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Learn Basque

What are the best apps to learn Basque?

Well-known apps like Rosetta Stone, Babbel or Duolingo offer no Basque courses, but there are other apps for learning Basque that are just as good.

San Sebastián in the Basque Region in Spain

   Overview of the Basque Language:

Basque has about 1.2 million native speakers: 700,000 in Spain, 50,000 in France, and half a million in other countries in Europe and the Americas.

It is one of the oldest languages in the world and is not closely related to any other language that still exists. It is believed that Basque originated from an ancient European language that pre-dates the Indo-European settlement of the continent.

The Basque language uses the Western alphabet. There is no grammatical gender, just like in English, which makes Basque easier to learn.

At the same time, Basque has quite a lot of differences when compared to other languages, especially in the verb system.

Basque Region in Southwest France

Now let's take a look at the learning apps, software and online courses that you can use to learn Basque. The biggest advantage of such learning apps is that they are much cheaper than long language courses.

Basque 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 Basque Basic Course contains a vocabulary trainer for the basic Basque 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 Basque 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: Basque Basic Course and Complete Course


uTalk Basque App

Alternative to Duolingo or Babbel

The uTalk app teaches about 2000 Basque words and focuses primarily on playful exercises. There are several exercises to choose from:

  • Read and listen to Basque words (with translation and photos)
  • Match the Basque word you heard to a photo
  • Speak a Basque word and compare the recording with the original
  • A memory game with pictures
  • Speak the Basque 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 Basque Language Course App


Ling Basque App

Playful Basque Learning

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Basque 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 Basque courses.

Ling uses "gamified learning", which means learning the Basque 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 Basque 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 Basque.

Summary: Good ideas that make learning Basque more fun.

Link: Ling Basque Language Course App


Cudoo: Basque Course

Online Learning with Certificates

Systems: Online Access (PC, Mac, smartphones)

Content: Basque video lessons and quiz tests

Prices: USD 12.99 (one course), USD 24.99 (4-7 courses bundle)

Overall Value:

Cudoo is a kind of online university that offers courses with certificates on different topics.

This includes language courses for 160 languages. These are all beginner courses (CEFR level A1 and A2).

For each language there are 1-10 courses and each course has 20-40 lessons.

The lessons each include a short video with new vocabulary and there are short quiz questions below the video.

Summary: The videos are well made, so especially for smaller languages these courses are a good start.

Link: Cudoo Online Basque Language Course


Memrise Basque App

App with User-Generated Lessons

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Basque 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 Basque App

Basque Lessons and Exercises

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Basque 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 Basque.

The Basque language course in this app includes the following:

  • Daily video lessons at three difficulty levels.
  • Basic Basque vocabulary on several dozen topics
  • Common Basque verbs with conjugations
  • Analysis of your pronunciation (with speech recognition)
  • Tests: listening comprehension, filling in word gaps, quizzes
For Basque, 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 Basque

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.


Instant Immersion: Basque

Learning Software for Download

Systems: PC and Mac

Suitable for: Beginners and intermediate learners, travel vocabulary, business

Content: Basque vocabulary lessons and exercises

Prices: USD 35 (Level 1), USD 55 (Level 1-3)

Overall Value:

The Instant Immersion Basque learning software is available for download only for PCs and Macs.

According to the vendor, this software is supposed to be "as good as Rosetta Stone", but much cheaper because less money is spent on advertising.

Unfortunately, this promise cannot hold.

The software interface is chaotic and all three "language levels" offer a chaotic mix of easy and difficult words.

Essentially, this software only introduces new Basque vocabulary with native speaker audio and pictures, and then there are a few exercises.

Basque grammar is not included at all.

Summary: Limited scope and bad interface. At least it is relatively cheap and there is a 90-day money-back guarantee.


Linguashop: Basque

Educational Software for Download

Systems: PC (Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP)

Content: Basque lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition, grammar

Prices: USD 35 (second language for free)

Overall Value:

The Linguashop educational software ("TeachMe") is available for over 90 languages, including Basque. It also includes an audio CD.

The native speaker audio and speech recognition are relatively good.

However, the interface of the learning software is quite chaotic and there are no exercises — only lessons where new vocabulary is presented.

It is also unclear how many words are included in this Basque learning program. There is no information about this on the website.

Some grammar lessons are included — however, these are basically just images with short texts.

Summary: Poor quality for a relatively low price. You get language courses for two languages when you buy, one as a free bonus.



Additional Ways To Learn Basque 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 Basque 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 Basque 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
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
Cudoo
(one course)
No
$13
Online
Access
Cudoo
(complete)
No
$25
Online
Access
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
Ins. Immersion
(one course)
No
$35
PC, Mac
Ins. Immersion
(complete)
No
$55
PC, Mac
Linguashop
No
$35
PC

Best Basque Online Course:
17 Minute Languages

Best App to Learn Basque:
uTalk App

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