- Bengali is the most spoken language in Bangladesh (140 million) and has the second most native speakers in India after Hindi (75 million).
- Bengali is the easternmost of the Indo-European languages.
- The Bengali script is very similar to the Hindi script and consists of 36 consonants and 11 vowels.
- The Bengali language contributed to the formation of a national identity, which led to the separation of the state of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
- Indonesian has more speakers (260 million) than Bengali, but Bengali has more native speakers (215 million) than Indonesian (43 million).
Now let's take a look at which apps and online language courses are best for
learning Bengali. The biggest advantage of these apps is that they are much cheaper than long traditional language courses.
Mondly Bengali App
The Best Alternative to Duolingo
Systems: Android and iOS Apps, Online Version (PC and Mac)
Suitable for: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Students, Travel
Content: Bengali vocabulary trainer (5000 words), playful exercises, grammar
Prices: Free (initial lessons), USD 9.99 (1 month and 1 language), USD 47.99 (12 months and access to all 41 languages)
Discount offer: USD 99 (Lifetime Access to all 41 Languages)
Overall Value:
The Mondly App lets you learn the Bengali language in a playful way with a series of interactive exercises.
There are over 1000 lessons in total and 5000 Bengali words spoken by native speakers in the vocabulary trainer.
You can freely choose which of the 40 topics you want to learn and in what order, including Bengali grammar and verb conjugations.
In addition, there is an Bengali conversation trainer (speech recognition) for the most common types of conversations in everyday life.
Mondly has around 45 million users worldwide. This language course has the advantage of having 41 source languages and 41 target languages.
Summary: Mondly is very similar to the Babbel and Duolingo apps and even better in terms of quality. The cost-benefit ratio for the lifetime access to all 41 languages is unbeatable.
Link:
Mondly Bengali App and Online Course
Bengali Basic Course
From 17 Minute Languages
Systems: Online Access (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)
Suitable for: Beginners and Advanced Learners, Students, Professionals
Content: 1300 words (basic course), 5200 words (complete course), grammar, verb conjugations, exercises
Prices: USD 29,95 (Basic Course), USD 97 (Complete Course)
Overall Value:
This is one of the few software learning programs to learn Bengali. Even Rosetta Stone and Duolingo do not have a Bengali course.
Fortunately, the Bengali Basic Course is really good. It contains a vocabulary trainer for the basic Bengali vocabulary (1300 words) with native-speaker audio, grammar explanations and various exercises.
The vocabulary trainer works with a long-term memory method, in which the new vocabulary is checked at increasing intervals.
You can choose between text input, multiple choice or simply confirming whether you knew a word or not.
The exercises include text comprehension questions, filling in word gaps or just vocabulary lists where one side is covered.
The basic course corresponds to the official language levels A1 and A2 (explanation of CEFR language levels).
The Complete Course contains:
- Basic course for beginners (basic vocabulary with 1300 words)
- Intermediate course (1800 more words)
- Advanced course for experts (2100 words)
- Additional specialized vocabulary
- Covers the official CEFR language levels A1 to C2
There are 17 different languages you can use to learn Bengali with this app.
Summary: Much cheaper and even better than the famous Rosetta Stone. There is a free demo version available and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Link: Bengali Basic Course and Complete Course
Bluebird Bengali App
New Bengali Learning App (2024)
Systems: Android and iPhone Apps, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Suitable for: Bengali lessons and exercises with voice output and speech recognition
Prices: EUR 9.99 (1 month), EUR 100 (12 months), EUR 200 (unlimited), EUR 400 (163 languages)
Overall Value:
The Bluebird App offers 146 source languages and 163 target languages and dialects, including Bengali.
The Bengali language course in this app includes the following:
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Daily video lessons at three difficulty levels
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Basic Bengali vocabulary on several dozen topics
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Common Bengali verbs with conjugations
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Analysis of your own pronunciation (with speech recognition)
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Tests: listening comprehension, filling in word gaps, quizzes
For Bengali, there are about 500 video lessons, each 5 to 60 minutes long. For languages with other scripts, the words can also be shown transliterated in the Latin script.
The Bluebird app does not have grammar lessons. Instead, you are supposed to understand the grammar "implicitly", like in Rosetta Stone.
Summary: The video lessons and interface take some getting used to, but the exercises are quite varied. Especially for smaller languages, this app is a viable alternative.