions in Chinese, which is quite different from how it is done in English. That is the kind of material that is difficult to get across in a program where there is no English instruction.
For the speaking portions, Fluenz does not have an advanced speech-recognition system, but it does have recording and playback capabilities. Duolingo and Rosetta do an impressive job of rating how well you speak phrases.
A few things you will not find in Fluenz are games and live web classes. We do not miss games, but live webinar classes can be a value-add if you use them. Rosetta Stone offers them for an additional fee. It also now has live streaming classes, which are less interactive but still give you a new way to engage with the languages.
Fluenz also sells an immersion course, which is sold separately from its online product. The immersion course is only for Spanish, and it has offered as a luxury in-person travel experience (when available) and online as a class conducted via video call. The live immersion course can take place in Mexico City, Barcelona, or Oaxaca. It costs several thousand dollars (prices are not publicly listed, but coverage puts it at more than $5,000 per person for the Mexico City trip). It is a whole package that includes exclusive experiences, such as upscale lodging, food prepared by a private chef, and yoga classes. The online immersion course costs $2,800 for a 30-hour Comprehensive Track and $1,500 for a 15-hour Fast Track.
If you are a stone-cold beginner in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Mandarin Chinese, Fluenz provides a thorough, enjoyable, and rewarding learning experience. The programs contain enough high-quality content to justify the price. You likely will come away from Fluenz with a solid base understanding of a new language and a number of useful words and phrases that you can piece together to create new meanings. If you enjoy having a teacher but cannot afford a live class, Fluenz is one of the best options.
Like Editors' Choice Rosetta Stone, Fluenz can help you build a solid foundation in grammar, pronunciation, reading, and writing. Rosetta Stone has programs in many more languages, though, while Fluenz covers only seven languages. If Fluenz has the language you need and you do not like Rosetta Stone, definitely try it. We also suggest Duolingo, our other Editors' Choice, which is free.
PROS
Excellent core content
Well suited for beginners and for long-term use
Thorough
App design prevents distractions
CONS
Limited number of languages
Only basic voice recording
No live web classes
BOTTOM LINE Fluenz recreates aspects of classroom learning in its foreign language instruction. It is one of the best in its class, but it only offers a few languages.
