A Lingopie Review

Looking for a new style of language learning app? Wish there was a more natural and fun way to improve your fluency? Fed up with Duolingo’s owl of doom reminding you every day? Lingopie could be the exciting alternative you’re searching for.

These days language learning apps are two a penny, with so many options out there that simply don’t deliver what they promise. Fortunately, there are a few truly effective tools available to you (hint hint) and it looks like Lingopie could be one of them. 

A lot of testing needs to go into finding out whether a language app is really worth it, but luckily we’ve already done all that so you don’t have to!

What Is LingoPie?

So what is Lingopie? Sure its name sounds cute and catchy, but what does it do and what does it offer its average user?

Lingopie is a language learning app (and website) that teaches by example. It has an enormous library of video content in a variety of languages. You can watch TV shows and movies in your language of choice, listening to native speakers as they voice the video. 

The way Lingopie functions seems to be best suited to learners who are at an intermediate level with their fluency, or even advanced learners who really want to hone their comprehension skills. 

It’s not so much that Lingopie isn’t helpful for beginners, but already having a basic grasp of a language will help you make the most of Lingopie’s content.

Mixed in with the videos that are Lingopie’s bread and butter are flashcards as well as time-marked subtitles that appear at the side of your videos. Put together, these teaching methods are ideal for cementing new vocabulary and pronunciations into your mind. On top fo this, the app has now brought in the option to work one-on-one with a teacher should you wish to.

Watching the videos means you can pair the words in the subtitles with their exact pronunciation. Meanwhile using the flashcards makes it easier to remember key grammar rules and difficult words. 

How Much For A Slice Of Lingopie

Within just a few episodes of one of Lingopie’s shows, you could have absorbed days' worth of new skills. But how much will it cost you to try and to buy Lingopie?

The first thing to note is that any user can access ALL of Lingopie’s 8 languages for their movies and shows. That’s including the lexicon dictionary and flashcards too. 

Purchasing Lingopie starts with a 7-day free trial for everyone, which feels like a safe way to get to grips with this app before you really commit to it. Canceling when this trial period ends means you’ll no longer have access to Lingopie, so don’t lose out by canceling early. 

The cost structure of Lingopie is pretty simple and follows what you’ve probably seen from other subscription apps like Rosetta Stone or Babbel. There are 3 main pricing plans:

• Monthly - $12/month billed monthly, and for this you get the Lingopie essentials (all of the videos and flashcards and dictionary)
  

• Yearly - $5.60/month billed annually, and for this you get the Lingopie essentials and an overall yearly discount
  

• Family & Friends - $8.25/month billed annually, and for this you get the essentials, an overall yearly discount, plus access for 4 users for the price of 1

If you’ve tried the other big players in language learning then you’ll notice this pricing is fairly competitive. It’s important to note that Lingopie do seem to provide special holiday offers too, and their pricing can always change so check back on their official site for the most up-to-date pricing.

Payment is easy and secure as they take debit and credit cards as well as PayPal. 

How Does It Work?

Now you know that Lingopie is basically the Netflix of learning languages. But how exactly does it improve your language abilities? 

The idea behind this app seems to be active learning, done through video watching for context, reading along with the native speaker’s pronunciations, flashcard learning, and consistent exposure to the language. 

These are some of the most effective learning methods you can use to learn a new language at home. So having them all in one handy app is pretty cool. All you need to do is choose your language (Lingopie currently offers Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Hindi) and binge-watch!

Whenever you might pop your TV on while you’re eating dinner or just to pass some time, put Lingopie on instead. This is the type of learning that’s most effective because most of the time you don’t realise just how much information and understanding you’re taking in. 

There’s a lot more to Lingopie than that, though…

Where To Start

When you first open Lingopie as a paying user, you’ll have a huge library of videos to choose from. Your first thing to do is head up to the top corner and select your language of choice - this is the language you wish to learn, not your native language. 

We found the best place to start was with a short TV program similar to the type of show we’d normally watch in our native language. This gives you a good opportunity to see how Lingopie works while you’re actively using it. 

Once you’ve watched a program you’ll earn flashcards, which you can go through and practice after the show is finished. 

Learn By Experiencing

Lingopie’s main attraction is its teaching method, the one that all polyglots credit to their multilingual skills - learning through experience. 

As young children, we learn our native language simply by experiencing it, by hearing others around us, seeing the contextual clues, and being exposed to this language frequently.

In our opinion, Lingopie isn’t just a good language learning app to play with every now and again. Lingopie could be a vital addition to your language learning practice. If you’re already dedicated to using something like Skillshare or Duolingo, then Lingopie is the perfect cherry on the top of your learning.

You’ll never become fluent in your desired language just by clicking on the right word choices or saying a few sentences out loud. It does take dedication to learn a language and incorporate it into your daily life. Lingopie facilitates that while making it enjoyable too and effortless. 

Best Features

We don’t care so much about the best parts of Lingopie. We want to know what the most effective features are. Here’s what we found…

Live Transcription

In every program, movie, cartoon and podcast you get live transcriptions (subtitles). These appear both on-screen and to the side of your video in full. They play along at the same pace as the audio, highlighting the current sentence. Because you have the entire transcript to the side, you’re able to read back and catch words you missed or look ahead to get some context. It makes learning a lot more flexible for different skill levels.

Flashcards

As you learn new words through the videos, you unlock their flashcards. You can go and test yourself for as long as you like on these new words by going to the Review & Learn tab and choosing your flashcard deck.

Mashup Option

Not feeling confident enough to read through non-native subtitles? No problem, you can easily choose the mashup option, which changes the subtitles to only include a few of your target language words among the English subtitles. 

TV Lexicon Dictionary

Saw a word you find interesting or want to learn in a different program? Simply go to the TV Lexicon tab and type in the word. You’ll be able to browse every occurrence of that word in Lingopie’s library.
Podcasts

We love podcasts as a language learning tool because they force you to listen and pick out the words you know. At the same time you can identify the words and phrases you’re not familiar with and practice them out loud while you listen!

FAQs

These are the most frequently asked questions we’ve come across, and ones that we’ve found the answers to.

Is Lingopie safe?

Yes. Lingopie is specially created for language learners of all abilities and the video content they provide can cater to a range of ages, as they also include cartoons and children’s shows. No additional software is needed to download Lingopie, you can use it from your phone or computer.

Is Lingopie free?

Lingopie sadly is not free, but they do offer a 7-day free trial to everyone who wants to signup. You have complete access for those 7 days without paying a penny. Their pricing plan is competitive compared to some other apps, and you’ll be able to watch all of their content, use the flashcards, and search their lexicon library as much as you like. 

Where can you use Lingopie?

Lingopie is available wherever you can get a consistent internet connection! You can download the app on Android and iOS, or head to the website on your laptop or tablet.