calico journal (online) issn 2056–9017

Learning Technology Review

Busuu: A Social Network

Application to
Learn
Languages
Michael D. Winans

PRODUCT AT A GLANCE
Product Type Language learning website and mobile app

Language(s) Users can learn English, Spanish, French,

German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese,
Japanese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, and
Arabic.

Level From A1 to B2 (CEFR) and Travel Courses

Activities Reading, writing, listening, speaking,

interacting with users of the target
language (speaking, writing), select from
a list, drag-and-drop, fill-in-the-blank,
correcting written and spoken texts,
questions and answers, etc.

Media Format Interactions over the web (for interacting with

users) and downloadable apps for iOS and
Android (both with offline lessons)

Operating System(s) Browsers: Chrome, Safari (10.0 and above),

Internet Explorer (11.0 and above), Edge
and Firefox. Mobile: Android 5.0 and above,
and iOS 9.0 and above (iPhone, iPad and
iPod touch).

Hardware Requirements Web-based, cross-platform

Supplementary N/A
 Software or Hardware

Affiliation
Arizona State University, USA.
email: [email protected]

calico journal vol 37.1 2020 117–126 https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.37781 ©2020,

equinox publishing
118 Learning Technology Review
Documentation Support:
https://help.busuu.com/hc/en-us (for
English)

Price Free for Flashcard learning; Premium is

$9.99/ month, $69.99/12 months,
$119.99/24 months. Enterprise versions
available for academic and professional
organizations. 7-day money-back
guarantee.

General Description
Busuu is a language learning platform that is downloadable onto iOS
and Android devices. Busuu was founded in 2008 by Bernhard
Niesner and Adrian Hilti. The name Busuu comes from a language in
Cameroon that is nearly extinct. Busuu employees have traveled
there, met with a community of Busuu speakers, and even created
lessons on the Busuu platform to learn the language. In 2014, Busuu
recorded 50 million users and has now grown to 80 million users with
the claim that it is the “largest social network for language learning”.
Users can interface with the application or software in one of 12
languages in order to learn the others. The order of learning can be
self-directed, or users can take a short placement quiz that will start
them at an appropriate level. The only free service is flashcard
learning, which is much more interactive than the name implies. All
other features are restricted to the premium version. The interactive
aspects of the Busuu suite allow users to get feedback from native
speakers and the downloadable lessons are available for phone
applications.
The highest competency level available is B2, which Busuu
identifies as fluent. In the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages (CEFR), the B2 level is considered an
independent user who “can understand the main ideas of complex
text on both concrete and abstract topics” (Council of Europe, 2001,
p. 24).
The feature that makes Busuu a unique option in the language
learning sphere resides in its affordance of the social features that
support its claim to be a social network. Users can add friends from
suggestions that are based on the languages they are learning. An
English speaker learning Spanish will find friend suggestions that
include Spanish speakers learning English. Once users connect with
a friend, they are able to review each other’s submissions and offer
corrections of the target language form.
Conversations start when a user produces a written or spoken
response to a prompt and someone replies with a correction and
comment. After listen ing to a spoken response, a native speaker can
give audio feedback and/or text comments. For written responses,
feedback is given in two ways: first, you can
Learning Technology Review 119

fix the text and any corrections are indicated in green, and, second,
you can leave a comment with further feedback. These two
responses are aggregated into one and the feedback is posted (see
Figure 1).
There are also other methods to learn the language, namely the
sequential lessons. These sequences start with material that is also
accessible for free to non-subscribed users: flashcards that include
drag-and-drop, word selection, fill-in-the-blank (logic and listening),
true–false, and matching exercises in sections labeled Vocabulary,
Dialogue, and Memorize. Sequences end with a vocabulary quiz that
is only available to premium users. In lesson 11 at the B1 level for
Spanish, there are four areas in the sequence, two of which are
considered flashcards. The additional two premium areas are titled
Grammar. These areas allow users to download a summary of the
lesson which compiles all the tips in the Grammar section into one
webpage that has a print button.
 Figure 1. Conversation and feedback on a written response.

Two other premium benefits that are offered include offline access.
First, lessons for the mobile application for iOS and Android allow
users to complete lessons without Internet or cell phone reception.
Secondly, once you finish the lessons of a given level, users can take
tests and receive an official McGraw-Hill Education certificate that
corresponds to CEFR levels. Busuu only allows users to take this
15-minute test once every two weeks.
120 Learning Technology Review

Platform support is offered in the same 12 languages that you can

learn through Busuu. Support can be accessed on a dedicated
website (English: https://help.busuu.com/hc/en-us) by clicking a help
link located at the bottom of each page or from the main drop-down
menu. From the support page, users are also able to search for
answers through a knowledge base. If users are unable to resolve
their issue, they can submit a request or use a chat box in order to
receive help.
A strong claim made by Busuu is that 22.5 hours of learning on
their plat form equates to one semester of college. Vesselinov and
Grego (2016) conducted The Busuu Efficacy Study which was
commissioned by the company to deter mine the effectiveness of
language study when using their courseware; the results should be
considered within the context of a commissioned study. The study
recruited 144 Spanish learners in the New York and London areas
who participated in pre- and post-tests. Brigham Young University’s
Web Based Computer Adaptive Placement Exam (WebCAPE) test
was used to measure participants’ language level. This test is used
to place students within the first four classes of the first two years of
college-level language study.
Vesselinov and Grego (2016) claim their efficacy score is both
direct and objective, where efficacy is defined as the “improvement
per one hour of study” (p. 6). It directly uses the time recorded by the
Busuu servers for par ticipants’ language learning and objectively
uses the WebCAPE test for data about improvement. Busuu users
were found to need, on average, 22.5 hours of study to increase their
score on the WebCAPE test—an amount that equates to the
requirements for one semester of college-level Spanish (Vesselinov &
Grego, 2016, p. 19).

Evaluation
This evaluation was conducted via the website though the Android
app was also used to verify differences between platforms. Due to
the incremental and instantaneous nature of the implementation or
modifications of technology on the web, it should be stated that this
study was conducted in November of 2018 with a premium
subscription1 which costs $69.99 for 12 months when paid in one
installment.

Technological Features
Busuu’s free access only allows users to study one language and is
limited to the flashcards feature. Because the interface is
well-designed, functional, and aesthetically pleasing, users who are
not willing to pay will get a functional product for free. Figure 2 details
the free and premium features.
Learning Technology Review 121
 Figure 2. Premium features vs. free.

A user’s portfolio page shows their location with a small flag that
repre sents the country of origin next to a photo. It also shows the
language pro gress which ends at B2 of the CEFR and represents the
fluent level within the platform. After reaching the B2 level, the
language journey is finished. The portfolio includes a list of all
interactions with other users and corrections that users have made
for others, which can be seen by a user’s Busuu friends. In addition,
the system provides user statistics for words learned, days learned,
activity streak, number of corrections given, thumbs up received, and
votes for best correction. There is also the ability to create a
personalized study plan to keep users on track to meet language
learning goals that they set for themselves. Users choose goals, set
schedules for their goals, and generate a study plan that allows them
to work through achievable steps toward a completion date.
The highlight of using Busuu is the access to social features,
though there are the limitations of not being able to search for friends
or interact through direct chat, a feature that we could expect would
be integrated. This expecta tion came from Vesselinov and Grego
(2016) who claim that a key feature is “Busuu-talk (web only) which
allows students to find language partners and practice speaking or
text chatting” (p. 4); however, this feature no longer exists. As a
consequence, the term “conversations” is a bit misleading because
there is no feature for synchronous chat with the friends that users
make. On the other hand, users will not experience unsolicited
non-language focused
122 Learning Technology Review
(possibly inappropriate) messages. This is encouraging since it
means users can stay focused on the task at hand: learning a
language.
The conversation feature does allow for the building of personal
relation ships, but all of a user’s interactions are viewable by anyone
who is a friend. Users can only add friends that are suggested to
them or that they have encoun tered through offering or receiving
feedback during spoken or written language practice. This means
users are usually matched with native speakers. Making online
friends is easy when users give and receive feedback, which can be
motivating for learners. This seems to be the key affordance that
makes this language learning platform uniquely beneficial.
When I tested the platform, even though I am a native speaker of
English, I was able to get feedback on my English too. Many of the
languages that are available for learning on Busuu are languages
that are not culturally bound to one nation. English, for example, is
widely spoken around the world and so it does not represent one
culture. As seen in Figure 1, I was unsure about “At the weekend”
being a British construction since I speak an American dialect of
English. The question was “What do you like to do at the weekend?”
and I offered feedback on usage of the incorrect verb, but I also
added a comment about the possibility of “at the weekend” being a
UK English construction. Just 37 minutes later there was another
comment that informed that “at the weekend” is, in fact, British
English! This is the key feature of the Busuu web site—access to real
people speaking real languages from around the globe. From the
interaction, the user to whom I gave feedback also received input
about dialect differences between American and British English. This
reflects what Liu et al. (2015) found in their analysis of social
networking sites for lan guage learning: “social networking features
can maximize students’ opportuni
ties for knowledge construction and collaborative language learning
through peer interaction and scaffolding, networking, and
self-directed learning” (p. 142). Although the focus is on native
speakers giving feedback to non-native speakers, we can see from
the presented example that there is a wide range of benefits afforded
from this interaction.
The dialects that users learn is not initially apparent, but learners of
English are learning British English. The Spanish is also a European
dialect from Spain and might not be the dialect of choice for those
living in Canada or the United States since they live closer to Latin
America, which is filled with rich varieties of Spanish. There is no
direct statement of this fact nor a choice in the dialect you choose to
learn, but there is an interesting way in which Busuu deals with this:
users select a flag and language together. When users select English,
they also select the British flag, and when they select Spanish, they
also select the Spanish flag, which could be misleading for users of
the service. For social interactions and giving feedback, this aspect
could be disruptive, or possibly
Learning Technology Review 123

productive, depending on the user perception of these sorts of

experiences. In digital interactions across a global web, users will not
just encounter one variety of any given language and the privileging
of one dialect over another does not conform with the diverse
language environment that exists online. The diversity of the
languages taught within Busuu needs work.
The Busuu partnership with McGraw-Hill Education began in 2015
and offers premium users access to language certificates that
correspond to the CEFR levels. These are not backed by an
institution, but McGraw-Hill is a reputable education company which
contributes to the reliability and percep
tion of the certificates, as does the Vesselinov and Grego (2016)
efficacy study, which provides some support to the claim that 22.5
hours equals one semester of a college education. However, users
should be aware that McGraw-Hill is primarily an education publisher,
not a language testing service, and the Ves
selinov and Grego (2016) study was commissioned by Busuu. The
Busuu support system is easy to access and navigate. Users find
answers through various methods of searching, and chat and
submitting a request is on par with other helpful knowledge base
systems, up to and including the ability to up/down vote whether a
response was useful or not. Signing up for the service is also easy as
users can register with an email address or via their Facebook or
Google accounts. Many of the features are what you would expect
from a best-in-class web product irrespective of its language-learning
focus.

Pedagogical or Authoring Features

The Busuu software functions well and there were no issues with
interact ing with the courseware. There were, however, language
issues beyond the country-specific privileging of dialects discussed
above. For example, a tip offers the Latin American equivalent for
the term flat (UK English) or piso (Spain Spanish) as the term
departamento. This is problematic; Latin America is a large
geographical area that includes many Spanish speaking countries
with dialects that do not always conform to a single word for such
common terms. Departamento is primarily used in Mexico, but Costa
Rica, for example, would mainly use apartamento for this term. From
 sociocultural perspectives, language and cultures are seen as
inseparable, so blanket assertions and the privileging of standard
dialects misses on opportunities to develop intercul
tural competence.
Another authoring issue was when the vocabulary word la
inmobiliaria was introduced, which is the feminine construction of the
word. The visual context shows a male real estate agent. In addition
to this, the translation below this word is estate agent’s which is also
not correct (see Figure 3). In Spanish, the gender and number of the
adjective match that of the noun. There were other
124 Learning Technology Review

lessons where this issue was also apparent: for example, when asked
to select the correct adjective for a feminine/plural noun, the correct
answer was given as masculine/singular. Agreement of adjectives to
corresponding nouns is important for word formation and a close
inspection reveals a few omissions or misrepresentations of which
users should be aware.

Figure 3. Issues with context and adjective agreement with the noun.

Teacher Fit
In 2016, Busuu launched a service for educational organizations
(Busuu, 2018) and it is currently piloting French and Spanish at
Weber State University. According to Peckenpaugh (2018), teachers
will be able to track the amount of exposure and interaction with a
language as opposed to simply calculating the lessons that have
been completed. Peckenpaugh conducted an end-of-semester survey
in which 81.6% of users felt Busuu helped them feel better prepared
to participate in class. Since the lessons from Busuu will not follow
those of the course text, allowing teachers to self-select lessons
would better prepare this
Learning Technology Review 125

platform for classroom integration since instructors would be able to

coordi nate their chosen text with lessons.

Learner Fit
For independent learners, this could be a great tool to motivate and
facilitate exposure to a target language through the cultural exchange
afforded by the social networking features of this platform. Users do
not need to start at a specific level and are able to self-select topics
that focus on their interests. The initial quiz also allows for a tailored
approach by determining the user level and presenting material that
has not yet been learned. For some users, being able to receive a
McGraw-Hill Education Certificate that documents their language
level might be an additional positive feature. However, the tests are
short and not comprehensive, and they do not require any speaking,
so it is difficult to reliably relate a user’s achievement to a CEFR
level. That said, the tests are included in the premium subscription
and emailed to users upon completion of each level, serving as a
record of achievement even when the subscription ends.

Summary
With a user-friendly interface that is both easy to navigate and
aesthetically pleasing, Busuu delivers a high-quality experience.
However, the reason to choose Busuu over other language learning
coursewares would be for social networking and interactive aspects.
Interactions with native speakers of the target language can be
interesting and motivating for users since they provide real feedback
about how language is being used. As a well-designed course
ware, Busuu benefits from unique features, but at $9.99 when paid
per month, it might be a bit expensive for the casual language
learner.
 Notes
1. The reviewer’s subscription was purchased on Black Friday, with a 50% discount,
at $34.99 for a 12-month subscription.

References
Busuu (2018). Homepage. Busuu.com. Retrieved from https://www.busuu.com/
Council of Europe. (2001). Common European framework of reference for
languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, UK; Cambridge
University Press. Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97
Liu, M., Abe, K., Cao, M. W., Liu, S., Ok, D. U., Park, J., Parrish, C., & Sardegna,
V. G.
126 Learning Technology Review

(2015). An analysis of social network websites for language learning:

Implication for teaching and learning English as a Second Language. CALICO
Journal, 32(1), 113–152. https://doi.org/10.1558/calico.v32i1.25963
Peckenpaugh, K. (2018). Busuu. Teaching German, 51(1), 97–100.
https://doi.org/10.1111 /tger.12060
Vesselinov, R. & Grego, J. (2016). The Busuu efficacy study. Commissioned
study by Busuu. Retrieved from
comparelanguageapps.com/documentation/The_busuu_Study2016.pdf

Producer Details
Busuu Limited
3rd Floor, 10 East Road, London, N1 6AD, United
Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)20 3301 9955
Email: [email protected]
www.busuu.com

Reviewer Information
Michael D. Winans is a doctoral student in Linguistics and Applied
Linguis tics at Arizona State University where his research interests
include second language acquisition (SLA) and computer-assisted
language learning (CALL). Currently a Teaching Associate, he
teaches writing, language, and linguistics courses.