The 7 Best Apps to Learn Afrikaans Fluently
Maria Claudia Alvarado
Published on June 14, 2023
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If you want to learn Afrikaans in a convenient way, using an app is the best choice. Apps can be fun and usually integrate innovative teaching methods like games and animations. The hardest part of learning Afrikaans might be finding high-quality resources to aid your learning journey. We have compiled the best 7 apps to help you reach your desired level of Afrikaans.
Learning Afrikaans can open doors to a rich linguistic heritage. Afrikaans evolved from Dutch in the 17th century and is spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. There are around 6 million Afrikaans speakers in the world. There are also large communities of Afrikaans speakers in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Speaking Afrikaans is helpful if you want to visit a country like South Africa. South Africa has the biggest percentage of native Afrikaans speakers, with around 13% of South Africans speaking Afrikaans as a first language. It’s also where most wildlife safaris and the Cradle of Humankind, which is where most ancient human fossils have been found, are located. Knowing Afrikaans will help you move around the country, interact with the locals, and give you a unique opportunity to observe the culture up close.
While Afrikaans might not be one of the most spoken languages in the world, you could have an easier time learning it if you already speak some of the most common languages like French, or German. Afrikaans is a tonal language, which means that the meaning of a word could change with the tone or pronunciation. All of this may sound scary, but with the right app, it doesn’t have to be!
What Are The Best Apps To Learn Afrikaans?
To write this article, I researched the most popular app choices for Afrikaans learners. I downloaded each of the apps in this list and used them to test out their features. Then, I noted their areas of strength and listed who could benefit from using them.
Below you will find the best 7 apps to learn Afrikaans.
| Best Overall Afrikaans App | |
| Best for Beginners | |
| Best for Vocabulary | |
| Best for 1-on-1 Lessons | |
| Best for Language Exchange | |
| Best for Learning in Context | |
| Best for Quick Lessons |
Mondly
Best Overall Afrikaans App
The Mondly app offers a comprehensive Afrikaans course that lets you practice the language with modern and interactive tools. Instead of following a set curriculum, you can pick the topics you want to study and learn related Afrikaans vocabulary and phrases. Each lesson includes audio by a native speaker and, at the end of each unit, you can practice conversation with the voice recognition tool.
Most language learning apps don’t offer voice recognition tools, and I thought that it was a valuable resource for Mondly to add to their Afrikaans course. Afrikaans is a tonal language, so pronunciation is important but often disregarded by app courses. Using Mondly to improve your pronunciation can be an efficient way to speed up your progress toward fluency.
Overall, Mondly is a good app for Afrikaans students of all levels to learn or refresh their vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and comprehension skills. You can also track your progress, which is a great way to stay motivated. You can learn more about the app in this Mondly review.
Key Features
- Pick what topic you want to study
- Use the Chatbot to practice conversations
- Voice recognition technology
Pricing
Mondly offers some of its content for free, but if you want to access all the available features you will have to pay for a subscription. You can get a monthly subscription for $9.99, but you can pay for an annual subscription for $47.99 ($3.99 a month). There’s a 7-day free trial to test out all of its tools before purchasing a subscription.
AfrikaansPod101
Best for Beginners
AfrikaansPod101 is well-known for its podcast-style lessons, but it also includes lesson notes, transcripts, vocabulary lists, and listening exercises. It provides a set lesson plan and an assessment test, so you will always know where you stand in your Afrikaans learning journey. Once you take the test, you will be able to complete the lessons that fit your level of