Ouino Review: Italian Lessons

Are you looking to learn Italian? Then you might want to consider Ouino, a platform that was established in 2021. The term "Ouino" possibly derives from the French and Spanish words for "yes" and "no" respectively. Cleverly, it also sounds like the phrase "we know" in English. The company hasn't shared much about its history or the team behind it, but they provide a detailed 13-page explanation on Ouino's functionality and the rationale behind its design.

Ouino encourages immersing yourself in external sources

Ouino explains that to truly learn a language, you need two things: a core method and external sources. The core method is like your main learning tool. It's where you learn the fundamentals like pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. But learning a language isn't just about the basics. You need to immerse yourself too. That's where external sources come in. These are activities like watching movies, reading news articles or books, or speaking with native speakers. What is Ouino? They're vying to be your chosen core method. We like that they talk about the importance of external sources, because a lot of online Italian courses pretend to be enough to take you to fluency. Ouino even lets you mark on the progress tracking calendar the days you've studied Italian using external sources.

All the main language skills covered

Ouino has all the resources that a core method should have. It offers you a comprehensive understanding of grammar, a vast vocabulary, and the ability to conjugate hundreds of verbs in many tenses - which is something other Italian courses avoid. It'll also help you improve your conversation skills and perfect your pronunciation. You'll learn these things through reading, listening, writing, and speaking activities, providing you with a well-rounded language learning experience. You can take the lessons in any order that makes sense to you, or follow the recommended learning path, which shows you the most frequently used Italian words first.

Pronunciation practice is self-graded

Just so you know, Ouino doesn't use voice recognition technology for pronunciation due to its current limitations in detecting subtle accents. Instead, you can record yourself speaking and compare it to how a native speaker says the same thing. This lets you self-correct and practice until you sound right or feel confident. Ouino also shows hints in English to help you pronounce words correctly. Plus, you can choose how long and difficult the sentences are. There are thousands of phrases to work on in the "Extra Language Practice" tab.

Highly customizable

In Ouino, you can adapt the lessons to fit your learning pace and style. By clicking the gear icon, you can adjust the speed of the pronunciation, the frequency of word repetition, the time between each word, and the subtitles. As you improve, you can speed up the lessons. Don't worry, you can always adjust these settings later. We found the audio to be really clear and conversational, and even though we are familiar with Italian, the slowed-down audio helped us hear nuances in the pronunciation we'd normally miss.

Module-specific settings

Each module has its own settings, but you can also change all the settings at once from the home screen. The exercises have a timer to challenge you to respond quickly, an important skill in language learning. If you find the timer too stressful, you can disable it. However, the most challenging exercises, the "Fluency Sprints," always have a timer to push you to your limits.

Try it yourself for free

Ouino is very transparent about how their language lessons work. You don't need to give them your email or sign up for a trial to see their Italian lessons. You can watch videos that show every part of their teaching method. You can even click on a "Try It Free" button and give it a try. You'll get to see all areas of language learning including verbs and conjugation, vocabulary, and conversations.

Customer service is done by Ouino's creators

If you ever need help with the Ouino Italian language learning program, you'll be talking directly to its creators, who describe themselves as a family of language lovers who are eager to help you reach your goals. If you're ever stuck or feel like you're not progressing, they want to help you overcome those obstacles. And if you're not sure about committing to Ouino yet, they'd be happy to chat with you about it on the phone. If they believe Ouino isn't the right fit for you, they'll tell you and guide you towards an alternative that can better suit your needs.

Customers love it

The last time we reviewed Ouino for Italian lessons, it was too new to talk much about what customers think. However, at the time of this review, we found a good amount of people who used it to learn Italian, and they have a lot of good things to say. They praise Ouino's structure and excellent customer service, and they're fans of the updates and new learning materials, the ability to track progress, and the thorough activities for learning Italian verbs. Users also enjoy the ability to download the course to their phone for on-the-go learning. One user particularly appreciated the repetitive lessons for mastering verb conjugations and plans to use Ouino for learning German next.

$6.99 to $12.99 per month, paid in one-time fee

Ouino offers three subscription plans for language learning: 3-month access at $12.99 per month (one-time payment of $38.97), 6-month access at $9.99 per month (discounted one-time payment of $59.94), and 12-month access at $6.99 per month (discounted annual price of $83.88). All plans include ad-free and offline use, over 450 lessons and 1,300 exercises, availability on multiple platforms, cloud sync, personal language mentoring, and free lifetime upgrades. Generally, we're not a huge fan of one-time payments for subscription services like these, even though they try to make it sound like a benefit to you, the user. This model means the service already has your money for the 3-,6-, or 12-month period if you decide 2 months in that the service doesn't meet your expectations. However, there is a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

Get lifetime access for $95.76

Ouino also offers lifetime access to their Italian course for $95.76, equating to $3.99 per month when used for two years. This package includes no ads, offline use, a 60-day satisfaction guarantee, over 450 lessons and 1300 exercises, compatibility with multiple devices, personal language mentoring, and free lifetime upgrades. A second language can be added for a 50% discount, and all languages can be accessed for $191.52.

We know you'll like Ouino

Ouino may not be the talk of the town just yet, but we think it's a hidden gem in the language learning world. The creators have clearly poured their hearts into it - you can tell they genuinely care about your Italian-speaking dreams, not just their bottom line. And with lifetime access for less than $100, the price is as tempting as a gelato on a hot Roman day. In short, if you're eager to start conversing like an Italian, we say, "Andiamo!" (Let's go!) with Ouino.

Learn More  ➜

On the Ouino website