Mondly Review: Russian Lessons

Mondly is a language learning company that was originally founded by a pair of Romanian entrepreneurs to help students learn languages. There are four learning products associated with Mondly: Mondly Languages (the app our review focuses on for Russian lessons), Mondly Kids (a similar language learning app for children), MondlyVR which is an app in VR that's available on the gaming platform Steam, and MondlyAR which is an augmented reality version with an avatar teacher and virtual objects to help with language learning. For most folks, though, Mondly Language is the app you'll be headed for. As of the date of our review, Mondly had 41 courses for different languages to choose from.

Jumps right into vocab

Mondly has a clean user interface that uses drag-and-drop style animations to help you learn vocabulary words, as well as swiping up and down. It's definitely a Russian lesson platform that uses all of the modern technology at its disposal to make the experience more intuitive. However, your first few lessons won't include building blocks for the Cyrillic alphabet. You'll dive right into family terminology like "sister," "brother," "mother," and more.

Good reputation, but not much grammar

Mondly's methods include a mix of vocabulary practice, phrase learning, and speech recognition software to help you practice your conversational Russian no matter what your level. Between clicking words to create sentences, matching new Russian vocabulary words to colorful photos, and swiping between similar terms, you can build your Russian vocabulary fairly quickly. However, we found that the grammar work wasn't as helpful with Mondly. For certain words (like verbs, for example), you can click on the word during the lesson and see the Russian conjugations in past, present, and future forms. On the other hand, this is just written in a list and not used or discussed in the context of the actual Russian lesson.

Progress tracking for easy metrics

The Russian lessons at Mondly are cumulative and use regular repetition of the words out loud as well as click-through sentence building to help you retain your Russian vocabulary over time. The site or app (whichever you prefer to use) will track your progress with metrics on how many words you've used, how many minutes you've spent on the platform, how many phrases you've gained recently, and a line graph for your weekly practice. You can also track your progress against other students if you like to be competitive.

Toggle Latin spelling on and off

Mondly allows you to toggle on and off the English/Latin alphabet when you're working. You will have some translations from the Cyrillic words into English, but if you prefer, all of the Russian vocabulary will be spelled in the Cyrillic alphabet only. You can switch the Russian words to Latin spellings if you need some extra assistance, but the view will be one or the other, so you can decide how immersed you want to be in the Russian lessons. But, we would like to see some dedicated lessons on the Cyrillic alphabet to make this more effective.

Good for all levels

Mondly is a beginner-friendly site for Russian lessons that takes you from the first steps of your new language all the way up to advanced knowledge. Also, this is a platform that's particularly ideal for multilingual students, because you can start your Mondly Russian lessons from multiple source languages. So, this site does not assume you are an English speaker at the beginning. Mondly, however, is noted for having less cultural learning than other Russian lessons out there. So, if you're looking for real culture and history, you might be a bit disappointed with Mondly.

Pricing from $5.16 to $12.90 per month

Mondly offers three different tiers for its premium subscription. The program is totally free if you prefer, but the premium membership includes more language features, including 40 practical topics. 50+ real and simulated conversations, more helpful grammar features, and access to all of the languages on Mondly's platform. If you would like to subscribe, the options include:

• 1 month:
• Cost: $12.90 per month
• 1 language
• 12 months:
• Cost: $5.16 per month
• 1 language
• 12 months (all access):
• Cost: $5.16 per month (special deal)
• 33 languages

At the time of our review, Mondly had a deal for the full access pass to be the same cost as the normal 12-month program. The site didn't say how much the all-access version costs normally, so if you see a higher price, you might want to check back periodically for deals.

Fully online experience

Mondly is a 100% digital learning platform. Your Russian lessons will be provided through the mobile app or desktop site. You can access them any time you want with no worries about timing or scheduling. Learn as much as you can when you can, for a low-pressure learning environment.

Troubles with subscriptions

Mondly, like a few other Russian lesson sites in our review, doesn't have a page with the Better Business Bureau. Instead, we had to rely on third-party review sites like Trustpilot to see how students felt about their experiences with Mondly. According to our research, this platform comes in about average. It currently holds a 2.8-star average rating on Trustpilot out of 5. Recent reviews note that while customers like the app in general, they didn't like the conversational AI section of the language lessons. However, for those who subscribed, there were significant complaints that noted difficulty with being charged too early during the premium membership free trial or being unable to cancel their memberships.

Good for study, but not as robust as it could be

Mondly is a decent choice if you're a beginner and want to work through your Russian vocabulary without getting distracted by Latin spelling. However, it seems to be a safer choice if you use the free app. With regular complaints on Trustpilot about the difficulty of cancelling a membership once you have it, we were a little concerned about Mondly's trustworthiness for its premium options. For these reasons, Mondly earns a slightly below-average score in our review. That, plus its lack of direct grammar instruction, keeps it from being as competitive as it could be. It's a good choice for review, but it isn't the most robust site for Russian lessons out there.

Learn More  ➜

On the Mondly website