I’m a beginner / I only have a very basic level in my target language. Is Langua a good choice for me?

Whilst Langua is most popular with basic and intermediate level learners, it can still be a powerful tool if you’re a beginner.

If you set your level to Beginner, you'll see a beginner conversational course as one of the first options. This teaches you key phrases in a dynamic way - you'll be asked to repeat the phrases, then you'll do a practical roleplay that uses each phrase. This course is new (as of late May) and we'll be adding to it and improving it shortly.

In other chats, you'll be able to use 'Guided mode' if that's enabled in your chat settings. Here, you'll be given a reply that you can read. You can also listen to the audio before speaking, and enable auto-translate to see the full translations without tapping.

Of course, conversing is tricky as a beginner, but remember there is no pressure and you'll learn from your mistakes. Some other tips:

1) You can talk in your own language when stuck and the AI will still usually understand you. Feel free to mix the languages during a sentence when needed. You can then check for written corrections via the pencil icon, or turn on verbal corrections (available in certain chats) and the AI will ask you to repeat in the target language.

2) Via the lightbulb button at the bottom, you can read and listen to suggested replies and then repeat one of them to send it.

3) You can translate individual words by clicking on them, or translate the whole message via the button below it (or the auto-translate setting).

4) By default, the voice speed will be set to 'Slower' for you, but if you want to hear certain replies slower than that, you can replay the audio slower via the turtle button. As of May 2025, the last 2 voices in the list are from an alternative provider that has very clear speech and are therefore recommended for lower levels.

Of course, it'll be challenging due to your lack of vocabulary. As well as the beginner course, you might also opt to study some flashcards to build your vocab.

On the Vocab/Cards page, you can select 'Create with AI' (or 'Generate' on web) to create lists of words related to your interests, as well as example sentences that use those words. Then learn these with the flashcards exercises. Some languages also have a 'Most Common Words' list, useful for starting with the very basics.

When you've learnt them, try to use them in a conversation (ask the AI to cover the same topic, or use the 'vocab chat' option that'll incorporate your saved words into the conversation).

Lastly, on the web version, you can find videos and podcasts filtered by level. If you can’t find something that’s right for you, there’s also the option to search for other podcasts we have not featured. By showing you transcripts that highlight each word as it’s spoken, as well as enabling you to translate words and sentences easily, we make content more comprehensible.

For more advice on how to use Langua as a beginner, you can watch this video from popular YouTuber QrooPaul (our platform has improved since the video but the explanations are still helpful):