Well-known apps like Rosetta Stone, Duolingo or Babbel offer no Afrikaans courses, but there are other apps for learning Afrikaans that are just as good or even better.
Now let's take a look at the apps, software and online courses that you can use to learn Afrikaans. The biggest advantage of such learning apps is that they are much cheaper than traditional language courses.
Mondly Afrikaans 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: Afrikaans 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 Afrikaans language in a playful way with a series of interactive exercises.
This Afrikaans learning program contains:
- Afrikaans vocabulary trainer with 5000 words
- 50 topics and categories to choose from
- 2100 Afrikaans lessons, including grammar
- Conversation trainer for common situations (speech recognition)
- There is even a virtual reality version of this learning app
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 Afrikaans App and Online Course
Afrikaans 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:
The Afrikaans Basic Course contains a vocabulary trainer for the basic Afrikaans vocabulary (1300 words) with native-speaker audio, as well as 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 Afrikaans 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: Afrikaans Basic Course and Complete Course
uTalk Afrikaans App
Alternative to Duolingo or Babbel
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online Version
Content: Afrikaans vocabulary (2000 words), lessons and playful exercises
Prices:
USD 12 (1 month and all 160 languages)
USD 60 (12 months and all 160 languages)
Discount offer: USD 199 (Lifetime Access to all 160 Languages)
Overall Value: 
The uTalk app teaches about 2000 Afrikaans words and focuses primarily on playful exercises.
There are several exercises to choose from:
-
Read and listen to Afrikaans words (with translation and photos)
-
Match the Afrikaans word you heard to a photo
-
Speak a Afrikaans word and compare the recording with the original
-
A memory game with pictures
-
Speak the Afrikaans translation of an English word
The vocabulary is divided into 60 freely selectable topics. The special thing about the uTalk app is that you get access to
all 160 languages.
The interface of the app is well made and is similar to other apps like Babbel, Duolingo or Mondly.
Summary: Getting access to 160 languages is impressive and the scope (2000 words with native speaker audio and exercises) is also solid.
Link: uTalk Afrikaans Language Course App
Ling Afrikaans App
Playful Afrikaans Learning
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Afrikaans lessons with native speaker audio
Prices: USD 8.99 (1 month), USD 79 (12 months),
USD 149 (unlimited)
Overall Value:
The Ling language learning app offers lessons for 60 languages and is quite similar to Duolingo or Babbel, which do not offer Afrikaans courses.
Ling uses "gamified learning", which means learning the Afrikaans language in a playful way.
There are mini-games, levels, experience points, as well as tests and exercises at the end of each lesson.
The vocabulary covers about 1000 Afrikaans words and phrases, all with native speaker audio and pictures. Grammar is not included.
This app offers a test to determine your proficiency level in Afrikaans.
Summary: Good ideas that make learning Afrikaans more fun.
Link: Ling Afrikaans Language Course App
Memrise Afrikaans App
App with User-Generated Lessons
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Afrikaans lessons and vocabulary trainer with native speaker audio, grammar
Prices: USD 8,99 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months), USD 110 (unlimited)
Overall Value: 
With the Memrise App you can learn over 90 languages.
This includes even very small languages - however, in such cases the language courses are often limited to just a few lessons.
One special feature of the Memrise learning app is the large number of lessons created by users (native speakers).
The quality of these lessons varies greatly though. For example, only the basic forms of verbs are usually taught, without the conjugations. Some languages also do not have an audio recording of the words at all.
Another good idea of the Memrise app are the user-generated tips and mnemonics for each word to help you memorize them.
Summary: User-generated lessons are a good idea. In practice, the quality of the lessons leaves a lot be desired.
Bluebird Afrikaans App
Afrikaans Lessons and Exercises
Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Afrikaans lessons and exercises with voice output and speech recognition
Prices: USD 9.99 (1 month), USD 100 (12 months), USD 200 (unlimited), USD 400 (163 languages)
Overall Value:
The Bluebird App offers 146 source languages and 163 target languages and dialects, including Afrikaans.
The Afrikaans language course in this app includes the following:
-
Daily video lessons at three difficulty levels.
-
Basic Afrikaans vocabulary on several dozen topics
-
Common Afrikaans verbs with conjugations
-
Analysis of your pronunciation (with speech recognition)
-
Tests: listening comprehension, filling in word gaps, quizzes
For Afrikaans, there are about 500 video lessons, each 5 to 60 minutes long. For languages with other scripts, the words can also be displayed transliterated in the Western script.
The Bluebird App does not have grammar lessons. Instead, you are supposed to understand the grammar "implicitly" from the examples, same as in Rosetta Stone.
Summary: The video lessons and the interface require some getting used to, but the exercises are quite varied. Especially for smaller languages, this app is an acceptable alternative.
Clozemaster Afrikaans
Exercises for Advanced Learners
Systems: Android and iOS Apps, Online Version
Suitable for: Intermediate and Advanced Learners
Content: Multiple-choice selection of missing words in sentences (with native speaker audio)
Prices: USD 8 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months), USD 140 (lifetime access)
Overall Value:
The Clozemaster app is intended for intermediate and advanced learners who have already mastered the basic vocabulary and want to practice.
The only exercise is to choose the correct missing word in a sentence from a list of four words. The translation of the sentence is displayed as well. At the end, the sentence is also spoken by a native speaker.
In the English version of this app there are 70 languages to choose from.
Large languages have up to 50,000 vocabulary items (words, phrases, and verb variations), while smaller languages often have only 500.
In the online version, you can also type in the missing words. The smartphone app now offers speech recognition.
Summary: An interesting method that is quite fun. Since many apps teach only at a beginner level, this is a good addition for advanced users.
Lingo Afrikaans App
Playful Afrikaans Learning
Systems: Android and iPhone Apps, Online Version (PC and Mac)
Content: Afrikaans lessons and exercises
Prices: USD 19.99 (1 month), USD 40 (3 months), USD 60 (6 months)
Overall Value: 
The Lingo Play App offers language courses for 70 languages. It offers "gamified learning", which means learning vocabulary in a playful way.
Each Afrikaans lesson offers the following exercises:
-
Presentation of new words with translation and image
-
Decide whether a Afrikaans word matches the image
-
Select one of four pictures that matches a word
-
Type in the Afrikaans word for a picture
-
Correctly type in a spoken Afrikaans word
In the full version this app offers up to 5000 Afrikaans words. The interface of the app is similar to Babbel, Duolingo or Mondly.
There is also a multiplayer mode and competitions where you can test your Afrikaans skills against other people.
Summary: Overpriced Afrikaans course that does offer some good exercises, but is not better than other similar apps.
Simya Afrikaans App
Not really recommended
Systems: Android App, iPhone App
Content: Vocabulary trainer for Afrikaans learning
Prices: USD 9,99 (1000 words), USD 59 (1000 words in 50 languages)
Overall Value:
The Simya App for Android and iOS is purely a vocabulary trainer for 50 languages, including Afrikaans.
The free version contains 300 words and has very frequent "ad breaks". The paid version (without ads) also contains only 1000 words and phrases.
All the words have native speaker audio and you can use the app offline too.
Afrikaans grammar and verb conjugations are not included in this app.
Summary: Not really worth it, as there are much better alternatives like Mondly, Rosetta Stone or even Duolingo.
Pimsleur Afrikaans Course
Beginner course similar to Rosetta Stone
Systems: PC and Mac (incl. Mobile App)
Suitabe for: Beginners, advanced, students, travel vocabulary
Content: Afrikaans lessons with native-speaker audio and speech recognition
Price: USD 120 (basic course)
Overall Value:
The Pimsleur App is very similar to Rosetta Stone in that it does not give grammar explanations, verb conjugation tables, etc.
Instead, the Pimsleur method is supposed to let you learn the Afrikaans language intuitively, just like your native language - by combining pictures, reading and speaking (speech recognition).
This Afrikaans learning course for PCs and Macs also includes a mobile app for Android and iOS systems.
Pimsleur offers only initial Afrikaans lessons for beginners and has no intermediate or advanced lessons.
Summary: The most expensive Afrikaans beginners course, even though it is unlikely that learning with it is much better than with the cheaper apps.
Additional Ways To Learn Afrikaans Online:
Colanguage: Find Skype teachers
Overall Value:
At Colanguage you can arrange face-to-face language lessons online via Skype with language teachers around the world (from $5-10 per hour).
In addition to using apps, it is definitely a good idea to also practice with native speakers in order to learn Afrikaans properly.
Tandem: Find a language exchange partner
Overall Value:
Instead of hiring teachers, you can also find people who are interested in a free language exchange online via Skype.
It is completely free of charge, but you have to act as a language teacher for the other person half of the time.
Overview of the Afrikaans Learning Apps:
| Learning App |
Subscrip-
tion? |
Price |
Systems |
Value |
17 Minutes
(Basics) |
No |
$29 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
17 Minutes
(Complete) | No | $97 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Mondly | No | $99 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | |
| Mondly | Yes
(1 month) | $10 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | |
| Mondly | Yes
(12 months) | $48 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS | |
| uTalk | No | $199 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| uTalk | Yes
(1 month) | $12 | PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| uTalk | Yes
(12 months) | $60 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Ling |
No |
$149 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Ling |
Yes
(1 month) |
$9 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Ling |
Yes
(12 months) |
$79 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Memrise |
No |
$110 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Memrise |
Yes
(1 month) |
$9 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Memrise |
Yes
(12 months) |
$60 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Bluebird |
No |
$200 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Bluebird |
Yes
(1 month) |
$10 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Bluebird |
Yes
(12 months) |
$100 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Clozemaster |
No |
$140 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Clozemaster |
Yes
(1 month) |
$8 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Clozemaster |
Yes
(12 months) |
$60 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Lingo Play |
Yes
(1 month) |
$20 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
| Lingo Play |
Yes
(6 months) |
$60 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
Simya
(1 language) |
No |
$10 |
Android, iOS |
|
Simya
(50 languages) |
No |
$59 |
Android, iOS |
|
Pimsleur
(Basics) |
No |
$120 |
PC, Mac, Android, iOS |
|
