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Language Learning Apps Are Becoming Irrelevant — And It’s Not Even Close


Not too long ago, learning a new language meant committing to clunky apps that gamified your grammar lessons with neon badges and condescending owls. You had your Duolingo streaks, your Babbel audio bites, and your endless decks of flashcards designed to help you distinguish between la pomme and le problème.


And to be fair, some of them did their job reasonably well.

Babbel, for instance, always struck me as the grown-up in the room. It wasn’t obsessed with just feeding you vocabulary; it actually cared about pronunciation, sentence construction, and making you sound less like a tourist holding a phrasebook upside down. It deserved its praise. For a while, I would’ve sworn by it—especially over the dopamine-junkie design of Duolingo.

But then I did something dangerous.

I asked ChatGPT to teach me French.

And now, I can’t unsee the obvious.

The Argument for Language Apps: The Last Stand

Let’s be fair before we swing the axe.

Apps like Babbel and Rosetta Stone did solve real problems. They gave structure to chaos, turned passive screen time into semi-productive sessions, and lowered the barrier to entry for language learners everywhere.

They also:

  • Offered adaptive pathways based on level

  • Incorporated audio by native speakers

  • Provided progress tracking, lesson reviews, and micro-assessments

  • Delivered content even offline—a big deal when you’re mid-flight or dodging patchy Wi-Fi

And yes, not everyone is ready to dive into a conversation with a chatbot, however intelligent. There's still comfort in a curated curriculum and clear lesson objectives. It’s like the difference between a fitness app and hiring a personal trainer—you might want structure more than flexibility.

But Here’s the Problem: AI Doesn’t Just Match It—It Obliterates It

When I started using ChatGPT to learn French, I expected a bit of help with vocabulary.

What I got was:

  • Live pronunciation guides (with audio!)

  • Instant translation with context and tone

  • Cultural nuance explained in seconds

  • Personalized pacing, dynamic drills, and even a few sarcastic jokes when I got something wrong

I could practice writing, speaking, listening, and comprehension in real time—without being boxed into a pre-designed flow or gamified nonsense that didn’t suit my learning style.

And the kicker?

That’s just one use case out of a dozen things my paid subscription already covers.

But Wait—There’s Always Human Tutors (If You’re Into That Sort of Thing)

Of course, the last bastion of human resistance is the 1-on-1 online language tutor.

Yes, you could still pay $30 an hour for someone in a perfectly lit Zoom call to patiently correct your conjugations while you mispronounce croissant for the fiftieth time.

And maybe that works for some people. Especially if you’re secretly hoping to fall in love with your French instructor and end the lesson with a tearful "Je t’aime" before dramatically closing your laptop.

I mean sure—go for it.

But personally? Unless my tutor looks like Marion Cotillard and is also contractually obligated to flirt with me in slow, poetic French... I think I’ll stick to AI.

My Take: Relevance Down by 50%, If Not More

Sure, apps like Babbel might still hold on to some value—for people who want a hyper-structured path or who fear open-ended learning. But for anyone paying for ChatGPT (or any equivalent AI assist), the ROI on traditional language apps has already collapsed.

They’re relics of a time before your teacher lived in the cloud and responded faster than your best friend.

So, are language learning apps still relevant?

Only in the way that DVDs are still sold at airports.

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