Mondly Review: Features Innovative Tech But Falls Short of Full Fluency

Mondly is a well-known language learning application centered on daily exercises, interactive chatbots, and distinctive augmented reality elements. But does it live up to its reputation? I took it upon myself to evaluate Mondly and assess its actual effectiveness.

This evaluation will outline Mondly's primary functionalities and explain why the platform seems inventive, yet insufficient for achieving language fluency.

What Is Mondly?

Launched in 2014, Mondly is a prominent language learning app that provides courses in 33 different languages.

The app concentrates on practical conversational phrases. Each session lasts approximately 5 to 10 minutes, with the goal of helping users reach a B2 (upper-intermediate) level in many languages.

It distinguishes itself in the language learning market through its technological offerings. You can interact with a language chatbot, utilize AR or VR for practicing scenarios like ordering food, and visualize learned vocabulary via an interactive brain map.

The Mondly application is commonly used on Android and iPhone devices, and a web-based platform is also available.

How Lessons in Mondly Work

Daily lessons

Mondly focuses on brief, consistent daily sessions.

Upon opening the app, you are immediately presented with several choices. You can start with a personalized daily lesson that includes review material. You also have the option to pick thematic lessons from a map, covering subjects such as essential vocabulary, family, seasons and weather, or travel.

Every lesson concludes with a summary, and you can revisit completed lessons whenever you wish.

Variety of exercises

Mondly promotes learning by translating between a language you know—like English—and the language you are studying.

This is accomplished through diverse activities, such as:

• Pairing words with pictures
• Translating sentences
• Completing sentences with missing words
• Listening and understanding exercises

This variety helps make the initial learning process more accessible.

Speaking practice through speech recognition

Speech recognition is a key component of Mondly. In most lessons and reviews, you will be prompted to speak your answers aloud for certain questions (though you can skip this if you're in a situation where you cannot speak). I found this quite useful as it required me to pronounce words accurately for the app to understand me.

There is even a hands-free mode for each lesson, where the application introduces new vocabulary through an audio dialogue.

I will provide more details about Mondly's other features later, but the strength of Mondly lies in mixing these different exercise types. The constant variation in methods helps prevent boredom.

Mondly Features

Chatbot

Mondly's approach integrates daily personalized lessons with a structured "pathway" through various topics and proficiency levels. This is complemented by innovative elements like augmented reality sessions and a chatbot.

The language learning chatbot is created to simulate a discussion, offering an opportunity to use the language you're learning in practice:

The app prompts you to answer conversational starters, like a simple greeting or a roleplay scenario in a restaurant. Mondly provides suggested replies, but you can also answer freely and the app will accept it if it's correct.

While the conversations aren't entirely natural, the speech-to-text capability in Mondly is reasonably effective because it requires you to speak your response.

Weekly quizzes and monthly challenges

After finishing a week of daily lessons, you can take a quiz to recap the material. Completing all the weekly quizzes in a month grants you access to a monthly challenge.

I must confess, I appreciated the gamified feeling of unlocking levels to reach more significant challenges, which let me track my progress similar to a video game.

Mondly AR

This feature is a major highlight for Mondly, though it requires a separate app download. Using augmented reality, you can create a virtual teacher in your environment.

Your instructor will communicate with you in the language you're learning, and then display objects to teach you related terms.

What I liked most about this function was the ability to move closer to a displayed object and discover additional vocabulary. For instance, if the teacher shows a lion, you can approach it and see the word for "nose" appear.

Although it's impressive, I ultimately considered it more of a novelty than a practical learning aid. It was also somewhat inconvenient that these lessons couldn't be paused and resumed later, requiring a significant time commitment.

Mondly VR

Mondly VR enables you to engage in dialogues with virtual characters in lifelike situations, such as shopping, ordering meals, or hotel check-ins.

I thought this part of Mondly was excellent for improving pronunciation and building confidence in conversations.

It doesn't replace feedback from real interactions. However, it serves as a useful preliminary step before face-to-face conversations, which can often be daunting.

The VR app has a somewhat smaller selection of languages, offering 30 options, which is something to note.

Mondly Kids

For children interested in learning a language, Mondly Kids is an option. It's a charming app featuring attractive illustrations and engaging sounds designed to keep young learners interested.

The learning path leads children through themed environments and images related to the topics. This pathway is simple to provide kids with clear direction and structure in their language learning.

Mondly for Business

Mondly has entered the corporate sector with Mondly for Business, which is utilized by companies such as Delta Airlines and Canon Medical.

It's an acclaimed program for organizations wishing to assist their staff in learning another language (with 41 options available!). In addition to standard Mondly features, this edition includes a dashboard for managers to monitor employee usage and advancement.

The Pros of Mondly

Innovative features to keep you interested

The field of language learning software is highly competitive, so it's encouraging to see Mondly's developers introducing creative features, even if they aren't always perfect.

The augmented and virtual reality elements have an impressive appeal—and it's a major plus that they function across all languages—while the chat function and capable speech-to-text software provide a diverse and interesting experience.

Competitive element

By finishing lessons on Mondly, you accumulate points. These determine your ranking on a leaderboard, competing against all global users and any friends you have on the app.

A little competition motivates me, and seeing a colleague higher on the leaderboard certainly encourages me to complete additional lessons!

Lots of language options

Mondly offers 33 languages, all of which can function as either a base language or a target language. This means a French speaker learning Afrikaans has the same experience as a Mandarin speaker learning Italian.

The Cons of Mondly

Lack of differentiation between levels

A significant limitation of Mondly is its strong focus on beginner levels. I tested different levels in various languages and noticed the classes and content were very similar.

Mondly might be suitable for an introduction to a new language, but it doesn't compare to platforms that provide authentic materials tailored for all proficiency levels.

For individuals aiming to enhance their comprehension and use of a language they already have some knowledge of, Mondly is not the best choice.

The monthly fee covers only one language

While a free version lets you sample some Mondly features, access is very restricted. To fully benefit from Mondly, a premium membership is necessary, with plans starting at $9.99 monthly.

Not only is payment required for the best content, but a monthly subscription only allows access to one language. To access all available languages, you must commit to an annual payment of $47.99.

Some features feel forced

While I value Mondly's attempts at innovation, the outcome often seems unnatural. The chatbot conversations are awkward, and the augmented reality feature mainly replays scripted scenes that are initially captivating but lose their appeal as the newness wears off.

I found Mondly VR more beneficial for conversation practice, though the interactions remained scripted. It's also unfortunately only available to learners who own VR headsets.

Some languages could use further development

Although Mondly provides many language options, the course quality is not uniform.

Certain languages need more refinement. For example, when I was studying Arabic, the alphabet switching had issues, causing some options to shift unpredictably in translation tasks.

The Cost of Mondly

Using Mondly for free is possible, but with heavily limited features. A Premium subscription provides access to numerous lessons and conversations, vocabulary builders, speech recognition, and grammar tools.

Premium membership is priced at $9.99 per month or $47.99 per year, granting access to one language. A lifetime access option for all languages is available for $1,999.99, though it is frequently discounted to as low as $99.99.

How Does Mondly Compare to Other Apps?

Is Mondly better than Duolingo ?

Setting aside the AR and VR aspects of Mondly, one distinction between the gamified formats of Mondly and Duolingo is their learning progression. Duolingo follows a structured, linear path, whereas Mondly allows some flexibility in the sequence of topics you study.

Additionally, while both apps have free versions, a free Mondly account offers very little content. Duolingo is entirely free, though a paid subscription can remove advertisements and enable lesson downloads.

To learn more about Duolingo, you can read our review here:

https://www.Lingflix.com/blog/reviews/does-duolingo-work-review/

Is Mondly better than Lingflix ?

Is Mondly better than Babbel ?

Mondly shares several similarities with Babbel. Both provide flexibility in your learning journey, and you can study your target language based on your native language (provided it is one of the languages supported by each app).

Mondly also offers 33 languages compared to Babbel's 14 (mostly European) languages. While Mondly has a wider variety, its content is heavily geared toward beginners, so Babbel has an advantage by providing material for more advanced students.

If you're curious about Babbel, I suggest reading our complete review here:

Is Mondly better than Rosetta Stone ?

Rosetta Stone's teaching method contrasts sharply with Mondly's. While Mondly lets you learn using your native language, Rosetta Stone immerses you directly in your target language from the start.

Immersion is generally a good learning strategy, but beginners might find a program like this overwhelming.

You would need to be at least at a pre-intermediate level or a false beginner in your target language to gain any advantage with Rosetta Stone, whereas true beginners are better served by Mondly to establish a foundation.

You can find more information about Rosetta Stone in this review:

Common Questions about Mondly

Is Mondly actually good?

For beginners, Mondly is one of the top overall language learning apps available. It's ideal if you want short, informal lessons to fit into your daily schedule. However, for intermediate and advanced learners, the lesson content may be inadequate.

Can you become fluent with Mondly?

Mondly doesn't actually promise fluency, particularly since its 33 languages don't have equal content depth. To maximize your learning with Mondly, you'll still need to practice speaking with native speakers and use additional resources. My assessment is that Mondly can bring you to an intermediate level at best.

How long does it take to learn a language on Mondly?

Each Mondly lesson is about 5 to 10 minutes long, and popular languages like Spanish and French include approximately 300 lessons.

What are the difficulty levels on Mondly?

Mondly features three difficulty levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, though these are not strictly aligned with the CEFR standards.

The Final Verdict: Mondly Is Innovative But Insufficient

Although Mondly introduces some interesting innovations in language learning, it's difficult to ignore the fact that these innovative areas still require refinement.

In summary, Mondly is not a comprehensive solution that will lead you to fluency. Some of its features can support your language-learning path, but the platform alone is not sufficient to reach that goal.

It appears other users feel the same way. Consider this reviewer's opinion on Mondly.

Nonetheless, it's still worthwhile to test the free version if you're a beginner, and consider a premium subscription if you appreciate Mondly's offerings.

And if you enjoy it, you can always combine Mondly with other resources that concentrate on skills you need more practice with.