Everything You Need to Know About Langua [the most human-like AI tutor]
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This post was last updated on Oct 21 2024
Table of Contents
What is Langua and how does it work?
AI Conversation Tutor (The Most Impressive Feature!)
Immersion and Comprehensible Input tools
Tutoring (1-on-1 lessons with a real teacher)
Langua pricing and plans
Conclusion
Can AI help us learn languages better? If so, how can it help us?
If you want to learn about how the AI platform Langua works or how to effectively use AI to learn a language, you’re in the right place!
Langua is one of the most innovative and trailblazing language learning platforms right now. It brilliantly removes multiple hindrances many people come against when trying to improve their spoken fluency.
I have honestly never used anything that has improved my speaking ability as fast as Langua has, without having to sacrifice precious time with my family (especially being a father of two small children).
It has to be experienced to be believed.
This is not necessarily a review per se but a walkthrough of this revolutionary platform and its features. I will however give my thoughts and opinion on it.
This will be a lengthy post because especially the AI conversation tutor function is very deep, and needs some unpacking to give you a clear picture of how it works.
(Use the jump links at the top of this post to get to a particular section you want to know more about)
Langua also offers some unique and useful comprehensible input functions that we will go through as well.
It’s a surprisingly comprehensive language learning platform.
I hope you’re as excited as me—let’s dive in!
What is Langua and how does it work?
Langua is a language learning platform that was launched in early 2024 by the team behind the excellent 1-on-1 tutoring platform LanguaTalk.
They saw the potential in AI language learning, especially for conversational practice and improving speaking, but found other platforms lacking for language learning.
That’s why Langua was created, which offers the world’s most advanced AI conversation practice.
Langua is a constantly evolving platform that, in addition to its various AI features, also offers several immersion and comprehensible input tools.
What Languages can you learn with Langua?
Langua currently offers 9 languages:
Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian and Portuguese), Romanian, Spanish (Castilian and Latin American), and Swedish.
Other languages, if they use the Latin alphabet, should apparently work as well. They just haven’t been officially launched on the platform as they haven’t been properly tested yet.
Langua is also able to translate into different languages (several more than the above-listed ones) that you can use as your “base language”.
They are planning on launching several new languages soon.
(Use code LINGTUITIVE20 at checkout for 20% off any annual plan (like getting 4 free months compared to the monthly plan)
AI Conversation Tutor (The Most Impressive Feature!)
Let’s start with Langua’s most standout feature:
The AI tutor.
Other platforms offer AI speaking practice, but for language learning specifically, Langua is the cream of the crop.
Many language experts agree that Langua is by far the superior choice for language learning compared to other options.
How can this AI tutor help you learn a new language?
With Langua’s AI you can…
…have realistic conversations with a human-sounding AI voice about any topic.
…get highly impressive reactions and follow-up questions from the AI tutor about what you’re saying.
…get feedback and corrections on your language usage (words, grammar, expressions, etc.) to sound more native-like.
…learn new words, expressions, and even slang, all in the context of conversation.
…ask any question about your target language and get accurate answers in a highly interactive way.
…get corrections and suggestions for your writing to make people assume you’re a native speaker when you email or message them.
...pause the conversation at any point, and pick up right where you left off whenever you're ready to continue the conversation.
…quickly improve your speaking ability by being able to practice anywhere, any time, 24/7, without having to talk to anyone (an introvert’s dream).
As for my Spanish, I’m at an intermediate level. My level of understanding is quite good. However, before I started using Langua I felt my speaking did not have nearly as much flow as I wanted to.
When speaking, I also often wondered:
“Is this a natural-sounding way of saying this?!”
With Langua’s AI tutor, I have a tool that can give me instant feedback and help me clear up those questions. It helps me build sentences that sound just like a native-speaker would formulate them.
After having practiced speaking with Langua’s AI tutor for the past several weeks I have easily tripled my speaking ability. I’m surprised, even shocked, at how much better I am at expressing myself. Words just roll off my tongue much easier, and my confidence has skyrocketed.
I noticed this the other day when I spoke Spanish to an Argentinian in the town where I live northern Finland. I even didn’t recognize myself. It felt like: “is this me speaking?” because my flow and ability to express myself were significantly better.
All because I’ve gotten feedback and help from the AI tutor to fill in the holes in my vocabulary and grammar. My confidence in my speaking has skyrocketed.
This is perfect speaking practice for introverts, who would prefer to practice speaking without having to talk to people.
It’s also tons of fun. There are literally endless things you can do with it.
Let’s get into how it works!
How conversations with the AI tutor works
Before even getting into a conversation, there are different AI avatars you can talk to.
Each with its own accent, personality, and word usage.
Some languages currently have only one, while others like Spanish have a bunch you can choose from from different countries.
This is helpful if you want to learn a certain accent of Spanish, as they will use words, expressions, and ways of speaking relevant to that accent.
It even uses local street slang in a way that feels completely natural.
This is how you get started:
Selecting the AI avatar
First, you choose what you want to talk about.
There are then different modes within that category that you can choose.
(You can also choose a bunch of different conversation settings)
Usually, I just go for the “Chat about anything” option. Because you can instruct the AI from there to talk about anything.
Here’s an example of how a typical conversation can start using Spanish:
I chose a Castilian Spanish AI tutor, and for those of you familiar with Spanish, you’ll probably notice it right away from how she asks the first question.
How conversation works is that you “send messages” back and forth with the AI tutor.
These messages are spoken and also come with an interactable word-for-word transcript just like other immersion features on the Langua platform (we’ll go through how they works later in this post).
There are several things you can do with this transcript:
Click on each word to see their definition
Get a full translation of each sentence.
Re-listen to the message (full speed or slow speed)
Get corrections of your speaking
Click to get an alternative of how you could have said things to sound even more native-like
Save words and sentences to your Flashcard deck for later review
The picture below shows some of these features (which is also helpful for those of you who don’t know Spanish and want to know what we’re talking about here):
We just started a conversation about my daily language routine.
The AI then starts asking follow-up questions about this topic and it can literally go in any direction.
Here’s the thing though:
It responds incredibly well to what you’re saying it’s actually mind-blowing.
Not only that, the voice sounds so human-like. It has the pronunciation, rhythm, melody, and flow of a real person. It’s by far the closest thing I have heard to a real native speaker. It even inhales and exhales in places that make it feel and sound very realistic.
The above conversation is just a start. It gets more and more interesting the deeper you get into it. The more information the AI acquires about you in your conversation, the more uniquely it will respond and tailor the conversation. It will even refer back to things you’ve said earlier.
These conversations can go on as long as you want to.
I’ve even had the same conversation over the span of several days. Because you can just pause whenever to do something else (without feeling rude). And then continue where you left off next time you get a chance.
There are also options like “automatically send answers” which is great for hands-free use when you’re driving or cooking. It then sends your message when there’s a silence of a few seconds (something you can prolong with “uuumms” if you need to think and stall).
Do you realize how useful this is?
You can literally be practicing your target language every day you drive to work!
I have myself made quite a few dinners for my family while having a conversation with the AI tutor.
The AI won’t automatically correct you, but you can tell the AI to do this in any way you want to, depending on your preference.
I sometimes like getting feedback on how I can rephrase things when I’m using the hands-free mode. Since I’m not gonna check my phone all the time then.
It might say something like:
“What you said is very interesting. I like especially what you said about… A few suggestions though: saying X instead of Y is going to sound more natural in Spanish”.
This is very valuable. It makes you more aware of things in your target language and trains you to express yourself like a native.
The AI tutor will customize how you want to (or not want to) be corrected to fit your preferences. You just tell it how you want it to give you feedback and what type of conversation you want to have.
This allows for a highly customized learning experience.
Extract from my conversation with AI about Lingtuitive
To give you a quick idea of these conversations, here’s a brief extract of a conversation I had with the AI tutor about this very blog - Lingtuitive.
(I activated the English translations in these conversations, in case you don’t know Spanish. The translation of what I said isn’t always correct, since I made mistakes in my Spanish. That’s what the tutor is there for!)
I often ask “how do you say X in Spanish?” in the middle of a sentence.
This helps fill in the holes in my speech. This is very valuable because it comes from what you are trying to say. You then learn highly useful vocabulary that’s relevant to your life.
The great part about AI is that it never gets tired of this question, whereas a human being sooner or later probably will.
The brief example above highlights how I was able to learn to say “personal stories” and “reviews” in Spanish in a natural way through this conversation.
Whenever you’re stuck not knowing how to say a word, you just say the word in English (since the AI understands English), and ask the AI how to say it in your target language.
You can even use very long or even multiple sentences. The AI tutor does an incredible job of telling you how to express that like a native speaker would.
What’s also impressive in this example is that the AI was able to understand a word like “Lingtuitive”, which is a made-up name and not a word that even exists.
Langua’s AI can speak more formally or more informally. It never feels robotic. There were however a couple of instances where it all of a sudden starts pronouncing part of the sentence in a weird way, only to go back to pronouncing perfectly right after.
Another example of what you can do is “Vocab & Games” → “Practice my vocab (blend into chat)”. This is where the AI tutor will start to use the words you’ve saved from your immersion or chats and use it in a conversation with you
These types of conversations won’t be as natural since the AI is forced to use those words, but it works surprisingly well.
It’s a cool way to review words you want to learn (based on the words you have saved in your flashcard deck) by hearing them in context while having a conversation.
If you want to see how the AI tutor works in a video format, here are two explainer videos you might find helpful.
(Use code LINGTUITIVE20 at checkout for 20% off any annual plan (like getting 4 free months compared to the monthly plan)
AI grammar coaching
With the “Communicate with AI” option you can also work on your grammar.
This can be done in several different ways, like:
AI asking targeted questions for practicing different tenses
Choose a tense and translate between base language to target language (English→ Spanish, for example)
Get asked questions with multiple-choice answers
Ask a grammar question with explanations in your target language (French, for example)
Ask a grammar question with explanations in your base language (English, or your native language)
As you may know, I’m not someone who focuses on grammar, but sometimes these grammar-type questions do pop up from time to time that I’m curious about.
You can either ask the Langua AI tutor in the middle of a regular conversation or go specifically to the “Grammar Practice” option.
Let’s take an example (using English as our language):
In Spanish, I had been hearing both the words “fuese” and “fuera”, but I wasn’t not sure what the difference between them was.
I chose a Mexican AI tutor named “Santiago” and asked him to clear this up:
What is especially helpful about this is that the AI tutor gave me examples and told me how it’s specifically used in Mexican Spanish.
If you’re learning Castilian Spanish (Spanish spoken in Spain) then you’ll get a different answer that makes sense for this dialect.
You can then get practice questions to practice this particular grammar point if you want.
This is great since you’re learning by interacting and using the grammar, which helps you learn it faster.
This conversation can then go on for as long as you want and you can ask the AI to clarify and give and gives as many examples as you want
This is much more effective than plowing through a grammar book since it’s based on the questions you have at a particular moment.
For me, I’m not particularly interested in grammatical terms. So I might say something like:
“I’m not really helped by technical terms, so just give me some examples instead.”
The AI will then immediately change the way it explains the grammar to accommodate for my preferred way of learning.
I love the fact that I have my own pocket tutor that’s ready to help me clear up any aspect of the language, at any time, in a detailed and interactive way.
Want to know how to learn a language intuitively?
Check out guide ‘Intuitive Language Secrets’ (currently available for free)
Would you like me to send it to you?
Immersion and comprehensible input tools
Langua also has quite a bit to offer when it comes to comprehensible input.
All of them has an interactable transcript that you can do several different things with.
Here’s a walkthrough of each feature.
Videos & Podcasts (with interactable transcripts)
Langua has videos from YouTube that have transcripts you can interact with.
When clicking on the videos page, it feels quite Dreaming Spanish-inspired.
This is not a bad thing, as Dreaming Spanish is one of the best websites there is for comprehensible input in Spanish.
You can filter videos by level, topic, duration, dialect, and so on. As well as also hide the ones you’ve already viewed.
The content comes with a word-for-word transcript of what is being said in the video.
Every word is also highlighted as it’s being said, which even more helps when listening and reading at the same time.
Each word is clickable, which lets you do several things:
See the definition of any word
Get full-sentence translations
See similar words
Get usage examples
Add any word or sentence to your Flashcard word bank
Video or podcast transcripts are highlighted in real-time as they are being spoken
Langua's pop-up dictionary has multiple functions and you can save any word or whole sentence as a Flashcard
The last one makes things interesting as you can then review these words in several different ways (not just by reviewing flashcards).
One function I found myself wanting to have though is to be able to turn off the ‘CC’ subtitles when watching videos (as they are sometimes in English and I prefer only seeing target language subtitles). It’s a minor gripe though.
Podcasts work like the videos, except they are obviously sound-only.
Import your own content
On Langua, you can currently import:
Any YouTube video
Any text (up to 10,000 characters)
This feature is helpful for YouTube since it creates an interactive transcript from the ‘CC’ subtitles embedded in the YouTube video.
However, unlike some other platforms, the YouTube video doesn’t have to have ‘CC’ subtitles.
Langua will still create an interactble transcript of the video from the audio (with room for errors of course).
Tip:
When importing a text, it might be better to first copy-paste it to a document like a Google document, Word, Pages, or similar.
Especially, if it’s a blog post that has a lot of pictures, as you’ll notice the import might miss certain sections otherwise.
Flashcards
You can make flashcards of any words or sentences from any content on Langua, whether it’s immersion content or AI conversations.
You can also import your own words into Langua (currently works using Google Sheets, which Langua has a ready-made template for).
There are 3 different Flashcard review options:
Recall = see each word/sentence and try to recall the meaning
Listen = hear each word/sentence and try to recall the meaning
Produce = see vocab in your own language and try to produce it in your target language
I’d love for the Flashcards to use a flashback feature similar to the way Lingopie does, where you get the original audio (and video) for the flashcard. However, the computer-generated voice, while not the most amazing, gets the job done.
What makes Langua’s Flashcards unique is that the words can also be reviewed in more context-based ways: through AI-generated stories, or in conversations with the AI tutor.
You can also automatically add the most common words to your Flashcards deck.
You can start with the 100 most common words, then add the next 100 when you’re ready, all the way up to the 5,000 most common words.
Another option is to choose a particular topic you want to learn vocab from to add to your Flashcards bank
There’s a limited selection of topics, but it covers a decent range.
Tip:
Can’t find the topic that you would like to learn about?
No problem.
Click on “Communicate” to talk to the AI tutor about literally any topic you would like to and organically add words from the conversation to your flashcard deck.
AI-generated stories
AI can create new learning material customized based on the words saved in your flashcard deck.
This becomes even more valuable for languages that don’t have a lot of resources (like Swedish, or Romanian for example), since you can generate new material.
How it works:
Choose your last 12 or 24 added words to create a story, or handpick between 10 and 24 words to create the story
Choose between different dialects and AI voices (the amount of selection varies between languages)
Press “Create Story” and wait around 1-2 minutes for the story to be generated.
The stories are usually about 3-6 minutes long and you can choose to have AI audio reading the story as well.
The voice is definitely better than other generated voices I have heard, but not quite at the level of the AI tutor. It sounds a bit more robotic but still does a fine job of pronouncing and emphasizing words well.
I’d like to be able to have a bit more control over what words I can choose (rather than just some of the latest ones). If you want to create a story with your latest added words you might wanna do so before adding more words.
An AI-generated story. The words that are highlighted in blue are the selected ones used as basis to create the story.
Some of the stories can actually be quite funny as well. I laughed out loud when AI created a mini-story about “Muskelmannen” (“the muscle man”) when I was trying it in Swedish. I was at the same time amused by how it described why that was his nickname ( because of his impressive physique).
Just like it says next to the story “it’s not going to win any awards”, but it’s a fresh and interesting way to review vocabulary. Instead of reviewing your latest saved words mechanically through flashcards, you can quickly create a coherent story that you listen to on the way to the bus or subway in the morning.
Upcoming Features (based on your votes and requests)
Langua has a “feedback”-section where it lets people suggest and vote on features they would like to see added.
Ideas that are most popular and voted on, and that make sense to add, are then implemented into the platform.
As I was using Langua, one of the features that immediately came to my mind was the “time tracker” functions of other platforms like LingQ or Dreaming Spanish. It’s just so motivating to be able to set daily listening/watching goals and track your progress over time.
I went to the “Feedback” section and was pleasantly surprised to see that a request had already been created for this feature! (along with a bunch of other features that I hadn’t thought of but realized would be useful too).
I have often found myself enjoying certain platforms, but thinking to myself:
“If it only had X feature as well”.
Langua seems to really take these types of user wishes seriously. It’s obvious that they’re trying to create a language learning platform that people love using.
You can actually see which voted features are currently being developed by Langua. At the moment, there are 50 user wishes that have already been completed and implemented, 14 that are planned or in progress, and 2 that are being considered.
Of course, not everything is going to be implemented. But this kind of customer service and care is something other language companies should take note of.
Tutoring (1-on-1 lessons with a real teacher)
With Langua, you actually get 2 platforms in one.
The other platform is LanguaTalk (←where you can book a Free 30-minute trial lesson with a teacher of your choice), which is in my opinion the nr #1 platform for language lessons.
(I wrote about why in my post LanguaTalk vs iTalki - Which one is better? [head-to-head comparison] if you want to find out more)
When you have a Langua account, you can just go and click on the “Tutoring” tab to book a lesson with a highly professional teacher. This takes you to the LanguaTalk platform directly, without you having to create a new user.
This is great because as amazingly useful as the AI tutor is for conversational practice, nothing is like talking to a real human being.
It’s a great way to test your newly developed skills that you’ve got through AI tutoring.
For example:
If you practice speaking with the AI tutor 30-60 minutes a day, and then take a 1-hour lesson once a week, your speaking is no doubt going to improve at a very quick rate.
Langua pricing and plans
Langua currently offers 3 different plans.
32paid plans (which is called Langua Pro) and one free plan.
Here’s a breakdown of the pricing of each one and what they include:
Unlimited
Unlimited access to the AI tutor. Have as many conversations as you want for as long as you want.
$29.90 /month (or $24.90 /month if paid annually)
Communicate
Send up to 75 messages per day (roughly around 30-45 mins of conversation) with the AI tutor.
$19.90 /month (or $14.90/month if paid annually)
Free plan
Generate transcripts from podcasts or videos that you import. Limited to one transcript a day. You can also watch material with transcripts that are already in their database.
Free
All plans include:
Podcast and videos (with interactive word-for-word transcript and audio synced with the words highlighted as they are spoken).
Save words and sentences to your flashcard deck for review.
See the meaning of any word, how they are used in different contexts, similar words, and full sentences.
Create AI-generated mini-stories using selected words that you want to learn.
Add audio narration to articles that you import.
You also get access to all languages on every Langua plan.
This is perfect if you’re learning multiple languages, want to maintain one, or refresh a language where you’re rusty on top of the one you’re learning.
All plans come with a 30-day no-hassle money-back guarantee.
That way, you can try out Langua’s features with peace of mind to see if it’s for you or not. If you find that it isn’t, you’ll get a 100% refund.
Special Lingtuitive 20% off discount
For Lingtuitive readers, Langua is giving you a special discount.
Use code LINGTUITIVE20 at checkout for 20% OFF any annual plan.
That’s like getting 4 months for Free compared to the monthly plan.
If you’re not sure how to add the discount, follow these steps:
Sign up for a free Langua Account
Click “Try Langua Pro” in the left column
Choose either an annual plan (either the ‘Unlimited’ or ‘Communicate’ plans to get access to the AI tutor)
Click on ‘Add discount’ at the checkout page and add the code LINGTUITIVE20 to get 20% taken off the original price.
Is Langua worth it?
Being a newer platform, some of the immersion features are still being worked on and improved.
However, the AI tutor alone is 100% worth the price.
It’s just that good.
Especially since you can have unlimited conversations every day for less than the cost of just one language lesson a month (or even cheaper, depending on the teacher’s rates).
To get access to the AI tutor (which let’s face it, is probably why you’re interested in Langua) then you need either the ‘Communicate’ or ‘Unlimited’ plan.
Which one of them you choose depends on your needs. I use the 'Unlimited' plan because I love knowing I can talk to the AI tutor as much as I want every day without worrying about time limits.
Create a Free account to try out some of Langua’s features:
Don’t forget to use code LINGTUITIVE20 at checkout to get 20% off any annual Langua Pro lan.
Conclusion
Are AI-driven learning platforms like Langua the future of language learning?
On one hand, the core of language learning hasn’t changed. We learn a language by acquiring it through input (listening and reading), which we then will be able to produce (speak or write) with enough practice.
AI doesn’t automatically make you learn a language better, but it offers some incredibly useful and valuable tools that help you shortcut the process in many ways.
Especially when you don’t have infinite time on your hands, or you don’t have an opportunity to speak your target language on a daily basis where you live.
For me, this has been an invaluable tool for my language learning.
The convenience of being able to practice speaking whenever, wherever, 24/7, is just unbeatable.
Langua’s AI tutor is honestly the most impressive language learning feature that I have seen in years.
Period.
It’s shockingly good.
It lets you improve your speaking quickly in a way that hasn’t been available before.
What drew me to the platform was the AI conversation tutor, but I was also pleasantly surprised to see that there are several useful and unique input-based immersion tools too.
One of Langua’s most ingenious features is how it seamlessly integrates AI conversations with immersion tools, creating a complete language learning experience.
It’s a platform you can use to practice the 4 language skills:
Speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
The AI tutor especially, has endless possibilities. Even in a deep dive like this post, you can only scratch the surface.
Is AI revolutionizing language learning?
Not in terms of how we learn, since still need to put in the time and effort.
However, in terms of saving money, time, (practicing speaking while doing house chores), and just sheer convenience - definitely!
It’s by far the most convenient and effective way I've found to improve my speaking skills in a short amount of time.
It has quickly become a staple in my language learning that I wouldn’t want to be without.
Try it out and let me know in the comments how your experience was!
(Don’t forget to use code LINGTUITIVE20 at checkout to get 20% off any annual Pro plan - that’s like getting 4 Free months compared to a monthly plan)
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