A Different Approach on Vocabulary Learning: Mondly

As the app development industry improves each day, we are presented with so many apps to pick and choose to use in our language learning journey. Checking out the infinite number of apps suggested to me by Google Play, I decided to give Mondly a shot. Having used the premium version on and off for about a year now, I think I can do it justice reviewing it. Let’s start with the pros:

Easy to use surface The minute you sign up and choose the language you want to learn, you are given a detailed map about various topics, which helps you to see the steps you’ll be taking from the very beginning. It’s not very complicated to use it either. It also does make it a bit as if you’re playing an online game. Topics range As mentioned previously, the topics have quite a good range such as Core Vocabulary, Travel, Romance etc. So, whether you are trying to survive in your short trip to Madrid or just impress a potential love interest, you will be able to find key phrases and words to help you communicate. Repetition Just like Duolingo, Mondly provides many vocabulary repetition activity to help you internalise the words you’ve just learnt. The ‘’Conversation’’ Feature What really sets Mondly apart from its counterparts is that it has a feature where you will be given a dialogue at the end of each topic, which helps you see the words you’ve just learnt in context, and asked to repeat after the native speaker while you record yourself saying the sentences in the dialogue out loud. You can have a full-on conversation with yourself, if you would not be weirded out by that, or simply the app itself if you are looking for some company! Not only does it prepare you for an actual conversation, but also it helps you practice your pronunciation. Fret not, this is not an add sponsored by the app. I will now mention the stuff that I didn’t like that much: Bland Surface Although the surface is quite easy to use, it is also quite bland and to me it gives off the feel of a very old app. Not an eye-candy for sure. Constant repetition Although you are not given weird and useless sentences, the repetition gets wee bit boring after some point. As a language teacher, I know that repetition is quite important but mind you, I have used apps that can adjust the repetition frequency just right. I am afraid Mondly doesn’t pass on that part. Lack of emphasis on Phrases and Collocations If you are looking for an app to help you build your vocabulary in a foregin language, Mondly is a good option. But as every language learner/teacher would agree with me, seeing those newly acquired vocabularies in different contexts would give a better idea as to how to form sentences. Lack of Grammar Studies The app offers an interesting feature where you can see verb inflections in different tenses, it lacks grammar activities. I would have actually thought it expected learners to discover the rules by themselves implicitly, if only there weren’t any inflections shown. All in all, Mondly is a nice app to use for vocabulary building and thematic learning but lacks different aspects of teaching a language and therefore cannot be used as an only means of learning a foreign language.