Learning languages with apps has many benefits, but linguists say there are some shortcomings too

Every year for countless years, I’ve had “improve my French” at the top of my annual goals. 

And that’s where it stayed, until yet another lockdown sealed us into our homes in early 2021 and I discovered Duolingo.

The popular language learning app is one of many available to download on mobile phone or access via a website. It turns learning into a game, complete with rewards, points and a daily reminder in the form of a cute green owl nagging me to do just five minutes of practice.

Four years on, my streak is still going strong. Frankly, even I’m impressed.

Yet, while my French has definitely improved, I wouldn’t say I’m fluent. I still struggle with the use of some pronouns and cannot wrap my brain around the subjunctive tense. 

And so, as many others embark on similar missions at this time of year, I asked linguists whether it’s possible to master a new language using an app or if there are better ways? And why learn a new language anyway?

The benefits of learning a language

There are many obvious reasons why someone would want to learn a new language. Perhaps it’s to increase their career prospects, connect to their heritage, for fun or even for love, if they’ve fallen for someone who speaks a different language.

And it’s clearly helpful for travel. “If you can speak Greek and go around the Greek islands, speaking in Greek, all of a sudden the prices of things become cheaper from the price in the window because you get the local price,” jokes Mark Antoniou, associate professor at Western Sydney University and a Greek speaker.

But there are deeper benefits too.

Ingrid Piller, professor of applied linguistics at Macquarie University, points to a quote attributed to German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 

“Learning another language really gives you a perspective that our own perspective isn’t the only one. It’s about [realizing] that there are multiple ways of seeing things, and I think that’s actually a really beneficial thing in today’s world … That’s a great contribution to intercultural understanding,” she says.

It can also be a brain workout. Research suggests bilingualism increases the brain’s executive control and helps people switch between tasks smoothly.

“[When I’m speaking English] I’m gating out all the other languages I speak. My brain switches off whatever else I’m doing and switches on English,” says Professor Piller, who speaks five languages. “And that’s actually a skill that trains your brain in performing multiple tasks.”

Dr Antoniou agrees: “There’s this idea that if you’re a bilingual, what we refer to as executive function can transfer to other tasks, which we need in high-demand office environments [and] high-performance environments, where you need to be switching and ignoring one thing and paying attention to another.”

Learning more than one language also increases metalinguistic awareness. This is the ability to understand the structure of language separate from its meaning, for example understanding why the grammar in a particular phrase isn’t right. It’s a key part of learning language and allows you to learn and improve.

What about brain health?

There have been plenty of headlines about the link between learning languages and improved brain health. Some claim it can ward off degenerative brain disease.

Both Professor Piller and Dr Antoniou say, while language learning can improve brain health, there are limits. 

“I think we just have to be very realistic about what the goalposts are and what success looks like,” Dr Antoniou says.

He thinks, for example, it’s unlikely that people who start playing with an app in their 70s can ward off dementia entirely. But it might buy them time.

“If there’s a benefit to anything [like] learning an instrument, learning the language, using an app, you really want to be doing it before symptoms present. Let’s say in young adulthood to middle age, rather than when people have time but they’re in their late 60s and 70s,” he says.

“Not that that doesn’t help, it probably does, but prevention is better than cure.”

Will an app help?

Most of us have a mobile phone within easy reach, so the usual barriers like having the time or space to practice language are removed when you use an app. Basic access is usually free, and the slightly addictive gamification of learning is part of the attraction too.

Professor Piller says the convenience of apps allows learners to practice regularly, which is essential. This is compared to those who sign up for weekly classes and may struggle to remember to practice in between lessons.

“Language learning is hard [and] there’s a lot of repetition involved. It could be tedious to have a partner or a teacher having to repeat [things] so many times for you, and it could become expensive,” Dr Antoniou says.

The other benefit of apps is that language components like vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation are broken down into individual lessons. 

“These are discreet skills, but at the same time you always need to bring them to bear at the same time,” Professor Piller says. 

So, when it comes to learning the basics, apps are very helpful. But becoming fluent is a different proposition.

“And that’s where the apps fall down because an app is always a binary, but language is not just the binary. Language actually changes its meaning with context and an app can’t do context.”

She points to the example of ambiguity. Apps usually only use dictionary definitions, but context is everything when words are used in conversation. 

“In real life, anything can mean anything,” she says.

This is particularly true of slang. It’s difficult to explain the meanings of English words like “nice” or “easy” or “basic” without context. And how do you explain words like “skibidi” or “rizz”, which are impenetrable to anyone over 21?

So if you want to be fluent, both linguists recommend also signing up to a conversation class or joining a language club. 

“I think language apps have a role to play, but it’s like a complementary, supplementing role,” Dr Antoniou says.

And the more people you talk to, the better.

“We know that the number of native speakers that you interact with has a very crucial effect on the way that you establish the individual speech sounds of a language,” he says. 

This is because everyone speaks in a different way, whether that’s speed, fluidity, or breadth of vocabulary.

“If [language learning] is for you to remain active and maintain your mental agility, then you actually get more benefits out of joining a French club, and learning with other people as opposed to doing this on the app,” says Professor Piller.

“The app is like sudoku, it’s like a puzzle. But if you join the French club, you actually get that additional benefit of practicing with other people, hanging out with other people [and] having that interaction built in.”