Duolingo

                                                     

Foreign languages are kind of a requirement for school. And real life too, I guess. But unless you have a ton of really sociable friends who already speak the language you're trying to learn, learning foreign languages is pretty awful. In my case, the tedium of trying to incorporate a long list of same-subject words into my vocabulary is exhausting, boring, and just not much fun at all. Anyway, if you're interested in a faithful mobile companion (that comes in the shape of a slightly adorable and slightly disturbing green owl) Duolingo might be your thing.

Not only is it free, but it supports impressively comprehensive learning for Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian (plus English, if that's what you need). Don't expect anything too crazy, though. It's not a game, exactly. More of a clean, interactive workbook. But don't let that disappoint you, either.

Duolingo contains chapters, more or less, and within each of those chapters is a series of lessons with a variety of exercises that gradually introduce new nouns, verbs, and grammar. Lessons function as a test of sorts, with words to choose from or a phrase that needs to be translated. But it's never intimidating. In many of the exercises there's an option to tap on a word to see its translation; not to mention lessons take only about five minutes to complete. After you complete enough lessons in a chapter, you "learn" it. But after that you can continue to review the chapter with more lessons and take on addition challenges until you "master" it. And while the chapters are arranged in a fixed flowchart, you always have the option to "test out" and move on to something more challenging. Plus, there's an overarching leveling system for a very obvious way to track your progress.

Duolingo doesn't try to be your professor, it just gives you a studious gymnasium where you can work out your language all day long. That being said, I'd personally recommend it as a supplement for language learning, rather than a primary resource. But it's up to you.