What is Lingoda?
Lingoda claims to be an online language school. Usually, when I do reviews of products online they market themselves as an online learning program or platform, but Lingoda wants to emphasize the fact that they are more than just a platform. They are a community of learners and teachers.
What does Lingoda do?
Lingoda offers group lessons and private lessons. Every lesson is taught by a native speaker in your target language. The lessons are carefully curated to make sure that every student has the same fantastic experience that I did during the several lessons I took on Lingoda. You can download PDF files of materials for each class that you take.
Learn about Lingoda’s latest promotion here.
How do you choose your next topic?
When you set goals via Lingoda, you will be shown a list of lessons you need to complete in order to accomplish this goal. Simply click on the lesson you want to complete and choose a time that fits your schedule. Alternatively, you can take a lesson on any topic that fits your schedule by clicking “Book Classes” and choosing a topic and time that fits your needs.
How are the group lessons formatted?
Group classes take place on the Adobe Connect platform (I’ve been told that Lingoda is working on switching to WebRTC, which should make the system faster, more reliable, and a much better overall experience). You simply click “Go to class” and your Adobe Connect classroom will load.
Once you are in the classroom, your teacher and fellow students will introduce themselves. After that, if there is a presentation associated with that lesson, you will go over the goals for the lesson and the materials that you could download before the lesson started. You will be given an opportunity to ask any questions you need answered at any point during the lesson and there will be time at the end to ask any other last minute questions that you have about the topic.
How are the private lessons formatted?
When you sign up for a private lesson, your teacher will be notified and sent your Skype username. They will add you on Skype before the lesson starts. You simply have to be online and signed-in to Skype at the time that your class is supposed to start. Your teacher will initiate a video call and your lesson will take place within the Skype call.
If there are materials to go over in the lesson, the teacher can send them via the Skype messaging system. You will then have a one-on-one lesson with your teacher. The private lesson that I took was a dictation lesson. The teacher read a sentence to me and I had to type it in the chat box. The teacher then checked my sentence for any errors and we discussed the errors and how to fix them.
Lingoda’s Move to Germany Package
Don’t you wish there was a course that would prepare you before you move to Germany? Of course, it would need to cover things like making appointments, opening a bank account, finding an apartment, what the German job culture is like, and even really specific things like taxes and insurances you would need. While I have videos on my YouTube channel about most of these topics, I can’t go into the kind of depth that you really need in a short YouTube video.
Well, I am incredibly excited to announce that my friends over at Lingoda have created what they are calling the “Move to Germany” pack. This is a group of 30 classes that will prepare you for your move to Germany. This covers everything from spelling and getting directions in German all the way up to getting insurance and finding a job.
What does Lingoda cost?
If you want to take 1 class every week, you can sign up for $69 per month. There is a 7 day trial, so you can see if you really like their service before you commit to the $69 per month. Lingoda‘s most popular plan is $169, which gets you 2-3 lessons per week. This would be my personal recommendation, as I believe you need to have language lessons at least that often in order to push forward in your understanding and use of the language. If you really want to take your language skills to the next level, you can opt to take a lesson every single day for $289 per month.
*The pricing for Lingoda occasionally changes. Please see Lingoda‘s pricing for the most up-to-date information.
Why Herr Antrim Partners with Lingoda
Since writing this original review of Lingoda, I have become an affiliate and long-time partner of the site. While I remain consistent in my reviews, I also believe in full disclosure. Let me tell you a bit about Lingoda and why I have been partnering with them as long as I have.
Lingoda Personalizes Your Learning
The problem with a lot of online learning platforms is that they are impersonal. They don’t take into account the individual who is trying to learn a language. Their structure is rigid with little to no room for personalization. Lingoda, on the other hand, brings you the personalization of a real classroom experience without the restrictions of the physical classroom.
No bots. Not an app. Just real teachers in real time.
On Lingoda, you aren’t learning from a bot or an app. You are learning from a real teacher, who has been trained to help you get the most out of your language learning experience. Every class is a face-to-face live lesson with a native speaker. Whether you are taking lessons in German, English, French, Spanish or their new Business English course, you can be sure that you will have a top notch teacher.
Small Group Classes with Lingoda
When you take group classes with Lingoda, you will always have small group sizes. The average group size is 3 students. You won’t get that kind of student to teacher ratio at any university. You can book your classes to fit your schedule no matter how busy you are. Their classes are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Simply choose a topic and a time that fits your needs. You don’t even have to be home for these lessons. If you have a computer and a stable internet connection, you can take classes with Lingoda.
Topical, Helpful Language Lessons
Each class is structured around a particular topic. From classroom or family vocabulary to shopping or the weather. You can find lessons that match your professional and personal goals. You can download the lesson materials before your scheduled class, so you can get an overview. Then you have those materials to review when the lesson has ended. If you don’t know what your level is or where to begin, you can get an evaluation to test your skills and help you find the appropriate lessons for you.
So that’s what Lingoda brings to the table on a daily basis. You can get all of those benefits no matter if you are taking part of a language marathon or if you are simply taking classes like normal. But let’s get back to the language marathon.
Herr Antrim’s Other Videos About Lingoda
July 2020 Lingoda Language Sprint Challenge
In June of 2020 Lingoda hosted a Language Sprint Challenge. This challenge has ended. Similar to other such promotions, language learners could get 50% or 100% of their tuition refunded at the end of the challenge.
February 2020 Lingoda Language Sprint Challenge
In February of 2020, Lingoda ran a Language Sprint Challenge. If you completed all of the lessons required you could get 50% (Traditional Sprint) or 100% (Super Sprint) of the cost of your lessons refunded at the end. This challenge has ended.
Lingoda’s Last Language Marathon
Lingoda promoted one last marathon before they decided to reformat it into a permanent part of their system. The video above was the promotional video I released for that.
April 2019 Lingoda Language Marathon Promotion
In my promotional video and blog post about Lingoda‘s language marathon in April of 2019, I talked about the advantages of learning with Lingoda over apps. You can see that video above and the arguments between apps and Lingoda below.
Apps vs Lingoda
Learning via a computer program is like walking on a treadmill. You feel like you are accomplishing something, but you never really get anywhere. Although you can go for miles on the treadmill, when you can’t in the real world. You can’t walk through a store without getting winded. You haven’t trained like you need to perform. It’s like training for a marathon without ever going outside and actually running. You might find some success. There is no chance you will never be at the front of the crowd. You will never win the race.
Learning via live lessons with native speakers is like training every day with a personal trainer. They runs marathons at an olympic level. You want the level they already have. They know what needs to be done in order to help you reach your goals, . They are with you every step of the way teaching you everything they know. You train in the same way you want to perform. You run your race every day. When it comes time to run the race for real, you will be ready to run at the front of the pack.
How Herr Antrim gets the most out of Lingoda
I recently started taking lessons on Lingoda myself to help boost my German skills. I feel I’ve fallen out of practice. Speaking more German on a regular basis would be good for me. The conversations I have with Sophia aren’t really challenging my language skills. The lessons so far have been awesome. The class size is tiny. On a daily basis I personally teach upwards of 30 students in a room at a time. With Lingoda I have only had two or three classmates at a time. This allows for each person in the group to get plenty of practice, reading, speaking and listening.
I always download the lesson materials before the class is set to take place. This way I can familiarize myself with the materials. Then when the class is over, I can use these materials to make notes, flashcards, and other ways to review. The best part is, I can download all of the materials for any lesson at any time.
I can take classes whenever and wherever I want. All I need is a computer with a steady internet connection and I am ready to go. I can set up lessons based on a time of the day. Personally, I like to take classes after my kids go to bed. I can look them up in the order that they appear in the curriculum set out by Lingoda. Each lesson is guaranteed to advance your language skills. They have been structured around the CEFR goals by their digital learning experts.
New Year Promotion 2018/19
Marathon Promotion May 2018
April 2018 Marathon Promotion
November 2017 Marathon Promotion
Disclaimer
Links to Lingoda within this article are affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you any extra, but if you make a purchase, Herr Antrim gets a small percentage of the revenue from that purchase.
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