A method map, not a best-apps list
A streak app is not speaking. A deck of cards is not a language. A reader will not correct your mouth. Every tool builds one thing. This page names what.
Read the cards as a set of jobs, not a ranking. The level badge is where the family tends to help most.
Builds: habit, first words, some listening of isolated sentences.
Weak at: open speaking, long texts, messy real speech.
Builds: retention of items you already met.
Weak at: meaning in the wild, pronunciation in conversation. A memory tool, not a course.
Builds: reading fluency, vocab in context, some listening when there is audio.
Weak at: speaking, being corrected.
Publisher readers: see the language pages
Builds: a first core of high-frequency words, met in short stories, with recall tasks.
Weak at: speaking, unassisted novels.
Builds: listening, street rhythm, captions as a crutch and then a check.
Weak at: grammar explanation, speaking output.
Builds: speaking, feedback, pronunciation. The thing a book cannot do.
Weak at: cheap mass vocab, unless you also study alone.
Builds: structure, dialogues, grammar in a sequence. Assimil, Teach Yourself, Colloquial.
Weak at: volume of reading, daily speaking unless you add a person.
Read these before the language pages.
The same idea in every language. The tools that exist are not the same, which is why the language pages are not clones.
Script, sound, and a handful of phrases. An app or the first units of a classic course. Ten minutes with a tutor if you can stand being bad in public.
A lot of easy text plus audio. This is where a reader earns its keep. Add Anki only for words that keep escaping. Add a tutor once a week so the words leave your mouth.
Real talk, real media, harder books. The beginner reader is the wrong tool here. You should be speaking.
Which methods even exist for your language? The answer changes everything. Named tools, checked in September 2026.
Full app coverage: Duolingo, Babbel, Pimsleur, Assimil. Easy to start on paper. The wall is the ear: stød, reductions, the soft d.
The Danish map →A Duolingo course, 141 italki tutors, fresh 2025 coursebooks. You still have to learn Cyrillic and seven cases. The app will not do that work.
The Ukrainian map →No Duolingo course. A serious free state course, Keeleklikk. Seven italki tutors. A different language family. You cannot copy a Danish plan onto it.
The Estonian map →