Self-study programs allow learning without having a teacher present,[1][2] and the courses can supplement or replace classroom instruction.[3] Universities use self-study programs for less-commonly taught languages, where having professors is not feasible.[4][5] Self-study programs are available on paper, audio files, video files, smartphone apps, computers, or any combination.[6]

This list is limited to programs that teach four or more languages. There are many others that teach one language.

Alphabetical lists of languages show the courses available to learn each language, at All Language Resources, Lang1234, Martindale's Language Center, Omniglot, and Rüdiger Köppe. (UCLA Language Materials Project has ended.) For the thousands of languages not listed on those sites, for which no course exists, Global Recordings Network has recorded a standard set of Bible stories in 6,000 languages. With effort, learners can study any language by comparing their recordings to the same story in a language they know.[7]

The list of self-study programs, below, shows the number of languages taught by each program, the name of the program, and the number of different languages used for instruction. Multiple languages of instruction may be available for some but not all courses. For example, Reise Know-How uses six languages to teach German, but only German to teach the other languages. On the other hand Eurotalk, Pronunciator and 50Languages use all languages to teach all the other languages.

List

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Self-study program Number of languages taught Interface languages Media Business Model
Reise Know-How 200 7 books
Qlango 45 38 online and mobile app freemium
Lingly 16 16 web freemium
L'Harmattan 167 1 (French) books
Cudoo 164 3 subscription
uTalk 140+ 27 online and mobile app subscription
Eurotalk 132 119 application
Transparent Language Online 130 6 online and mobile app monthly or yearly subscription, or free via a participating library
Peace Corps 101 1 (English) web free
Pronunciator 87 50 free to library patrons if library pays
Assimil 76 12 books, usb
Mango Languages 71 17 application free to library patrons if library pays, or monthly subscription
Glossika 64 6 web, books freemium
Clozemaster 60 33 freemium
Teach Yourself 58 1 (English) books, CDs
50Languages 56 56 web free audio, apps and downloads, sell optional books
Colloquial by Routledge 56 1 (English) physical media sell books and CDs
Central Institute of Indian Languages 47 1 (English) physical media sell books
Duolingo 43 25 application or web freemium with all learning features free
Foreign Service Institute 42 1 (English) web free
Pimsleur Language Programs (company) 40 50 audio
BBC Online 40 1 (English) web free
LingQ 46 17 application or web freemium
FirstVoices 82 1 (English) free
Rosetta Stone 25 1 (English) software one-time/subscription [8]
Mondly 41 30 application freemium
VocApp 31 59 application freemium
Drops 31 31 application freemium
Memrise 25 + numerous languages with user-created courses 15 application freemium
Gloss by Defense Language Institute 29 1 (English) web free
Berlitz Corporation 23 1 (English) online classes, offline classes, books and PE (physical media) varies
Ba Ba Dum 22 22 online free
Quizlet 18 8 (Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish) online freemium
Living Language (publisher) 18 7 (Arabic, English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish) physical media
Langenscheidt 17 2 (English, German) physical media
For Dummies 17 2 (English, German) physical media
Linguaphone 16 2 (English, German) physical media
Babbel 13 9 (English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian) application subscription
Busuu 14 15 application freemium
Bilingual Books, Inc. 12 2 (English, German) physical media
LingoDeer 12 13 (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Italian, Thai, Turkish) application or web subscription
Michel Thomas Method 12 1 (English) physical media
Lingua.ly 10 18 freemium
Idiot's Guide 10 2 (English, Spanish) physical media
Behind the Wheel by Macmillan Publishers 9 1 (English) physical media
Lingvist 8 8 (Arabic, Chinese, English, Estonian, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian) online and mobile app freemium
Speakly 8 11 online and mobile app freemium
Language Transfer 8 2 (English for French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, and Spanish, and Spanish for English) online free
Dexway 8 12 subscription
Schaum's Outlines 6 1 (English) physical media
Lonely Planet 6 1 (English) physical media
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages 6 1 (English) free
Alison 6 1 (English) free
Paul Noble Method by Collins 5 1 (English) physical media
Made Simple by Broadway Books 7 1 (English) physical media
Hugo by Dorling Kindersley 5 1 (English) physical media
Drive Time by Random House 5 1 (English) physical media
Nextlingua 4 4 (English, Spanish, French, Russian) free
Durium by Durium Records 4 1 (Italian) physical media
Teach Yourself Business by McGraw-Hill Education 4 1 (English) physical media
Smigin 4 3 (English, Portuguese, Turkish) subscription
Langster 4 7 (English, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish) application freemium
Readle 1 (German) 6 (English, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish) application freemium
Nonsense 5 5 (English, Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese) application freemium
Cortina Method by Rafael Díez de la Cortina y Olaeta 10 1 (English) physical media
Language TV Club 4 5 (Spanish, French, German, Italian, English) online subscription
Think in Italian 1 (Italian) 1 (English) web freemium


See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Studying a Language on Your Own". University of Florida. Retrieved 13 Sep 2013.
  2. ^ "Self-Study: Tell Me More". University of Groningen. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 13 Sep 2013.
  3. ^ "The Self-Study Centers at the TUM". Technical University of Munich. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 13 Sep 2013.
  4. ^ "Self-Directed Language Acquisition Program". University of Richmond. Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 13 Sep 2013.
  5. ^ "Directed Independent Language Study". University of Denver. Retrieved 13 Sep 2013.
  6. ^ "Self-study ideas for students learning German for the first time". University of Michigan. Retrieved 13 Sep 2013.
  7. ^ "Geographic Language Museum". Alexander Argüelles. Archived from the original on 2019-12-25. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  8. ^ Brown, Shelby. "Duolingo vs. Rosetta Stone: How to choose the best language-learning app". CNET. Retrieved 2020-01-13.