Yabla Review 2024: My Honest Opinion (+ Alternatives)

Learning a new language but don’t know which video to choose? Try Yable. It is a platform that has multiple videos to understand the language. I know you do not want to use any such platform that is not appropriate. Thus, I am here with the Yabla review based on the experience I had with it. Read it to understand how it is different from others and find out if it’s a perfect way of learning the language.

Quick Summary

• Yable is a platform created to learn new languages with the help of different videos on it.
• There are total 6 languages on the platform including English and Chinese.
• The platform is full of interesting games and other fun features like Flashcards, dashboard, etc. 
• It offer transcripts in both base and targeted languages.

What is Yabla?

Yabla is a language learning platform that immerses learners with the help of Authentic videos. There are six different languages available on the platform with huge video libraries. The tagline of the platform itself states that:

“Language Immersion With Authentic Video.”

Though the platform teaches the language at the beginner level, I would suggest using it after getting through the absolute beginner phase. 

It is not just a language learning platform for individuals. In fact, it is used by different schools to help the students learn the language. The teachers could give the assignments and assign tasks on the platform itself. 

Yabla Languages

Yabla does not have a lot of languages on it. It offers only six languages in total. Below I have mentioned all of them-

• English
• Chinese
• German
• Italian
• Spanish 
• French

However, the question is, whether the platform could teach these languages properly or not. Don’t worry I will help you in figuring it out.

Course Overview

I took the French and German courses on this platform. Though the basic structure was similar, the amount of content was different. I believe all the courses are created similarly. Based on that I will review the platform. 

Remember: The app offers a free trial for 15 days but you have to enter the card details to sign up properly. Don’t worry, you can cancel the prices any time you want. 

The platform is like a Dreming Spanish app. There are multiple videos to teach a language from starting. Below are the features that I got from the platform to learn the language-

Dashboard

This is the page to set up the study goals, get the progress report, and set up new updates. It will not help in practicing the language but visualizing the progress. Though, it is important to track the progress, it will not help in learning the language. 

To learn the language, I have mentioned the features below-

1. Video Gallery

The library of this platform offers a variety of videos in it. For French, there were more than 2000 videos and for German it was more than 3000. I was really surprised by this number. Why? Because most of the language learners’ first choice is French over German. Seeing more content for German was actually a good thing. Each week, new videos are also added for each course.

Despite having so many videos, it is hard to decide where to start from. For, it there is an option to filter the difficulty level. In the Gemrna course, there are over 1000 videos for beginners. Whereas, for French, the number of videos for beginners is 500. 

2. Flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to learn vocabulary. It is a feature that is used in almost every language-learning platform. But how does it work here? There is nothing already available on the list. To add them, you will have to go to the transcript of the videos and add the words to get them directly in this section. 

Once done, go to the Flashcard section, and you will see the word sets added. This section also follows the spaced repetition system. On the first side of it, a word is written in the targeted language. Play them to get the pronunciation from the AI itself. An interesting part of the section is to watch a short clip of the video where the word is used. After that, there are two options to select from-

• I think I know it
• I don’t know it

When you choose one, it has some important information at the other side of the flashcard. There is definitions, translations, and context sentences. There will also be some related information like gender or speech part. This is the least appealing practice opportunity on the platform but the most informative one. If you think you know it, just skip this part. 

Note: There is no flashcard feature on the mobile app.

3. Dictionary

When I was in the lesson, some words were tough for me. To check the meaning of the words, I got a special feature on the platform that is Dictionary. Suppose there was the word ‘intégrer’, which was hard for me to understand. I used the dictionary and got the meaning of it. 

4. Games

Games are mainly an activity that is fun to play. This is exactly what we will do on the platform. There are a lot of game-based exercises that will help in learning the language. Most of the exercises have questions in the form of Fill-in-the-blanks and multiple-choice-based Questions. Some of the games that I got on it are-

a. Scribe

It is the most loved game by me on the platform. All I had to do was to listen to the dialogues and translate them. To move further, I had to complete the phrase in the correct order and move on. It also has an instructional video which helps in understanding the activities properly. It is the best way to improve the listening comprehension skills. Though it helps in improving writing skills, it may be time-consuming. Transcribing the whole video is not a cup of coffee.

b. Review

There is an option to review the vocabulary of the words from a single video. There will be a whole vocabulary in both the targeted and native language. You can get the translation in the form of multiple choice-based questions. On the left side, there is progress of each word. After that, the corresponding bars will fill up. It will fill slowly and once filled, will be removed from the exercise itself. Once they are removed, new words will enter the list. 

c. Comprehensions

This is a new feature on the platform and is not currently available for all the videos. Remember when we get comprehension-based questions in our exams? All we had to do was to answer the multiple-choice questions based on comprehension. The comprehension on this platform works similarly to them. There are multiple-choice questions on the platform regarding the video you are playing. It has the option to watch the video with or without the subtitles of the platform. 

Hack: Try to watch the videos without using the subtitles first and then try to answer the questions. It will help in knowing how much you have learned. If needed, check the subtitles of the video.

d. Leaderboards

It helps to understand the level we are at when compared to others. When you take part in different activities, you earn some points. These points help to know where you are at. It is like a way to compare yourself with others.

e. Lessons

The lessons cover multiple topics like grammar, slang, vocabulary, etc. They are created in different formats. There are videos from specific videos in the library. In addition to the examples,  there are short explanations of it. I was amazed at the way it gives explanations of the concepts with the help of examples. It is important to check the language as it was naturally used. Instead of reading the examples, there were written examples to teach the language.  Try to play the captions to understand the dialogues of the videos. 

Important: Every language has lessons except for Chinese. Instead, it has a special feature that no other language has.

A special feature of the Chinese language

There is no language lesson for Chinese, but the unique feature of this language is amazing. It is the Mandarin Pinyin Chart offers Pinyin sounds with audio playback for every tone. Another feature that is only available for this language is the practice session. You get a chance to practice the sound of Pinyin.

In the listening part of the exercise, listen to the native speakers when they say a word before telling the tone combination. If needed, listen to the robotic recordings. In addition to that, it also has a speaking practice exercise. This feature uses voice recognition to get the right pronunciation.

The only part that is bad about this feature is the availability of detailed feedback on the pronunciation. 

What is the pricing of the Yabla Platform?

Yabla is a subscription-based platform that has four different palms to offer. Below is the table that shows the different subscription plans-

Types of plans	Pricing of the plan
Monthly	$12.95
6- Months	$54.95
Annually	$99.95

The prices that schools have to pay depend upon different features like teachers, students, etc. Though the platform is subscription-based, there is a 15 day free trial period after adding the card details. If you cancel it before 15 days there will be no deduction from the account. Just like a Duolingo gift card, you can also gift the subscription to this platform to others. 

Yabla Review: Is it worth it?

The platform has a lot of things to offer. There are videos, speaking exercises, and written exercises. This is the most uncommon thing I have seen after using so many platforms. If a platform has videos, there are no written exercises, or vice versa. But Yabla gave it to us. So does it mean there is no drawback of the platform? Of course not. There are some bad things too.

The first one is related to the subscription plan. Although paying $100 for an annual subscription is not a high cost, taking it again for another language can definitely add to the cost. If this doesn’t bother you, just go on. However, if you are still confused about whether to use the platform or not, take advantage of the 15-day free trial period.

Below is a table having positive and negative sides of the platform-

Pros	Cons
There are so many videos to learn from.	Only 6 languages are on the platform.
It gives so many features to filter the content from.	Few speaking exercises except for Chinese.
The review feature of the platform is also useful.	Need a new subscription for each language.
Transcripts are available in both targeted and basic languages.

To know more, let us see the course structure of the platform.

Yabla Alternatives

Learning a language using only a single platform is never possible. It is because there are some kind of drawbacks to each of the platforms. The same goes for Yabla. Thus, I am adding some alternatives to help you learn the language-

a. Duolingo

Duolingo is a platform that offers all the languages freely by following the gamified approach. It is the one that I love to use every time I start learning a language. This is like a game-based platform, where every time I take part in the exercise, I get some rewards. There are two types of rewards on the platform – Duolingo Gems and XP. In addition to that, Duo, the owl, makes sure that we stay active on the platform to learn the language. 

b. Preply

Looking for a private tutor? Use Preply. It is a community of tutors teaching different languages either in group sessions or individual classes. You can filter the tuition teachers based on pricing and other related features like teaching experience. This is a perfect choice for anyone unable to understand the language. The tutors on the platform are really helpful. They will answer to all your doubts.

c. HelloTalk

HelloTalk is the platform that connected me with severely other native speakers. It was the first platform I used for getting a language exchange partner to learn the language. Send a connection request to the other users either through a voice or video call. This platform is an exciting way to make friends worldwide. Some other platforms that work like this are Tandem and Speaky.

Conclusion

Yabla is a platform that helps learn the language with the help of videos. There are so many features that can help in learning the language, starting with flashcards, dictionaries, videos, etc. It has videos starting from beginners to the advanced level. I was amazed by the features that I can search the videos based on the country as well. Overall, the experience was nice, but I think they should give more focus on specific exercises for all the languages and not just for Chinese.

FAQs