Transparent Language Online

This app is better than some others, but I do have to note that the typing sections of the assessments could be improved. It’s a minor issue and if I could give it 4 and a half stars, I would.

I tried using this app to learn Armenian. It’s sometimes tolerable, despite a few layout issues on my iPhone (e.g. buttons hard to press because they’re at the very edge of the screen). But with writing, I feel thrown into the deep end, expected to type entire sentences in Armenian, character by character, before I even have a grasp of how the words are spelled. The “easy typing” option does not make this much easier. I think this course could be improved by starting people with typing individual words, rather than expecting verbatim et literatim memorization of full sentences straight out of the gate.

This app has a lot of potential, but is severely outdated. I was excited to begin using this to learn ASL but it’s too buggy.

Often loses server connection in recording/ rating activity. I fell for the suggestion it was my internet connection at fault the first time. It’s clearly the app or the server supporting it. Occasionally progress towards refreshing vocabulary is dropped, as though the whole session never happened only to get the same words in the same order the next refresh vocabulary session. Not all bad, but these issue have lingered for many months.

Great content and functionality on the website, but the app just fails to deliver. None of the practice games function. It just tells me I’ve completed it already

So, this company has been around for a pretty long time. They used to be called something else, but their software is essentially the same, and that was back in about 2003… And sadly, their application design hasn’t really been updated that much since then, the only thing that has really changed is that smart phones are a thing now. So first of all, full disclosure… I did not pay full price for premium access to the product, I bought it as part of a humble bundle.. But I will be reviewing it from the perspective of someone paying full price. To start, the contact is pretty decent. It is about what you would expect to find from claims to take you from absolute beginner, to a decent intermediate level in a given language. My issues with this program have nothing to do with the level of content. Because if you go deep enough into the contact, you will find a lot there. That being said, just like its competitors, it depends on what language are learning. For me, that’s Japanese, and it happens to be one of the more fleshed out programs. But I know for some minority languages, they are willfully lacking in terms of content. If I am looking at a language, learning platform, this is something I would want to know upfront. And almost no where are they really forthcoming with the amount of contact that they provide for any given language. Now, to the main reason, I got this to begin with. The fact that it’s supposedly walks you into a high intermediate level of Japanese, and Mobile access. As I said, before, I have zero issues with the content, but the app is barely useable. It looks like an application designed in 2003, if that. The application itself is sluggish at best. And at worst, it’s almost nonfunctional. The boundaries for some of the interface buttons, overshoot the usable screen area on my phone, and therefore do not register often when I push them. The other issue I have is that what passes for “speech recognition” is just a visual, waveform comparison, and it does a terrible job of analyzing whether or not you actually have a good pronunciation. It is legitimately one of the worst mobile experiences for language learning app I’ve had in a very long time. I understand that they are trying to update and modernize things, but this is something they should’ve given due consideration two years ago. Given the fact that they usually charge $250 a year, I can’t in good conscience recommend this to anyone hoping for an experience where grammar is at least

This is terrible. It gives you some vocabulary with no explanation and drills you on it. That's the entire app. And you have to pay for it? I'm glad I only spent a dollar through humble bundle.

Lessons are very helpful, great methods to enforce learning. Also one of the few platforms I’ve found that offers Nepali, and with my library card it’s free! Not free for everyone, so go to website for Transparent Language to check if your zip code has a library that works with Transparent. Very happy to have this tool. I’m learning so much so fast. It’s a better learning style for me than Duolingo, even.

This is the BEST language learning app ever. I’ve been using Transparent Language for about 6 months now, and it is crafted exsctly how I like to learn. I beat Duolingo, I tried Rosetta Stone, even FreeRice. But Transparent Language takes the cake. My library offered it (check your local availability on their website!) but I loved it so much I bought a subscription myself. Learned 1,500+ words and haven even begun to dream in Italian—that’s a real good sign, you language learners. Get this app!

Very slow, sluggish and boring.