Top 10 english language learning software

Description: Rosetta Stone is a popular program that has been around for many years. It allows you to learn English on your own schedule and on various devices. The program focuses on building vocabulary with interactive lessons. What makes it great: Rosetta Stone prides itself on speech technology.

State Department. Rosetta Stone allows you to learn through fun activities like reading stories and practicing your accent with advanced technology. Description: Instant Immersion is another program that builds your language skills with interactive exercises. You also get an interactive DVD. What makes it great: The Instant Immersion program uses various methods such as voice technology that compares your accent to a native speaker.

You can have fun by participating in conversations using virtual reality. Description: Innovative Language provides learners podcast video lessons accessible on a variety of devices. There are a ton of optional features like extra lessons, study tools, access to a teacher and more. What makes it great: Innovative Language truly has something for everyone.

When you download your lessons onto your Apple or Android device, you can take your lessons and study on the go. You can also choose from specialty courses such as business, travel and career-specific law enforcement, health, education English. What makes it great: The program builds a foundation a base on basic phrases and grows to advanced language skills, including discussing technology and current events. Living Language uses audio and visual resources, games and recall memory exercises to help you best remember the information.

The program guarantees that you gain confidence in your English speaking skills in 30 days. What makes it great: This program is good for English learners of all levels. You can learn using the computer software or the on-the-go mobile lessons. You can learn while playing games, and also utilize a flashcard system and advanced speech analysis.

May vary depending on current sales and offers. Description: Rocket Languages was started in by two friends. The program is designed to have users speaking from the first lesson and reduce study time. You can use lessons across a variety of devices. What makes it great: The Rocket English program includes interactive audio lessons, flashcards, pronunciation practice and lessons in culture.

Description: Duolingo understands that learning a language can be expensive. What makes it great: Duolingo is a cost-effective way to help you master the basics of the English language.

Your lessons are automatically graded, giving you an idea of where you stand with each skill. The Duolingo program uses a game format by rewarding you for completing your lessons with incentives to keep you coming back.

Duolingo is completely free, and while there are pay-for elements, you don't ever have to use them. That's its biggest advantage. And while you'd think Duolingo being free would make it a sub-standard learning experience, you'd be wrong. It's actually very well structured and planned, albeit with one eye on pestering you to pay for upgrades and extras. It's also perfect for kids because it's user-friendly, bright and colorful, and starts out very simple. The thing Duolingo does best is teach you words and phrases, which you can then use if you visit a country that speaks your chosen language.

While it won't teach you much about culture, grammar rules, or structure, it's very useful for anyone looking to get a few key phrases for things like holidays or short visits.

While Duolingo will reward you for logging in each day, and will send you push notifications to prompt you to learn more, it does get very repetitive very fast, and can be a little annoying at times. You'll struggle to progress beyond a certain level unless you start paying money for it, at which point we'd recommend you move on to something like Rosetta Stone, which provides a far superior paid-for learning experience.

If you want to learn English, but find yourself too busy to do so, then Memrise is the app for you. It's designed for smartphones and tablets, so is intended for use on devices that you take everywhere with you. The course itself is also intended to fit around busy lives, to help you make the most of a commute or spare ten minutes when you're cooking, cleaning, or doing other household chores.

It's a largely-free app, although you will be asked to pay for some content, and it uses flash-cards to prompt learning.

These flash-cards are great for visual learners, and will reinforce language and phrases through repetition. The downside here is that the app does, indeed, get repetitive if you use it for long periods of time. We like the app itself, and the interface is good whether you're on iOS or Android. It doesn't quite match Duolingo for content, however, but is a good visual method for those who prefer that kind of learning.

Pimsleur is an actual method of language learning, and is academically-rooted. It's very effective, as a result, and can have you speaking English in a matter of months. This is primarily an audio-based course, and it's also fairly expensive, so you do have to really want to learn English if you decide to pay for this course. Pimsleur's method uses sample conversations to help you immerse in the language, and to give you helpful answers and phrases for everyday situations.

While there are some visual cues, it largely relies on audio to deliver teaching. What we don't like is that Pimsleur can be a little too academic in places, and will get boring after a few months of use. Learning can't always be fun, but you will need to motivate yourself to push through from the intermediate to more advanced stages. The high price of the software, however, should motivate most people. We spent a week with each language learning app, testing its features and teaching methods.

So to compile this list, we took into account things like how engaged we felt as students, how well certain tools work on the interface, and how in-depth the lessons go for example, exploring grammar rules rather than just asking students to repeat phrases and vocabulary.

One of the most difficult aspects of learning English is mastering the accent. A lot of apps - like Rosetta Stone - give you the chance to purchase live lessons, where an expert can give you direct feedback on your accent. Another option is to purchase some lessons from the best online tutoring services , which have lots of native English speakers available to give lessons.

Ruth has worked across both print and online media for more than five years, contributing to national newspaper titles and popular tech sites. She has held a number of journalist roles alongside more senior editorial positions, and is now the Digital Learning and Hobbies editor for the Top Ten Reviews brand.

Rosetta Stone. Reasons to avoid - Expensive. Rocket Languages.