16-09-2021

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HelloTalk is a cool new language learning app that serves one purpose: it connects you directly with native speakers, and provides an interface to text and speak with them, all from your smartphone.

There are websites out there that let you search for people to talk with, but with these websites the actual conversation happens on Skype, Google plus, or by telephone. HelloTalk acts as the direct interface through which you find a conversation partner and chat, send voice messages or call the people you want to practice with. No need for any third-party software.

  1. HelloTalk Review Tabs: šŸ’­ HelloTalk: is the messenger section of the app. Youā€™ll find all your past conversations in this group with the connections youā€™ve made. You can make groups chats within the messenger as well as add new contacts by scanning users QR code. Typically youā€™ll make connections in the ā€˜Searchā€™ tab.
  2. Today I'm bringing you a review of HelloTalk, a really awesome chat app slash social network for language learning. While this review is sponsored., as I men.

Hello is a mobile app that connects people in a two-minute conversation which can lead to a lot of fun, emotions, dates, friendships and much more. The conversation can be extended through its features so you can spend more time talking if you hit it off. Meet new people through a conversation. Rich, Robust and Endlessly Entertaining. TelloTalk offers a world of possibilities where you can instantly Chat with or Call your loved ones, share Stories and Content with our whole community, discover and connect with new, like-minded Friends, and lots more. Download TelloTalk.

And this is available for FREE.

HelloTalk also offers translation options from within the app. These features are the paid aspect of the app. This supports the developers to keep the rest of the app free, but I can give you a quick tip to get these tools at no costā€¦

Now, more about the app and its pros and consā€¦

HelloTalk Features

Iā€™ve been aware of the HelloTalk app for some time, but now is definitely the time to try it out because the community around it has exploded. This week it passed 1 million users covering about 100 languages. In the time that the app has grown, the developers have had the chance to vastly improve the interface. That said, thereā€™s still some room for improvement.

Key features of the app include:

  • Voice chat
  • Text chat
  • Camera share
  • Doodle share (draw in the app to visually represent what you want to talk about)
  • Smileys and other features you'd expect from a good chat program, like notifications of new messages, GPS location sharing, text size settings.
  • Language learning specific features: Translation, Transliteration, and voice recognition to help you write/speak your target language.
  • Mark exchanges (text, voice, images) for studying later, or save the entire chat to refer to later.

You can use the photo feature to share cultural differences with your language partner from your surroundings ā€“ when combined with the doodle option, the possibilities are endless for how you could use this to your benefit in language learning. You can draw a picture of a dog if you donā€™t know how to say that word (and as you can see, I can share my incredibly beautiful artistic talent), you can take a picture of your house and try to describe it, or try to describe your language exchange partnerā€™s environment as language practice, and you can share cultural differences between your country and theirs.

Another helpful feature is the option to chat in several languages at the same time. On the appā€™s home screen you can see all your latest chats. Thereā€™s no need to go into the app settings to change your target language. This is an issue I've had in other language tools when Iā€™ve been learning or practising more than one language.

In many ways, the experience of using HelloTalk is like Whatsapp, but with a public database of ā€œfriendsā€ for the sole purpose of language practice. It's pretty cool that you can scroll past many people and see at a glance where they are from based on the flag shown in the corner of their avatar.

One more thing. HelloTalk works on bothAndroid and iOS, so whether youā€™ve got an iPhone, iPad, or an Android smartphone or tablet, youā€™re good to go.

Practice Speaking Without Feeling Embarrassed

If you're using HelloTalkā€™s voice recognition system, then you can simply speak what you want to say. The system will attempt to understand you automatically, and convert that to text to send to your language partner. I tried this out with a few Mandarin phrases, and it worked well.

This feature lets you practice speaking without having to worry about the embarrassment of someone actually hearing you. Whatā€™s more, the conversation can continue in a slower pace than it would if you were speaking on Skype. Your conversation partner can choose whether they reply using text or voice. If they opt for text, you can use the text-to-voice feature to have a voice synthesizer replicate what they may be saying, as if you were having a voice chat.

Mileage in this feature will vary widely depending on the language, how closely you can emulate a native speaker, and of course limitations of the voice recognition system itself.

Find a Language Partner in Your City

In the past, I've recommended using social searches to find language partners who live near you. Meeting with people who speak your target language from your local area is great when you want a break from online lessons.

HelloTalk has this covered. Its local specific search option helps you find a language partner who lives near you that you can invite out for coffee. As there are over a million HelloTalk users, thereā€™s a good chance of finding somebody in your area.

I tested this feature out in Sydney, Australia (where I am at the time of writing) and found 24 people within a few kilometres of me looking for a Chinese-English exchange. I also discovered several people ready to offer exchanges for other languages like German, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish. As with Whatsapp, you can share your GPS location to make it easier to find language partners nearby.

However, unlike many social language sites, HelloTalk doesn't come with a review system for its users. Thereā€™s the option for users to fill out an introduction for information about themselves, although many people don't do this. This makes it a little riskier when you are meeting up with strangers, as you don't necessarily know much about them. For this reason, I'd recommend using the meetup feature with caution.

To find people in your area, just use the search feature to find people who speak the language you are learning, and who want to learn a language that you speak. Then, change the search order to ā€œby locationā€. Generally, I'd stick to using just the live chat feature via the app, rather than arranging a meet-up if you'd prefer to be cautious.

Hellotalk app

Another thing you can do ā€“ which I think is a much safer ā€“ is use this app while travelling to connect with people in your destination. Then you can pick up local tips on getting around and places to eat, all while getting language practice.

HelloTalkā€™s Special Language Learning Features

As Iā€™ve mentioned, HelloTalk is like a normal chat app, but with lots of features to help language learners ā€“ especially if you sign up to the premium version of the app.

If you use it for Chinese, for instance, you can use the transliteration option when a native speaker writes to you, to instantly see the pinyin (romanized pronunciation).

HelloTalk also includes an automatic translation feature. This is really helpful if you are OK with just getting the general gist of things. It can also help keep conversations flowing, since you don't have to open another app/window to get the translation.

When youā€™re chatting using HelloTalk, you can see your conversation partnerā€™s language/location as a flag. Additionally, while you talk to them, their local time is shown at the top of the chat window. This is handy if you need to know whether to say good morning or good evening to start your conversation!

This combination of features is what puts it ahead of the competition. Whenever I chat to someone on Skype, I almost always have several tabs for dictionaries or Google Translate open in my web browser. Switching between these is hard work, and it doesn't help if you are feeling overwhelmed as it is!

Another cool feature is the option to highlight your conversation partnerā€™s reply and select it for correction to help them improve their sentences. They can do the same for you. This is different to simply replying with the right way of saying something, because it keeps the dialogue focused on the actual conversation.

Finally, the app has a mode that counts the amount of characters or time spent (e.g. 500 characters or 5 minutes) in one language. When it reaches the limit, it suggests that you switch languages. This avoids the awkwardness of trying to bring it up yourself in the conversation.

You can check out some of these features demonstrated in this video:

My Main Criticisms of HelloTalk

I don't like to be overly critical, especially with a free app. But it's really hard to ignore the fact that HelloTalk is still buggy. Luckily, I imagine these problems will disappear very soon, but be warned that you'll see things like:

  • Bad English used in the interface (this is likely the case in the other non-Chinese translations of their interface). Things like ā€œAdvanceā€ instead of ā€œAdvancedā€, ā€œPortugueseā€ spelt as ā€œPortuguesā€ (in the English column), and the guide to the app saying ā€œThis help your partners practice listeningā€, among other things. These sloppy mistakes should be fixed for a more professional feel, but they can be ignored of course.
  • Huge stability issues. It crashes at inopportune times. HelloTalk are aware of this, so I imagine it should be fixed soon. For now though, you will need to be patient as you keep restarting the app.
  • Slow responsiveness over 3G/4G when you leave a wifi connection. Wifi shouldn't be necessary for text exchanges.
  • Huge battery drain (on my Android). I found that I had to manually kill the app whenever I left it, since letting it run in the background just destroyed my phone's lifespan for the day. This is a pity because when you have HelloTalk running in the background, you get notified when people are interested in speaking with you.

Hellotalk App

However, these are mostly technical issues. Iā€™d struggle to think of any ways HelloTalk could improve the interface, features and look of the app. For people looking for casual free conversation exchanges, it is definitely something worth testing out.

To try HelloTalk for yourself, go to the Android or iOS store to install it.

Have you tried to learn new languages ever? You may have wondered how to make your learning of new languages fun and interesting. For any new learner of languages, it becomes uninterested when they can not practice their New Languages. HelloTalk App is a tool that gives you such an exciting tool to make your learning fun, engaging, and interactive. You can also come to know about people who are around you. This article is all about the overview of this app, its features, and how you can use it. You will understand everything about this talking app through this review article.

What Is HelloTalk App?

Hellotalk App Download

Do you live in an isolated area? You may have thought if you can find and connect local or native speakers to talk. Most people want someone to practice with them, but they donā€™t think itā€™s better and knowledge-giving. Therefore, there is the best solution for people. This little solution is HelloTalk App.

Lots of people have found this app as a cool tool to learn new languages. It is its one purpose. It allows you to connect with your native speakers directly. It has a very cool user interface to send text and speak with them. All you can start with your smartphone.

Why Should You Use HelloTalk App?

Before we proceed with the upcoming sections, I want you to understand why one should use this app. By doing so, you will find if this is app best suits you or not.

As compared to HelloTalk, there are various websites to allow you to search for speakers and local people. You can connect and chat with them. But the thing is that you have to use Skype, Google Plus, or telephone connecting them and start the conversation. However, you donā€™t have to go through this lengthy process. This app will act as an interface that directly gets you connected with native speakers. So, you can start the conversation with your conversation partners to chat and learn. People can send text messages and voice messages and make phone calls.

In short, there is no need to find any websites or third-party software to connect and chat with people. Isnā€™t that so exciting? Yes, and to guide you regarding it, I have come up with the following features and information regarding this talking app. The essential thing is that this app is available for FREE.

Overview Of This Talking App:

This app allows you to connect with native speakers to practice languages together. It became an essential feature for most of its users. You can access this app from both Google Play Store for Android users and the App Store for iOS users. As soon as you download and install this app, you can immediately start searching for native speakers. However, I recommend you to wait for some time. If your profile has information about you that you speak English very well (for example), you will receive many requests from people interested in practising English (within 24 hours). Some of them are genuinely interested in an exchange. They also feel happy to help you.

How Wisely Can You Take Maximum Benefits?

There are some interesting facts about HelloTalk App. You can learn a few things from peopleā€™s experience and do well. So, here are tips on your table to help you.

Using HelloTalk App depends on what kind of person you find. Most people have no interest in wasting their precious time (you may be one of them). No one feels it good to be despondent and frustrated while learning languages.

The first essential thing is to figure out who is the legitimate user and willing to help you. You also have to understand who doesnā€™t have any interest in helping you.

Try some experiments. It will help connect with legit users.

Important Features Of HelloTalk Application:

This talking app has grown and has exploded in its community. It has crossed almost 100 plus languages. Therefore, developers have a chance to say that they are willing to add more specific and special-features in the future. Along with that, they can improve the interface. However, the app comes with the following features.

  • This app includes features like voice call, text chat, camera share, and doodle share.
  • It also has a language learning specific features, like translation, transliteration, and Voice-Recognition. It will help you to write and to speak your target language.
  • It also has featured smiley and other features that you might never expect from a very-nice chat tool.
  • It gives notifications of new messages, GPS location sharing, and you can change text size SETTINGS.
  • You can mark some exchanges to study them later, like texts, voices, and images. You can also save the whole chat to read and learn later.
  • You can use audio to text function and post audio comments or audio posts.
  • You can navigate and choose the exact or correct language if you want to see updates about that particular language.
  • You can use it to share moments posts socially outside the application, as the website pages.

Reviews Given By Users For HelloTalk App:

To make this guide tutorial informative and practical (in understanding the top-most-important things about this talking app), I came up with honest reviews.

This App Is For Language Learning:

Hello Talk Application

Talking about HelloTalk App means to talk about language learning because for chatting and connecting people, there are many apps. If you are struggling with reading and writing a new language like Japanese or Chinese, you will love this app if you choose to learn it.

Keep Conversation Going:

Most people find it very difficult to keep the conversation going. But it is not mandatory to know any language 100% correctly, completely, fluently, and thoroughly with no mistakes. As the conversation begins, you might feel confused because you want to say many things, but you may have no ideas on how to say it. But, this talking app gives features that solve your problems. So, never feel like you can not keep the conversation going on. To keep your conversation, you can use a translation function to translate instantly, a Speak Button to understand something that you can not read and many more features.

Make Language Exchange Beneficial:

If you think other people only try to improve English all the time (even if in a face-to-face meeting), you can use it to build rapport with speakers. You can use a feature to correct whatever the other person says.

Phone Calls Within App Is FREE!

Isnā€™t that better? Whenever you want to chat in real-time with the language speakers, you can make a free phone call to your language partner. It becomes a free-spoken language class for both you and the other person.

Moments (New Feature):

Recently, users have seen one exciting feature, MOMENTS. It is a brand new update from developers. This feature converts HelloTalk App into a social media powerhouse for language learning. It means chatting us not limited to learning languages. It allows you to search for public updates made by people in different languages.

Paid Features:

If you want to use translation options within the app, you have to pay for it. It motivates developers to keep the rest of all features of this app free for users. However, you can also get these tools a no cost. Here is how.

Signup For Free Tools:

You have to sign up for this app, and you will see that one of your friends is a HelloTalk team. You have to message them by typing FI3M. It allows you to get a free membership for three months. It includes premium features.

You Can Speak Without Embracement:

You can use the voice recognition system of the HelloTalk App to speak whatever you want. It understands you automatically and converts to text. So, you can practice without worrying or embarrassing that someone hears you.

Native Language Partners From Your City:

To interact with people speaking your native language is a great-idea by taking a break from online lessons. It allows you to search locally and specifically. By doing this, you can invite them for coffee. It has a large user base and lets you find native speakers easily.

Hellotalk App Wikipedia

This Appā€™s Special Feature Of Language Learning:
App

Like I have already discussed that it is not the usual chatting app. It has lots of features helping to learn languages. As you sign up for the premium version of this app, you can access all the exciting features of this app.

Warm Feedbacks:

Most users have found this app buggy. You may see issues, like poor English in the interface, grammar mistakes like ADVANCE instead of ADVANCED, stability issues, crashes at undesirable times, and some other problems.

Final Thoughts:

Have you decided to learn some languages with fun by using HelloTalk App? Do not forget to share your reviews with us to let us know your opinions. By wrapping up the above-discussed information, I am sure you got to the point information to understand everything about this talking app.