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Gymglish Review: Features, Price, and Best Alternatives

Kelsey Wetherbee Published on September 30, 2022
Gymglish review
8.8 TOTAL SCORE

An AI-powered approach to learning languages through stories

Gymglish is one of the most convenient ways to learn a language because it sends a personalized daily lesson right to your inbox. The lessons focus on microlearning, which means they’re easy to complete and don’t take up too much time. Gymglish stands out from other apps and courses because it adapts to your needs and the artificial intelligence that powers the lessons is actually really impressive. However, unless you are planning to use Gymglish for an extended period of time, the shorter subscriptions can be costly and may be out of reach for some people.

LANGOLY'S REVIEW 8.8

User Experience 9.5
Quality of Content 9
Features Available 8.5
Value for Money 8

PROS

  • The lessons accurately adapt to your needs
  • Immediate corrections on answers you missed
  • More convenient than other apps and courses
  • AI-powered speaking practice

CONS

  • Not the best option for complete beginners
  • Sometimes more expensive than other options
  • Limited in how much you can practice each day
Disclaimer: Langoly selects and reviews products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions that help support our testing at no extra cost to you. Please read our full disclosure for more information.

Languages Available on App:
English, Spanish, French, Italian, German

Gymglish Overview

Gymglish stands out from other language courses because it’s super personalized and changes to fit your learning needs. The concept is simple: You receive a daily lesson (up to 5 per week) in your inbox and they only take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Each lesson follows an original story and includes audio and video clips, as well as practice questions that focus on grammar and vocabulary.

Once you finish each lesson, you receive immediate corrections and feedback on what you got incorrect (and correct!). This is very useful for language learning, and it’s something you won’t find in most other language apps. The explanations are crystal clear and break complex topics down into simple, easy-to-digest tips.

At one point or another, I’ve either taught or tried to learn most of the languages available through Gymglish, so I was excited to test them out. I have different levels in each one, from native speaker to absolute beginner, so I was interested to see how they would adapt to my level. Here’s a quick video of how Gymglish works:

The big draw of the Gymglish courses is the artificial intelligence it uses to adapt your course. There’s no level test before you get started, so as you take the lessons, Gymglish modifies them based on your performance.

After using Gymglish for 7 days, the lessons pretty accurately identified my level in each language. The lessons were not too hard but not too easy either. I did like the audio (and some lessons have video) because you’re listening to native speakers and it even tells you where the accent is from.

Gymglish Price

The price for each Gymglish course varies based on which tier you choose and the length of your subscription. First, you choose if you want a Basic, Premium, or Pro subscription. Then, you choose if you want to pay monthly or pay for 6, 12, 24, or 36 months. The price decreases dramatically if you buy a longer subscription. The price range for French, German, Italian, and Spanish is between $14.70 and $18.90 per month. The Gymglish English course costs between $12.80 and $21.60 per month.

A Basic membership gives you 5 lessons every week as well as a level assessment and a personalized learning report. A Premium subscription includes all of the features of the Basic level and can also be personalized based on your job sector. You can choose specializations in economy, health & medicine, education, management, IT, marketing, sales, HR, engineering, and more. A Pro subscription additionally gives you access to an online language tutor.

If you’re thinking about purchasing a Gymglish membership, it’s a good idea to think about how long you’ll want to use it. The difference in price if you pay monthly or get a 3-year subscription is quite large. For example, a yearly Basic membership to the Italian course costs $26.00 per month. This price is similar to other language apps and courses. If you pay every six months, it costs $31.00 each month, making it one of the most expensive options I’ve come across outside of lessons with a live tutor.

In my opinion, paying monthly isn’t worth the steep price. There are other high-quality courses you can take that have a lower monthly price. However, if you’re serious about language learning and plan to study for a year or more, the 2-year and 3-year prices are definitely reasonable. The personalization and specializations Gymglish offers are simply unmatched when it comes to language apps.

Gymglish Free Trial

Each Gymglish course has a 7-day free trial which also serves as a level assessment. You’re sent one lesson per day to your email inbox. You don’t receive a new lesson until you complete the first one, but you will get reminders that your lesson is still waiting for you. At the end of 7 completed lessons, Gymglish will give you a complete level assessment containing an outline of your current strengths and weaknesses.

gymglish trial

Gymglish Discount

Gymglish periodically sends discounts through email. They didn’t send any offers during the 7-day free trial but I received a coupon code for 20% off after my trial period was complete. The discounts are usually available for all the language courses.

Gymglish Review: How It Can (or Can’t) Help You

Getting started with a Gymglish course is easy. All you have to do is enter your email address and choose what course you want to take, no credit card is required. Immediately afterward, your first lesson will arrive in your inbox. You don’t take a level test because the adaptive technology will automatically gauge your level and adjust the lessons to your needs.

Even though signing up with Gymglish is easy, learning a language can be challenging. Let’s take a look at how Gymglish tackles some of the difficult aspects of language learning to see if it can (or can’t) help you.

gymglish getting started

Challenge #1: Beginning a New Language

Gymglish is a strong option for beginners, but it may be a bit difficult for people who are starting from zero. It’s helpful to know some basic grammar and vocabulary in your target language because the lessons are entirely in that language. But there is an option to show the instructions in your native language or use full immersion mode

Because there are videos though, you get visual clues about what is being said. When you finish the lesson, you’re given corrections that explain why an answer is correct or incorrect. These were very helpful for clarifying difficult topics and I got a lot more value from the lessons by thoroughly studying the corrections. This is a must for beginners!

Challenge #2: Learning & Remembering New Words

Every Gymglish lesson teaches new vocabulary words. For the most important new words, you will see a translation and an audio clip that you can listen to for pronunciation. There’s also an option to save words to your personal list to be reviewed in the future.

gymglish vocabulary practice

The adaptive technology used in the lessons will bring up the words again before you forget them. Because Gymglish focuses on all-around learning and not just vocabulary, if you want to learn a lot of new words quickly, using an app like Drops or MosaLingua can supplement your daily Gymglish lessons.

Challenge #3: Understanding & Speaking to Native Speakers

As of October 2023, Gymglish released their new AI-powered conversational tool called Aimigo, designed to help you practice conversing in your target language. I was quite impressed with the accuracy and responses that it provided and the fact that it could understand my terrible French pronunciation. Since I signed up for Frantastique, I talked with famed French author “Victor Hugo.” The good news is that he’s chatty, and even if I responded with short answers since I couldn’t think of anything to say, he always had a question for me and kept the conversation going.

AI-powered conversational tool Aimigo.

You have the option to speak or type your responses. While both worked well, I think the speaking practice is where Gymglish excels. It helps fill the gap that usually comes with taking an online course or using an app, which is a lack of speaking practice. While it won’t replace talking with a real person, it comes pretty close.

Complete beginners won’t get too much use from the chatbot at first since they likely don’t know enough vocabulary to put together many sentences. But I thought it was perfect for my level. I have a B1 in French, so I don’t feel very comfortable speaking in person yet, but this was an excellent way for me to practice without feeling self-conscious. Overall, the new chatbot provides a lot of value to any of the Gymglish courses.

Challenge #4: Making Language Learning a Routine

gymglish routine

Gymglish excels in this area! You receive a lesson in your email inbox 5 days a week. Let’s be honest, most of us have to constantly check our email for work, and seeing the email is a great reminder that it’s time to practice. Each lesson is part of an overarching story too, so they’re interesting and make you want to continue practicing to see where the story goes.

Gymglish Courses & Languages

Gymglish currently offers 8 different courses of varying degrees of development. There are 5 standard language courses: English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The English and French courses have been available the longest, and they are also the most developed. In general, Gymglish courses have around 5 years of content available so you’ll never run out of lessons!

There are also 3 supplemental courses. The Rich Morning Show teaches English for complete beginners, WordFlashBack helps develop your English vocabulary, and Frantastique Ortho focuses on helping native French speakers navigate the intricacies of French grammar and spelling.

Let’s take a look at each of the main language courses.

Gymglish Review (English)

The Gymglish English course is the flagship course of the company and the most developed. The story follows Bruno, who moved to France when he was 13 years old to learn about perfumes from his grandfather. He eventually turns his grandfather’s small business into a multinational cosmetics company.

The English in the lessons is fairly advanced, and beginners might struggle at the beginning while the course technology adapts to their level. In general, the course was very effective and covers topics that ESL learners frequently struggle with. The personalized corrections at the end of each lesson gave detailed explanations that will help you understand why the grammar is used in that way.

gymglish english course

In addition to Gymglish, there’s also the Rich Morning Show which teaches beginner-level English. The videos use slower speech and simple language. There are also instructions in English with translations into other languages for better understanding. These videos could also be useful for children to learn English.

WordFlashBack is a course designed to improve your English vocabulary. Each lesson has a new word every day. In addition to learning the various definitions of the word and similar words, they present the word in different contexts, as well. There’s an audio clip of a native speaker reading the words and definitions so you can hear the correct pronunciation. It’s an interesting concept, but I prefer using an app like Clozemaster or Drops to learn vocabulary. You can also check out other English apps. (link to app guide or how-to guide?)

Frantastique Review (French)

Frantastique is a well-developed and in-depth course for learning French. Each lesson includes an animated cartoon that follows the story of Muriel and Marcel, two aliens that unfreeze Victor Hugo to be their cultural guide to the francophone world. The videos are voiced by speakers from France, but you also have the option to hear the vocabulary words in a Quebecois accent.

gymglish french course

You can also choose low-level mode if you don’t know much French and the course will start you off with the basics. One aspect I liked about Frantastique is that it’s necessary to use accent marks or your answer will be marked as incorrect. This is something other language apps slack on, and it can hold back your progress if you don’t learn them correctly. Overall, Frantastique is a high-quality course and has hundreds of daily lessons, and it’s an entertaining way to learn French.

In addition to Frantastique, there’s Frantastique Ortho, a course designed for native French speakers and advanced learners to help with orthography and spelling in French. It follows the same story as Frantastique, but the audio is more advanced, and the questions focus on spelling and advanced grammar.

Hotel Borbollón Review (Spanish)

Gymglish’s Spanish course, Hotel Borbollón, follows the story of Ana, a surgeon in Buenos Aires. When her grandmother unexpectedly dies, Ana inherits her hotel in Madrid and must choose if she wants to stay in Madrid or return to her life in Buenos Aires.

The language is spoken fairly quickly, but there’s an option to listen at a slower speed. The focus is on Castilian Spanish (from Spain) but includes pronunciations from Mexico and Argentina. I really enjoyed learning with Hotel Borbollón. I thought the lessons were practical and covered the important topics Spanish learners should focus on. The only problem is that there’s no speaking practice, which could have helped improve my conversation and pronunciation skills.

Wunderbla Review (German)

The Wunderbla German course follows the story of Anna Brandenbutt who must decide if she wants to stay a surgeon Basil or drop everything to run the family hotel in Berlin. The lessons focus on important vocabulary and grammar topics like noun genders and question words. I don’t know much German and found the lessons to be a little overwhelming when I started. But the speech was clear so if I knew a little it would be easier to complete.

gymglish german course

Each lesson ends with a “Das heutige Dessert” which is a German cultural reference related to that day’s chapter of the story. They include music, movie clips, and more. A lot of language programs simply ignore the cultural aspects of a language, so I applaud Gymglish for including these tidbits with every lesson! They can help you understand more natural, everyday language.

Saga Baldoria Review (Italian)

In Saga Baldoria, we meet Anna, a doctor from Milan who must decide if she wants to take over her grandmother’s hotel in Rome. It’s best for learners who have some previous knowledge of Italian (or a similar language like Spanish) because there is no low-level mode that uses slower speech.

You’re thrown into the deep end when you learn Italian with Saga Baldoria, which can be both a good and scary thing! Some people prefer this method of learning, but it’s important that you really study the corrections and even complete the lesson a second time to make sure you understand everything.

Gymglish Review: Overall Learning Experience

Overall, I enjoyed learning with Gymglish. Receiving the lessons each day in my inbox was a helpful (but not too pushy) reminder that it was time to study. And since the lessons can be completed in 10-15 minutes, it wasn’t a big time commitment.

The stories are quirky and entertaining, and the questions offer a good mix of vocabulary, grammar, and writing. It did take a few days, but I felt like the technology they use pretty accurately adapted the lessons to my level and helped me focus on and practice those areas that I need to improve.

gymglish corrections

I tried all of the courses available. Some of the languages I knew well, some I knew a little bit, and others I was a complete beginner. I found that the sweet spot was studying the languages I already had a basic knowledge of.

I have a low intermediate level of French (B1 on the CEFR scale) and found that I could follow the videos without getting frustrated, and I was learning new things every day. On the other hand, I’m a complete beginner in German and felt a little overwhelmed with the course. I think it would be a good idea to use a language app like Babbel or Mondly to learn some basic vocabulary and grammar before beginning one of these courses.

Gymglish Review: Areas of Improvement

Even though I recommend Gymglish courses overall, there are still some areas that could be improved. My biggest complaint is the inability to study as much as you want. You can do only 1 lesson per day, with a limit of 5 lessons per week. So if you are trying to learn quickly because you have an upcoming vacation or business meeting, you may want to explore some other language apps like Pimsleur and Babbel. The Gymglish courses are definitely designed to be a long-term learning tool, not a cramming method.

gymglish areas of improvement

And of course, there’s the price. The 3-year subscription is quite affordable per month, but when I saw the price for the six-month subscription, I felt a bit of sticker shock. Many apps use a pricing model that makes their longer subscriptions cheaper. But the difference between $26.00 per month for a 12-month subscription and $31 for six months was a bit more drastic than I had seen before.

Gymglish Alternatives and Competitors

Gymglish is a top-notch option for learning a language, but if it’s not right for you, there are other alternatives available. If you like the microlearning method with short, quick lessons, Mondly or MosaLingua are good choices. Pimsleur and Rocket Languages are two other options if you prefer a guided method that explains everything in detail. Glossika is another app that uses AI technology to adapt to your level, but its focus is largely on vocabulary.

Gymglish vs Mondly

Mondly Homepage

Gymglish and Mondly both use the microlearning method of having short and quick lessons. Mondly focuses on the basics of the language while Gymglish is a better choice for more advanced learners. The benefit of Mondly is that you can do as many lessons as you want each day and the price is cheaper. But if you want to reach a higher level of fluency, Gymglish is by far the better choice. If you are interested in Mondly, you can try a 7-day free trial or read more about it in this Mondly review.

Gymglish vs Rocket Languages

rocket languages homepage

Gymglish and Rocket Languages take very different approaches to language learning. While Gymglish uses short, daily lessons, Rocket Languages has longer, audio-based lessons that you can do at your own pace. Gymglish’s lessons are more interactive and entertaining, but Rocket’s lessons are more thorough and also include practice activities after you listen to the audio.

It’s difficult to compare the prices because Gymglish has many subscription options that depend on the length of time and Rocket Languages charges one price for lifetime access. I think that Rocket Languages is a better choice for short-term learners because of its focus on conversation and speaking. Gymglish will make you more fluent in the long term though. Both offer a free 7-day trial, so you can see which one is right for you. You can learn more about the Rocket courses in this Rocket Languages review.

Gymglish vs Glossika

glossika homepage

Gymglish vs Glossika is an interesting comparison because they both use AI technology that adapts the lessons to your level. They use it in different ways though. Glossika focuses on learning vocabulary through context, and you learn by listening to and repeating a set of flashcards. Gymglish is much more well-rounded and interactive and has different types of practice activities. They’re both somewhat expensive options compared to other apps and courses. In my opinion, Gymglish has much more value than Glossika because of its varied activities and immediate corrections. You can learn more about Glossika in this review.

Gymglish vs Pimsleur

pimsleur homepage

Pimsleur uses a completely different approach than Gymglish to learn a language. Each lesson is around 30 minutes in length and focuses on a conversation between two native speakers. Gymglish also includes audio from native speakers, but the audio clips are much shorter. Gymglish and Pimsleur both offer different types of subscriptions too. If you compare a 2- or 3-year subscription to Gymglish with a Pimsleur subscription, the prices are pretty similar. In this match-up, I prefer Gymglish because it’s a lot more personalized while Pimsleur takes a “one-size-fits-all” approach. You can try both for free or read more about Pimsleur in this Pimsleur review.

Gymglish Review FAQ

Is Gymglish worth it?

Gymglish is worth it if you buy a longer subscription or if your place of business is paying for it. It’s a great educational tool and you can learn a lot from it, but the monthly price tag is quite steep for a short-term subscription and it may be prohibitive for many people.

Is Gymglish free?

Gymglish offers a free 7-day trial so you can test out the courses before you buy anything. But to continue receiving daily lessons after the trial, you will have to buy a subscription. There are different subscription levels and time lengths, so the price of a subscription varies between $12.80 and $32.00 per month.

Can you become fluent with Gymglish?

Gymglish is a useful way for beginners and low-intermediate learners to practice one of the 5 languages that are available, but it probably won’t make you fluent – at least in terms of speaking. Once you reach an upper-intermediate level, you will probably need to find another resource to reach full fluency.

What are the best alternatives to Gymglish?

Some of the best alternatives to Gymglish are Rocket Languages, Mondly, and Pimsleur. If you like the structure of Gymglish, short and interactive classes, Mondly is a good alternative. But if you prefer to have unlimited lessons, Rocket Languages and Pimsleur are better choices.

How does Gymglish work?

Gymglish is a convenient language-learning course. You receive a daily lesson in your email inbox. Each lesson takes about 10-15 minutes to complete and focuses on important grammar and vocabulary topics. Lessons also include different accents and cultural differences. Adaptive technology adjusts the practice questions to your level so you focus on what you need to learn.

About This Gymglish Review

This is an independent Gymglish review, and the company has not sponsored this article. To write this review, I tried the 8 language courses that are currently available through Gymglish to test their content and features. I also found additional information on the Gymglish website to verify my findings.

Kelsey Wetherbee

Kelsey is the Content Manager and Editor of Langoly. She is a TEFL-certified English teacher with more than eight years of classroom experience in three different countries. She’s an avid language learner with an advanced level of Spanish and is currently studying French. Whenever possible, she loves to travel and enjoys meeting people from all over the world. Connect with Kelsey on LinkedIn.

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