Best online English courses

Are you planning a trip to the UK or the US? Do you have to take a new job interview where knowledge of English is required? If the answer to at least one of these questions is yes and you are reading this tutorial of mine, I guess you need to deepen your knowledge of English. Probably, however, you may not want to get into books and / or attend very expensive courses in person, and would rather rely on online courses.

How do you say? Is this exactly the case? In that case, don’t worry: I’m here to tell you about the best online English courses accessible from computers, smartphones and tablets, which allow you to learn English from the comfort of your chair and, above all, have fun. Thanks to the Internet, in fact, it is possible to attend some courses that allow you to learn or deepen your knowledge of the English language, obtaining excellent results. There are several to choose from, all free, at least in their basic version (then you may have to pay to unlock all the functions and advance in language learning), and today I’m here to help you find the one that best suits your your needs.

All you have to do is just get comfortable, take a few minutes of free time and carefully evaluate the various proposals I’m about to tell you about in detail. I am sure that you will be able to find the right course for you and learn English, as well as effectively, while having fun. At this point, I wish you a good read and I wish you a big good luck!

Index

• Best free online English courses
  • Duolingo
  • Preply
  • Skyeng
  • Babbel
  • ABA English
  • Memrise
• Other online English courses

Best free online English courses

As anticipated, in the next chapters I want to talk to you in detail about what I believe are the best online English courses , which can be used free of charge from a PC but, in most cases, also from smartphones and tablets, through the appropriate official apps made available by the services. in question. Read on to find out more.

Duolingo

Duolingo is certainly one of the best online English courses available in the free field. It offers lessons that have an increasing degree of difficulty and each lesson offers the user various pronunciation exercises, listening exercises and translation exercises, which allow them to refine their linguistic knowledge.

The Duolingo course has been designed in such a way that the user feels encouraged to attend it every day. Duolingo’s philosophy, in fact, consists in studying little but often and, more importantly, having fun.

To sign up for the free online English course made available by Duolingo, all you have to do is connect to the home page of the service , click on the Start button and choose from the drop-down menu I want to learn the language you want to learn (in this case English ).

Then you have to answer some preliminary questions and choose a daily goal , which is the amount of time you intend to dedicate to learning the language. You can choose from various options.

• Relaxed(5 minutes a day).
• Normal(10 minutes a day).
• Serious(15 minutes a day).
• Intense(20 minutes a day).

In making this choice, take into account your personal commitments and choose the goal that you could achieve more easily: in this way you will be able to follow the course regularly and you will not have to feel guilty for having spent less time studying. the one you had budgeted for. Once you have clicked on one of the available options, confirm your choice by clicking on the Continue button .

At this point, register for the service, creating a free profile on Duolingo, in order to customize the course and keep track of your progress. To do this, connect via Facebook or Google or, alternatively, register by pressing the Create a profile button and enter, in the form that opens, your name , your e- mail address and the password you want to use to access your account. .

Once this is done, you must indicate what your level of knowledge of the English language is: if you are at the very beginning and cannot say a word in English, you would do well to click on the option Start from scratch , otherwise you can choose the option Discover the your level and check your current level of preparation.

Once you have finished registering for the service, to start the actual course all you have to do is click on one of the available lessons that is shown to you on the main screen, in the Learn section . The lessons of the course are numerous and to access, from time to time, the more advanced one, you must correctly perform all the exercises that are proposed to you and demonstrate that you have learned the information that is covered in the lessons already unlocked.

As mentioned, the course offered by Duolingo is free and there are no costs to be incurred to attend the lessons. However, the service has some gamification mechanisms and, therefore, to have unlimited lives and to remove advertisements, it is possible to subscribe to Duolinguo plus via the dedicated website at a cost of € 6.99 / month. , after a free trial period.

Duolinguo is also one of the best online English courses with certification : at the end of the course, in fact, you can take an exam and obtain a certificate recognized by numerous companies, such as LinkedIn , Novell and Uber . More info here .

You can also attend the Duolingo course from smartphones and tablets, using the official app of the service available for Android , iOS / iPadOS .

Preply

Free applications are a good solution for taking the first steps in learning a language; however, after some time, the need inevitably arises to personalize one’s study path and to focus on certain areas to be explored: something that can only be done by having a 1: 1 relationship with a real teacher , that is, with someone in able to provide the right support and to build an ad hoc study program.

In this regard, today I want to suggest Preply : a service for distance language learning (including English) that offers students a wide range of teachers, with flexible hours, different prices and free trial lessons , with which to learn. at your own pace and according to your budget from the comfort of your home, or even on the move thanks to the apps for smartphones and tablets ( Android and iOS / iPadOS ).

Furthermore, unlike what happens with free apps – where there is no relationship with a human teacher – or with traditional language classes – where the teacher never has enough time for all students – the lessons on Preply are dedicated specifically to each student and, therefore, the teacher can devote himself 100% to the specific needs of the latter, guiding him throughout the learning process and making conversation .

Preply, which was founded in 2013 by a team based in Ukraine (today has over 180 employees of 25 different nationalities), uses machine learning to more effectively match teachers and students, no matter where they are in the world. The student can therefore select his favorite teacher among those proposed by the system and which he considers the best for his needs.

To try a Preply lesson, all you have to do is connect to the home page of the site and indicate the language you want to learn (eg English , but there are also Spanish , German , French , Russian, etc.). Once this is done, a page will open with the list of available teachers and a menu with the parameters to filter them based on hourly rate , country of origin and time of availability . You can also choose the areas of expertise , the language spoken by the tutor (with the possibility of choosing a native speaker or not) and more.

Once you have found the teacher, you can request a trial lesson by clicking on the appropriate button and registering on the site. You can register with your email address or with your Google or Facebook accounts .

In case of purchase of a lesson (the average price of a lesson ranges from 15 to 20 euros per hour), you can set the payment method to be used when booking. Both cards and PayPal are supported . It is also possible to purchase lesson packages of 5, 10, 15 or 20 hours .

During the first lesson you will have the opportunity to understand if the tutor is right for you. If the tutor does not satisfy you or if the lesson does not take place, Preply will refund you 100% of the amount paid or offer you a first free lesson with another tutor (you can report any problems within 72 hours from the My lessons> Report menu a problem ). The actual payment of the lesson will take place only at the end of it, after confirmation and evaluation of the same by you (the teacher can also provide a summary of the lesson and assign you homework).

In case you need clarification before choosing a tutor, you can send a private message directly from the search results or from the profile page of the selected tutor. Know that, in case of need, you can also cancel or move the booked lessons: just report it using the appropriate button that you find in the My lessons menu with at least 4 hours notice for the tutor.

For more details, I invite you to consult the FAQ section of the Preply official website , where you can find all the answers to the most frequently asked questions on the use of the service.

Skyeng

Now I want to tell you about Skyeng : the largest online English school in Europe with over 100,000 students, 12,000 teachers and 115 courses. It offers private lessons that you can comfortably carry out from your computer or mobile app wherever you are. Courses are available for both adults and children (from 4 years upwards), with flexible hours agreed directly with the teachers.

You can easily find the ‘ most suitable teacher for your needs (including teachers native to speed learning) and choose from the many courses available : from those of general English to those of English for travel , English for IELTS and TOEFL and English professional (for software programmers, doctors, lawyers, and so on). A conversation club is also proposed, which consists of 30 minutes of conversation between Skyeng students on different topics, depending on the level of English reached: a great way to practice English and meet people from various parts of the world.

After passing the final exam, Skyeng students receive a certificate confirming their level of English on the CEFR scale ( Common European Framework of Reference for Languages , also known in Italy as the Common European Framework of Reference for Language Knowledge ) .

The prices of Skyeng start at € 9.90 for adult lessons and 4.90 euro for children’s lessons , with the possibility of buying the 4-64 lessons packages . However, you can take an absolutely free trial lesson and find out how the platform works, testing your level of English and choosing the course that best suits your needs.

To try Skyeng for free , connect to the official website and fill out the form relating to the free trial lesson by entering your name , email and telephone number ; then click on the FREE TRIAL button .

At this point, connected to your e-mail box, open the message you received from Skyeng and click on the button to set your account password and validate it. Within 1 hour you will receive a call from Skyeng (at the telephone number indicated during registration) to agree on the day and time of your free trial lesson .

Later, you can use the site menu (above) to purchase one or more paid lessons, as well as to access assignments , tests , courses , bonuses , conversation clubs , videos and much more.

For the rest, I just have to invite you to deepen the functioning and offer of Skyeng by consulting the official website of the service , which, I remind you, is also available as an app for Android and iOS / iPadOS . The app, in addition to allowing access to courses for Skyeng users, allows those who are not yet registered to the service to use a free simulator (for the first 7 days, then for a fee with a monthly subscription) to learn useful words and phrases .

Babbel

Another service I want to bring to your attention is Babbel . If you have never heard of it, it is a platform that allows you to follow various online courses, including an interesting advanced English course.

The daily effort to learn English with Babbel is just a few minutes a day: however, the important thing is to be regular and thorough in dealing with all the lessons in depth. The lessons are interactive and very varied, as they deal with a plurality of topics: ranging from idiomatic expressions to the vocabulary used in specific sectors, passing through lessons with native English speakers. At the end of the course it is possible to obtain a certificate recognized by various companies.

To subscribe to Babbel, all you have to do is access the main page of the service , choose the language you want to learn (in this case English ) in the drop-down menu that is shown to you and confirm by clicking on the orange Start button .

On the page that opens, answer the questions that are proposed to you, indicating the reasons for studying , your level of knowledge of the English language and the time to devote to study , filling in the short questionnaire that is proposed to you, following the instructions on the screen . Once you have answered all the test questions, type your name in the Name field and then press the Continue button , to then create a password for your account.

Once this is done, to complete your registration with Babbel, fill in the field Enter your e-mail address , typing in a valid e-mail address and then confirm the operation by clicking on the confirmation button that will be sent to you by e-mail, in order to activate your account.

As soon as you have completed these preliminary operations, you will be offered to subscribe to a subscription: some Babbel lessons can be taken for free, however, to have unlimited access to all the courses offered by the service, you need to subscribe to a paid subscription. Prices are as follows.

• 3 months: € 29.97.
• 6 months: 44, 94 €.
• 12 months: € 59.88.

If, on the other hand, you want to start with the free lessons, click on the Babbel logo located at the top, in order to go to the main screen of the service, through which you can access the courses available for free.

I remind you that you can also access Babbel from smartphones and tablets: all you have to do is download the free application of the service available for Android (also on alternative stores ) and iOS / iPadOS .

ABA English

Among the best online English courses there is certainly also ABA English , which offers the possibility to register for free and to access at a later time the “complete package” containing all the lessons needed to learn to speak English fluently, for a fee. .

To sign up for the course offered by ABA English, connect to the main page of the service and click on the Start for free option . On the page that opens, then register by logging in via social networks or via email.

Now, to start taking part in the English courses offered by ABA English – which include grammar exercises, pronunciation exercises and videos, which help to understand the spoken language -, all you have to do is press the Start button , in correspondence with the lessons proposed on the main screen of the service.

As noted above, ABA English can be used for free, but only up to a certain point. To access all the resources offered, you must subscribe to the ABA Premium subscription , which allows you to get in touch with an English teacher as often as you want and, above all, allows you to obtain a certification issued by the American British Academy (ABA) that you can include in your CV or show on your LinkedIn profile .

To access ABA Premium, click on the Subscribe box and choose one of the available subscriptions.

• Monthly: 19.99 euros per month.
• Half: 18,33 EUR per month (to be paid in a lump sum).
• Annual: 14.99 euros per month (to be paid in a single installment).
• Two years: € 12.45 per month (to be paid in a single installment).

After carefully evaluating which type of subscription is right for you, click on the Select button and indicate, on the page that opens, a valid payment method to pay for your subscription to ABA Premium .

You can also study English with ABA English from your smartphone or tablet, by installing the official app of the service for Android (also on alternative stores ) or iOS / iPadOS .

Memrise

Another service that I recommend you to try is Memrise : it is a platform that allows users to learn over 200 languages. Its main peculiarity is that it allows you to learn a new language while having fun through various and original exercises.

To access one of the courses organized by Memrise, connected to the main page of the service , press the Start now button and choose the language you speak and the one you want to learn (in this case English ). Once this is done, select your level , taking a short test, thanks to which you can test your level of preparation.

Now, decide whether to register via your e-mail address or via your Google or Facebook accounts (using the appropriate buttons). After logging in, you will be able to access the main section of the service, through which the lessons are available.

Furthermore, at any time, you can select your goal , that is the number of minutes you intend to dedicate each day to learning the English language (which is equivalent to a number of points to collect on your account). There are three options available.

• 1,500 points(5 minutes per day).
• 6,000 points(15 minutes per day).
• 20,000 points(45 minutes per day).

Of course, the free version of Memrise does not allow you to access all the resources present in each language course. In order to benefit from all the available learning methods and also to access some exclusive functions, it is necessary to subscribe to Memrise Pro , which is paid. To do this, click on the Subscribe button and choose one of the three types of subscription available.

• € 8.99per month.
• 92 eurosper month for the annual subscription.
• 99 eurosfor a lifetime subscription.

After identifying the type of subscription that’s right for you, indicate a valid payment method to make the purchase and that’s it.

If you wish, you can also access Memrise courses from mobile, by downloading the free app available for Android (also on alternative stores ) and for iOS / iPadOS .

Other online English courses

On the Net you can find many other English courses that allow you to improve your knowledge of this language. So, if you still haven’t found the best online English course for your needs, take a look at the additional solutions listed in the next few lines.

• Busuu– this service offers the possibility to learn not only English, but also dozens of other languages, such as Portuguese, French, German and Spanish, dedicating a few minutes a day to the study of the chosen language. To access the language courses available on Busuu just create a free account on the service, but to attend the complete courses you need to subscribe to a Premium subscription starting from € 5.83 per month. Busuu language courses are also accessible on smartphones and tablets, thanks to the app available on both Android and iOS / iPadOS .
• LearnEnglish– this free English language course is another one that I recommend you to evaluate, for learning the language in an interactive and fun way. The LearnEnglish English course is also available as a free app for Android and iOS / iPadOS .
• LanguageCourse– an online service aimed at those who want to learn English, as well as Spanish, French, Russian or Arabic (and the list could go on and on). It allows you to compare different language courses and choose the one that best suits your needs.
• Gymglish– I also recommend this excellent service, which offers the possibility of learning English by learning from your mistakes, through detailed and personalized explanations. The initial course is free and is based on an algorithm that analyzes the user’s errors and helps them fill in their language gaps. The prices of the subscription, which is used to unlock additional lessons, start at € 14 per month. Very useful, don’t you think? Gymglish is also available as a free app on both Android and iOS / iPadOS .