Best Apps To Learn Vietnamese // Six Apps to Add To Your Portfolio (INCLUDING Bonus)

Discover The Best Ways To Learn Vietnamese With These Apps

Today we cover the top 6 best apps to learn Vietnamese.

It’s worth remembering – apps will never get you fluent in a language. Apps are simply something you should add to your language learning portfolio.

When students ask “Can I get fluent using Duolingo” the answer is always no!

Fluency in any language takes lots of practice, lots of talking and lots of dedication.

Apps are a superb way for us language learners to enhance our skills but should never be wholly relied on.

This is especially true for a tonal language like Vietnamese, this is so different when compared to English!

The Vietnamese language is beautiful yet undeniably difficult to learn. However, there are always good way for you to learn, enhance and practice your Vietnamese at any time, any where.

So, with that disclaimer out of the way, here are some of the most popular apps used by foreigners to learn the language, available both on App Store and Google Play.

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – Duolingo

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – italki

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – Pimsleur

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – Learn Vietnamese Phrases

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – Verbling

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – Memrise

BONUS – Free Online Classes

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese – FAQ’s

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese #1 – Duolingo

Duolingo is the world’s most-downloaded language app, allowing you to learn more than 35 languages including Vietnamese.

Duolingo is famous for its user-friendly interface and game-like lessons. 

Whether you are a beginner starting with the basics or looking to practice your reading, writing, and speaking, Duolingo is scientifically proven to work. 

Here are some of its advantages:

• Topic-based lessons: Each lesson has a topic, from basics such as numbers and greetings, through to more advanced ones such as travel, places, etc.
• Engaging learning experience: The app keeps you motivated with rewards, just like games you play every day. You can earn virtual coins, unlock new levels, and watch your fluency score rise as you master new words, phrases, and grammar.
• IT’S FREE: It is free to learn Vietnamese on Duolingo, but you may have to watch some adverts from time to time. You can upgrade to the paid version also.
• Diverse learning methods: There are tons of different exercises on Duolingo that keep you engaged and active. Listening comprehension exercises, reading exercises, sentence translation, fill in the blank, multiple choice questions and word matching, etc.

There is, however, a downside of Duolingo which is no face-to-face interaction between teachers and learners.

Another shortcoming to Duolingo is that whilst it covers beginners quite well… as you get to more intermediate or advanced stages, the content runs dry so if you are just starting out, it’ll be perfect for you to get on your feet. However if you are beyond the beginner stages it’s not really any use.

Certainly one of the best apps to learn Vietnamese without any doubt.

WANT MORE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DUOLINGO – We wrote an in depth review about Duo here.

Vietnam Apps // The Ones You Need To Download For Life in Vietnam

Coming to Vietnam anytime soon? Great choice! Today you will discover the most important Vietnam Apps you need to download with our comprehensive guide.

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese #2 – italki

The best part of Italki is that it gives you the opportunity to learn Vietnamese with native speakers, something Duolingo does not.

Italki is essentially an online marketplace for language learners looking for personal teachers and tutors offering lessons online.

There are over 90 Vietnamese language teachers offering lessons on Italki at the time of writing.

Why italki though?

• Customized learning pathway: Many teachers provide learning materials such as audio, pdf textbooks, and video content to teach Vietnamese. Methods and materials vary from teacher to teacher, so you have lots of options to choose from. Moreover, you can always ask for a personal learning method to fit your style. 
• Interaction with other learners: You can search the profiles of other language learners, connect, and learn with Vietnamese speakers who are learning your language. This is a win-win situation! 
• Free support: Italki also has a free public journal. You can write in Vietnamese and have them corrected by native speakers. This will definitely help with your writing skills.

There are some shortcomings to italki also, as with any app.

We covered them in more detail on our italki review which you can read here.

We’d recommend you read this so you know exactly how to start when using italki. That said, there’s no doubt this is a great app to learn Vietnamese!

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese #3 – Pimsleur

If you are planning to travel to Vietnam in the near future, Pimsleur will be the go-to app for you.

The Pimsleur® Method, named after the famous linguistic professor Paul Pimsleur, is the foundation upon which every Pimsleur course is built.

It is a scientifically proven set of principles designed to take a learner directly to the heart of the language, eliminating noise, confusion, and information overload. 

Why should try out Pimsleur though? Here’s why:

• Learn how to master the Vietnamese standard accent: Pimsleur’s Vietnamese App teaches the contemporary Hanoi (northern and widely-spoken standard) dialect so you will learn to speak with the easiest-to-understand accent.
• Step-by-step learning: Each lesson on Pimsleur is thirty minutes long and focuses on speaking skills only. You learn each phrase word by word, repeating after the audio in the course. Once you learn the phrases, you are prompted to answer and ask questions in Vietnamese in response to another person speaking Vietnamese to you via recorded audio. 
• A focus on long-term memory: Perhaps the best part of the app is its research-proven method of learning which combines most-useful vocabulary and a completely intuitive process to get you speaking right from the first day. Pimsleur courses deliberately limit the amount of vocabulary you learn at any one time, giving your brain a chance to digest each new item before moving on. Once this foundation is built, adding new words and phrases becomes easy and natural because there is a clear framework to attach them to.

Vietnamese Dialects // North or South?

North vs South? Vietnamese dialects can vary quite significantly. This is one of the very early questions a Vietnamese learner asks themselves.

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese #4 – Learn Vietnamese Phrases

This app is specifically built for international travellers to Vietnam.

It is like a Vietnamese-centred Google Translate with a couple of more interesting features.

You have a buddy to learn Vietnamese with and that is a parrot!

The app also has traditional multiple-choice questions and flashcards for you to practice every day.

If you are seeking longer term Vietnamese courses, it’s probably best to look elsewhere though, as this is travel and tourist focused.

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese #5 – Verbling

Verbling is the competitor of Italki but it is a little more expensive and has fewer teachers.

Both Verbling and Italki do not have structured learning courses.

Instead, you will have a native speaker as your teacher, tutor, or learning buddy who may have different teaching styles and teaching rates.

This is a double-edged sword so you need to make careful decisions whether to pick a private tutor on those online learning platforms or follow a rigid course.

The same is true of italki. Planning before signing up is well advised.

Best Apps to Learn Vietnamese #6 – Memrise

Memrise has a ton of Vietnamese lessons in different formats including videos, songs, written texts, etc. created by native speakers.

You can watch or read the materials and then practice via the flashcards.

Memrise uses a spaced repetition system (SRS) of flashcards to increase the rate of learning. 

It means that when you answer a question correctly, you’ll see that card come up less frequently. The more often you get it correct, the longer the duration will be until you see it again.

The course materials are uploaded by native speakers so the quality varies from course to course.

Yet, the topics are also diverse and unique such as Vietnamese flowers, Survival Vietnamese, etc. 

FOR A FULL REVIEW ON MEMRISE – Check out our thoughts on Memrise here.

BONUS – Free Online Vietnamese Classes

Of course, the best way to learn any language is getting the tutelage of real, native speakers who are fully qualified in what they do.

With that being said – we have a great little bonus offer for you.

As we also teach Vietnamese here at LTL Language School we wanted to offer you THREE FREE ONLINE VIETNAMESE CLASSES.

There are no strings attached! We simply want to get you going in the right direction and show you our amazing teaching team!

Signing up is easy and classes can be taken at any time, any where! That’s why we called them FLEXI CLASSES!

WANT MORE? Check out the best apps for life in Vietnam here.

Apps to Learn Vietnamese – FAQ’s

Want More From LTL?

FANCY LEARNING VIETNAMESE? We know you’ll love our top-rated online Vietnamese courses. We offer a 7-day free trial to all new online students where you can study 24/7.

What’s more – we even offer Vietnamese courses in Vietnam too. Check out our small group classes for Vietnamese or our individual programs.

Come and be a part of our amazing community!