Lately, I’ve been obsessed with three things: meeting new people, learning new things, and discovering new cultures. Because of that, I recently joined the studyblr (a community of tumblrs dedicated to studying, motivation, and helping out with educational subjects). That’s where I found out about HelloTalk.
HelloTalk is an app available on Apple and Android that allows you to connect with native speakers of the language you are learning. In most cases, the search results you’ll find will be people who are learning your native language, so you can teach as well as learn.
There are over 100 languages to choose from, and with features such as a built-in translator, transliteration, sentence correction that shows both the original sentence and the corrected version, HelloTalk makes language exchange more convenient than ever. Besides the normal chat format, free video and voice calls are available through the app, as long as you are connected to the internet. Another great attribute is that it was created solely for language learning purposes. As such, it doesn’t allow enlarging of profile pictures (which they require of every member). I find this a good precaution of sorts, despite the fact that it is easy to get around, as a friend of mine pointed out; one can easily take a screenshot and zoom in. When using the camera, the app flashes a quick reminder about porn monitoring software programmed into the app. I have no way of knowing how functional this software is, but the warning alone is a good deterrent for any hoping to abuse the app.
The HelloTalk community is very friendly as well. Sort of like Twitter, the app has a function that allows you to publish “moments” for the public to see. People will usually like or respond if you’ve asked a question. I messaged a few people, and although not everyone replied (seen-zone, much?) the few who did have turned out to be wonderful friends I’m excited to get to know better, and hope to one day meet in person. Everyone is open to correction (that’s what we’re on the app for, after all—to learn), and kind when it’s their turn to correct. I am really happy with the friends I’ve made, and can’t wait to make even more.
That being said, my HelloTalk, at one point during my usage, refused to sense my internet connection, despite all my other apps willingly doing just that. The only way I was able to use the app again was to delete and download the application all over again, losing majority of my conversations beforehand. A small bug, but a rather inconvenient one that I hope they’ll be fixing soon. On a less technical note, I didn’t like the idea of having to pay to add a new learning language. I understand that producing and maintaining an app comes with costs, but maybe the company can try an ad-supported version to allow for additional target languages?
Despite its cons, I definitely recommend this to anyone looking to learn a language, or make friends abroad. It’s fun, generally safe from what I’ve seen so far, and most people are serious in their intention to learn. And the best part is, even though there is an option to go pro, and add languages for a price, the basic app is free, with almost all features already available.