Verbavia is a set of eight free language courses that run from CEFR level A1 to C2 across a single 300-lesson syllabus.
Its main difference from most language apps is the order in which it teaches words. Rather than grouping vocabulary by theme, each course follows a frequency list, so the words that make up most of ordinary speech come first. The thousand most common words account for roughly 80 percent of everyday conversation, and lesson one starts at word number one.
Grammar is taught explicitly. Each rule is explained with worked examples before it is practised, rather than being left for the learner to infer from repeated drills. Reading passages, dialogues and listening exercises are written using only vocabulary the learner has already met, so texts stay comprehensible as they grow longer.
Every course covers vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening and writing, and is structured as one lesson per day of roughly fifteen to twenty-five minutes.
Courses available: Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Esperanto and Shanghainese. The Shanghainese course is unusual in that very little structured self-study material exists for the language.
Verbavia runs in the browser, is free to use, and does not require an account to start.