lingualift logo

LinguaLift: A Personalized, Textbook-Style Way To Learn A Language

Chad Emery Published on February 5, 2021
LinguaLift review
7.5 TOTAL SCORE

Great choice for detailed grammar explanations!

LinguaLift has a lot of different resources to help you kickstart your language learning journey. A subscription includes a wide range of resources, and the content includes interesting cultural aspects. Overall, it’s a helpful resource for beginners but not necessarily for intermediate or advanced learners.

LANGOLY'S REVIEW 7.5

User Experience 8
Quality of Content 8
Features Available 8
Value for Money 6

PROS

  • Big emphasis on the cultural aspect of language
  • Easy-to-follow lesson format
  • Includes a lot of tools for additional practice

CONS

  • The explanations are all in English
  • Lessons can feel repetitive
  • App only available for Android
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 LinguaLift:

Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Spanish, French

LinguaLift Overview

LinguaLift is a well-developed resource that can help jumpstart reading and listening skills in your target language. It also provides unlimited access to tutors via chat in the app, which is helpful for improving writing. In addition to the language lessons, LinguaLift includes in-depth cultural explanations and videos that add a lot of value for those who plan to visit, or live, where people speak the language. However, LinguaLift lacks speaking practice, an important aspect of language learning.

lingualift app logo

There are some really great aspects of LinguaLift and some that are not-so-great. This LinguaLift review will walk you through the entire program. It’ll also show you all of the available features and how to take advantage of them. After you finish reading, you’ll be able to decide for yourself whether or not LinguaLift is the right language-learning resource for you.

LinguaLift Price

The cost of LinguaLift varies based on the length of your subscription. The subscription options are: one month ($19.99), three months ($50.97), six months ($89.94), and one year ($155.88).

lingualift price table

The longer your subscription, the less you pay per month. The company also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you aren’t happy with the product.

LinguaLift Free Trial

Before you purchase a subscription, LinguaLift offers a free trial of its courses. The free trial consists of a language guide ebook about your target language, as well as a free lesson from the official LinguaLift course. After you complete the free lesson, you can choose whether or not to purchase a premium LinguaLift subscription.

LinguaLift Discount

LinguaLift does not currently offer any discounts on its courses. There are no referral incentives and the prices do not change throughout the year. However, the price you pay per month decreases if you choose to purchase a three, six, or twelve-month subscription. According to LinguaLift’s website, “to be fair to everyone, we offer the best price possible to everyone who wants to learn a language.”

LinguaLift Review: Main Features

LinguaLift tries to make your language learning journey more immersive, customized, and rewarding by completely personalizing it for you. LinguaLift provides some tools to help you achieve fluency in your target language, but not all of them. To make up for this, LinguaLift creates a customized study plan that includes other tools and resources you can use to fill in the gaps.

A graphic showing LinguaLift's language learning methodology and resources it offers

This approach puts you in control of your own learning. If you want to learn the language for a specific reason, LinguaLift helps you find ways to do that. Even though the actual LinguaLift material is somewhat basic compared to other language apps, it’s clear that LinguaLift has a genuine desire to help its users learn their target language. 

LinguaLift can be a great place to start learning because it can help you find the best path to achieving fluency. Let’s take a look at some of the features available on Lingualift.

Language Learning Secrets eBook

When you sign up for LinguaLift, you receive a copy of the Language Learning Secrets ebook. The book is customized for each language you choose to learn. To write this LinguaLift review, I decided to give the Japanese course a try.

A snippet from the Language Learning Secrets eBook described in this LinguaLift review

The ebook gives an overview of how to learn your target language. It’s helpful to have all the information in one place and the book is a nice introduction to LinguaLift, so it’s worth it to grab your own copy.

Road Map to Fluency

The next step to getting started with LinguaLift is completing a questionnaire. The questions ask about your language learning goals, study habits, how and why you want to learn the language, and even when you prefer to study.

With all of this information, LinguaLift creates your own personalized study plan, called the Road Map to Fluency. It includes a weekly study schedule, recommended tools and resources, and a long-term path to fluency.

LinguaLift's customized learning plan based on my answers to their questionnaire

This a unique service and I haven’t seen anything like it in other apps and courses I’ve tried. LinguaLift excels in regards to getting to know you and personalizing your language learning process. 

Personally, I decided not to use LinguaLift’s study plan because I have a hard time sticking to a schedule and my day-to-day study routine varies. However, this can be a really helpful guide for people who like to structure their learning and follow a schedule to stay on track.

Lessons and Homework

Once you have your schedule in hand and know more about how LinguaLift works, it’s time to start the lessons. All of the lessons follow a similar format, so they’re easy to navigate. 

The lesson structure of the LinguaLift Japanese course

Each lesson teaches you a new concept and vocabulary, and then tests you on it. After you pass the test, LinguaLift teaches you about culture and also some more words and phrases using your target language’s script. Then, you do some shadowing practices.

A screenshot of the shadowing technique described in this LinguaLift review

The shadowing sections contain videos in your target language, and the purpose is to watch them, listen closely, and try to understand as much as possible. The idea behind this is that the more you listen to your target language, the quicker you’ll understand it. 

All of the videos come from YouTube, so you could probably find them on your own. However, it’s nice to have them included in the lessons because it saves a lot of time. Searching for videos in your target language can be difficult, especially when you’re just starting out. 

After you watch the shadowing video in each lesson, you can watch another (usually funny) video about your target language’s culture. Some of the “cake” videos in the Japanese course covered topics like fast food delivery in Japan and renting a family!

A sample of the homework included in the LinguaLift Japanese course

Finally, there is some homework at the end of most lessons to help you practice. This is where you can really practice your writing skills, so be sure to have a notebook. This homework is what you can send to the tutors.

Tutor Support

Another way LinguaLift stands out from other online courses is the tutor support. Most other programs charge extra for help from language tutors, but a LinguaLift subscription includes this at no extra cost.

Throughout the lessons, you’ll notice some tips from the LinguaLift tutors that help guide your practice as you read through them. Then, once you’ve completed the homework for each lesson, you can send it directly to the LinguaLift tutors so they can personally correct it for you.

Tips from the LinguaLift Japanese Tutor

You can contact the tutors whenever you have a question, too. However, it’s important to note that all messages with the tutor are text messages. You can’t actually speak with a tutor over the phone or video. For speaking practice, you can use a platform like iTalki or Preply.

LinguaLift Languages

LinguaLift offers Hebrew, Japanese, and Russian courses. As of February 2021, the company started offering French and Spanish courses. While all of these languages are very different from each other, LinguaLift approaches learning them using the same methodology discussed above. Let’s take a look at each course individually.

LinguaLift Japanese Review

The LinguaLift Japanese course consists of four levels, and each level has 25 individual lessons. The lessons are mostly in English and cover different topics, like learning kanji, hiragana, and katakana, and talking about your job, traveling through Japan, and even medical emergencies. LinguaLift is a great way to start learning Japanese, but it will only help you achieve an intermediate level. In addition, you won’t practice speaking with LinguaLift, so you may need to find other ways to improve this skill.

How LinguaLift teaches students to write new Japanese characters

Having said that, LinguaLift does give you the tools and resources to significantly improve your reading and writing skills. I was impressed with how much emphasis the course places on reading and writing Japanese characters right from the beginning. The course also incorporates quite a bit of audio and video to help improve your listening comprehension.

LinguaLift Russian Review

The LinguaLift Russian course follows a format similar to the other LinguaLift courses. It starts at the very beginning with the Cyrillic alphabet, then moves on to more advanced topics. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to navigate quite a few everyday situations, like work meetings and going to the bank.

Phrases included in the LinguaLift Russian course

Even though there is no speaking practice, the course helps learners improve their reading, writing, and listening skills. You could also use additional Russian apps to practice these skills. LinguaLift recommends a variety of other resources to practice, which can guide intermediate learners in the right direction.

LinguaLift Hebrew Review

The LinguaLift Hebrew course has three levels, with 23 or 24 lessons in each level. The lessons start from complete beginner, like the alphabet and greetings, and move to intermediate topics like stative and reflexive verbs. The entire course is in English but includes Hebrew text, audio, and video throughout. Unfortunately, there’s no speaking practice with LinguaLift, but you can use the course itself and its recommended tools to improve your reading, writing, and listening skills. You can also use other Hebrew language apps.

Sample phrases from the LinguaLift Hebrew course

Like all other LinguaLift courses, the Hebrew course focuses on self-directed learning. It provides you the resources to learn, but it’s your responsibility to actually study them. If you’re ever stuck on a topic or want to make sure you understand the material, you can contact the LinguaLift tutors via chat for some extra guidance.

LinguaLift Spanish Review

LinguaLift has a new Spanish course as of February 2021. It follows the same format as the existing courses, focusing on improving skills for beginners and intermediate learners. Most of the content is in English, but it covers a wide variety of topics in Latin American Spanish. LinguaLift tutors are available to correct homework and offer extra advice via chat, but there is no speaking practice with this course. Overall, it’s a great option for beginners, and it provides a list of resources to continue learning after you’ve completed the course. You can also use other Spanish language apps.

LinguaLift French Review

In addition to the Spanish course, the LinguaLift French course is new as of February 2021. The content is similar to the other LinguaLift courses, and it focuses on improving reading, writing, and listening skills. It covers useful topics you’ll need in everyday situations, and it also offers cultural lessons that most other French courses ignore. It’s an excellent course to start learning French, although you’ll probably need to find other French learning apps once you reach a more intermediate or advanced level.

LinguaLift Review: Overall Learning Experience

Overall, LinguaLift is a helpful resource to start learning French, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish. Its textbook format works well for people who learn best by reading explanations and examples in their target language.

LinguaLift homepage

The LinguaLift courses can help improve your reading, writing, and listening skills if you take the time to go through them, but unfortunately, it doesn’t include speaking practice. If you want this, you may be better off checking out some other language apps

In addition, most of the content is in English, so if you’re looking for an immersive way to learn a language, LinguaLift isn’t a good option for you. LinguaLift does give you access to a live tutor via chat. The tutors can check your homework and answer any questions you may have about your target language.

While I chose not to continue using LinguaLift, you can try a lesson for free, so it’s worth checking out to see if it can help you in your language-learning journey.

LinguaLift Review: Alternatives & Competitors

Even though LinguaLift is a solid way to go from beginner to intermediate in a language, I think it’s a little on the expensive side when compared to other apps. DuolingoBabbelMosaLingua, and Mondly are all cheaper than LinguaLift and can help you learn the same amount of information. Let’s check out these alternatives to see how they compare to LinguaLift.

LinguaLift vs Duolingo

Duolingo App Homepage

Both Duolingo and LinguaLift offer language courses for beginner and intermediate students, but there are some key differences. Duolingo has quick, interactive lessons while LinguaLift focuses on in-depth, written explanations. Duolingo is cheaper, and also offers more languages. You can read a complete review of Duolingo to learn more.

Lingualift vs Babbel

Babbel App homepage

Babbel and LinguaLift are excellent choices for beginners. LinguaLift will help you understand exactly the “why” of the language, but Babbel is more well-rounded and better for practicing all language skills. Babbel is less expensive and offers more value for its price. You can read this Babbel review to learn more about the app.

LinguaLift vs MosaLingua

MosaLingua App Homepage

LinguaLift vs MosaLingua is a common comparison when it comes to language learning resources. Both programs include a lot of external resources to enhance language learning, but MosaLingua is more focused on vocabulary and phrases while LinguaLift focuses on a more comprehensive approach that includes grammar. You can read this MosaLingua review to learn more.

LinguaLift vs Mondly

Mondly App Homepage

LinguaLift and Mondly are two language-learning apps that use completely different ways to teach you a language. Each of the apps has pros and cons, and they’re helpful for different types of learners. Check out the free trial to both to see which you prefer, or you can read this Mondly review for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is LinguaLift?

LinguaLift is a language learning program that offers French, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish courses for beginner and intermediate students. Its courses can improve your reading, writing, and listening skills. It currently does not offer speaking exercises. The format of the courses is similar to a traditional textbook, but the tone of the explanations is more engaging, humorous, and fun. LinguaLift also compiles lists of external resources to enhance your language learning.

Is LinguaLift free?

LinguaLift offers a free ebook called Language Learning Secrets as well as a free trial lesson from its language courses. A subscription to LinguaLift is not free, though. The monthly price for LinguaLift courses ranges from $12.99 to $19.99 depending on the length of the subscription you purchase. Subscription lengths are one month, three months, six months, and twelve months.

How much does LinguaLift cost?

LinguaLift costs between $12.99 and $19.99 per month depending on the subscription you choose. The total costs for each subscription length are: $19.99 for one month, $50.97 for three months, $89.94 for six months, and $155.88 for twelve months. LinguaLift also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you aren’t happy with the product.

About This LinguaLift Review

This is an independent LinguaLift review. It is not sponsored by LinguaLift or any other third party. The views expressed in this review are my own, and I received no compensation to write it. I purchased a one-month subscription to LinguaLift before writing this review and used the product for approximately 10 hours. I also examined the additional ebooks and external resources before writing. 

Chad Emery

Chad is the founder and editor of Langoly. He was a TEFL-certified English teacher for many years and has been an active language learner for many more. His articles have been featured around the web by organizations like the Government of Canada's Translation Bureau and Simon & Schuster. In his free time, Chad is an avid traveler and loves running in new places. Connect with Chad on LinkedIn.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with (*). Comments are moderated and may not publish immediately.

Have you tried this product? How would you rate it?