Best language apps for travel
Pimsleur to speak from the first lesson, with lessons that play offline; Rosetta Stone or Busuu for a course you can download for the flight; Drops or uTalk for travel words and phrases; and Speak if you will have a connection and want to rehearse conversations.
Prices checked 6 Sept to 12 Oct 2026 · How we check
What works without a connection
Each app's lesson in a line, what you can download, how to try it and its cheapest yearly plan.
- Duolingo
A few minutes of game-like exercises (translate, match, listen, speak), with English throughout.
- Busuu
Short lessons with dialogues, grammar tips and exercises; you can send spoken or written answers for the community, native speakers included, to correct.
- Mango Languages
Hear a conversation, break it into phrases and repeat them, with notes on grammar and culture.
- Pimsleur
A 30-minute audio lesson: you hear a prompt, answer aloud, then hear the right answer.
- Babbel
10 to 15-minute lessons built on short dialogues, with grammar notes in English and speaking exercises.
- LingoDeer
Short lessons that introduce words and a sentence pattern with native-speaker audio and a grammar tip, then quizzes and flashcards.
- Rocket Languages
Audio lessons built on conversations, with language and culture lessons and voice-recognition drills alongside.
- Clozemaster
Fill in the missing word in real sentences, in quick rounds.
- Rosetta Stone
Pictures and audio with no translation at all, and your pronunciation scored.
- uTalk
Picture games for words and phrases by topic, with native-speaker audio.
- Drops
Five-minute picture games that teach words by topic.
- Glossika
Listen to whole sentences and repeat them aloud, with spaced review and little explanation.
- Language Transfer
Listen as a teacher guides a student through building sentences, and pause to answer aloud before the student does.
- MosaLingua
Flashcards of everyday words and phrases with audio: recall each one, rate yourself, and MosaLingua schedules the next review; dialogues and listening practice sit alongside.
- Anki
Flashcards you made or downloaded: rate how well you remembered each one, and Anki schedules when you see it again.
Our picks
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Best for a trip
Busuu
Course app
$72.99 a year$6.08 a month, billed yearly · Premium
Why it's here. A structured course gives you a path through lessons, with corrections from native speakers. You can start with a free account before deciding whether the paid extras are useful.
Free: Free account with the complete course in each language, community feedback and basic progress tracking.
Skip it if you want live conversation with a person; Busuu has no live lessons.
14 languages · offline lessons
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Best to learn by ear on the way
Pimsleur
Audio course
$149.95 a year$12.50 a month, billed yearly · Premium
Why it's here. Half-hour audio lessons get you answering aloud, which suits a commute or a walk. Download lessons before you leave and you can practise without a connection.
Free: No free tier; 7-day free trial on subscriptions.
Skip it if you want to read and write, or want something free: it is audio first, with a 7-day trial.
51 languages · offline lessons
15 of the 34 apps we cover are courses or phrase apps that work offline.
Before a trip, what helps most is saying the everyday exchanges out loud: greetings, numbers, ordering, asking the way. Pick an app that makes you speak, and check that it works offline if you will study on the way. Buy a monthly plan for a trip a few months away; a yearly plan pays only if you will keep going.
Every course and phrase app that works offline, compared
Recommended first within each type of app. Sort any column or filter by what matters to you.
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| Best for | Free tier | Speech | Tutor | Offline | CEFR | Refund or trial | Where to buy | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course apps | ||||||||||||
| DuolingoCourse appSuper in the US App Store: $9.99 to $119.99, depending on the plan. | A free daily habit | Freepaid tier priced in-app | — | — | Free to keep using Full free tier with ads and limits; Super removes the ads and limits, and Max adds AI practice (Video Call and Roleplay). | 40 | Yes | No | Yes · Limited lessons available offline; progress syncs when connected | A1 to B2 | 1 week free trial on Super | |
| BusuuCourse app | Corrections from native speakers | $72.99 a year$6.08 a month, billed yearly | — | — | Free to keep using Free account with the complete course in each language, community feedback and basic progress tracking; Premium adds review tools, offline mode and no ads. | 14 | Yes | No · Live Lessons are exclusive to Busuu for Business, outside the consumer subscription | Yes | A1 to C1by course | 14-day money-back guarantee on the initial Premium payment; no renewal refunds. Apple and mobile-operator purchases require a refund from that provider. | |
| Mango LanguagesCourse app | Free through many public libraries | About $120 a year$10 a month, billed yearly | $13.99 | — | Free sample Free trial on both personal plans; the first lesson of any language is free; 10 endangered and indigenous language courses are free; free full access through participating public libraries | 73 | No | No | Yes | A1 to B1by course | Free trial on Individual and Family plans; cancel before it ends and you are not charged | |
| LingoDeerCourse app | Grammar-led lessons, with alphabet units for Japanese and Korean | $95.99 a year$8 a month, billed yearly | $14.99 | — | Free to keep using A free version with limited lessons; a membership unlocks every course and feature. | 20 | — | — | Yes | A1 to B1by course | A 7-day money-back guarantee on yearly and longer plans bought on LingoDeer's website, one request per person; no refund for part of a period or a renewal you forgot. | |
| BabbelCourse app | A structured course with grammar explained | $107.40 a year$8.95 a month, billed yearly | $17.99 | $299.99 | Free sample Free account; the first lesson of every course is free, and up to 80 free lessons depending on the language. | 14 | Yes | No · Babbel Live is no longer available to individual consumers | Yes · Downloaded lessons, vocabulary review and podcasts in the mobile app | A1 to C1 | Bought from Babbel in the US: no refund promised if you cancel early. Outside the US: 14 days to change your mind, less what you have used. App store purchases: the store's rules. | |
| Rocket LanguagesCourse app | Paying once per level, not a subscription | $99.95Rocket Sign Language | — | $449.85 | Free trial A free trial; the page does not say what it includes or for how long. | 13 | Yes | No | Yes · audio lessons download in the app; voice recognition needs a connection | A1 to B2by course | A free trial; 60-day money-back guarantee on purchases. | |
| Rosetta StoneCourse app | Immersion without translation | $159 a year$13.25 a month, billed yearly | $19.99 | — | Free sample Free sample lessons on its site; no lasting free plan. | 25 | Yes | Coaching sessions with a Rosetta Stone certified tutor. | Yes | — | 14-day money-back guarantee | |
| Audio courses | ||||||||||||
| PimsleurAudio course | Audio lessons for a commute | $149.95 a year$12.50 a month, billed yearly | $19.95one language | $798 | No | 51 | Yes | — | Yes | — | 7-day free trial on subscriptions; 30 Day money back guarantee on purchases | |
| GlossikaAudio course | Sentence drills by ear | About $199 a year$16.58 a month, billed yearly | $19.99one language | — | Free trial 7-day full access with no credit card, plus a permanent Freemium tier covering nine minoritized languages | 63 | No | No | Yes | A1 to C1by course | 7-day free trial with no credit card; monthly payments are non-refundable, annual plans refundable pro rata within 60 days of purchase | |
| Language TransferAudio course | A free audio course that explains as it goes | Free | — | — | Free to keep using Every course free, with no adverts and no sign-up; it runs on donations. | 11 | No | No | Yes | — | Free; nothing to buy. | |
| Vocabulary and flashcard apps | ||||||||||||
| ClozemasterVocabulary and flashcards | Free vocabulary practice in context | $79.99 a year$6.67 a month, billed yearly | $12.99 | — | Free to keep using Free account with up to 30 sentences a day; Pro adds unlimited play and advanced features | 71 | — | — | Yes · on Pro, in the mobile app | — | 30-day money back guarantee on the Yearly plan; no refunds on Monthly plans | |
| uTalkVocabulary and flashcards | Phrases in 160 languages | About $30 a year$2.50 a month, billed yearly | $4.99 | — | Free sample Starter Words, a free 26-word pack in every language, plus an online demo at demo.utalk.com | 160 | No | No | Yes | A1 to A2by course | 28-day money-back guarantee | |
| DropsVocabulary and flashcards | Five-minute vocabulary sessions | $69.99 a year$5.83 a month, billed yearly | $11 | $150 | Free to keep using Free access capped at 5 minutes of play every 10 hours, with topics unlocked one at a time through gameplay | 55 | — | — | Yes | — | 7-day free trial on the Yearly plan; affiliate terms reference a 14-day refund period | |
| MosaLinguaVocabulary and flashcards | The most useful words first, on a review schedule | $71.88 a year$5.99 a month, billed yearly | $9.99 | — | Free trial Free download and a free trial; the full set of features needs a Premium subscription. | 11 | — | — | Yes | — | A free trial first, then a 30-day money-back guarantee on website and Android purchases; not on App Store purchases. | |
| AnkiVocabulary and flashcards | Flashcards you control, free on a computer | FreeAnkiMobile (iPhone and iPad): $24.99 once | — | $24.99 | Free to keep using The computer version and AnkiDroid on Android are free, with free sync; only the iPhone app is paid. | — | No | No | Yes | — | Free on computers and Android; AnkiMobile is a one-time App Store purchase. | |
Which to choose
You leave in a few weeks and want to speak
Pimsleur
Pimsleur's 30-minute lessons have you answer everyday prompts aloud, and they play without a connection once downloaded. It starts with a 7-day free trial; month to month is $19.95 for one language.
You want a course to work through on the flight
Rosetta Stone or Busuu
Rosetta Stone's iPhone and Android apps download units to finish offline, for $159 a year. Busuu's Offline Mode comes with Premium, $72.99 a year, and its free account has the whole course to start on.
You only want the words and phrases
Drops or uTalk
Drops teaches words by topic in five-minute picture games and works offline; the free version gives five minutes every ten hours. uTalk teaches phrases with native-speaker audio in 160 languages and works offline once downloaded, for about $30 a year a language.
You will have a connection and want to rehearse conversations
Speak
Speak has you say its lessons aloud and then talk with an AI tutor, in Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean or Chinese, after a 7-day free trial. It needs a connection, as every AI app here does.
Questions people ask
Which language apps work offline?
Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Babbel, Busuu (with Premium), Mango Languages, Rocket Languages, LingoDeer, Drops, uTalk, Clozemaster, Anki and Language Transfer among others; the table above lists every course and phrase app that does. AI conversation apps such as Speak and Talkpal need a connection.
Should I buy a monthly or a yearly plan for a trip?
Monthly, if the trip is the goal and only a few months away: a yearly plan costs less per month but is paid up front, for twelve months. The cost calculator works out which costs less for the months you will study.