Language App Review Wednesday #42: LanguageStart Learn Alphabet

Screen cap From Google Playstore

About LanguageStart Learn Alphabet

This app contains audio for each letter of the alphabet for multiple languages. The following languages available, as of this review, are: Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. I should mention the developer has made AI tutor apps regarding individual languages. So, I will just be reviewing this app from them as the one lenience.

Strengths

The biggest strengths I see for this app is each letter (and combination of vowels and consonants for Japanese Kana and Korean options) has its own audio. They each also come with written and audio of individual words to learn, which can be viewable by tapping the “Words” option. My favorite feature is the ability to tap the “Sounds” option to hide the written form pronunciation of the letters and words for each language option. Speaking of option, being able to switch back and forth between languages to learn alphabet and words is a neat, convenient feature.

Weakness

There isn’t exactly a weakness due to the complete beginner approach of the app. But, I will say that adjusting the sound button doesn’t completely get rid of the letters in the left most column for the Japanese option. For the Korean option, both top most row and left most column letters are still present. This would be too small of a nitpick since it still hides enough as far as the sections with provided audio is concerned. So small that it’s not worth deducting anything at all.

Effectiveness in Learning/Reviewing

The audio feature of the app is what carries the effectiveness towards learning/reviewing. That said, there’s the option of typing down the vocabulary words and putting them in word or excel. Writing them in paper is also an option if that’s preferred.

Ability to Stay Motivated

Motivation only goes so far when starting out with letters and words. But, it can make for a good starting point to see if it pushes motivation to learn further for any of the following six languages provided so far.

Offline (Optional)

After a quick check, the app doesn’t open if Wi-Fi and mobile data are turned off. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen that happen regarding language apps that provide audio in the learning experience. So, I’m alright with this limitation.

Overall Score: 5/5

I’m in a bit of a lenient mood as I don’t always get the chance to stumble upon apps that contain audio of alphabet and across multiple languages. That said, I can’t exactly spot audio errors in a rather quick and easy way. For me, it would require a decent amount of cross checking with other apps or even alternative audio resources available to be completely sure. As always, if you ever feel any of my reviews are too harsh, feel free to go over why in the comments below. See you next time!