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comments and observations on Busuu

We are not Busuu, we cannot solve any problems directly, but we can provide community-based advice.


User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

FurbyZeKat wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:35 pm

I've the same remarks on Busuu, it doesn't worth it.

One or two words seem missing.
You can say "it's not worth it".
I also know the doesn't seem or doesn't seem to be worth construct.
Maybe you could say "it doesn't seem to be worth it"??

..(...)..

As you're a French native speaker:

I would be curious how difficult you find the Busuu French placement test (from the account settings profile menu) and also the French A1 exam which focuses very much on listening and hardly provides dialogue texts (these cloze-deletions type of lessons with the word banks at the bottom to fill into blanks).

The English courses incl. Advanced C1, Business English sections or other EU/South America languages (to include Pt-Br) seem to give a lot of content!
I think I read somewhere that the English B2 course focuses mainly on videos, if I understood it correctly.
Maybe I will continue it.

The first Japanese course also is massive and quite long and teaches the symbols in three separate courses.

Hopefully I can pick up B1 for my Portuguese there and review A1/A2 dialogue/audio/reading texts, etc.

Maybe for 1-2 or 3 other languages like Arabic,... it won't truly fit a Duolingo learner when you get overwhelmed with reading full texts in foreign scripts but who cares if the other European language courses are better where we can read the Latin alphabet.

A general written statement like the above quoted could be interpreted in the wrong way.
But one needs to consider that you two actually seek out for those foreign languages and only wanted to use Busuu for these 1-2 languages...

Most Duolingo users focus according to their "active learner numbers" on that course page on English, Spanish and French languages anyways ;)

Last edited by Thomas.Heiss on Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

FurbyZeKat wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:35 pm

How is Mango?

This is their monthly and yearly pricing for individuals: https://mangolanguages.com/pricing/

$180 per year is a lot, too much for me.

With French and Portuguese a single language account hardly makes sense for me.

How does this family thing work out? You don't get 5 individual usernames/passwords and other email addresses?

A "Duome family sharing" might be interesting on Mango for a lower price if this is technically possible and allowed.
On Pimsleur I don't get password or email prompts when I setup additional usernames on the app for my (free) account.

Assessment and placement tests*

  • Not available for public libraries

Source: Mango pricing website

@JudieLC

Does that mean you can't use the test on startup when you're with a library card?

Unfortunately I'm not aware of any compatible library here in Germany/Nuremberg and 200km close distance.
Also I'm not aware of an online EU or UK online library giving me access as a German resident.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by FurbyZeKat »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:08 am

I would be curious how difficult you find the Busuu French placement test

I'm B2 :D
I made two mistakes when having to write the opposite sentence. I don't think you have only one possible opposite sentence as Busuu claims.

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

Deleted User 4833

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Deleted User 4833 »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:09 am
FurbyZeKat wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:35 pm

How is Mango?

This is their monthly and yearly pricing for individuals: https://mangolanguages.com/pricing/

$180 per year is a lot, too much for me.

With French and Portuguese a single language account hardly makes sense for me.

How does this family thing work out? You don't get 5 individual usernames/passwords and other email addresses?

A "Duome family sharing" might be interesting on Mango for a lower price if this is technically possible and allowed.
On Pimsleur I don't get password or email prompts when I setup additional usernames on the app for my (free) account.

Assessment and placement tests*

  • Not available for public libraries

Source: Mango pricing website

@JudieLC

Does that mean you can't use the test on startup when you're with a library card?

Unfortunately I'm not aware of any compatible library here in Germany/Nuremberg and 200km close distance.
Also I'm not aware of an online EU or UK online library giving me access as a German resident.

Mango costs, no question about it. That's why I was happy when I learned I could access it for free through my library. I couldn't have paid for it either.

I never even tried to use the placement test in Mango, so can't answer your question about that. Guess I could look into it at some point, if you remind me after Passover is over.

User avatar
Corinnebelle

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Corinnebelle »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:09 am

A "Duome family sharing" might be interesting on Mango for a lower price if this is technically possible and allowed.

Regarding your idea about doing Duome family sharing for Mango, please note the following guidelines from We're all in this together

Duome.eu is a volunteer community that does not ask for money. So no sharing of financial information and no soliciting.

It's better to team up with people you know in real life for such an endeavor.

🇺🇸 L1 🇮🇱 Advanced beginner Duolingo levels

Languages without borders, languages bridging gaps, the Red Cross are my heroes.

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

Corinnebelle wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:29 pm

Duome.eu is a volunteer community that does not ask for money. So no sharing of financial information and no soliciting.

It's better to team up with people you know in real life for such an endeavor.

Not really.
One Ex collegue had French in school but has not touched it for a longer time and focuses on other stuff.
He did the Duolingo English placement test in 2016/17 when I told him about that I got started with a bunch of language learning sites, but he dropped off quickly and I didn't want to go onto his nerves.
Also told him last year that I got started with French, so he told me he actually learned it for several years.

I didn't meet the other guy again as I talked to him in 2016 when he said he has moved from France to Brazil/Salvador.
Not sure if he has ever visited Germany and my city last years again; didn't have a chance to meet him again.

So I can clearly say that I don't know any crazy people who would want to learn languages or spend money on apps with any sharing or non-sharing option.

Normally people book VHS school courses (based on special teacher book curriculum), Berlitz or something like that, not Mango which is a US company, vwry far away from here.
Same stuff with Pronunciator LLC and their Bluebirds Android app which is not cheap.

I only knew someone from an old company from 2001 who used to fluently speak French on the phone as he visited Gymnasium (Abitur) and probably has continued to study French for 5 years at the university.

Those people with real life language usage don't necessarily buy expensive language apps or already are way more advanced with full or half immersion than I will ever become in the next 6-11 years :-)

The Mango or Busuu or Mondly sub forum is not very active on Reddit either?!

Will talk to Mango company, ask for a German or Eu/Uk online library and maybe ask on the Memrise community.
But they focus on the wrong Non European market.

I have now heard on a Mango YT video that you can set a new password for family members.
But I doubt you can enter other email addresses...

Never have met a Portuguese speaker in the last six years in my town while a handball player from Portugal was here but unfortunately we always missed each other in the sports center in the evening when I ate there.

It's more realistic to find Wakeboarders, riversurfers, Kitesurfers or Rc heli pilots for the spare time than someone who really wants to get started on a new language if there is no good reason in personal life :-)

Duolingo community was the biggest one I knew but it was prohibited since 2017 to get into personal contact when they removed streams and the forum was very moderated and heavier restricted what you could post.

We'll see, maybe there are other language forums out there with relaxed guidelines, but you're right, sharing such stuff is more complicated if you don't know the people in person.

But it's crazy thinking to meet any of those people in personal life.

Well, there is a Meetup service on the Internet and a local get together (lokaler Stammtisch) to find new people in town, but COVID-19 changed a lot not for the better.

Would I talk about any other things than English there? Doubt it.
Rest of foreigners either speaks English or German or wants to learn German.

How would you find those people who you talked about if friends or ex-colleagues network doesn't provide them? ;)

I guess it's still a minority and French and Portuguese are not necessarily mission critical here in Germany...same with Spanish (well, there is more usage for it like Polish, Turkish, Czech...).

What other language forums do you know? Are there any? All the Brazilian people from the Duolingo are gone .. too bad.

Maybe I should try the Discord Android app...

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
Corinnebelle

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Corinnebelle »

@Thomas.Heiss I'm in the same boat. My library doesn't have mango and I don't have any one in real life to practice Hebrew. The problem with sharing accounts online is those that would take advantage to disadvantage people through swindling and cheating. I trust you are a trustworthy person, but not all are so, hence the problem with allowing anyone to do so. I hope you can find a solution. I have no idea where one would find a safe way of account sharing.

🇺🇸 L1 🇮🇱 Advanced beginner Duolingo levels

Languages without borders, languages bridging gaps, the Red Cross are my heroes.

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by FurbyZeKat »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:55 pm

What other language forums do you know? Are there any? All the Brazilian people from the Duolingo are gone .. too bad.

Maybe I should try the Discord Android app...

Discord can be used on nearly every platform. Here is the "Official" Duolingo server.
https://discord.gg/duolingo

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by FurbyZeKat »

My final tought on Busuu : It's really bad and I don't see how you can learn any language with that tool. I've sadly paid for it, so I'll use it as a secondary tool to revise my Turkish.

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

FurbyZeKat wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 3:07 pm

but I'm not sure what are the advantages of the paying version vs free version, apart no ads.

They show an (upgrade) matrix between free vs Premium and PremiumPlus features.

  • The French A1 and A2 course for example has a lot of grammar lessons and quizzes or Discover, Practice, Memorise,.. exercises.
    Spanish and probably German shall support this too.
  • Portuguese A1 has several grammar lessons (requires Premium).
    The PT A2 course currently is only 30 lessons long and has a few (not very many - compared to French or Spanish courses or Japanese) grammar lessons.
  • Many exercise types are now LOCKED for me on my Non-Premium account when I try to go over them once again on the Android app
  • Specific dedicated REVIEW lessons (they are separate on the French course after several lesson blocks) with several exercise types are locked for me now.
  • AFAIK grammar practice (for reviews) is also reserved to the app as a separate tab exists; the Web portal only has Vocabulary review tab.
  • PremiumPlus will get you priority for community exercises, they say.
  • PremiumPlus contains the final section/category (A1, A2, etc.) exams to measure your Busuu progress (discussed above).
  • A free account only allows one language to add.
    I added several and I still can see them or start lessons after switching courses.
    But I can't add new courses like Arabic, Turkish, Dutch,... to my free account. Premium popup dialogue window shows up.
  • Web portal now locks subsequent lessons as explained above if you don't complete community exercises:
    Premium will give FULL access (but only on the (old) Android app with Premium subscription, not working for a FREE account!!) so you can SKIP several lessons if you want or need.
  • You can activate the study plan
    (shows daily XPs, a calculated date in the profile when you will likely complete the A1 or A2 section).
    If I remember correctly the end date didn't change automatically. It was the same, calculated from day 1.
    But you can change and update the study plan, as long as the end exams are NOT completed and scored. This will also recalculate the end date.
  • OFFLINE mode (PremiumPlus):
    It worked quite good in 2022 to mark and download lessons
    (well, you need to redo this for EVERY app update - I regularly ran into some issues at the park bench restarting the Android app without Umts/Lte but the app didn't want to offer me my old downloaded lessons until I deleted them on the app and re-downloaded the needed ones).
    Starting in November 2022 or mid/end October I ran into more severe synchronization bugs after Android app updates.
    Sometimes exercises were not marked with a green tick, the tick suddenly got lost, couldn't sync back the completed 1-2 or 3 offline lessons. Sometimes not all exercises (sub modules) were picked up when I had Wlan activated at home.
    The more app updates I installed in the hope of a bug fix, the more broken this feature somehow got.
    Can't say anything about the current Android app state from March 2023.
    But yes, it's annoying if you've done OFFLINE lessons and at home you get a headache trying to push your progress to the server (there's the 00:00am deadline like Duolingo to keep the hidden French language streak which is only counted up on reminder emails).
    And the Android app then goes amok after the restart and suddenly losing track of what was exactly finished locally.
    Had to do multiple retries, restart an exercise of a finished lesson in online mode, etc. to get the other 1-2 exercise XP counted and marked correctly with the green tick.
    Back in summer 2022 this worked much more reliably (no sync issues).
    The more the developers touch and change existing code, the less stable it actually got (for that specific feature).
    Have not bothered with retests and PremiumPlus ran out end of November.

Pro: The Busuu Android app (until November 2022, didn't update anymore) in itself ran smoothly on Miui 12.5/Android 11 without major crashes with a Wlan internet connection.

So better stick to a Umts/Lte/5G data Internet plan and you will be fine.

..(...)..

However, I will NEVER understand the drastic change on the Web platform how different lessons and exercises are presented now (missing lesson sub module view from Android app) and why they started LOCKING of lessons, even for PremiumPlus members..

I tried to explain their support that the new A1-B2/C1 category Web (+Ios) filter is OK, new chapters and checkpoint tests are a nice and welcome addition, but that I don't want to lose any of the old Android app functionality.

It tremendously helps knowing what exact exercise types (Dialogue, Memorise, Reading, video,.. vs grammar quiz) are hidden behind a specific lesson.
We somehow need to find those again with reviews and blockwise lesson restarts.
This now totally goes under on the Web rewrite. Surely not for our user advantage!

The rewritten Web code IMHO brings several disadvantages to PremiumPlus subscribers in its current form.
No idea why they had to do it "that way" and can't change/intermix and give users the freedom.

They're really trying to push learners into their speaking/writing community exercises as hard as they can with no Bailout option (only on the old Android app, not for French lesson A2 29 which had another progress bug).

So that will make several Web+iOS learners disappointed if they paid the full package and if they're a true beginner in that particular language.

..(...)..

Price:

There was a fake upgrade price lately showing 180 Euros / year, crossing it through and offering a yearly subscription for 90 Euros.
What a shady tactic.
Someone on a German marketplace is trying to sell their Busuu account for 88 Euros (negotiable) for 21 remaining months and of course they quoted the "higher fantasy 180€ price".

47€ with 50% off is displayed again, right now.
BlackFriday went down to about 35€ with 60% off.
USP never was higher than 94-99 Euros in the last 1.5 years, for PremiumPlus.

Reminder: I got a special unlimited Mosalingua bundle for 99€ and Ouino unlimited LIFETIME is below 100€ (just one language).

It hardly makes much sense having to pay year by year for the same course content (yes, they're actively working on it, but Portuguese is much shorter than Spanish which also has Advanced C1 and many more B1-B2 or A2 lessons!!).

So that's the main problem with Mango, Pimsleur,...
Rocket requires you to pay for 3 different levels, not only one.

Last edited by Thomas.Heiss on Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:21 pm, edited 8 times in total.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

@duome

Sorry, I added the - bullet points with an empty line in between but the forum software changes it to the round dot and removed all empty lines.

Doesn't help much for readability if layouting gets automatically changed, I know.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

FurbyZeKat wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:43 am

My final tought on Busuu : It's really bad and I don't see how you can learn any language with that tool. I've sadly paid for it, so I'll use it as a secondary tool to revise my Turkish.

Maybe sell your account if you've not given credit card data away.
There are many reports about resells of the yearly subscription with the next period (auto renewal).
With my PayPal payment I successfully cancelled the reoccurring subscription on PP and cancelled the Premium account on their Web. First 3+ tries were unsuccessful.
Keep that in mind to double-check your account status and make a screenshot.

..(...)..

Hmm, what other languages have you tried on Busuu besides Arabic?

Maybe don't try the most exotic languages as they are a UK (Us) company.

Maybe try Japanese, but not their Chinese Mandarin course.

The Busuu Premium grammar tips do help in the French course, very much.
Spanish also seems to have very extensive ones, incl. Imperfect, Conditional, Subjunctive, etc.

To get the same for French on Duolingo one must relate to former volunteer contributor FR team:

www.duome.eu/tips/en/zz

Or Portuguese: www.duome.eu/tips/en/pt

Duolingo staff's mobile French/Spanish tips or new path/snake guidebooks are much shorter and rather superficial or incomplete.

Won't make you a linguistic expert.
They try to shift away from formal grammar study requirements.

I maybe would have suggested to try Portuguese on Busuu but obviously it's much smaller than Spanish or French.

Have not done any A1 or A2 Busuu PT lessons for reviews, not yet, only the first ones of B1 section, sorry.
Don't have access to Premium grammar lessons anymore.
So I need to hold back for further 12-18 months before I can give concrete suggestions.
You probably need to already know some of the fundamentals of the Duolingo En->Pt course and some Memrise vocabulary.

FurbyZeKat wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 3:07 pm

I took a Premium on Busuu to review my Arabic from scratch.
I didn't took the risk of a placement test.

So now I'm flying over the first lessons.
I learned a lot with Duo...

Hmm, only Arabic and Turkish?

Maybe their new Dutch course is more complete, or German, or this Spanish course.

Would be possible for you to select French as the base/source language in the UI, so Spanish would make more sense that way.

No idea how good their Italian course is.

Maybe you just was unlucky with Arabic on Busuu.
So don't try Chinese, haven't heard good stuff.
Japanese is huge and receives updates in first two sections.

And probably Turkish won't have the same extensive addons like French or Spanish, can you confirm?!??
Can't take a look...

Last edited by Thomas.Heiss on Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by FurbyZeKat »

@Thomas.Heiss I'm currently using Busuu for Turkish, which is no better than Arabic. I won't try Portuguese because I already know a bit from the Duolingo Portuguese course (which I find pretty good, with stories and good guide books).

Btw, I'm learning from French, considering their system, I'm assuming that all language course are the same, regardless of the base language.

I should try Russian, because I've nearly zero knowledge and this would be a real test, but I think it would be a loss of time. Did you learn any language as a true beginner with Busuu?

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by FurbyZeKat »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:32 am

The Busuu Premium grammar tips do help in the French course, very much.

Didn't see tips in Turkish or Arabic.

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:32 am

Won't make you a linguistic expert.
They try to shift away from formal grammar study requirements.

I think this is a good choice, you can always buy a grammar if you feel the need to become an expert.

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:32 am

The BuMaybe their new Dutch course is more complete, or German, or this Spanish course.

My main concern was not about course exhaustiveness but more on the teaching method.

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

User avatar
duome

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by duome »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:03 am

@duome

Sorry, I added the - bullet points with an empty line in between but the forum software changes it to the round dot and removed all empty lines.

Doesn't help much for readability if layouting gets automatically changed, I know.

······· - could this be a workaround?
i.e. put your text between the "`" marks

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

FurbyZeKat wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:35 pm

How is Mango?

Recently stumbled across a Reddit post which explained that Arabic on Mango provides several variations but offers less lessons than the rest (like Portuguese)?!??

Click on "How many hours of learning material is available to homeschoolers?" under "The answers you need" headline at the bottom (Faq): https://mangolanguages.com/homeschool/

A quick table chart will show up.

*Our most popular Premium courses have up to 400 hours of content (=5 sections / units, divided into multiple chapters and lessons).
Courses in less commonly taught languages may have less content.

https://mangolanguages.com/available-languages/

Levantine Arabic is listed at the top with 8 others for most popular languages.

Grammar / cultural notes may not be available on Mango for all languages (like Busuu where they exist for selected languages).

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by FurbyZeKat »

@Thomas.Heiss some days ago I tried Mango but pretty quickly uninstalled it, I was not convinced. The Arabic course on Duolingo, even with its flaws and limitations, is still the best course I've seen so far, at least for my learner profile. I also think that's the kind of language, if you want to be able to read and write it, that you must also learn with your hand (like Chinese). For this reason, I think the paper method (Assimil in my case) is the best way, I'll supplement it with Anki and/or Drops for vocabulary.

PS: I stumbled upon Alifbee, I remember a guy on the past Duolingo forums who wrote many times that this method was very good. At least it is dedicated to Arabic, which is a good point. I'll have a look at it.

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

Deleted User 4833

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Deleted User 4833 »

I haven't seen Alifbee before, might check it out.

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

FurbyZeKat wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:40 pm

I won't try Portuguese because I already know a bit from the Duolingo Portuguese course (which I find pretty good, with stories and good guide books).

Hmm, several Portuguese Duolingo story cartoon character voices (Junior, one annoying girl) from the recordings more often sound very nerve-wracking for some stories.

I did a few more Portuguese stories and hopefully I will get back older ones from the LTS project or from those threads listing removed story links.
Compared to very extensive Spanish story sets they seem to have stopped any Portuguese work.

..(...)..

Then this is even better (for Portuguese).

Busuu can be a complement in that case with other more difficult challenge types, reading (full) texts, hearing audio/video,...

Maybe I can say more in the future if if I'm not completely locked out of every Portuguese A1/A2 lesson for a quick review; that's unfortunately the case at the moment with several exercises and grammar lessons / tips in French.
Only want then to find the harder stuff in there and pick that up...

Not sure how slowly they're teaching the Romance basics and Portuguese grammar

(this contraction and preposition or aquilo/isso/isto, naquilo/naquele/naquela, disso/desse/dessa, neste/nesta/nesse/nessa & a, à, para, ao/em/no/na, por, pele/pela,... nightmare)

which Duolingo was teaching step by step, splitted into 1-4 sub skills for each contraction number and associated skills in the correct order with the Portuguese update from summer 2018 from volunteers.
Howevery this old PT course structure (tree) is long gone with the new path/snake.

FurbyZeKat wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:40 pm

Btw, I'm learning from French, considering their system, I'm assuming that all language course are the same, regardless of the base language.

Yes, I think so.
I stuck to English as the base.
Switched them at least once for a quick test.

That's a Pro for Busuu then, like Mondly.
Different base languages (multiples) but one course curriculum progress in the target language and you can switch back and forth with the source/base language.

Duolingo courses are very different designed (old classic vs new CEFR) and the classic volunteer PT->FR course hardly provides any grammar tips
(it's nice to compare grammar and similarities between two Romance languages, isn't it?).
One day maybe I'm ready for this laddering, but not with removed Portuguese typing on the Web portal. That's half of the fun to be forced to construct PT sentences on your own - without any on screen word bubble hints.

..(...)..

Having to read all written Busuu very detailed grammar tips in Portuguese (as a native) might be a bit overwhelming for me with French, surely for last year, when you start from scratch.

Would be some fun to switch to Portuguese as the base to see the tips written for partial reviews or getting asked Portuguese comprehension questions and seeing longer sentence examples.

..(...)..

The A2 French Busuu course from lesson 40+ still looks kinda intimidating.
The Subjunctive gets taught in B1 section.

But I'm now with "Dr. French Grammar University" and "Fastlingo" apps, so I'm certainly a little better equipped to look up a difficult concept from the outside with external resources.

FurbyZeKat wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:40 pm

I should try Russian, because I've nearly ZERO knowledge and this would be a real test, but I think it would be a loss of time.

Unlike French/Italian/German/English/Dutch there is no short separate Russian Pronunciation course available.
Do you see any specific pronunciation lessons in the first section?

These were also included in the French course here and there, with videos from teacher (French native speakers), how to correctly pronounce single letters, words (e.g. u vs ou, to drop consonants at the end, liaisons) and example sentences.

However, there at least is a dedicated Russian alphabet course explaining the 33 letters.

I can't view any Russian course content in my account.

FurbyZeKat wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:40 pm

Did you learn any language as a true beginner with Busuu?

Only French.
But my learning is not complete yet.

But as I said before: You can't compare this with Arabic, Turkish, Asian languages, Russian.
I had 5+ years of Romance basics (with Portuguese) under my belt.
So I was not a "true true French + Romance language beginner" when I started with Busuu end of 2021.

I'm struggling a bit as I lack some French vocabulary, can't easily pick up phrase constructs (from dialogues texts without writing everything down).

My French listening for now surely is worse than my Brazilian Portuguese as it was NOT slowly developed (on Busuu) and too often I fell over the audio lessons.

  • The Android Accessibility TTS "Select to Speak" feature is great and I heavily rely on it for single Busuu FR sentences which don't all have uploaded audio files.
  • "Hi translate" Android app supports English translations from French and others where FR examples or phrases lack written EN translations.
    Nice complement and the OS Accessibility integration mode is also supported so it works nicely within the Busuu Android app
  • Simply drag the "Hi Translate" magnifying glass from the left menu (side border) to the target language sentence/word.

Single word tapping and hearing the spoken French words - like Duolingo is doing it - isn't necessarily the worst to start with a language from scratch, to be honest with you.

Without too quickly overwhelming text dialogues, pure audio/video listening, etc. and a quick pacing which only a low-intermediate (= very FALSE beginner) could easier pick up.

Duolingo Portuguese in comparison didn't prepare me optimally for the speaking part in my first 1.5 years (end of 2016 to 2017 and H1/2018).

I really need to try Portuguese (or Spanish) and see how similar or different that Busuu course is from A1 and A2 French.

Last edited by Thomas.Heiss on Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

Hi Maxime,

duome wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:29 pm
Thomas.Heiss wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:03 am

Sorry, I added the - bullet points with an empty line in between but the forum software changes it to the round dot and removed all empty lines.

Doesn't help much for readability if layouting gets automatically changed, I know.

······· - could this be a workaround?
i.e. put your text between the "`" marks

Tried it but that just marks the paragraph in full italics :-)
'...text..' does nothing helpful either.

Found out that I need to do a line feed (hard break) two times.
So two empty lines are needed after a paragraph with bullet points.
I can live with that.
Changed it above and I think readability has very much improved.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
MoniqueMaRie
Germany

Re: Multi-language resources

Post by MoniqueMaRie »

Someone on the French forum is convinced that there is nothing better than busuu - and all for free.

Who has experience?

Native :de: / using :uk: / learning :fr: :cn: :it: / once learnt Image / trying to understand at least a bit :poland:

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: Multi-language resources

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

@MoniqueMaRie

AFAIK Busuu has changed to a Freemium ads based model on the Web portal.
No idea how mobile apps do it this year (iOS got changed in Nov/Dec similar to the Web; the Android platform might has caught up).

See my other comments or the linked Busuu review from the "App benchmarks" thread.

My old Android app from last year always shows me "one lesson oer day is ad free" popup dialogue on a daily basis.
But I can review many A1 lessons which are already completed; no limit.
Sometimes I need to redo them on the Web when I see an orange coloured tick - they need to be marked as green.

MoniqueMaRie wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2023 7:44 pm

...that there is nothing better than Busuu - and all for FREE.

This is the thread you've mentioned: viewtopic.php?t=15344

Well, this depends on what target language (they are all different with different course builders/maintainers) you want to learn.

Also depends on your learning background.

For a true beginner - including French - Busuu is a bit tricky as it can be quick paced.

They're constantly tweaking the French A1 course but some basic things are often missing despite of all what is already there.

I can somehow understand why a French speaker learning English has high expectations (C1 Advanced, B2 with videos, Business English content,...) from Busuu. The available content is massive and multiple base languages can be switched instantly.

..(...)..

Recently I've finally started the old DE->FR volunteer French course (old tree, not the path) on Duolingo.

I have to admit that I didn't read the available Web T&N, not yet, but I'm glad I read about du / de la / de l' constructs in the formal Busuu French tips / grammar lessons (A1) :-)

..(...)..

Two times I translated that Busuu thread from the French native speaker thread to have a clue what people are talking about: viewtopic.php?t=15344
Sometimes a learning provider is in big trouble as they're changing their service usability faster than people can catch up with those rather dramatic changes.
Not too long ago only max 4-6 Busuu lessons were available for free, not more.
Then on their blog they announced the new Freemium Web system (with 15 seconds ads).
Old Android apps may have required Premium(Plus) which I had bought with a 50-60% discount in end of November 2021-2022.

So to me it is understandable when someone says Busuu is (was) NOT free.
Or is asking further questions if all content is accessible for teachers, which probably is not.
Pdf lesson guides can be downloaded on the Web, not the old Android app. No idea if this works without PremiumPlus.

If the Busuu blog article is not already linked in this thread or in the other "app benchmarks" thread I can link it here again if this helps.

But yeah, despite the old Android app or the new Freemium Web model I'm completely locked out on the French A2 course at lesson 40 since November.
And Busuu support can't directly help with this if you want to SKIP over any Productive (speaking/writing) Developing Fluency lessons, like A2 lesson 39.

I was even locked out at a different Productive lesson place before on the Web last year - even with PremiumPlus... but then the old Android app came to the rescue...which allows skipping...but only with a Premium account.

Busuu is interesting, definitely.
Content is more challenging.
There is no starting super slow modus. You need to get used to it. Practice the learned vocabulary with true SRS software.

Is it for sure an interesting tool in a tool box? Yes.
No idea if I'll manage to go forward and complete their French A2 course at any time.

Is it simply the BEST and fits everyone incl. true beginners? Not necessarily! One needs to decide for him-/herself if Busuu fits their own expectations, how to workaround some limitations (missing FR audio, missing FR texts, missing EN translations).

Would I want to start with Japanese there, from scratch? Good question.

Other courses like Arabic, Turkish or Italian might miss other stuff which is available in the Romance Spanish/French or Portuguese courses or where a learner can faster progress when he/she can read Latin letters and understand or more easily repeat the words before or while jumping into dialogues, recorded by natives.

When French offers formal grammar lessons and great tips about verb conjugations it doesn't mean this is also available for Chinese, Arabic, Turkish,...

You get the idea.

TL;DR:
There is no clear answer (target language, learning background, being able to read words in a different alphabet,...).
But what is true is, that Busuu content is NOT necessarily (completely) locked behind a paywall, not anymore.

Sorry, I can't answer the question if only the A1 course is available and A2 is not.
Asked the Busuu support recently, got no clear answer (Freemium+ Web was the answer).
On the Google Play store I had seen an official reply that only A1 may be available.

Better try it for yourself if you like it and can benefit from it.
Having learned a language for 3-6 year, 1.0-1.5 years minimum, on other resources gives you a huge headstart when you start on Busuu.
And you won't feel that much overwhelmed that fast.

Might not be true for Arabic that this is really enough when they throw unknown words at you in dialogues where you can't even read or repeat how it shall sound.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

@JudieLC

Got a notification, but your text is gone.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

Deleted User 4833

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Deleted User 4833 »

Thomas.Heiss wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2023 9:58 pm

@JudieLC

Got a notification, but your text is gone.

Sorry, I accidentally tagged you then deleted the post. :)

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

MoniqueMaRie wrote: Thu Jun 15, 2023 8:33 am

J'ai entre-temps essayé busuu - la version gratuite - et j'ai constaté qu'après avoir ouvert le polonais, je ne pouvais pas ouvrir d'autres langues avec la version gratuite.

I've tried Busuu in the meanwhile - the free version - and found that after opening Polish, I couldn't open other languages with the free version.

Lucane wrote: Thu Jun 15, 2023 9:50 am

Je viens d"essayer de passer de l'anglais à l'espagnole sur Busuu, aucun problème, je ne vois pas de blocage...

I've just tried to switch from English to Spanish on Busuu, no problem, I don't see any blockage...

The old Android app from last year supports no free language switching if a course was not previously added on a Premium(Plus) subscription.
When your list has more than one course you can switch between them with no big problem and start new lessons. And use them all on a FREE account.
However, I was able to add now the Spanish course on the Web portal (Chrome Dev browser, mobile website from a smartphone) without being a Premium account holder.
This ES course became instantly available on my old Android app (auto login to the same account).
No idea if and what has been changed on the new mobile apps from the last weeks to months in 2023 when adding courses, sorry.
New code is heavily modified (following the new Web layout concept), that's for sure.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

TheAmazingKelvin
South Africa

Re: comments and observations on Busuu

Post by TheAmazingKelvin »

I think Busuu is on the same level as Duolingo. There are streaks, daily goals, and leagues.
I would like everyone to try Busuu. It is awesome!
I'm learning a lot. My profile is TheAmazingKelvin.

Native🇺🇸 USA Learning🇿🇦Zulu 🇩🇪🇬🇧🇮🇪🇳🇬 German British Irish And Nigerian Related

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