This review contains an affiliate link to Lingopie, which means if you start a free trial for Lingopie, I get a free month of access.
Quick intro
Lingopie is a website where you can practice your listening skills through watching original content in your target language. The site mostly contains television shows but there are also some short films. Each show has a transcript and once you have watched a programme you can test yourself on flashcards based on the key vocabulary from the episode.
Pros
- A subscription gives you access to all content, in a number of different languages
- The documentary and lifestyle content available would be difficult to access elsewhere. It’s also great for learning new vocabulary groups on unfamiliar topics.
- You can look follow transcripts as you watch and pause on phrases that you want to listen to again.
Cons
- Shows don’t all have the same high production value as on popular streaming sites like Netflix and many series only have one episode
- Some of the translation is poor quality and suggests the translators, or those checking the translations, do not watch the shows
- The vocabulary included in the flashcards is not very helpful. In my case I said that I was an intermediate in Japanese but the majority of the words I have been tested on are very basic. Now that I’ve started my account, it’s not clear how to change my level.
- It’s difficult to see how to create your own custom flashcards (I still haven’t figured out if it is possible).
- Unlike LingQ (which I have also reviewed here) you can’t import content from other platforms.
What are the main features of Lingopie?
The site’s core appeal is being able to watch content in your target language(s) and work through flashcards to reinforce new vocabulary. It is worth highlighting though that the words on the flashcards are based on the site’s assumption of which words will be new to you, rather than what you actually don’t know.
You can customise the subtitles you see, with your options being:
- No subtitles
- English only
- Target language only
- Target language and English
- A “mash up” which is English with key words popping up in your target language.
There is also a Community section where you can track your use of the site on the Leaderboard.
1-2-1 online lessons can also be booked with native speakers via the site.
What languages can you learn on Lingopie?
English speakers can currently learn the following languages.
- Spanish
- French
- Italian
- Portuguese
- German
- Russian
- Korean
- Japanese
French native speakers can also currently learn English, Spanish and Italian.
Finally, Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi speakers can learn English.
On top of this, Lingopie are developing a kids’ version for learning Spanish, which focuses on “child-friendly” content in Spanish. It’s worth noting that the ordinary version of the site does have content for all ages. In fact, one of my favourite shows in German was a “how to draw” show that I watched with my daughter. However as the standard site isn’t geared towards children, you wouldn’t want to leave them unattended to navigate it.
How much does Lingopie cost?
Lingopie has different subscription options: monthly at $12 and annual at $65, although an annual family subscription is cheaper per head at $99.99 for up to 4 people.
There is no free version of Lingopie although you can get a 7-day free trial which gives you access to all content.
Who is LingoPie for?
Lingopie is perfect for polyglots who love watching content in foreign languages and have realistic expectations about how much they will learn through this process, if they are just passively watching. As you pay one fee for access to all content, it works out as good value if you are learning several languages.
It suits people who don’t want to spend lots of time sourcing content to watch, although I can imagine people discovering directors or genres they like through Lingopie and then looking out for similar on Netflix and YouTube.
The verdict
Lingopie are rapidly developing their offering and there’s certainly far more there in terms of languages offered and content than when I checked about a year ago. However, you do still get the sense that the platform is not very mature. This is partly due to some of the quirks mentioned before, such as difficulty customising your flashcards to your real language level, and rewatching content you’ve seen already. There are also some weird kinks, like text in the wrong place, but not things that really affect your use of the platform.
I would definitely recommend taking the free trial to see whether there’s enough content there that interests you to keep you busy for the year, before committing to a plan. I don’t think the language learning experience is very different to something like watching Netflix, because there’s still lots of room to make the flashcard functionality more useful. However, if having access to the content alone is valuable to you, then it’s definitely worth checking out. Happy bingeing!
Hi! Thanks for this blog and I encourage you to continue and to post more of these on a regular time 🙂
Would be also amazing to see who’s behind this blog! I know myself because you shared the link, yet for people that are landing in your blog, that would be amazing to see who’s human being behind the great content they see! Wish you well
Hello, thank you for your honest review!
My name is Hayma and I am also using Lingopie for several languages, and I am also a mother of two children! Hahaha. I speak four languages although only two fluently and of course three I learned before I became a mother. Since my kids were born, everything is more complicated but it’s true that I could organize myself a bit better.
Lingopie helps me a lot, but it is true that it is easier to understand when you are seeing the person’s face and the person’s mouth moving. So for me it’s fine to use it but in my opinion combining it with other forms of listening comprehension is ideal. Radio or podcasts, where everything is more difficult because you don’t see the person’s face. I leave here some suggestions of audios that I listen to in case they are useful for you or your visitors:
– https://coffeebreaklanguages.com/coffeebreakgerman/ -> For German
– https://fluentinspanish.org/ -> For Spanish.
– https://open.spotify.com/show/58clGuzHTXwKbbS769nJje ->For Portuguese.
Hayma