The Best Hindi Lessons

Monday, January 13th

2025 Hindi Lesson Reviews

Hindi Pod 101

• 7-day free trial
• Free membership option
• 3 paid upgraded membership options
• Over 1,370 audio and video lessons
• Study from anywhere
• Detailed PDF lesson notes
• No credit card needed
• 60-day money back guarantee
• "A-” Better Business Bureau rating

Hindi Pod 101 is a dedicated learning environment for those who want to learn Hindi, but will primarily benefit beginners. They don't focus on other languages, so all their efforts have been poured into helping people learn both basic and comprehensive aspects of Hindi alone. Hindi Pod 101 has over 1,370 audio and video lessons in their library that can be accessed anywhere, anytime from a mobile device or computer. The company has been featured by The New York Times, BBC, Newsweek, and PC Magazine as a leading place to learn Hindi.

Lessons to meet goals and needs

Hindi Pod 101 lays out three reasons they believe people should use their company to learn Hindi. The first is that they have short audio and video lessons that guide you through real conversations. The teachers slow down so that you understand every word and phrase. You can focus on writing, grammar, reading, or culture, so regardless of the reason you're learning Hindi, the lessons will be based on your goals and needs. For beginners, the featured lessons include how to say thank you, how to make a self-introduction, public holidays, and basics of pronunciation. The featured vocabulary lists cover numbers, a core 100 word list, essential vocabulary for talking about the language, and lines you need for introducing yourself. All lessons have a transcript you can read below and students can make comments and converse at the bottom of every page. The lessons are truly easy to follow and understand, so there is no reason to be intimidated about starting from the ground up with Hindi Pod 101.

Word of the day

When you sign up for Hindi Pod 101, they offer to send you a "word of the day email” for free that would be a quick and easy way to grow your vocabulary and increase your ability to correctly pronounce the words. You can either accept or decline this, but it could be a fun way that takes almost no time at all to slowly grow your knowledge of the language.

Start where you're at

You'll be asked whether you're an absolute beginner, beginner, intermediate learner, upper intermediate learner, or an advanced learner or Hindi before getting started with lessons. This sets the course content for you to make sure it fits your skill level and helps you learn from where you're at. Your very first lesson will be a 5-question, multiple-choice diagnostic test to really gauge your knowledge foundation. Hindi Pod 101 can help all skill levels, but the majority of the content is geared toward beginners.

Solidify knowledge

The second reason Hindi Pod 101 is a fantastic way to learn the language is because you'll frequently be re-quizzed on what you're learning. You'll get word lists, slideshows, and flashcards that continually go over what you're being taught so that you won't forget. If you're afraid that native conversations will be too hard to catch onto or understand, you'll get slowed down audio and line-by-line breakdowns so that you hear individual words and pronunciation. With voice recording tools, you can practice and compare the way you sound to the natives.

One-on-one help with membership upgrade

If you're someone who likes the guidance of a real person, Hindi Pod 101 offers one-on-one tutoring with a teacher if you subscribe to their Premium PLUS membership. You'll get personalized feedback about your pronunciation, grammar, and word choices during conversation with them. You can also ask them any questions you have about the language as you go along. This might also be a good option for someone who is already well versed in Hindi and needs some extra challenging.

7-day free trial

It's clear that Hindi Pod 101 has a lot to offer. So, you're probably wondering how much it all costs. There are a few package options, but overall it's surprisingly inexpensive. When you first sign up for your account, you'll be offered 50 exclusive lessons, 30 days of premium access, one free product download, and a 7-day fluency fast course to use during a 7-day free trial. This is great for getting started and will give you an idea of whether or not this program is going to take you the distance.

Three paid package options

Once your free trial ends, you lose access to the premium benefits, but you could still continue with a free account that gives you access to some basic lessons. If you want to unlock more lessons and features like line-by-line audio dialogue, hand-graded assessments, one-on-one lessons with a teacher, a grammar bank, multiple-choice assessments, and more, you'll need to pay for one of three monthly memberships. The basic membership is $4/month and gives you access to all the lessons. For $10/month, you could upgrade to the premium benefits, and for $23/month, you would have Premium PLUS and get everything that Hindi Pod 101 has to offer. There is a comparison chart on the website that will give you details about what comes with each package. Hindi Pod 101 usually offers major sales like 45% off all plans, so more than likely you won't need to pay full price for any of the memberships.

Satisfaction guaranteed

There is a 60-day satisfaction guarantee that accompanies all the paid plans. They ask that you email them and their team will get back to you within 1 business day to discuss your plan moving forward. You can cancel your plans at any time if you choose not to use it the following month.

Highest rated place to learn Hindi

Hindi Pod 101 has it all. Their free trial is a great way to get a taste of the platform and even if you choose to upgrade, you can cancel at any time and nothing is too expensive. The company has really thought of everyone's learning style and made it possible to learn Hindi with confidence and ease. Overall, people really like Hindi Pod 101, which is another reason they have earned our highest rating here.

italki

• Video chat platform
• Work one-on-one with a teacher
• No membership commitments
• Pay-per-lesson model
• Choose your own teacher
• Extremely highly rated by students

italki was launched in 2007 and is headquartered in Hong Kong. Students from all over the world come here to learn a host of languages like Japanese, Spanish, French, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, and many others. It is a global online language platform that connects students to teachers through video chat. Students can set their own schedules and work as frequently as they would like with a one-on-one tutor. italki has been featured by BBC, Business Insider, The Economist, TechCrunch, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post.

Expert freelance teachers

If you're someone who learns better and is more accountable when you work directly with someone else, italki may be a great option for you. Teachers are language expert freelancers who earn money by working with students. These teachers must have a solid background in the language (many are native speakers), teaching certificates (for those designated as "professional” and not just "community tutor”), be personable, pass an interview, and adhere to the teaching code of conduct. This includes being culturally sensitive, being professional and empathetic, and attending all classes on time.

Efficiently proficient

italki boasts that it takes just 19 hours working with a group or teacher on their site to reach language proficiency equivalent to a college semester of language study, whereas their competitor Duolingo takes 35 hours, Rosetta Stone takes 55 hours, and an actual college semester, which is 48 hours.

Choose your teacher

As a student, you get to choose your Hindi teacher at italki. There are hundreds of teachers available and all of them are very highly rated by past students. To decide who you'd fit best with, click on their profile and read all about them. You'll see their name and photo, proficiency level in the language, an "About Me” section, a list of their supplementary materials (like vocabulary cards or quizzes), their overall rating, how many students they've worked with, how many lessons they've taught, how high their attendance is, availability, written reviews, and the cost to book either a trial or regular class.

Book lessons on your own schedule

Not all teachers offer trial classes, but most do. Trial classes aren't free, but they're usually about $5 each. During the trial class, you'll get to know your teacher's personality and teaching style, discuss your reasoning for wanting to learn Hindi, talk about goals, and discuss how and when lessons will happen going forward. If you decide to move forward with the teacher, you can view their schedule and press "book a lesson” to get started. Lessons can be canceled or rescheduled within 24 hours of the lesson start time.

30-90 minute lessons

Most teachers offer either 30, 45, 60, or 90-minute lessons. Teachers determine their own pricing, but we found that some high-level teachers offered 30-minute lessons for $6, 45-minute lessons for $8, 60-minute lessons for $10, and 90-minute lessons for $16. When choosing a teacher, you'll also want to see what their lesson plan is. Some have a series of lessons that focus on speaking and listening, some on basic vocabulary, some on reading and grammar, and some on introductory conversation. Most teachers outline what they go over and about how long it takes to master their lessons so you know what to expect as far as a time commitment.

Learn through different communication platforms

Students can meet with teachers via Skype, Google Hangouts, Facetime, Wechat, Zoom, and QQ. Teachers will list their preferred communication tools that you can refer to before booking a lesson.

Satisfaction guarantee

It's up to you to choose a teacher that's a good match for you. However, italki realizes that it may take a little trial and error to get there. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee where you can have up to two times credit refund on your trial lesson if the teacher doesn't show up or the teacher did not meet your expectations for the class. This way you don't feel like you've wasted money on trial classes and can hopefully choose someone who you will easily learn from.

Group courses, but not in Hindi

Another way you can take advantage of the learning opportunities at italki is through their group classes. Unfortunately, none of them are offered for Hindi at this time, but if you're interested in other languages, it's something to check out. There are group classes about books, business growth, making small talk, food passions, business idioms, and so many other topics. Most classes meet 3- 6 times and are around $90 each.

Fantastic way to learn Hindi authentically

The student reviews of italki speak for themselves. Thousands of people have reported incredible experiences with using the platform. People say the teachers are fantastic and trustworthy, the schedule is flexible, they like the variety of package options, and the platform is user-friendly. This company really has taken students to new heights and provided amazing opportunities for both students as well as teachers. We love the job opportunities that italki has provided to people and highly recommend trying out a Hindi lesson here. italki is one of our favorite options for online Hindi learning opportunities.

Preply

• One-on-one Hindi lessons
• Satisfaction guarantee
• Costs between $5 and $40 per lesson depending on tutor
• 50-minute lessons
• Placement testing for customized lessons
• Choose your own tutor

Preply matches students and tutors all around the world to learn 50 different languages. They got their start in 2012 and quickly garnered interest from students and teachers. Within 3 years they had 3,000 tutors from 58 different countries working for them. The company continues to grow at an accelerated rate and earns new rounds of funding every few years from new investors. They now have over 35,000 tutors on their site. Preply's growth story and funding updates have been published by Business Insider, Forbes, and the Edvocate.

General signup questions

When you first reach Preply's site, you'll input that you're looking to learn Hindi. They'll then ask if you're doing this to further your career and business, get lessons for your kids, if you're living abroad, if you need help on exams or homework, or if you're learning Hindi to immerse yourself in the culture or as a hobby. You'll select your skill level with the language, choose whether or not you have a preference of your tutor's culture or accent, add if you have specific interests, and give general days and times that you're available for lessons.

Placement testing

There is a placement test that all students will take before starting their tutoring journey. It gauges your level of proficiency in the language and the results are sent to both you and the tutor you're working with. This will ensure that your lessons are personalized and a tailored learning plan can be created for you. To access the test, you'll book a lesson and see it under the "Today's Activities” tab.

Tutors set pricing

When you're answering questions to get matched with a tutor, a sliding scale of $1 - $40 is provided that asks your budget per 50-minute lesson. We said we were willing to pay up to $40 per lesson, but found that most teachers only charge around $12 or $15 per lesson. The most expensive tutor we were matched with was $30, which still seems inexpensive considering you're meeting one-on-one with someone for nearly an hour. We would hope that these tutors would make enough money to make it worth their time, but when teachers are paying 18% - 33% commission fees back to Preply and charging low rates, we feel bad that they may not be making much money until they raise their rates and start getting consistent bookings. The more bookings a teacher gets, the lower their commission fee becomes.

Choose your tutor

You get to choose the tutor you want to work with to learn Hindi. There are quite a few available options - some who have been working for Preply for years and others who are brand new. You can click on a tutor's photo and read a bio about them, see their pricing and availability, read their resume, see how many lessons they've taught, review their language specialties, and read reviews from current and past students who have worked with the tutor. There's plenty of information for you to gauge who might be a good fit and who you might want to schedule a trial Hindi lesson with.

Do a trial or jump right in

You have two options when it comes to booking your first lesson with a tutor. You can do a trial lesson that's 25 minutes long where you get to know each other and discuss goals with a learning plan. The cost of this is half their normal lesson fee. The second option is the cost of a full lesson and you'll do everything in the 25 minute trial lesson plus start learning and get an additional 25 minutes. Teachers get to keep 100% of what they make in these trial lessons, which is great.

Satisfaction guarantee

Since it does cost money to book a trial lesson, Preply will let you try another tutor for free if you decide that you aren't happy with the first teacher you meet. You can use up to two free replacements after the free trial by simply contacting the company.

Great help articles

Preply does a great job of walking students through the process of getting their tutoring set up if they run into questions. Their "How it Works” page lists tips for choosing a tutor, how to reschedule appointments, how to report issues, codes of conduct, cancellation policy, how to pay for lessons, how to manage your profile, and so much more. They cover all the bases here to make sure students have a good experience and feel confident with the platform.

Low BBB rating, but high student satisfaction

Concerningly, Preply has an "F” rating from the Better Business Bureau . This is due to their lack of responding to a series of complaints against the business there. On the other hand, we found over 12,000 reviews of the company elsewhere that, in contrast with the BBB, were very positive. Not only have students had great things to say about the effectiveness of working with tutors to learn a new language here, but it seems that tutors generally like working for Preply as well. It comes highly recommended and we found very few complaints at all, so this is very reassuring.

Good tutor = good experience

Your experience with Preply will mostly depend on two things: the quality of your tutor and the work you put into your lessons. Since there are no set lessons or tools to teach you Hindi through Preply, everything depends on how well you work with your tutor. Few things are as helpful as working one-on-one with someone who is fluent in a language, so the Preply method is one of the best. We're glad to see that the company is so transparent about their policies and pricing with students and that people are happy with their experience here, so we've given Preply a high rating.

Pimsleur

• First week free
• $14.95/month after free trial
• Cancel anytime
• Audio lessons
• Confidently speak in 30 days

Pimsleur is named after Dr. Paul Pimsleur, a French-American linguist and scholar whose language-learning methods aim to tap into your natural ability to learn through hearing and speaking. Four key "secrets” to learning Hindi through Pimsleur are interval recall to permanently pick up new words and phrases, step challenges, learning 1,500 basic words to speak in the first 30 days, and learning grammar by listening, not studying.

Immerse yourself in the language

Pimsleur's methods aim to make students be an active part of the learning process by helping you to recall and participate with vocabulary and dialogue, rather than just memorize it. The program offers an audio series that only takes about 30 minutes per day where you'll be asked to say something out loud or respond to a native Hindi speaker as if you're in conversation. You'll need to respond at different intervals which is effective in helping you recall things you've been learning in previous lessons just like you would in a real life scenario. For people who are visual learners, the presenter of the audio series will have students imagine scenarios which can be nearly as useful for memory as seeing a physical text.

2 levels

Claims that you will be able to confidently speak Hindi within 30 days of using Pimsleur are a major selling point for the company. However, many people say that this is highly unlikely unless you're diligently doing your daily lessons and practicing the language outside of the Pimsleur platform nearly all day long. There are levels 1-2 for the Hindi language (the amount of levels varies based on the language), so doing these alone probably won't make you completely fluent, but it can give you a solid foundation of the language.

Need a credit card for free trial

You can try Pimsleur free for 7 days, but you'll have to put in credit card information to start. Once your week is up, you'll automatically be enrolled in their month-to-month membership for $14.95/month or $134.95/year. This is actually slightly more expensive than some other language learning platforms. The monthly plans for a single language are "audio only” so you don't get voice coaching, flashcards, or "bonus content” (they don't actually specify what this includes). Rather, you'll just get audio lessons for Hindi alone, which truthfully may be enough for most people.

Utilize your free lesson

It would be in your best interest to try the free lesson that Pimsleur offers before handing over your credit card information to sign up for a membership. It's a quick and easy way to get a broad idea of what the course is like. The lesson consists of an audio and pronunciation practice lesson where you'll hear phrases out loud and repeat them back. The second section is a reading lesson where you're shown consonants with their pronunciation and you practice them out loud one by one. A series of flash cards, quick quizzes, and speaking practice are also part of the free lesson. Each tool builds on the others so that you do some repeated practice to make sure you really understand and remember the things you're being taught.

Premium plan makes the most sense

If you like what you see in the free trial, to upgrade to the all access premium plan and get more than just audio only, the cost is $20.95/month or $164.95/year. This includes all the languages taught through the platform. It's not much more than audio only access, so if you're set on using Pimsleur, it makes the most sense to go the premium all access route.

Effective method

There are video testimonials on Pimsleur's website from people who have used their tools to learn a new language. The company says that no compensation was provided to these people, so we have to hope that they are true and reliable. Of course all of them speak highly of the course and talk about how quickly they were able to learn a new language well enough to converse with native speakers. On third-party sites, many other customers actually have pretty good things to say about Pimsleur as well. A lot of people mention that if you're okay just doing audio lessons, it's a great way for people who commute to start picking up new vocabulary while they drive. We feel like the lessons require quite a bit of focusing, so we'd personally rather do this as a wind down activity before bed or on a lunch break when we aren't distracted with anything else. For those who resonate with the Pimsleur audio learning method, this is one of the best companies to use for learning Hindi.

Simple learning approach

The Pimsleur approach to language learning has been around since 1963. It's true that just listening to people speak a language and trying to copy them can immerse you in the learning of it faster than almost anything else. If this is the route you want to go, then Pimsleur is straightforward and will teach you by this method. If you're someone who wants a heavy emphasis on flashcards, one-on-one tutoring, practice quizzes, progress tracking, or teaching games, Pimsleur won't be your best bet (although the platform has added a number of visual tools to its Premium subscription over the years). Pimsleur isn't the most inexpensive or comprehensive learning tool, but it works for many people, so they've earned a good rating from us.

Rocket Languages

• Free trial
• One-time payment or monthly subscription
• Lifetime access
• 60-day guarantee
• 151 hours of lesson time
• Progress tracking

Rocket Languages offers 26 courses in 13 languages that are all web-based. The company started in 2004 and originally only offered Spanish and French courses. The company is run by a small team that's genuinely committed to helping people connect globally and use language to create a better world. You can use the lessons on-the-go and squeeze them in anytime you have during the day to start learning Hindi right away.

Easy guest signup

If you want to get a taste of Rocket Hindi before you pay, you can use a free guest account where you can start testing sample lessons. All you need to provide is your name and email address to get started. Immediately you'll be taken to a dashboard where you can start with an intro module and explore all the different Hindi lessons you can experience here. Next to each lesson is a number indicating how many minutes it will take to complete. Everything is well-organized and it's easy to see what lessons are next and how well you're progressing.

A host of tools

On top of lessons, you can practice your vocabulary with flashcards, listen to phrases and repeat them yourself, see an English word and practice saying the translation into the microphone, take multiple choice mini quizzes, and practice building sentences. There is a bit of everything here, so whatever your learning style, Rocket Hindi should have tools that will really make the language stick. The only thing you can't get here is one-on-one tutoring, which is an extremely valuable tool, in our opinion.

Create goals

Rocket Hindi has a leaderboard and you'll see your ranking at the top of your screen. This is motivating for some people who like competing with others learning the language and want to move up in the ranks. You'll also get daily points for lessons you accomplish and you can set your own goals to keep you accountable. You can also monitor your streak, meaning how many days you've logged into Rocket Hindi and completed lessons and practice tools.

Monitor progress

When you put a lot of work into something like learning a language, it's important to see that you've really progressed and that what you've learned is sticking. With Rocket Hindi's benchmark test you can test your Hindi ability and regularly retake the test to see how your score improves.

Connect with other learners

A Hindi forum is also accessible from your user dashboard with different categories like grammar, culture and travel, vocab, conversation, and more. Here you can connect with other people on the platform to ask questions and get tips as you go along. Some of these forums aren't very active and we noticed it has been years since some people have participated in conversations. Other categories have contributions every few months.

One-time payment for the most value

The cost for long-term use of Rocket Hindi is either a one-time payment of $99.95 for lifetime access or a monthly payment of $19 for 6 months. Obviously the one-time payment is cheaper and they both come with the same benefits. You'll get:

• 151 hours of lesson time
• 2,407 voice recognition phrases
• 29 audio lessons
• 30 language lessons
• 30 culture lessons
• 29 practice conversations
• 23 writing lessons
• Lifetime access

60-day guarantee

You can try out Rocket Hindi for 60 days after ordering and if for any reason you decide it isn't the best learning platform for you, the company will give you a full refund, no questions asked. To take advantage of this, you'll just need to send a message to their support email and include your receipt number in the message.

Slightly boring but good customer reviews

Rocket Languages has a lot of great tools to help you learn a new language. We did feel like the lessons were a little boring and it would take some serious drive to do them day after day. That's not to say that the content isn't valuable, but it didn't grab us like the highest-rated Hindi sites did. Rocket Languages is also not as well-known of a site as some others. They are not rated by the Better Business Bureau, but we were pleased to see that those who consistently use Rocket Languages feel like it's a great combination of explanation and practice with good content. The main issues people have is with the voice recognition technology, which is reported to often be "wonky” and nonfunctional.

A practical route

Since the free version of Rocket Languages (Hindi) is really limited, you will have to pay to access the content. We appreciate that you get lifetime access and won't lose your content if you take a few weeks or months off since you can use it forever. If you're willing to spend about $100 to learn Hindi, then Rocket Languages is a practical way to go about it. They aren't our first choice, but you could definitely progress in your learning here, so try out their guest account and see if it's the right fit for you.

Duolingo

• Game style learning
• Great for vocab practice
• Free version
• Upgraded subscription version is optional
• Try upgraded version free for 2 weeks
• 1,600 interactive exercises
• 600+ practical words and phrases

Duolingo is an American educational technology company that provides language certification through learning apps. It was developed by Carnegie Mellon University professor, Luis von Ahn, in 2009. He was motivated by his upbringing in Guatemala where he saw how expensive it was for people in the community to learn English. Now, Duolingo's courses are not limited to just languages (of which there are over 40), but also include math and music. There are courses for kids (Duolingo ABC) as well as adults, making this an easy way for the whole family to brush up on their language skills. In recent years, Duolingo has ranked as the most popular language learning app in the world based on nearly 13.4 million monthly downloads.

A gamified system

Duolingo aims to put the fun into learning. Their content is geared towards teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills by combining AI and language science. It uses a gamified approach with lessons that incorporate interactive exercises, translating, stories, and quizzes to keep you on your toes and make things more fun. In a world where gaming is a big part of life for kids and adults, it makes sense why Duolingo has gained so much popularity and held the attention of learners.

Get started within minutes

It's free to sign up for Duolingo and only takes a couple minutes to get started. You'll be guided through signup by Duolingo's little green owl mascot and asked how you heard about the platform, why you're looking to learn Hindi, how much of the language you know already, what your daily learning goal is (5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes/day), and whether you want to start from scratch or answer some questions to skip the basics. Then you'll be able to start learning. You'll be asked multiple-choice questions and if you get them wrong, you'll lose a heart (retry). Duolingo will give you correct answers so you can get them right the next time. The more answers you get right, the faster you'll get through the lessons.

Competitive learning

For the competitive types, Duolingo offers "leagues” where people can compete against their friends or see how they compare to others in the world in randomly selected groups. This would be especially useful for friends in second-language programs at school who want to encourage each other outside of the classroom and get extra study help. Users can earn badges by working their way up in leagues and Duolingo has even provided features that allow teachers to track their students' progress.

The streak phenomenon

You may have heard people talk or post about their "streak” on Duolingo. This is the number of days in a row they've completed a lesson. It is a surprisingly motivating thing for people and keeps them returning over and over again. Reaching certain milestones like a 100 day streak will unlock perks like 3 free days of Super Duolingo. This has become so important to people that you can even purchase "streak freezes” through the app that will protect your streak if you miss a day of practice. You reach VIP status through Duolingo once you get a 365 day streak. This gives you almost no benefits besides getting to join the streak society and having a little streak counter underneath your name in the leaderboards. It's amazing how this company has used social comparison as such a strong motivator to encourage someone to learn a new language.

Mostly free

Most of the learning features on Duolingo are free. However, you'll notice some periodic advertising on the web and mobile version. If you want to remove these ads, you can pay a subscription fee for the premium version. The upgraded Duolingo version is called "Super Duolingo” and includes unlimited hearts, no ads, level skipping, and progress quizzes. The cost varies, but we recently spotted it for $12.99/month or $155.88 per year. You can try this free for 2 weeks if you want to see if it's really worth it or not.

Technical issues

Despite all the fun we have had with learning Hindi at Duolingo, not only do they have a very bad rating from the Better Business Bureau (an "F”) but there are thousands of major complaints from users online as well. There seem to be glaring technical issues that have really tanked people's experiences with the system. Duolingo makes it extremely hard to contact them since they don't have a "contact us” section, so it's hard to report the issues that people are having. Some people have been unable to cancel their subscriptions too, which is always a huge concern.

Good for low level, light-hearted learners

People who use Duolingo's free version as a fun way to up their streak and learn basic new vocab are generally happy with the platform. If you're paying for it and serious about learning a language in hopes of being fluent, you may be less enthused. You really have nothing to lose by using this system since you can access basically everything they offer for free. However, if you are wanting to put in the time to thoroughly learn Hindi, Duolingo won't get you there very quickly. We recommend a one-on-one tutor or one of our other higher-rated Hindi learning sites for this.

Rosetta Stone

• In business since 1992
• 3-day free trial
• 3-month, 12-month, or lifetime subscription
• Downloadable audio lessons
• 6-week plans
• Options for one-on-one tutoring
• 30-day satisfaction guarantee
• "A+” Better Business Bureau rating

Rosetta Stone might be one of the most well-known language learning platforms out there. It has been around since 1992 and uses cloud-based technology to help people learn to read, write, and speak over 30 languages. It began with founder Allen Stoltzfus's frustration with trying to learn Russian through traditional methods. He found it difficult and dreamed of using computer technology to simulate the way people learn a new language. In 1992 Rosetta Stone was available only on CD-ROM, but now can be accessed through your mobile device or computer for individuals, businesses, or schools.

Learn like you did as a child

The method used by Rosetta Stone is meant to mirror the way you first acquired language as a child. It provides maximum exposure to Hindi through audio spoken by native speakers, written words, and images from the real world. Visual and conceptual clues are given to help with interpretation of new phrases, words, and sentences.

Personalized 6-week plan

Your Hindi lesson plan will be personalized based on why you're learning the language and your current skill level. Rosetta Stone will curate a 6-week plan for you to follow with regular reminders to stay on track.

Glitching free trial

Rosetta Stone offers a 3-day free trial where you can access the first lesson, but they don't make it easy to find. As an added frustration, once we signed up for it, the website continually glitched and didn't let us get started on our lesson. There was no way to actually access the free trial. This is just one issue of many that some people have complained about when it comes to backend issues with Rosetta Stone.

3-month, 12-month, or lifetime subscription

The paid version of Rosetta Stone isn't cheap. You can either do a 3-month plan that is billed at $15.99/month, a 12-month plan billed at $13.99/month, or buy a lifetime subscription for a one-time payment of $399. This also includes the content for all 25 languages taught through Rosetta Stone. There is a 30-day money back guarantee on all purchases that ensures you'll get your money back if you aren't happy with the program.

Deceptive marketing

Many customers who have purchased the lifetime subscription have written furious reviews about the product after realizing that they were locked out of their accounts and that it ultimately expired. This has especially been the case for people who spent hundreds of dollars on the program when it was in CD form only to find that when it went online they no longer could access the program. Even those who subscribed online to a lifetime membership say it expires after 5 years. This is really deceptive marketing.

Downloadable lessons

Even if you don't have an internet connection, you can download the audio files from Rosetta Stone and practice on-the-go. In these lessons you'll hear a native speaker say words and phrases that you'll repeat back to practice vocabulary and solidify pronunciation.

Join live lessons

25-minute live lessons can be streamed where an instructor will cover a specific topic with cultural relevance that you can interact with through a live chat feature. Examples of these lessons are food idioms, how to describe people, or vocabulary related to traditions and cultural celebrations.

Separately purchase one-on-one tutoring

You can separately purchase live tutoring sessions to help you learn through interaction with others in either individual or small group settings. In these sessions you'll be able to ask questions, converse, and get personalized feedback. Once you've completed enough lessons, you'll be prompted to sign up for a tutoring session. The first one is free and the subsequent costs are either $14 or $19 per session.

Major issues reported by customers

The Better Business Bureau gives Rosetta Stone an "A+” rating. They've also been awarded and recognized by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Codie, Tech Learning, The Edtech Awards, TechCrunch, and Today. While all this is fantastic, we are mostly concerned with individual user experiences. This is where Rosetta Stone has been falling short. Some major issues people are reporting are serious technical issues that go on for months, poor customer service for existing clients, and a lack of clear explanation of the nitty gritty details of a language like tense, phrasing, and grammar.

Disappointed

Rosetta Stone was somewhat of a pioneer in the online language learning world. They were the first exposure many people had to being able to learn a new language from the comfort of their home. As other companies have risen up and started to dominate the space, Rosetta Stone has had a lot to compete with. Not only are they expensive, but there seem to be a lot of issues with the program and some holes in the content for helping people progress as far as they want with the Hindi language. When compared with some other really great Hindi teaching methods, we were disappointed with Rosetta Stone and they've earned one of our lowest ratings.

Mondly

• Start for free
• Over 33 languages offered
• Progress tracking
• Lifetime access membership option
• Month-to-month membership option
• Well-liked by customers

Mondly is an educational technology company with a website and apps to teach 41 different languages. The company is a pioneer in VR education with a recent launch of their app on MetaQuest that reached the top 10 VR apps worldwide. Bloomberg, Forbes, CNN, and Inc. have all highly recommended Mondly as a practical, private, classroom-like education. They also won Best Regional App by Facebook in 2017, Best of 2019 from the Apple store, and 2017 Editor's Choice from the Google Play store.

Start for free

You can quickly get started for free on Mondly to get a feel for how things work here. You can either begin with a category that interests you like objects and numbers, core vocabulary, grammar, food & drink, travel, seasons, romance, sports, shopping, emergencies, business, and others. This might be a more entertaining way to learn the language or give you more direct help if you're learning Hindi for a specific reason like business or travel. The other option is to take the traditional route and follow a progressive lesson plan. Lesson one starts out with an English word and four pictures with Hindi words that you match it to so you can grow your vocabulary.

Heavy on vocab

Lessons 1-6 with some vocabulary and conversation practice can be accessed for free. Conversation practice will read a sentence out loud and then you can use your personal phone or computer audio to repeat the sentence back and then listen to how accurately said the sentence. Mondly has a heavy emphasis on vocabulary, so if you're wanting a lot of correction or grammatical guidance, that's not what you'll get here.

Progress tracking

Mondly will keep track of how many days in a row you do Hindi lessons, the amount of minutes you spend, how many words you learn, and how many phrases you've practiced. There's also a global leaderboard if you're the competitive type and want to garner some drive by seeing how hard others are working to learn Hindi. All of the progress tracking stats encourage consistency and give an intrinsic sense of reward when you keep up your lessons.

Lifetime access to all languages

When we were signing up for Mondly, there was an "exclusive deal” (spoiler: this deal is probably always on the table!) for lifetime access with a one-time purchase at 95% off. This made our lifetime membership with lessons in 33 languages just $99.99. (But note the discrepancy: sometimes Mondly says it offers 41 one languages, and sometimes that drops to 33...)

Cancel anytime

If you just want access to the Hindi content short-term, there are cheaper options. For a single month, the cost is $9.99. If you commit to a 12-month membership, it drops the monthly cost to $4/month. Mondly allows users to cancel their memberships at any time, so even if you go the 12-month route, you aren't entirely locked in for that length of time.

Happy students

Mondly is well-liked by users and people commend their support team for being so prompt in reaching out to answer questions and help with backend issues. People reiterate over and over that it's a good place for beginners to come who have no previous knowledge of the language they are learning. However, some people wish that they could progress further after consistent use, but the lack of feedback from a tutor or teacher and lack of grammatical teaching holds them back. People don't seem to have any payment issues or problems with the actual platform itself, luckily.

Feels like a game

We really like that learning Hindi with Mondly feels like you're playing a game. We could spend hours a day here because it's so fun to pass off lessons and learn new words with associated pictures. It's definitely a place for beginners interested in vocabulary to come and learn the basics. We don't see a lot of room for major progression or anyone to actually become fluent in Hindi, though. However, if you're just wanting to get a feel for the language and learn some basic communication skills, Mondly is a fairly inexpensive way to pick up on new words. Mondly has not earned a top rating from us, but it's still a good site to try for simple Hindi lessons.

LingQ

• Cancel anytime
• Sign up for free
• 2 paid membership options
• "A+” Better Business Bureau rating

LingQ was launched in late 2007 by a father and son duo as a way to better help language learners. The LingQ system was based on the experience of the founder, Steve Kauffman, who took 10 years of French lessons in school and still felt that he had not mastered the language. After much research and development, LingQ was founded as a way for people to learn languages from the language itself, the way that most children learn to speak when they are young. Kauffman now speaks 20 languages and over 1,000,000 people have used LingQ.

Beta mode

You can sign up for LingQ for free. The first thing they'll ask is the language that you want to learn. There are quite a few language courses that are available, but some of them are in beta, meaning they aren't fully fleshed out. Hindi is one of the languages in beta mode, so you may not get as much content as you would with a full-course language. Upon starting out lessons, LingQ confirmed that Hindi is in "incubation” which means the LingQ staff does not add to or edit any content for the language. Everything you find here has been community generated.

Customize your lesson plans

LingQ will ask whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced Hindi speaker next. Your activity will be tracked with "coins”, which are earned by reading, listening, and learning words. You can either do a daily goal of 50 casual coins, 100 steady coins, 200 intense coins, or 400 insane coins. LingQ has a list of topics to customize your lesson feed that you can choose from, including books, podcasts, grammar, pronunciation, travel, lifestyle, health, culture, kids, sports, news, and others.

Enhance your learning

There is a browser extension for LingQ that you could install that will pull YouTube videos, Netflix shows, podcasts, and other entertainment that fits your lesson plans. This is optional, but it's recommended by the company to enhance your overall experience.

Free version won't take you far

Like many other language platforms, LingQ does have a free version of their service. However, it's pretty weak sauce and won't get you very far. Without paying anything, you'll get thousands of hours of audio with a transcript, 20 words and phrases, 5 lessons, 1 audio playlist, and flashcard quizzes. With the premium version, you'll also get unlimited words and phrases, unlimited imports, full sentence translations, statistics tracking, the option to compete in language learning challenges, and offline access. This comes with a monthly cost of either $12.99 for one month, $11.99/month for 6 months, $8.99/month for 12 months, or $7.99 for 24 months.

Live tutoring and writing correction

A third option for learning Hindi through LingQ is their Premium Plus plan. This includes everything in the normal premium plan, but it also comes with credits for live tutoring, writing correction, and premium lessons. Pricing for this is also monthly and starts at $39.99 for one month, $38.99/month for 6 months, $35.99/month for 12 months, and $34.99/month for 24 months.

Confusing lessons

Once we jumped through all the hoops to get our Hindi lessons started, we were disappointed at how confusing the lessons were. We chose some beginner mini stories to get started and saw a paragraph in Hindi (which, of course, we did not know how to read yet). We could click on each word and then save a meaning (sometimes there were multiple meaning options). We then earned LingQ coins and were instructed to continue on. We truly did not understand how this was supposed to teach us the language and recognized quickly that this would burn us out quickly. And dare we put away our pride and say this site made us feel... dumb? It was not intuitive at all. We would definitely not continue to diligently use the free version of LingQ, let alone pay for it.

Scathing customer complaints

Not all language platforms have a rating from the Better Business Bureau, but LingQ does. They receive an "A+” rating, which is fabulous. On the flipside, we've seen some pretty scathing reviews from students who say that customer service is a nightmare to work with, charges to cards are made even after memberships are ended, the site is confusing (we agree!), and more.

Better options elsewhere

Since there are some incredibly comprehensive and effective tools online to help you learn another language, there's no need to take a risk on LingQ. And, given that Hindi isn't really a primary language taught here, it probably won't be the most useful tool for you. Refer to our highest-rated sites for learning Hindi and you'll be in better hands.