uTalk Review 2024: Should You Choose It? (+Alternatives)

Every person has their own learning preferences. Some may learn through fun exercises; others may learn through visuals. Are you a visual learner? If yes, you may have thought to use uTalk. It is well known for visual learning. But before using it, it is important to know how the platform is. To help you with this, I will share my experience when I used it for the first time in this uTalk review. It will help you understand if this platform is for you.

Quick Takeaways 

• Utalk is a platform that teaches you by focusing on visual learning and real native pronunciations.
• There are over 150 languages available.
• Each course has 60 units in it, which are further divided into 6 games-like exercises.
• On completing the lessons, you get uTalk coins.

What is uTalk?

uTalk is the platform that teaches the language by visuals on the screen. There will be a picture on the screen with audio in it. You must listen to them and do exercises that are like games. The best part of these exercises is that they help to remember the meaning of new vocabulary.

uTalk Languages available

It is very important to know how many languages are available online. There are a total of 150 languages on this platform. Here I have mentioned a few of the languages on uTalk-

Spanish	German	Czech	Kannada	Danish
Bosnian	Mandarin	Arabic	Scots	Turkish
French	Cantonese	Dari	Cornish	Amharic

uTalk Cost

The pricing of the platform is a little different from the other platforms. uTalk offers three plans for the program-

• Single Language Subscriptions – $3.99 to $7.99 per month
• Premium Subscriptions -$9.99 
• uCoins – the price depends upon the number of uCoins you want

Single-language subscriptions depend upon the payment you make in advance. If you pay for six months the pricing goes down by 35%. On the other hand, prices go down by 50% if you pay for 12 months in advance. 

You will get full access to the program if you have purchased the premium subscription. Remember, you can only get the benefits till the time you stay as a subscriber. 

uCoins are used to get individual courses and lessons. Here is a table that shows the pricing of uCoins-

Number of uCoins	Pricing
40 uCoins	$1.99
200 uCoins	$8.99
800 uCoins	$32.99
2600 uCoins	$64.99

Is uTalk free?

Today, most language learning platforms offer subscription plans with some free content. uTalk works similarly. You will need to purchase the membership to access the course fully. However, some content can be used freely. Make sure to have the app to access it. If you think the free part is not so useful, you can take the help of the 28-day guarantee back feature. If you feel the subscription is not worth it, get your money back from them.

How do uCoins work?

Remember the way Duolingo gems work? uCoins are like them only. Of course, it feels great when you get a reward for completing something new. You will complete the lessons and get these coins in return. They can be used to buy a full lesson or a topic. With my 30 minutes of learning, I received 80 uCoins which were enough to unlock 2 more topics. 

Target audience

The official statement for the type of users on the platform is-

“uTalk is for anyone who wants to learn keywords and phrases in another language. It’s perfect for beginners getting started in a language and invaluable for intermediates looking to fill in gaps in their vocabulary and pronunciation.”

The summary of the above statement is, that it is a perfect choice for anyone who wants to learn the basic phrases of any other language. In short, it is the best tool for a beginner. Traveling to Spain? Japan? Korea? Or any new country? Just look up uTalk to get the translations for the common words and phrases. There are 60 different topics on which you can get the vocabulary knowledge.

It covers everything from Transportation to accommodation. One of my students is from Japan and had a plan to visit India. Although she knew English a little bit, she wanted to learn Hindi. uTalk gave her the chance to learn it by keeping Japanese as the base language. The reason I am sharing this incident is to show you that it can also be used by those who do not know the English language.

Course Structure

Choosing the platform needs to understand how the course is structured. If you don’t know how the course is created, it may be difficult to use it. Thus, here is a quick overview of how you will go through the course on uTalk-

1. Topics

The first thing is to choose the language. But what after that? There is a list of 60 topics, starting from basic to the more specialized topics. Following is the list of some topics you get in the course-

• Farming
• Body
• Doctor
• Fruit
• Clothes
• Vegetables

You can choose any of the topics according to your preference. Each topic has a game menu which is further divided into sections. 

2. Game Menu

The game menu is a set of exercises to train your brain to remember the words and phrases. Having a platform that follows the gamified approach is a blessing. You do not get bored. And there is nothing better than having six interesting games to learn the language. Below I have described all of them-

a. Phrase practice

I think it is best to start from this section. It is the section where I encountered new words and phrases that I had to listen to and practice. If the speed is too fast, slow it down. Just get comfortable with the pronunciation of it. When you know the pronunciation, record yourself saying that word or phrase. I have used platforms that follow similar kinds of work. The biggest difference that I noticed on uTalk was to compare myself with the native speaker. When my pronunciation is right, I mark it right and move on. But if it’s incorrect, I’ll give it a retry.

b. Easy Game

It is easy because it is the first game in each topic. Being a visual learner, I really enjoyed this game. There is a word or phrase that I had already learned with four different pictures. All I had to do was to choose the right picture. It’s like a visual MCQ question where you have to match the pictures based on what has been written on the screen. 

c. Speaking Game

This is really a different concept. I thought it was like a combination of the first two features of the game section. It is because there are two steps of this game – 

• Recording yourself 
• Matching the recording with the correct picture

While recording the audio, there will be pictures to assist you. Make sure to check them when you are recording the audio. Of Course, there will be recordings of the native speaker before you record them. So there is no chance of getting a wrong pronunciation. In the next part, there will be 9 pictures on the screen. You must choose the right picture based on your recording.

d. Hard game

It is a tough level of the easier game. There are a few rounds and again we must match the images with the words or phrases that we listen to. In the first round, there are 6 options for a particular recording. There will be nothing written on the screen. Everything is based on the recording. After each round, there will be an additional option. These options will increase by 1 till there are 10 options on your screen. 

e. Memory game

One such feature that I hated the most was the Memory game. There are two parts to this game. In the first part, there were words on the card and I had to remember their position. It may look interesting but trust me, you will get frustrated with it. The reason is there are multiple images on the screen. Suppose 5 images are showing different things in the following order-

• 1 – Food
• 2 – going to the mountains
• 3 – Having chocolates
• 4. Drinking food
• 5. Choosing the car

You need to remember the position of each of them. After that, they will be flipped. Now, you have to play the audio. Suppose the audio says ‘Going to mountains’; to get the answer right, you must tap on the 2nd card. If you forget the numbering and choose the wrong card you will lose. You may think it is a great way to boost your memory. I also believe that. But this was not my reason to use uTalk. Maybe because of it, I don’t like this feature much. But if you want to improve your Spatial memory, you must try this game. 

Now turn to the second part. In the mid-way, the game will be changed. It will now be the hard game but with a timer in it. What does it mean? You will be playing a hard game with a time limit in it. To win this game, you must match the audio with the words before the time ends.

f. Recall game

It is the final game that you get on this platform. This is the only exercise, I believe, for testing your final knowledge. Here you will get an image with the sentence for the word in your base language. You will have to record it in the language you are learning. After that, compare it with the recordings of the native speaker. Remember, you have to evaluate the pass or fail by yourself. In this exercise, all the phrases and words are covered that you encountered in the lesson. I really believe self-evacuation is a great way to understand where you actually stand.

3. My Phrasebook

There are exciting features that allowed me to make my personal Phrasebook. If I see some helpful words, I can easily add them to my Phrasebook. You can also add the words you think are difficult to remember. It will use a Spaced repetition system to make you learn all of them. However, it is a paid feature. If you think you want a flashcard deck to remember these words, create one on Anki or Memrise.

uTalk Review: Should you choose uTalk?

While using uTalk, I receive a lot of recordings of the native speakers to understand the right pronunciation of the words and phrases. It helped me to learn pronunciation. There was also a self-evaluation process. You must record yourself and see if it matches with the native speakers or not. The uCoins make the exercises more engaging. Every time, I complete an exercise, I receive them. These coins can be used to unlock new lessons. However, the feature I disliked the most was the memory game. Of course, I will discuss it further, but I think it’s just a waste of time. However, to make you understand more, I have discussed the pros and cons separately below-

Pros	Cons
Lot of languages are available on the platform.	Some phrases or words can be hard to depict through pictures.
Recordings of native speakers.	The content is designed for beginners.
Engaging lessons.	No grammatical rules.
It can be used offline.	The phrasebook is a paid feature.
There is a reward system to motivate you.	You must download the app to get the free content.

Alternatives

Although uTalk is a very interactive platform for learning the language, some drawbacks that do not make it a perfect choice. Here, are some alternatives that can be used instead of uTalk-

1. Pimsleur – Uses audio lessons

If you can’t sit for a course that requires a huge sitting period, Pimsleur is what you need. The lessons on this platform are created based on Audio lessons. You don’t have to sit for a long period. Just wear headphones and listen to the lessons while doing other things. It is the perfect way to understand how the native speakers talk.

2. iTalki – Best for live classes

iTalki is a platform that is best for taking live classes. There are multiple teachers on the platform for a single language. Usually, there is a doubt between choosing an online tutor or a home tutor. Well, I would suggest, if you think you can find a good home tutor, go for them. But, generally, there are fewer chances to get a language tutor. In such a case, iTalki is best for you. The price you pay depends upon the teachers and the class duration.

3. Memrise – Flashcard decks

If you only want to learn the phrases and words, just use Memrise. I have suggested this platform earlier as well. This was the platform that helped to get me a Duolingo Norwegian vocabulary list. It helps you to make your own list or use others. Honestly, I have created my own lists for Spanish, Italian, and many other languages. It helped me to easily revise the content. 

Conclusion

uTalk is a platform that teaches languages by showing visuals and recordings of native speakers. Each course on this platform has 60 topics. Each topic is further divided into six games that make the content more engaging. To access the whole content, you must get the paid version. However, some content is free to use. It can help you earn uCoins. Use the uCoins to unlock new topics or lessons.

FAQs