In today’s global society, the ability to speak multiple languages is more than just a novelty…for many, it’s a necessity. And with the influx of language learning apps, everything you need to help you finally pick up a second, third or even sixth language is available on your phone. One of the most popular and highly praised apps is Mondly by Pearson, which invites you to “play your way to a new language” with more than 100 million other users. In this comprehensive review, we’ll walk you through the details, pricing, pros and cons and competitive standing to see if Mondly by Pearson is the right app to help you sharpen your language skills and expand your experiences.
| Highlights |
|---|
| Used by 125+ million learners worldwide |
| 41 languages to learn from your native language |
| Chatbot with world-class speech recognition |
| Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels |
| Available on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac |
What is Mondly by Pearson?
Launched in 2014, Mondly by Pearson is a leading online language learning platform that has been named “Editors’ Choice” in Google Play and “Best New App” by Apple.
Designed by linguists with more than 100 years of cumulative experience, Mondly by Pearson focuses on practical topics and real-life conversations to help you get fluent faster—all from the palm of your hand. With over 40 languages to choose from, this award-winning app combines bite-sized lessons based on everyday scenarios, speech recognition technology for real-time feedback, and gamification to keep you engaged and motivated while learning a new language.
In just a few minutes a day, the Mondly by Pearson languages app will teach you how to handle everything from casual conversations to business interactions in a new-to-you language with complete confidence.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Fast, fun lessons you can easily do daily (10 to 15 minutes each) | Not as in-depth as other programs for full language fluency |
| Focus on relevant, practical phrases that are actually useful | Lacks strong grammar skills |
| One of the largest language libraries—41 languages to choose from | Better for beginners with not much difference between intermediate & advanced levels |
| Interactive, competitive gamified learning helps keep you motivated | |
| Smart vocabulary builders to help you pick up words effortlessly | |
| Real conversations from native speakers so you can refine skills | |
| Augmented reality (AR) & virtual reality (VR) apps for next level, immersive learning | |
| Responsive Chatbot helps you practice real-world conversations | |
| Available on any device: Web, iOS and Android | |
| Specific lessons focused on various professions | |
| Free version so you can test drive the app before committing | |
| Affordable monthly pricing compared to most competitors |
How the Mondly by Pearson App Works
Most language instructors and experts agree that becoming proficient in a new language requires daily practice. But the typical online courses with written exercises and boring repetitive work don’t always make it easy to fit into your busy schedule.
Enter the Mondly by Pearson app, the flagship product of the Mondly by Pearson platform that makes language learning fast, fun and effective—from any device. Available on iOS, Android and the web, the Mondly by Pearson languages app offers a highly gamified experience that promotes fun and natural learning.
With an emphasis on interactive lessons and challenges, you’re an active participant in your language learning experience, swiping up and down, arranging letters into words and words into sentences, selecting the right answer, using your voice to repeat the correct pronunciation of certain words, and earning points for every completed lesson.
The app is broken up into five main sections:
- Categories: Here you’ll find the main learning hub of the app. Based on a map, you’ll be guided through interactive features like the Chatbot to practice real-world conversations, the five to 10 minute Daily Lesson to sharpen your skills, Core Vocabulary and more.
- Lessons: Get an overview of each lesson, including time spent, completion percentage, stars earned, and remaining lessons in the category. You’ll also find a helpful “search” feature to help you find something about a specific subject.
- Statistics: Check in to see your progress, like how many words and phrases you’ve mastered and how many consecutive days you’ve logged on. This section also showcases your current level and how many points you’ve earned so far.
- Leaderboard: See where you fall in the national and international top spots, add your friends and compete with each other to further foster that gamified experience and fun competitive streak.
- Shop: Upgrade from the basic free version of the app to the Premium plan and unlock everything that Mondly by Pearson has to offer.
Simply download the Mondly by Pearson app from the Apple Store or Google Play or head directly to Mondly.com to get started.
Mondly By Pearson’s Learning Methodology
Mondly by Pearson is an exhaustive language learning platform that is specifically tailored toward achieving conversational fluency. It’s based on the inductive method, a discovery process where students learn rules by looking at examples, context and practice first. The inductive method helps you get conversational faster by focusing on examples rather than rules.
You have the option to select categories and lessons as you go, or to follow a carefully curated guided experience. Whichever path you choose, you’ll focus on core phrases and words, pronunciation practice led by professional native voiceover actors, interactive chats with innovative speech recognition, game-like quizzes and challenges and more to help you consistently practice what you’re learning and make the mental connections as you go.
The main goal of the Mondly by Pearson app is to help you learn the most frequently used words and phrases so that you can confidently interact with native speakers and navigate your way around a foreign country. Mondly by Pearson uses text, pictures and audio to help you memorize core words, form sentences, and develop and improve your reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. The app also uses a unique spaced repetition system that improves your ability to memorize new words.
Mondly by Pearson Language Library
The app offers courses in 41 languages to date, including popular options such as English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Arabic, as well as less commonly studied languages such as Afrikaans, Bengali and Latin. Your lessons begin based on your familiarity with your target language, from beginner to intermediate and advanced, and you’ll progress through the levels as you complete your lessons.
Mondly by Pearson also makes it easy for non-English speakers to learn a new language in a language of their choice. So, if your native language is Spanish, you can learn French with a Spanish language interface.
What Mondly by Pearson Costs
It’s simple to get a feel for what Mondly by Pearson offers with a free version of their app, which includes limited access to things like the Daily Lessons and a Chatbot lesson.
But if you’re really serious about learning a new language, you’ll definitely want to upgrade to the Premium subscription to unlock everything the Mondly by Pearson app has to offer, like:
- 40 practical topics featuring more than 250 quick lessons
- Conversations between native speakers
- Vocabulary builders, grammar features and conjugation tables
- Specialized lessons with business content for workforce training
- Access to the Mondly by Pearson Kids app (tailored language learning for children)
- 13 Augmented Reality lessons through the Mondly by Pearson AR App
The Premium subscription also offers full access to all the 2,600 Daily Lessons, 320 Weekly Quizzes, and 60 Monthly Challenges ever created.
With a Premium subscription, you can choose to pay $11.99 a month, or save by paying for a year up front for $59.99 to get access to all of these features for one language of your choice. At the time this review was written, Mondly by Pearson was also offering an annual subscription to their entire language library for the same yearly payment of $59.99, which is their most popular plan.
Mondly by Pearson Lifetime Subscription
Those who travel often or professionals looking to advance their career by mastering international lingo may want to consider Mondly by Pearon’s Lifetime Membership.
By paying a one-time fee of $114.99, you’ll enjoy unlimited access to all 41 languages and corresponding categories and lessons…forever. This special lifetime membership pricing is available directly through the official website and may vary depending on the different promotions being offered.
How Mondly by Pearson Measures Up to the Competition
Mondly by Pearson holds its own against the competition. Here’s a look at how it stacks up:
Mondly by Pearson vs. Duolingo
Both Mondly by Pearson and Duolingo focus on gamified learning to promote a fun and interactive way to learn new languages at an affordable price. But Mondly by Pearson provides more in-depth learning materials with a special focus on building practical conversational skills, including lessons on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, making it a more suitable platform for people looking to learn a new language quickly and effectively. Mondly by Pearson also offers supplemental experiences, like their AR and VR apps that take the interactive learning experience to a whole new, immersive level.
Mondly by Pearson vs. Babbel
Babbel is a popular platform that aims to offer a deeper dive into language learning versus Mondly by Pearson’s focus on conversational fluency. And while they have similar features, Babble makes grammar more of a priority than Mondly by Pearson, while the latter provides more of a gamified, fast-paced learning experience with tons of interactive features that focus on real-life scenarios for speaking a new language. Mondly by Pearson is also slightly less expensive than Babble and allows users to choose from 41 languages compared to 14 languages offered from Babble.
Mondly by Pearson vs. Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is a veteran language learning app that was once the go-to language learning platform. But Mondly by Pearson has earned rave reviews for its fun, interactive learning experience that you can learn on the go, which makes it easier to fit into your daily life than the lessons from Rosetta Stone, which do not offer any English translations and instead encourage users to infer or translate mainly from images. Mondly by Pearson also offers more than double the amount of languages than Rosetta Stone, and comes in at less per month (and year) than Rosetta Stone’s minimal three-month subscription plan.
Bottom Line: Why We Love It
While many of us would love to learn a new language, finding time in our already hectic lives can seem impossible. Mondly by Pearson takes that problem off the table by providing short, digestible lessons presented in a fun way with lots of interactive features that you can access anytime, anywhere. We especially like how their app is structured like a map that guides you through the different lessons and vocabulary practices, even incorporating things like AR to really immerse you in the language learning experience. With quizzes and challenges, Mondly by Pearson helps fight fatigue and reinforces skills at the same time by enticing users to earn points and rewards along the way. And while this may not be the right tool for learning all the ins and outs of a new language, Mondly by Pearon’s focus on conversational fluency and extensive language library make it a great way to brush up on your skills or gain enough confidence to chat with locals like a pro.
Mondly FAQs
While the Mondly by Pearson app does offer access to a limited amount of their features at no cost, their free plan is mainly intended to be a sampling of what Mondly by Pearson has to offer. The free version of the main app includes access to Daily Lessons, the Hello category, and a Chatbot lesson.
To experience the complete, interactive language learning experience from Mondly by Pearson, you’ll need to sign up for one of their paid Premium plans.
A Premium subscription to Mondly by Pearson will allow you to complete all the lessons included in the 40 categories of the app. From basic greetings and vocabulary to more advanced knowledge like asking for help, going to the bank or the doctor’s office, everything is included in Premium, and you can study the topics in any order you like—at your own pace.
The Premium subscription also offers full access to more than 2,600 Daily Lessons, 320 Weekly Quizzes and 60 Monthly Challenges.
Mondly by Pearson offers a unique blend of interactive lessons, state-of-the-art features like Chatbot and Augmented Reality (AR), and a large library of languages to choose from. It caters to both beginners and intermediate learners with an emphasis on conversational fluency, and makes the learning process fun and efficient through a gamified experience that helps keep you engaged and motivated. If your primary objective is to achieve a deep understanding of a language, then the Mondly by Pearson app may not be the right choice as it does not focus as heavily on grammar or writing. But considering the depth of content, innovative features, extensive list of languages and the potential for consistent progress, many users find Mondly by Pearson’s premium offerings to be a worthwhile investment.
Yes, Mondly by Pearson does work as a language learning app. It offers engaging and short lessons at an affordable price. The app uses a combination of course materials, quizzes and challenges plus rewards, augmented reality (AR), and Chatbots to help learners master the skills necessary to confidently speak and understand a new language. Currently supporting 41 languages, it’s particularly useful for beginners focusing on learning the most relevant vocabulary and phrases or intermediate speakers looking to brush up on their skills.
Achieving fluency in any language is a multifaceted journey that involves not just structured lessons but also real-world practice, immersion and consistent effort. The Mondly by Pearson app serves as a robust framework for learning how to confidently converse in a new language, equipping learners with essential vocabulary and phrases, native pronunciation and cultural insights. The interactive exercises and practical dialogues are designed to simulate actual conversations, giving users the confidence to converse in real-life scenarios. However, like any digital platform, Mondly by Pearson is most effective when supplemented with additional practice, such as conversing with native speakers, consuming media in the target language, and immersing oneself in the language’s culture. In essence, while Mondly by Pearson can significantly aid in the journey toward fluency, true mastery requires a combination of digital learning, real-world practice, and personal dedication.
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