Drops Review 2024: Best for Learning New Vocabulary
Engaging language learning platforms are the ones that help you learn a language through a gamified approach. There are many such platforms available online. Drops is one of these platforms that involves gamified elements to teach a new language. It has become a very common platform for learning a new language. Its popularity made me use it. I know you may also want to use it. Don’t worry. Read my Drops review and see if it will work for you or not.
Quick Takeaways
- Drops is a platform that follows 5-minute sessions to increase the focus level.
- It’s basically a flashcard app that focuses on learning vocabulary more.
- There are a lot of games to learn the language like word construction or puzzles.
What is Drops?
Drops is the language learning platform that helps to learn a language with the help of 5-minute game-like sessions. It helps to focus on the exercises more. Each language is told with the help of mini-games. These games have a quick session and are basically worked as crossword puzzles or word constructions.
Pricing of Drops
The platform is absolutely free to use. However, there are a lot of features that are subscription-based. Here is the table that helps to explain the pricing of the platform-
Types of plans | Monthly | Yearly | Lifetime |
Pricing | $9.99 per month | $159.99 | $69.99 |
Languages of Drops
There are over 50 languages available on this platform. I have mentioned some of them in the tale below-
English | German | Indonesian | Dutch | Igbo |
Spanish | Icelandic | Chinese | Hebrew | Japanese |
Korean | Arabic | Finnish | Hindi | Irish |
French | Greek | Danish | Italian | Hungarian |
Course Overview
Before learning a language through a particular platform, knowing how the platform works is important. Therefore I have discussed how the platform works.
1. Home tab
When I created my account on it, I had to answer a few questions. After that, there were a lot of exercises that I had to go through. There were words on the screen. Add both sides of the word on the screen, there are two options – hide and learn. If I want to learn that word I have to click on learn. Whereas, if you already know it, hide the word. I used this platform to learn Korean.
There were a few words that I already knew at the beginning. So I had to hide a few of them. Once I selected the learn option and learned them, there were multiple exercises in it. Here is the list of the exercises that I get-
- Exercise 1: There was a word on the screen and different translations across it.
- Exercise 2: Words and translations are on the screen. I had to click on the tick option if both were matching and vice versa.
- Exercise 3: There is a translation of the word and match it with the right image.
- Exercise 4: It has an image on the screen. Understand the word and construct the word with it.
- There is also competition while using it. There is a ‘5 session drops kickoff challenge’. To win it, I had to complete the 5 sessions in 10 days.
It is basically a representation of what you get from the platform.
After that, I had to select the right path for me. There are two paths to learn about it-
- Language Voyage – In this path, I had to select the units from the personalized recommendations. After that, I had to pass the checkpoints and unlock the new content.
- Self Guided – This path allowed me to be my own guide. I had to choose the topics of my interest and select the next steps in my learning.
After that, you will see different sections on the platform. Choose the one you want and learn accordingly. Each section helps to learn a new thing. Here are the sections that are available on the platform-
- Greetings
- Explore a city
- Useful words
a. Suggestions
The platform gives you suggestions from which you can choose the sections. These sections are based on different topics. Some of the topics covered are mentioned below-
- Farm animals
- Rooms at home
- Job types
- Month of the year
Each topic covers content for different levels of learners.
b. Discover Categories
In this section, I could also choose the right category to learn the language from. There are multiple categories that you can choose to learn the basic vocabulary. Some of the categories that are used on this platform are-
- Food
- Take action
- Basics
- Home
- Hobbies
c. Review tools
The review tool is my favorite feature to use. There are four features that help me to test how much I have learned the language so far. These tools are mentioned below-
- Review Dojo: For this option, I had to practice the words with the optimal learning algorithm. To unlock this feature, I had to learn 48 new words. This feature provides the right word at the right time.
- Quiz Mode: This feature is the one that I had to unlock by collecting the terms from the topic sessions. You have to at least unlock 5 quiz questions to play this game.
- Word collection: In this section, you will see the words that you have completed in the previous lessons. If you forget the meaning of a particular word, just click on it and there will be translation and pronunciation of it.
- Favorites: It is a list of words that you can learn and practice. To add them to my favorite list all I did was view the word in the topic and click on the info button. After that, there was a heart option at the side of it. I have to tap it to get into the favorite list.
2. Explore tab
When you go to the explore tab, there is a review and progress section on it. You will also see the category list on it. Once the topic was selected, I got different things for it. Suppose I have clicked on the home topic. It was further divided into different sections-
- Home Basics
- Parts of homes
- What’s in each room and much more
In each section, the content was divided based on different levels, starting from beginner to advanced. However, one thing that I didn’t like was that the content was very limited for advanced learners.
3. Challenges Tab
There are different challenges that I had to face. Each challenge is different and has different criteria to take part in. In addition to that, there are also different benefits of winning it. Also, each challenge has a badge to offer.
4. Profile tab
The profile tab is the tab that helps me to understand my current position. It shows how much streak score I had. The streak score represents the number of days, I used the platform continuously. Along with that, there are so many achievements that I have unlocked. There is also an option to add friends to it. After clicking it, I got the option to invite a friend to join me on my journey.
Drops review: Should I use it?
Drops is the platform that helps to learn the language with the help of daily game exercises. There are a lot of words in it. It has a lot of entertaining and user-friendly interface of the platform. I really think the platform is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to increase their vocabulary knowledge. The best part is that all the content is free on the platform. However, there is very little content for advanced learners. Also, there is no grammar content on it. Here are the benefits and drawbacks of using it-
Pros | Cons |
There are lot of vocabulary knowledge | Some images are created incorrectly |
Follows the gamified approach | There is no grammar knowledge in it |
If I already knew the word, I can remove it or not | Some categories are random and unrelated words in it |
Some languages are more developed than others | Les content for advanced learners |
What are the alternatives to Drops?
Drops is basically a platform that connects you with your goal of learning the language. However, the major drawback of the platform is that it only offers vocabulary knowledge. Thus, here are some of the alternatives for Drops-
1. Duolingo – Gamified approach
Duolingo is the best platform to start learning a new language. The reason I love it so much is its Gamified approach. Everything on this platform is like a game. You play and win. Even the normal lessons look like a game. On completing them, I win the Duolingo gems. They are like currency used in the app to buy some exciting features.
2. Pimsleur – Improving pronunciation
Pimsleur is the platform that helps me improve my pronunciation a lot. There are a lot of lessons that are created in the form of podcasts. I just have to listen to them and understand how the words are pronounced. Additionally, each lesson has an exercise with it. I have to take part in them and complete them.
3. LingoDeer – Writing alphabets
LingoDeer is also a platform that helps to learn a language by following a gamified approach. Multiple exercises help me to learn the basics of the language in an engaging form. However, this platform had a feature that no other platform had. It is the alphabet section. This platform teaches us how to write an alphabet first rather than directly teaching the words and phrases in the language.
4. iTalki
iTalki is the app that connected me with several good tutors to learn a language. I have used this platform multiple times for different languages. This platform allowed me to take the demo sessions of the teachers first. It helps me to decide whether to take classes from that teacher or not.
Conclusion
Drops helps to learn the language with daily game exercises. There are only words that help to learn the language. Thus, it’s a perfect choice for anyone who actually wants to increase their vocabulary knowledge. The content is free, but to unlock new features, you must take a subscription. However, there is no advanced-level content or grammar content in it. To get them, try some alternatives.
FAQs
Is Drops completely free?
We can say that it is a completely free platform. But there is a limitation with it. To unlock all the features, there is a subscription plan for it.