EnglishClub

In my last post, I shared my story of how I learned English through movies. That was back before smartphones and the internet were a thing.

Nowadays, there are many new apps that can help your language learning. And remember: you can use more than one of these apps at once.

Since you probably already know about the popular apps (such as Duolingo), I will limit this list to apps you probably don’t know about. Most of these apps will have a free version, and a premium version to get advanced features.

Lirica: learn from music

Lirica is a language learning app that harnesses the power of music to help you learn your target language. You can choose from a list of songs in your target language, and the app will provide you with vocabulary and grammar explanations. What I love about this app is that it doesn’t just dump a ton of information on you at once, but instead gradually introduces words to you through repetition.

The free version gives you access to around ten songs, while the premium version costs $6/month and gives you access to all songs.

LingQ: learn by watching the news

If you don’t like the idea of learning from music, LingQ is another app that can help you learn a language through articles and news videos. Like Lirica, LingQ provides translations (with audio) for articles in English. You can also learn common phrases through videos.

The LingQ app provides articles in general categories that are separated into multiple levels of difficulty. There are four levels to choose from: beginner, elementary, intermediate and advanced.

If you feel like practicing your speaking skills, you can also take part in live chat sessions with native speakers.

Lingvist: learn only the words you need

The motto of Lingvist is “Learning, fast-forwarded”. Their algorithms pick words that cover 80% of the language’s use in everyday scenarios. They ask for 20 minutes of your day to teach you 30 words each day that you should know about.

Lingvist’s algorithms also match your knowledge with the appropriate units so you can learn efficiently. They use spaced repetition, which means that the app focuses on words and phrases that you find more difficult while reviewing what you know better.

Falou: learn English by speaking it

Falou is an app that teaches you how to speak, read, and write in English through sentence-completion exercises.

Since the app provides the first part of the sentence, it makes it easier for beginners to start learning how to form correct sentences.

The sentences are varied in difficulty so that you can choose how challenged you want to be.

You get points for completing exercises, which will unlock more exercises as you go along.

Busuu: 10 minutes each day to learn English

After you download Busuu, you will have daily lessons with step by step exercises for around 10 minutes each day. There are over 14 million users who learn from Busuu because of teachers available in 30 languages.

The lesson interface has cards so you can practice vocabulary and conversation. If you choose to, you can also use their premium version to interact with native speakers, attend live sessions, and more.

Language Reactor: learn from watching YouTube

I shared Language Reactor on a previous post and many comments couldn’t believe that such a great service was completely free.

Language Reactor works by filtering videos on YouTube and Netflix you can watch to learn different languages. The app used to be called “Language Learning for Netflix” before they changed their name to include more platforms.

The app has five filters: lesson, review, test, grammar and dialogue. There are many topics you can choose from: business and economy, arts and humanities, social sciences and life skills, natural sciences and technology.

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That’s all for the most exciting little-known apps to learn English. If you’re looking for more ways to learn English online I made this ranking of the 32 best language learning apps in 2022.

I grew up in the suburbs of Rabat, Morocco and learned English predominantly from watching movies. I would watch three or four movies in a day, and after a few years, I realized I could speak the language. It shocked everyone, including me.

My goal is to help you do the same, in a much faster time. In this article, I’ll show you how to learn English from watching movies and give you ways to structure your learning process.

Follow your (film) interests

I learned English as a byproduct of my interest in American culture and cinema. More specifically, I enjoyed real-life stories and indie dramas that didn’t have a lot of plot but realistically portrayed how people live. One of my favorite such movies is Your Sister’s Sister with Emily Blunt.

Letting yourself get carried away by your interests is key to learning English from movies. Don’t ask “how can I learn English?” (yet), ask “what English-language movies would I be interested in?” Some people like horror, others documentaries; some people prefer British comedy to American, etc. It depends on each person. Answering this question is key to your English learning journey.

Turn on the (right) subtitles

It goes without saying that you need to turn on subtitles in your mother tongue to learn from movies at the beginning. What is key here is making sure you enjoy movie watching, and for this you need to understand said movies.

Many people assume that to learn English you need to watch English movies with English subtitles. In my experience, this takes away the fun from watching the film as each new word you don’t understand will look like a giant obstacle in front of you.

Repeat your favorite expressions

I would always find myself mumbling DeNiro’s “You talkin’ to me?” or Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny!” to myself. The reason I did this was because these expressions were fun to say, but in the way I was improving my pronunciation and speaking skills.

Try to repeat expressions in movies you think sound cool. Whether it is Matthew McConaughey’s “Alright, alright, alright” or any other, repeat it to yourself for a while. You will find that your accent will improve.

Review movies online

Go on online film forums like Letterboxd or IMDb and review. Review, review, review. Write anything but make sure it’s in English. This will help you get started on your writing.

Make sure you review movies you either loved or hated, as that will push you to express yourself better in writing.

Organize your time to watch more movies

I’ve always been a big proponent of watching at the very least one movie a week (Sunday is my personal movie night). It’s simple, the more movies you watch, the more you’ll learn.

Start with a weekly movie night. If you don’t have a big TV to watch movies, no problem. Watch on your phone, computer or laptop and just enjoy the film. If you develop a passion for film, you will find yourself watching more. The key is to watch consistently.

Every once in a while, watch a movie with a native English-speaker (if you can)

If you have a native English-speaker friend or colleague, watch a movie together and discuss it afterwards. It’s a fun exercise to test your understanding of the language and have a chat with someone in English.

In Morocco I made English-speaking friends by enrolling in a journalism class. If you don’t have English-speaking friends, it doesn’t mean you can’t make new ones!

And bonus: in my case, those people I met in Morocco are now some of my best friends.

Watch the same movies more than once

Try watching a movie twice or more. I’ve always found that doing this helped me understand the movie better and improve my listening skills.

Most of the movies I watched were through a channel called “MBC2”, which played American movies 24/7. I couldn’t choose which movies to watch (and they didn’t have a lot of money to license new movies), so I ended up watching some movies many times over.

You probably have access to a much more practical way to watch movies. Pick your favorite actors, directors or writers and let yourself become obsessed with their work. Usually, movies you want to watch more than once are good movies. And good movies make learning English fun.

Use new apps

There are so many apps out there that can help you learn English, and some of them harness the power of movies. Language Reactor is a completely free one that I recommend to anyone who wants to learn English. The app works by employing the same technique I’ve been explaining throughout this article: movies with subtitles in your native language, which you pause on every new word so that you can practice it. Lingopie is another app that prides itself as being the “Netflix of language learning” but they currently don’t offer English. Maybe one day.

That’s all for how to learn English through movies. I hope you found this article useful and interesting, and that it will make your English learning (or teaching) journey more fun.

Speaking of fun, I made this database of words that are unique to each language. Here is the list for English words that don’t translate. Words like “catch-22”, “gun-shy”, or “kitty-corner”.

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Movies Vocabulary