Speechling Overview:
Speechling is a language program that offers access to feedback from native speakers. They offer both smartphone and web-based platforms that are clean and well organized. Speechling provides lessons in 11 languages, including Spanish.
This program provides a variety of lessons from beginner to expert with lots of interesting lessons in between. The free version offers access to a large number of learning materials that language learners of all ages can enjoy. There is also a paid version if you want access to even more lesson options.
Speechling is a great program for those who want to learn on the go. There aren’t set lessons that you have to complete to get credit, you can just open the program and do a bit here and there or learn for hours, it’s all up to you.
Pros
Cons
SPEECHLING PRICING
Free Forever | Free Plan is completely free and offers access to a large portion of the program including 10 recording reviews from a native speaker each month. |
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Unlimited Plan - Monthly | Monthly subscription for $29.99/per month if you pay monthly. |
Unlimited Plan - 3 Months | $23.99/per month if you pay every 3 months |
Unlimited Plan - Annually | $19.99/per month if you choose the yearly plan. This plan offers access to even more learning material and coach feedback. |
Unlimited Plan: This plan offers access to even more learning material and coach feedback.
Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Italian
Speechling Creates Strong Speakers
Proper pronunciation is a vital part of learning a new language. Unfortunately, a lot of language programs spend so much time focusing on reading and writing, that you miss out on the importance of pronunciation. You may know the words, but if you cannot say them correctly, you will not be able to communicate properly.
The best way to perfect your pronunciation is to practice speaking, but you have to make sure that you’re practicing the right sounds. It won’t do you any good to practice eight hours a day if you’re not sure that you’re practicing the words correctly.
That is where listening practice comes in. Listening to native speakers on a daily basis will help you learn the proper sounds as well as the proper flow of the language. You can listen to music, watch television programs, or listen to podcasts in your chosen language to help you practice listening.
Another good way to work on pronunciation is to record yourself speaking and compare your recordings to recordings of native speakers. This will help you to hear the differences between the way you say certain words and the way they say them.
Most importantly, you should seek feedback from a native speaker. They will be able to hear the errors that you may not be able to catch because they know what to listen for.
All of this may seem like a lot, but Speechling gives you easy access to the tools you need to achieve proper pronunciation. It provides plenty of options to practice on your schedule. With recordings from both male and female speakers, you can listen to and imitate native speakers speaking naturally.
Speechling also makes it easy to get feedback from native speakers who are there to help you learn. Simply record yourself speaking on the app and you can send it right to your Speechling coach. They will review it and you will be notified when they have sent you feedback.
The more you listen and practice with the help of native speakers, the more comfortable you will be speaking your new language. It’s as simple as that. If that sounds like something you are interested in, keep reading for a full rundown of how to get started as well as an overview of how it works.
Getting Started
The first step in your journey is to sign-up. This may seem like a silly thing to mention, but I really appreciated how easy it was to sign in. You could create a profile just for Speechling or you could use your already existing Google or Facebook account.
I chose to use a pre-existing profile, so signing up took less than 3 minutes. I simply chose the profile I wanted and answered a few simple questions, including what language I wanted to learn and where I wanted to start.
They offer 11 different languages including Spanish, Italian, German, and more. You can also choose the language in which you would like to see the translations. These options can be changed at any time by accessing the settings.
The profile setup also includes the option to choose between hearing a male or female speaker during lessons, so you can choose whichever is best for you. If you want to hear both genders, this is another option that can be changed at any time.
Once you sign-up, you are shown a picture of your Speechling coach as well as a greeting from them. You are then given the chance to record a quick greeting for them. After that, it is time to learn!
Speechling Lesson Options
The main lesson plan includes modules from Beginner 1 to Expert 2. They also offer Foundations, Phrasebook, and Speechling Conversations.
Speechling Foundations offers lessons in core words such as numerals, verbs, nouns, dates, and adjectives. This will help you brush up on some of your basic knowledge.
Speechling Phrasebook teaches you basic phrases in 15 different categories including subjects like the weather, hotel stays, and clothing. This is great practice for those who are planning a trip and want to be able to ask or answer simple questions on their own.
Speechling Conversations is for advanced learners who are ready to practice thinking and speaking in their new language by answering questions, describing images, or just using freestyle mode. This helps you to go beyond just repeating words and phrases.
Learning With Speechling
The main lessons allow you to learn your new language in multiple ways including speaking, dictation, listening, flashcards, quizzes, and fill in the blank.
I chose Spanish as my goal language and started with Beginner 1, just to see what it was like. I was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was, although if you are a true beginner who has never spoken Spanish before, you may want to try another program such as Duolingo or Busuu to learn some of the basic words and sounds.
When you open a lesson it goes directly to speaking practice. You will be given a word or phrase in your native language and asked to say the word in your new language. For example, it will show you the phrase “A few.”, so you would say, “Unos cuantos”.
You record yourself saying the phrase and this program will automatically play it back, then you can play the recording of the native speaker saying the same phrase. This is very helpful because hearing your recording directly before or after the native speaker can highlight any pronunciation issues you may be having.
You can do as many or as few of these as you like. Once you are ready to move on to the next word or phrase, you simply rate the phrase as easy, medium, or hard and that will dictate how often that phrase comes up in future lessons.
In the dictation lessons you hear a Spanish word or phrase and then you write what you hear. This section also gives you the chance to rate each word or phrase as easy, medium, or hard to help customize the lessons.
The listening section allows you to listen to each of the phrases in your current learning module. It will play the phrase in Spanish, then in English. You can customize this section to just play the phrases or you can turn on quiz mode which pauses, allowing you to choose when you hear the translation.
The flashcards are cool in that they have the written words as well as a recording, so you can listen to the word and record yourself saying it before seeing the translation. Once you look at the translation you can say whether you got it right or wrong so the computer knows which flashcards to bring up more often.
The quiz section uses multiple-choice questions to quiz you on what you have learned. It defaults to only asking you questions based on the speaking activities you have completed, but you can also choose to have it bring up all the phrases in the module that you’re currently working on.
Fill in the blank is exactly what it sounds like. Speechling brings up a phrase or word and you fill in the blank. This is great for both listening and writing practice.
All This For Free?
I was definitely impressed with Speechling Spanish. As I mentioned, I would recommend absolute beginners learn the basics first, but as long as you have a basic knowledge of most of the sounds, you should be fine.
Speechling offers a lot of practice options that other language programs don’t offer, especially the option to have your recordings critiqued by a native speaker. The coaches are really nice and very helpful. If you make a mistake, they are very conscientious about going over it and correcting it in a way you can easily understand.
Best of all, all the options I have mentioned in this review are free. With the free version you can get up to ten coach reviews and access all of the lesson plans as often as you like. And, since there are no set lesson times, you can practice for as long as you want.
Whether you’re just squeezing in a few minutes of practice while you’re on the bus or learning new words while you eat breakfast, every little bit of practice will improve your skills, especially when you’re practicing with a program like this one.
The Unlimited Plan gives you even more chances to practice with unlimited coach reviews, a recording journal, offline lessons, and more.
Speechling Alternatives
If Speechling Spanish isn’t quite what you’re looking for, here are a few alternatives.
If you need a more structured program with actual lessons, you may want to check out Rocket Spanish or Lengalia. Both of these programs offer set lesson plans and in-depth grammar lessons.
If you’re truly new to Spanish and need an ultra user-friendly program to get you started, then check out Duolingo or Busuu. Both of these programs offer fun platforms that are great for beginners.
Like all programs, Speechling does have a couple drawbacks, so here are my pros and cons:
Pros
Cons
Speechling Review: Final Thoughts
Speechling is a truly innovative program in the world of online language lessons. Many at-home language programs skip the vital element of proper pronunciation, making it difficult for students to be truly confident in their new language skills. They focus on what you need to speak your new language confidently.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend Speechling for freeform learners. This is a great program to use on the go because you can practice as little or as much as you want. The lack of set lessons may bother some learners, but you can always use Speechling as a supplemental learning platform as well.
The benefit of getting feedback from a native speaker is priceless. This is a learning tool that you’re sure to benefit from in your journey toward becoming fluent in your new language. I hope this article has encouraged you to give Speechling a try and start learning today!
Great review. You said Speechling may not be suitable for total beginners. Speechling’s Latin American Spanish course includes a Foundations course, which is geared at total beginners (basic vocabulary and common phrases). It’s much more basic than the Beginner-1 module. But maybe I have Foundations access only because I have a paid subscription, and it’s not available with your free version? I agree with you that Speechling Spanish could use more structure. For example, Latin American Spanish Intermediate-3 is a single module with over 400 sentences, with no means of breaking it down into smaller, repeatable “chunks”. Overall, Speechling Latin American Spanish is awesome. I’m hoping to see Speechling share a Brazilian Portuguese course.