Busuu Vs Duolingo: #1 Quick Honest Review

As language learners, our first studying source must be language learning apps. But, how do you find out which one is best for you? Simple. Keep reading our app vs app-themed reviews, and you will find out everything you need to know!

In this particular post, we will compare Busuu vs Duolingo. Both of these apps are so popular among language learners, which is why we wanted to take a look at their features and help you decide which one is the best for your learning style.

If you’d like to compare Busuu with other language learning apps, you can check out our Busuu vs Pimsleur or Busuu vs Drops blog posts!

 

What Is Busuu?

Busuu is a language learning app founded by McGraw-Hill Education in 2008. Although it doesn’t offer a language course, the app’s name comes from the Busuu language in Cameroon.

Busuu offers a total of 12 language courses, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Turkish.

Every language course consists of different proficiency levels, which are based on the CEFR levels. Unlike other language learning apps, Busuu gives you a formal certificate if you complete the language course successfully.

If you want to learn even more, check out our more comprehensive Busuu review!

How Exactly Does Busuu Work?

First things first, you have to choose your target language and either specify your level or take a placement test in that language. Next, you choose your goal in learning that target language, such as education, daily communication, business, etc. This is an important step because you’ll get lessons tailored to your specific language goal.

Once you start the language course, you will encounter flashcard activities. New words will be written out, with accompanying audio, and there will be an example sentence to help you practice. As you progress through the course, you’ll match the audio clip with the correct picture, match words with definitions, fill in dialogue gaps, and more.

Features Of Busuu

Lesson Format

Busuu’s lessons are topicalized, such as “What Are You Up to Tonight?” to “A Day at Home”. If you choose the business goal, your language lessons will have topics like “Talking with Your Colleagues” and “Managing a Project.”

In general, lessons consist of three parts. The first lesson introduces you to new vocabulary. The second lesson allows you to practice using these words and phrases. In the final lesson, you’ll take a quiz to assess your process.

Get Corrected By A Native Speaker

One of the best features of Busuu is the opportunity to get corrected by native speakers in writing exercises. They tend to correct not only grammatical errors but any awkward and out-of-place phrasing.

If you want to learn a foreign language to have a casual conversation, you will benefit from this feature of the Busuu app.

Grammar Lessons

With Busuu, you won’t be repeating the same words and phrases a thousand times in the same lesson. In fact, most lessons will show you new verbs with new grammar explanations.

The grammar lessons include a large repertoire of irregular verbs, reflexive pronouns, and different tenses. However, keep in mind that only users who have a premium subscription can access these types of grammar lessons.

Dialogue Lessons

After you’ve passed the basics, you will start reading and listening to a conversation between two native speakers to practice your overall comprehension skills. There are also more traditional activities, such as filling in the blanks and true or false based on the audio.

Busuu Free Version

Unfortunately, the free version of Busuu is very limited, but here are some of the features that they offer:

  • Interactive Flashcards
  • Dialogues To Show Words With Context

Busuu Premium Version

The premium subscription offers everything you need to master a language, but, unfortunately, it’s limited to one language per subscription. By paying about $6.85 per month, you’ll gain access to the following features:

  • Offline Mode: You can download your lessons beforehand and study anywhere and anytime you want
  • Grammar Lessons: You can see simple explanations of grammar rules and learn about their usage and form
  • AI Vocabulary Review: App algorithm is able to detect the words you are most likely to forget so it makes you practice these words more often
  • Feedback From The Community: You can speak or text with other language learners as well as native speakers in the Busuu community

Who Is Busuu Best For?

Busuu is the perfect language app for both beginner and intermediate learners. If you prefer to learn a language in the most interactive and practical way possible, start with Busuu!

Pros & Cons

+ Placement test and topic-based lessons

+ Different content for different goals

+ Writing corrections are made by native speakers

Many native speakers with different dialects may confuse new learners

Not a lot of speaking exercises

Lessons get repetitive

 

Busuu VS Duolingo Review

Now, let’s compare Busuu vs Duolingo so that you can see the differences between the two apps more clearly.

Lesson Content

Busuu attaches video clips with dialogues from native speakers, which means you get exposed to the real language. On the other hand, Duolingo uses computer-based voices.

Busuu also gives you more comprehensive grammar explanations, whereas Duolingo doesn’t really focus much on grammar.

Pronunciation Skills

Duolingo has its own speech recognition technology, while Busuu relies on its community for pronunciation feedback. So, when you record your voice to complete the pronunciation activity, Duolingo immediately decides whether it is correct or not.

Language Courses

Obviously, Duolingo offers more language courses than Busuu. Busuu only offers 12 language courses, while Duolingo offers over 30 different language courses.

 

Learn Languages With Ling!

If you are still feeling indecisive about which app is the best for you, here is another great language app for you: The Ling App!

Ling is a language learning app that offers lessons in over 60 languages. The app has also been loved and recommended by thousands of users on the App Store and Google Play.

One of the best parts of Ling is that it uses fun teaching methods and interactive activities to help you improve your reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.

Even better, you can download the app today and try it out for free! Start your language learning journey with Ling!

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