LingQ Review: HOW Steve Kaufmann's language learning app works

Thanks beautiful lady!! You really break content down well. I actually have this app and I like it a great deal!

Hi , I know that I'm not a patreon , but I will like to suggest a topic for your channel , if you are interested of course ,the topic is the difference between a language teacher and a language couch , I think is and interesting topic to talk about, you have a great channel.

Hi Laura. I'll try this app. I liked the tools you showed

hello! new subscriber

This is a great language learning tool lovely Laura. Thanks a lot for sharing it and thanks for getting us an awesome discount 🙏🤟👍🎁💝 (BTW your Greek pronunciation is amazing. You sound like a local 🌟)

i like the concept, it's way better than your average app full of dumb phrases.... but. some of the more interesting languages are only semi supported, and it is so effing expensive. we're living in 2023 and paying for food and rent is challenging enough, who can afford to pay that much for a hobby (even with a discount it's still a lot of money)?

I think it’s a great idea to introduce different language learning apps. Many thanks for these videos! However, it would be even more interesting if you explained what are the key problems / use cases you can solve with these tools.

I tried LingQ about a year ago and these were the things I liked:
* Same user interface to press a button to listen to audio and read the text as you listen
* Many texts with audio available in many languages. This is particularly useful in smaller languages when you don’t know where to find material so it would take time (and this time could be used to learn languages instead of searching for material). For example, I didn’t know where to find Dutch beginner level texts with audio. LingQ solved this problem for me.

However, I quitted using the tool after using it for a month. I think it’s too expensive compared to the added value. I like to read parallel texts (foreign language + English translation) and marking known / unknown words annoys me. I’d rather highlight useful expressions and access them later. In addition, I like to watch videos with (dual) subtitles as much as possible. This kind of material is relatively easy to find in bigger languages, like German and French. But for smaller languages I’d recommend checking if there’s some interesting material available within this tool.

By the way, you could create a playlist for these app review videos so they could be easily accessed. This applies also to interview videos, especially those non-English videos that are linked to other channels. Moreover, you could send Patreon messages about these. Your own videos are quite easy to spot on my feed so messages about them would probably feel like spamming. But videos linked to other channels - those are hard to spot.

Nice app and review, but in my experience Greek people these days don't reply with 'είμαι πολύ καλά, ευχαριστώ ' - more likely something along the lines of 'ας τα λέμε καλά.. το παλεύουμε.. υγεία να'χουμε.. 😂'

On 1 July 2023, I started using LingQ for the first time, and I also started learning a language (Spanish) as a complete beginner. I decided to follow Steve's advice by working through the mini-stories and just trying to connect with the language. After nearly 3 months and 60 mini stories later, I feel that the language is slowly starting to become more and more familiar. I look forward to seeing how much more I can learn for the rest of the year.

I do not agree with a lot of Steve Kaufman's strategies about learning languages and his thoughts that grammar is not that important. However, I do think that once you have a solid grammar base, Lingq is an outstanding way to stuff massive amounts of vocabulary into your brain so that you can speak and understand a language. In about a year, I've stuffed 4,000 Ukrainian words into my brain and I can read and understand at an intermediate level. My speaking is significantly behind my comprehension, however. And that, is the biggest drawback of Lingq. Still, it's an amazing tool and well worth the money for a subscription.

I have been using LingQ for almost a year now. I liked the concept of importing texts and videos, and use those to learn new words. But there are way too many problems with LingQ. After creating audio from text, the audio just stops after a few words or a few sentences. Also the vocabulary review sucks. When I mistakenly type a normal letter e for example, where it should have been é, the the vocabulary review still considers my wrong answer as correct. This is a no-go for me! There are other issues, but here is not really the place to list them. I’ve had it with LingQ.

Great video, thanks for the explanation.

By the way, the room you're recording in is quite echoey and the audio would probably sound better if you put something in there to absorb the reflections (for example some cushions, curtains, a coat rack, acoustic foam etc.)

Thank for your recommendation!

FAILURE. I used it after being assured I would see a difference. I did more each day than expected for more than three months. It failed. So now I feel much worse. I have begged and am willing to pay someone to explain what is wrong.
I spent $5,000.00 on conventional lessons and more on the storytelling method for several years. Then in 2023 I joined LingQ thinking it would take me to where I have been unable to achieve. I want conversational fluency. I still cannot understand talk and I cannot speak. Prof. Brown of Poly-glot-a-lot was kind enough to speak to me twice. Sadly the storytelling method a part of the general method of Natural Learning has failed. I have literally spent several hundred hours online searching for an answer as to whatnis wrong. I have taken an increase in supplements and listened to hypnosis audios to see if those would help. Nothing improved. The staff of LingQ finally gave me suggested instructions that leave me even more confused. I have been doing these things on each lesson in order. Nothing happened. I though it would. I have commented on various polyglot posts and no suggestions.
I don't care what is sounds like, I am now convinced Kaufman and others do and/or know something that got them in the proper mode to acquire language but they are not disclosing it. The amount of time I have spent on Tagalog and commenting on this entire 13 year venture has been absurd. I sit in Metro Manila alone, lonely and isolated unable to attend functions sincenI end up alone in a crowd speaking Tagalog.
Do you or anyone know what is wrong?

Thank you for this video. Very interesting! 👍🏽 I am find in Greek reminds me of "Hoarcio "in Russian. I am sure there is a link as I know a tiny bit of Russian and through that I can read the Greek alphabet.
Will certainly take a look at LinQ, for now I am surviving with a combination of apps: Drops, Memrise and Pimsleur

I have been commenting on many polyglot and language sites about the fact that all known language programs and classes at all schools fail. After 13 years of failure to become basically conversationally fluent in Tagalog and during that time spending several hundred hours searching for methods, I realized the truth. Think about it, any exam with less than 60% success is a failure. Imagine classes failing up to 60% continually. No language program or classes achieve greater than 60% basic fluency. Why? Something has been wrong for a long time. I contend no program or classes even get to 5%. Learners or acquirers drop out due to hopeless failure. Very short-term tests give a false impression of accomplishment since the ultimate goal fails. Question all programs and classes. Any rationalizations are hiding failure. The polyglots had better all get together and figure out what has been and is wrong. If any other subject had such failure an immediate fix would be attempted. Not so with languages. It just continues as it has for over a hundred years never achieving over 60% much less 5% for all those attempting basic fluency.

I have a lifetime wnglish account and want to sell it.
Unfortunately I can not keep studying because of my problems. If anybody wants to buy it ,please let me know.

To be honest, I feel this isn't a great app for a beginner. Jumping in right away to a whole story of text, without context, is pretty much just looking at a bunch of strange letters on the screen. Yes, you can click on every single word to kind of get an occasional meaning but overall it's very clunky and challenging. As another commenter stated, it was 3 months and 60 mini stories until the language became more familiar. I know learning a language takes time but I'm not sure this is the easiest way for a beginner to start.

I haven't used my subscription to this site in a few months, one of the reason why I kind of didn't like using it was the Persian/Farsi generated voice was so bad and robotic sounding that I could barely understand what it was saying. Now after coming back to it today it is significantly better. Much more natural sounds. So I can at least say they are adding improvements to this site. What made me come back to it is because I got an email of them stating the price of subscription will go up by 15% soon. So keep that in mind.

Readlang allows you to listen and highlight and its free.

I tried LingQ, and I won't deny that it's surely is a very good language learning resource, but it's just not my cup of tea.

Just a short question, We need to pay for use it?

Even though LingQ seems like a great app, I don’t want to pay to use it. On the other hand, Immersive Translate is a free extension browser that offers translations and a great language learning experience. It’s what’s worked for me, and the experience has been really great.

我不知道这个软件有什么问题，还是我有什么问题，根本无法注册，我用的最贵的vpn

Thank you for your referral code, I just used it since it seems like a worthwhile investment to test out for the next year. I've hit a brick wall in my learning, and it's probably just me, or my methods, but I need to somehow push through it and hopefully LingQ is going to help!

I tried it for a month and I didn't like it. It has several problems: 1. First, the dialogues should be ordered by level. 2. The automatic system keeps recommending audios that I have already listened to.
3. Studied dialogues later appear as unstudied. 4. When you write to support they do not answer. 5. I canceled my subscription 3 times and they never sent me a confirmation email. 6. It is very expensive for what it offers.

Is this program good for Japanese beginners?

I am a user of LINGQ, and can't recommend it. It really SUCKS. Suppose your basic language is English, and you are learning French. As part of your practicing, you get an English sentence that you have to translate into French. The French translation is broken into, e.g., 6 pieces that you have to put in the correct order. Nice, except that you frequently get into a loop in which the same sentence is repeated 2, 5, 10 or even more times. There is no way to get out of the loop apart from trying again and again and again. This makes the use of LINGQ very tedious, time consuming and ineffective. The idea behind LINGQ is nice, but better try a different method. LINGQ will only result in frustration.

What would I miss out on in languages that are not fully supported? Is the paid version worth it for one of those languages (like Croatian)?

My son is studying 4th grade and he has the French as a subject in school. None of us or in our sorrounding speak french.. So I was wondering how am I going to help him, then I found lingq... I can type in all his lessons and questions and answers in notepad and import into Lingq. I guess this was not a primary usecase lingQ built for, yet it works. I can play whole sentences, paragraphs or single words.. Keep track of what he has studied. Even ask him to read out French loud shadowing the Lingq. I am so glad I found LingQ, none of the apps out there do this. Now I have started brushing my Mandarin after a long time and to my surprise I can use one account to learn both languages.

I use the free version, and I really like the Spanish part of the site, but my experience with Polish has been that there's a gap between easy and hard content, and the content is also not as varied. Some languages rely heavily on stuff being imported.

I am reasonably fluent in French and LingQ works for me in French. I am now learning Levantine Arabic and the process is a nightmare. I see that Steve Kaufmann, after learning 25-30 other languages is having his issues there as well. I believe that the problem is that the Arabic alphabet is so different and irregular as compared to a Latin alphabet that the LingQ process gets into trouble from the get go. One could learn to pronounce and understand a "Lesson 1" fairly easily but then spend a lifetime trying to read and write it. This issue probably carries over to many Eastern Asian languages as well. I hope that I am just impatient and wrong, but so far, that is my only conclusion.

Me parece una opción genial para complementar los estudios de cualquier idioma disponible, en mi caso lo estoy comenzando a usar para lograr avanzar del nivel intermedio alto de inglés al nivel avanzado