Falou - Fast language learning reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
A voice-first language app that makes you speak out loud from the very first lesson — but everything rides on its speech recognition, which is exactly what fails most often.
What users love
Speaking from day one — and it actually works
The standout strength even critics admit: the 'repeat out loud' method gets you speaking from the start instead of guessing words in games. Many note that after Duolingo, where you never speak, here they finally feel real progress in speech.
cool app I love how it forces me to actually speak
I've used Duolingo for a year and a half but since you don't speak to it I never learned anything. this however works really well
perfect!! This app actually makes you say words until you learn them and pronounce them correctly. its not like little games and quizzes it's the "repeat after me" method. not guess the correct word.
Quickly teaches real phrases for conversation
When the method clicks, the effect is real: people memorize practical, everyday phrases faster than elsewhere and feel they can already speak after a few lessons. Many love the focus on conversation over starting from raw grammar.
Very clever! Ive tried a few different applications to learn Mandarin. In the first few lessons with Falou i could already speak and understand better. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
it is very help full in a week i learend 450 word
I like that they have me repeat things over and over maybe finally after 17 years my French will be perfect
What users hate
Speech recognition rejects correct answers
The core pain: people say the phrase correctly — sometimes even as native speakers — yet the app keeps marking it wrong and won't let them continue. A simple word for 'tea' (thee/te) hard-stops lesson one with no way to skip.
most of the times, the ai cannot understand what you said. an app built on speech recognition where speech recognition is abyssal
I deleted it after 2 lessons I couldn't pass the lesson 1 because of the word"Te" (Tea) and it does not matter how hard I try it will mark as wrong. there is no skip either.
the voice detection is mediocre, you can repeat something 5x and it'll say you did it wrong, but then on the 6th time you said it right without changing anything
Passes you on words you never said
The flip side of the same broken engine: it doesn't just reject correct speech, it waves through partial or unspoken answers — marking words right when you never finished them. That defeats the whole point of pronunciation practice.
it passes you on tests when you haven't said that the words that it says that you have.
even accepting the wrong words as right while learning Russian
O aplicativo marca palavras como corretas mesmo quando eu não as pronuncio por inteiro. Isso acaba prejudicando a prática de pronúncia na verdade
Subscription ads after every lesson, longer than the lesson
Paywalls and premium ads pop up after literally every lesson, and the lessons are shorter than the pitches. Before the first lesson people click past 10+ subscription offers — it reads as 'they only want your money'.
It's infested with long ads and sales pitches after EVERY lesson, the lessons themselves are shorter than the ads. This is insane.
Had to pass - no exaggeration - 10+ ads just to get to the first lesson.
too much ad to get the premium version every lesson I take. just let me learn the free way I don't need the premium.
AI-generated sentences are nonsense and teach errors
Deeper into the course the 'AI slop' shows: grammatically broken, absurd phrases like 'I have a bicycle in my breakfast' or 'It's a book with coffee?'. No native ever reviews the lessons — Swedish, Greek and Dutch are full of mistakes.
the ai is making some very weird sentences that you are never going to use. things like I have a bicycle in my breakfast and here is a table with water.
Asking me to translate "It's a Chair with sugar?" or "It's a book with coffee?" Pathetic!
Sentences that just dont make any sense grammatically, and can be misleading for people learning the language. There is simply no review on the AI-Generated tracks.
An update wiped progress and killed what people loved
A recent update reformatted the app: situational conversations gone, progress wiped, no choosing a lesson or level. The old Falou was quietly moved to a separate app called Chats, while a 'second Duolingo' shipped under the Falou name.
however, this new update has completely changed the whole format and wiped out all my progress. No more context and situation-based conversational lessons and only annoying repetitive exercises
The old Falou was sneakily transferred to an app called Chats. It's deceptive! If you uninstall the app, you'll lose all your progress.
It's disappointing because it was a great app for learning but this new version is basically Dualingo. Gone from being a fan to meh!
Paid for premium — and it unlocked nothing
People who paid (often ~$90 yearly) complain access never opens up: no skipping or reviewing levels, progress not tied to an account, and support emails go unanswered. The word 'scam' comes up, along with refund requests.
SCAM! Beware. Do not pay for a premium subscription! I paid for a premium subscription 5 days ago. It does not open up additional features. I cannot skip levels.
I've emailed both of the support email addresses, but no reply. I guess they don't care now that they have my money :(
Most of the time it doesn't pick up when you are talking. I paid for the premium and I'm not happy as I really struggle with this app
No way to revisit lessons or skip what you know
The course structure is rigid: you can't revisit earlier chapters to recap, and you can't skip what you already know. Without a proper placement test, a beginner gets stuck in dull easy lessons while a B2 learner is fed A1 words.
You can't go back to earlier lessons to recap
Also there is no way for me to skip things I already learnt and jump to my level of competency.
without a good placement quiz it seems pretty dumb. I thought I was beginner in Dutch but I just got stuck in a very very easy course with no way of skipping ahead.
Price too high, with no monthly plan or trial
The free tier lasts a couple of lessons, then it's a yearly subscription only — no monthly option and often no trial. For students and users in India and elsewhere the price feels out of reach.
not bad but I wish it had just a monthly plan instead of a fixed yearly plan that it's forcing me to buy.
No free trial. I am not paying for an app sight unseen
their pricing are much more higher for an average indian Family. but also free version is very nice!!
Cuts you off mid-sentence and hangs during lessons
The app often cuts the speaker off before they even start or right mid-phrase, and lessons hang to the point where not a single word registers. It breaks exactly when you're trying to speak.
App cuts me off before I even begin speaking or cuts me off mid sentence.
then it hangs frequently and then whatever you're saying doesn't register correctly, not even a single word. there are many occassions like that throughout the lessons. very frustrating.
i feel like it become like Duolingo speaking practices when it cuts you off mid sentence and now free users have to pay to continue the courses.
The course serves lessons in the wrong language
A recurring bug: past a certain chapter the app serves a different language instead of the target one — Spanish for French, Portuguese for Japanese, English with Spanish as the native — and gets stuck on that lesson with no way out.
Post chapter 5 in French, all chapters are bugged out. It keeps providing Spanish lessons for some reason.
Once again Falou is a mess. It's showing Portuguese instead of Japanese and support is non existent. This is a recurrent issue that they apparently keep running into. It is utterly unusable.
it gives me an English lesson with Spanish Native language, and everytime I skip or done it, it repeats on the same lesson. Now I'm stuck wit my progress.