PCAP-31-03 learner - Certified Associate in Python Programming - 2023 Updated: 2024

Are you interested in a career in tech, and you’re wondering, “What is computer programming?” In this article, we’ll fill you in on everything you need to know about this dynamic career path. We’ll explore job expectations, how to break into the field of computer programming and earning potential for computer programmers.

What Is Computer Programming?

Computer programming is a high-tech field that’s growing in popularity. Programmers work on code to find and solve issues. They come up with strategies for enhancing and streamlining code, and they use code to implement company initiatives.

While computer programmers come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds, all computer programmers must have knowledge of different programming languages.

Today’s more popular programming languages include C++, Java, Python and Go. Programmers should be familiar with multiple coding languages, especially these.

What Does a Computer Programmer Do?

Computer programmers’ main task is writing code. Code provides instructions to a computer, written in a language the computer can understand. Many programming languages exist, and computer programmers typically know several coding languages.

Computer programming jobs might involve:

• Write and test code for programs and apps
• Update existing software programs in order to fix bugs or patch security vulnerabilities
• Test and troubleshoot existing code for errors
• Rewrite existing code to move it from one programming language to another

Computer Programmer Job Outlook

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 11% decline in computer programmer employment from 2022 to 2032. However, skills for computer programmers—especially coding in a variety of languages—could translate to several other positions as well, many of which have better growth projections. For example, the BLS projects software developers to grow by 26% and information security analysts to grow by 32%.

The BLS lists the median annual salary for computer programmers as $97,800. Workers in this role often enjoy other corporate perks like an annual bonus and a 401(k) package.

Computer Programming Degree Options

Regardless of job and industry, many employers prefer candidates to hold college degrees. The field of computer programming is no different. Aspiring programmers can pursue a variety of degrees in both computer programming and related fields. Below, we’ll take a look at just a few degree options for computer programmers.

Associate in Computer Programming

You can earn an associate degree in computer programming at a community college. Associate programs tend to be shorter than bachelor’s programs, lasting only two years versus four. They also tend to cost less: Two-year programs at public schools cost an average of $3,564 per year, versus $9,596 for four-year programs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Moreover, many community colleges offer programs that expose students to a variety of programming languages. Associate programs entail fewer non-technical courses as well.

Bachelor’s in Computer Programming

A bachelor’s degree in computer programming typically takes four years of full-time study to complete. This degree involves both general education courses and programming-related courses, preparing students to work as computer programmers.

Degrees that may qualify you to work in computer programming include information technology, computer science and information systems.

Master’s in Computer Programming

Most master’s programs entail two or three more years of study after you’ve completed your bachelor’s degree. Master’s students can usually study either part-time or full-time.

Master’s programs are a good option for those hoping to change careers or enhance their skills as software engineers or computer programmers.

Computer Programming Bootcamp

If you’d like to pursue a job as a computer programmer without attending a college or university, your best bet is to attend a computer programming bootcamp.

A bootcamp provides you with an immersive learning experience in a condensed schedule. Most bootcamps take four to 20 weeks of full-time study to complete, or up to 12 months for part-time students.

Bootcamps cost around $11,000 on average, but price varies significantly by company and program type. If you’re wondering how to pay for a coding bootcamp, consider scholarships and payment plans. In some cases, your employer might be willing to subsidize the cost of your bootcamp. Speak to your boss or HR manager for more information.

If you’re wondering whether you can find a job after completing a bootcamp, the answer is likely yes. Most computer programming bootcamps advertise a high rate of job placement upon completion, and some bootcamps even offer job guarantees.

Most bootcamps structure their learning modules specifically to prepare learners for their future careers. They may assign portfolio-building projects, teach interview skills and provide networking opportunities.

Once you complete a computer programming bootcamp, you’ll be eligible for computer programming roles and similar job titles like web developer, data analyst, technical support specialist and web designer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Computer Programming

The JofA podcast took a road trip last week to the Future of Finance Summit, catching up with several leaders on highlights from the event and reflections on its growth since the first event in Nashville, Tenn., in 2021.

Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, executive vice president–Business Growth and Engagement at AICPA & CIMA, leads off this compilation episode, sharing a favorite quote and how it applies to the summit's themes. He and other speakers explain how a growing community of leaders is applying the knowledge of the crowd to guide their organizations in transformative times.

Other speakers in this episode:

• Carrie Kruse, CPA, CGMA, economic development administrator for the city of Des Moines, Iowa;
• Scott Spiegel, CPA, CGMA, COO for AICPA & CIMA; and
• Kelly Lorenz, AICPA & CIMA's associate director–Business Growth and Engagement.

The episode is the first of several that will focus on Future of Finance speakers and sessions, so be on the lookout for more, starting Thursday and continuing into 2024.

What you'll learn from this episode:

• Hood's summary of the event's growth over the years.
• Why Cruse considers the event the "top professional development opportunity of the year."
• The reasons Spiegel is more energized now about a new finance apprenticeship program.
• Why the summit's idea-sharing has been a "gold mine of opportunity" for finance leaders, according to Lorenz.

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Neil Amato: Hey, it's Neil Amato again with the Journal of Accountancy podcast. Last week we took our show on the road to the Future of Finance Summit, and here are several people who share their perspectives on insights gained from that summit. First up is Tom Hood, executive vice president– Business Growth and Engagement at AICPA & CIMA. The question I start him off with is one on reflection about the event — where it's come from and where it's going.

Tom Hood: Neil, it's great to be back here on the show. Obviously, I love what you've been doing with this, so thank you for doing this and being here at our summit to cover this. This event for me, third year, it's pretty much tripled or more in size from the very first one, but it was imagined by our Future of Finance Leadership Advisory Group. I have to supply them all the credit. I say I stand on the shoulders of giants, and those are the giants — CFOs of these major corporations who've been with us now three years.

We started the summit idea with our purpose, which is to transform the finance and accounting profession to power trust, opportunity, and prosperity. It's right off the Association's [site]. They adopted it and said: "We really want to impact the trajectory of all finance and accounting." We decided the way we're going to do that is with a community, basically a community of practice, getting together, sharing ideas, getting the best of the best, featuring some of the top stories, based on the current issues of the day. That's what we've done, and the growth and the energy in this conference this year is evident. I feel incredibly proud of this group and where we are. It went way beyond my imagination of where we could be, and the group is like: "Let's keep going."

Amato: What are some messages that resonated with you from this event in Orlando?

Hood: I think the key takeaway that I got both personally and what I heard from the group, it's probably both one and the same, is the power of the peer group and the power, if you will, of the crowd that's basically crowdsourcing what the future of finance looks like. We use polling, we use interactive, we had a ton of breakouts. What they all love: Peer-to-peer networking that stuck out. Everyone built a lot of relationships. We had a lot of time for them to get to know each other and work in groups and change those groups at every breakout.

The second piece was the courses of the day. The major Topic issues that we started with, that we designed this program around — transformation, digital transformation, Gen AI popped up in the middle of the year and we had to double down on that, and that was amazing. The workforce, talent, retaining talent, finding talent, and new ways of doing it, which all circled on nontraditional talent, registered apprenticeship, new ideas. That was a big one that we clicked in on.

Then the other one — we had ESG, a little bit of DEI, so we had almost all the top issues that they all want, and they were here for them to choose and work on. Many of them said it was hard to pick one or two when you got two in the same time frame. I think that's it. It's the power of the peer network, getting together to solve this problem and move our profession forward.

Amato: Speaking of moving it forward, what is your hope for the profession looking ahead to 2024?

Hood: I hope that the profession starts to really feel the transformation. We have a white paper that this Future of Finance group created called From Scorekeeper to Futurist, and I hope we get to that point. Everyone's talking about being a finance business partner, a value-added finance professional. No longer closing the books is the thing that we do. Yes, we do it, but it's about in service of how do we make the business better. Getting that finance leader in that strategic role, and believe it or not, we have tons of examples in our group and in this community already.

For instance, Gen AI, that session, the big issue was all of them were tasked by their CEO to get on Gen AI, not just for finance, for the whole organization, and not just for the whole organization internally, but how does it impact their customer segments and their product and service line? That's the seat at the table we've been talking about how long, Neil, like for 20 years? That's my aspiration, that in 2024 we move that needle one more big step forward.

Amato: It's been a great event. It's been great to be here, Tom. Anything in closing that you'd like to add?

Hood: The closing thing is the poll that we started this conference off, which changed slightly, but top five issues. Accelerated digital transformation, No. 1, that used to be talent, by the way. AI and Gen AI, at No. 2, that wasn't even on the map a year ago. Need for new skills, that's always been there, and it's always been about No. 3. But [with] emphasis on new skills, and that's what they're all saying. Finding and retaining talent and maintaining culture in a hybrid work environment, top 5. Three of those, maybe four of those top five, have been consistent. They just moved in priority.

But it gets back to this, and I close this conference today with my favorite quote, Jon Kabat-Zinn says: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf." I really feel this group is helping us curate how we all ride these waves of transformation more successfully for the benefit of all of our businesses, not just finance, but in our leadership role as strategy partners to the whole business, which in turn will impact our whole economy.

Amato: Tom Hood, thank you very much.

Hood: Thanks for having me, Neil.

Amato: Next up on this Future of Finance Summit wrap-up episode is Carrie Kruse. She's a CPA who holds the CGMA designation. She's economic development administrator with the city of Des Moines, the capital city of Iowa. Carrie, I've seen you a few times at this event. Tell me why you come back, what you like about it, and maybe some of your takeaways from this particular one in mid-December in Orlando?

Carrie Kruse: Happy to. This is such a fun event. There are finance professionals from almost any and every industry I can possibly think of that attend this event every year, so that opportunity to network with my peers that work in every area of finance and learn about the cutting-edge things that they're doing in their organizations. A lot of us have the same challenges even if we're in different industries, so the energy at this summit every year is just electric.

People come with ideas, we want to share, we want to learn together. It is the top professional development opportunity of the year. I look forward to it. I've looked forward to it the last two times I've been here, and as long as it keeps happening, I'm going to keep coming back.

Amato: That's great. Certainly don't want to have you forget anyone, but is there anything from any of the sessions that you'd like to talk about as highlights, things that stuck in your mind, or maybe it was just a conversation with a fellow finance professional that you'll take away as a key lesson?

Kruse: I think the resounding theme this year is definitely Gen AI. It's what everybody is talking about. There are some large organizations that are really surprisingly far along in their Gen AI journey, but a lot of us haven't even started or are trying to figure out where to start with it. So I found myself in a lot of conversations about that and just the power of that tool and how it's going to change the way that all of us in the finance industry work. I thought that was really exciting.

We had a great session on coachability and both giving and receiving feedback. It seems like a commonsense kind of leadership thing we can all work on. But it really is something you have to intentionally prioritize in order to do well. I just thought that was a great additive thrown into the conference of just how to go back and be better leaders for our organizations.

Amato: I was mainly in a separate room recording podcasts, so I didn't get to too many sessions myself, but I did sit in on some of that coachability session from Kevin Wilde. That was interesting to me how as we advance in age and in career and title, that we tend to be less coachable. What do you think about that?

Kruse: Yeah, in some respects, I was surprised when he showed that chart, and in other respects, I wasn't as surprised. I think as we get further into our careers and into our lives, it's really easy just to have a full plate, and we get comfortable with our profession and the work we do. I think when it comes to coachability and receiving feedback, I can see why over time with those full plates that we become less coachable, unless we're intentionally working on that. It's kind of like a tool. You have to keep it sharpened.

Amato: Carrie Kruse, thank you very much.

Kruse: Thanks for having me here at the summit — so fun.

Amato: Scott Spiegel, the chief operating officer of AICPA & CIMA, recording from the Future of Finance Summit. Scott, you've been to previous Future of Finance Summits. First, how have you seen it grow over the years?

Scott Spiegel: Yeah, it's amazing, and thanks for having me. I was at the original Future of Finance meeting a few years ago, and this has grown tremendously. To feel the passion, the power, and the energy over the last three years grow the way it has, it's been really an amazing experience to see where this has come from. From its inception to now, it's probably three times the size.

Amato: What are some of the messages or conversations that stuck with you from this event?

Spiegel: What's awesome about this agenda is over the span of about two days, it crossed a lot of diverse courses from women in leadership, to how to be a good leader or how to get coaching and mentoring, to AI, to a really informative session that I came out of around hiring and being from a different background in terms of recruiting into the finance and accounting profession. It was really inspiring. So, I think across two days to see just a wide array of courses in a very short time frame was really powerful.

Amato: What can you as COO of a global organization learn from some of these sessions, the conversations with attendees, etc.?

Spiegel: The peer networking is probably No. 1. I think meeting people who are like-minded or going through the same challenges and issues that we are going through, I think it is really tremendous. You can feel the energy when we started talking about generative AI and the whole room really just buzzing to learn more. It is the hottest Topic in the ecosystem right now. I think just paying attention and taking good notes and just really learning from that and bringing it back to our teams is going to be really an important thing.

Amato: We have now checked that podcast bingo card of, hey, we mentioned Gen AI because you can't have an episode these days without it. Tell me this, looking ahead to 2024, what's your hope for the profession?

Spiegel: Well, that's a great question. First, I hope we can attract many more candidates into the profession. Filling the pipeline with younger people who really show an interest in the profession, I think, is really important. It's been a great career path for me. I think [there's] a lot of ways to instill that confidence that it's still a great career path regardless. People think there's some disruption in the ecosystem. Disruption creates opportunity. I would say one [is] just filling the pipeline.

I think two, just staying ahead on the technological changes that are going on. There's so much talk about finance and digital transformation that's taking place. It's always going to transform, but there's a lot right now that's taking place, and the buzz of term of generative AI is probably no hotter of a Topic right now.

Then I think three would just be talent. I would say keeping skill sets fresh and making sure that finance and accounting teams are upskilling and reskilling and learning all the time, I think, would be my third important thing for 2024.

Amato: You mentioned talent pipeline. The apprenticeship program for finance business partners up and running, adding more companies. Some of the genuine apprentices were here, the companies that are accepting those apprentices and developing them. What does that mean for the profession, and what have you seen from the program so far?

Spiegel: I think it's a really unique opportunity to bring more people into the profession. The interesting thing about the apprenticeship program is you can now attract people from nontraditional accounting and finance backgrounds into the profession, upskill them, rotate them through your accounting or finance departments or teams, or even in an accounting firm, let them get a broad base of experience. And now, by investing the time and energy into that person, you've now recruited somebody into the profession who you probably wouldn't have originally thought of.

I think the traditional model of having an accounting degree and sitting for the test — it works in a lot of cases. But there's a whole subset of people who are still learning what they really want to do in life. I think the apprentice program really gives people an opportunity to touch it, to feel it, to experience it, and then get heavily entrenched in it. I'm really excited about what the future of apprentices can do for this profession. By meeting some of those candidates here at the conference this week, I'm even more excited than I was coming into the week.

Amato: Scott Spiegel, appreciate you being on the show.

Spiegel: Thanks for having me.

Amato: Joining me for this segment of the show is Kelly Lorenz, associate director–Business Growth and Engagement at AICPA & CIMA. To me, she is the person who has been key to the growth of the Future of Finance Summit. We are now completing the third such event. Kelly, first, how have you seen the summit grow over the years?

Kelly Lorenz: Thanks for having me, Neil. I think one of the things that has been interesting over the three years is I joined the team and started leading the initiatives that we do around Future of Finance and with our executives as we were finishing planning for the 2021 summit. In 2021, we had a spike in COVID, so I'm changing jobs, and we have COVID spiking again, and we had an event planned. There were a lot of last-minute, Plan A, Plan B, Plan C [scenarios]. We ended up doing a little bit of a hybrid approach of an in-person summit with about 35, 40 people and then an online companion for everybody who couldn't travel.

That was a real experimentation. I think what I love about the work that we do on Tom Hood's team and with the Future of Finance group, we wanted to have regular touch points, and we didn't believe at that time in 2021 that we could get senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies to join us every other month for a chat, which thankfully proved false.

We actually have had them engaged and active. We have about 50 senior finance leaders from the Fortune 500 engaged in a bimonthly meeting, and as part of this cohort that helps us design — what are we focused on in terms of potentially new business models, potentially new learning opportunities?

Then how do we create an environment for the leaders to come together, meet with each other, learn from each other, and also build a relationship and a community for finance leaders? You think about accounting, which is the other side of our business, has long been concentrated around the CPA. It's very similar. If you're an accountant in one job, you can be an accountant anywhere.

Whereas if you're in finance and you're a leader, you can own so many different things depending on where you work. We were unsure if this would be successful because of that massive amount of diversity in companies, industries, functions that they owned, their backgrounds. We were concerned.

What we found was actually it has been a gem and a gold mine of opportunity for folks. Because when we went into 2022 and we were thinking about what courses are we going to cover and who are we going to ask, we went first to our finance leader community and made sure we were hitting on the courses that they were most concerned about that was top of mind for them day in and day out.

Then we also tapped some of them to come and do case studies. We were in Austin, Texas, for the 2022 summit. What really worked last year was this was the first time a lot of them were meeting face to face and they thought, this is my opportunity to grow, not only myself, but thinking about what my team can do as a result of attending a summit like this, and it's such a tight-knit community. By creating that intimate environment where they see the same folks year in and year out and they start to get to know each other and their needs, we have organic connections made.

Amato: Kelly, thank you very much and congratulations on a great event.

Lorenz: Well, thank you so much. Thanks, Neil.

Amato: Again, those speakers were in order Tom Hood, Carrie Kruse, Scott Spiegel, and Kelly Lorenz. We appreciate them taking time to be on the show. This is Neil Amato, and I appreciate you, the listener, taking time to listen as well. We plan one more episode this year. After that, we'll talk to you in early January. Enjoy your holidays. Thanks for listening to the Journal of Accountancy podcast.

What language do you want to learn? Have you already learned a little, or are you starting from scratch? Is your goal to know the language so well that you can speak, hear, read, and write it like a native speaker, or do you have a different goal? Does the language you're learning use a different script? Is it hard for you to make unfamiliar sounds? Answering all these questions is crucial to finding the right apps for learning and practicing a language—yes, apps, plural. If you want to make real progress with a language, whether you're learning for school, travel, family, or personal enrichment, you need a variety of tools.

As with all kinds of education, learning a language takes dedication. Picking the right tools sets you up for success. Read on to learn which apps scored highest in our testing, as well as everything you need to consider when choosing the right language-learning tools for you.

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Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks

Buying Guide: The Best Language Learning Apps for 2024

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What Is the Best Language Learning Software?

The best app for learning a foreign language depends on your needs and your goals. Apps and online services let you learn at your own pace and in spaces where you're most comfortable. The trick is figuring out what you need to work on at different stages.

When you first start out, you might like a program that tells you exactly what to study for an intensive 30 minutes per day. Rosetta Stone and Fluenz are both exceptional at that. Add in a mobile app with more bite-sized content so you can refresh your memory in short bursts. Duolingo is especially good for practicing on the go, as is the study aid Quizlet. 

Some language learners find that looking at written language trips up their pronunciation. In that case, you might be better off starting with an audio-focused program, such as Pimsleur or Michel Thomas. Between the two, Pimsleur rates higher in our testing.

If you're already an intermediate or advanced speaker, small group classes or one-on-one conversations with a tutor are excellent options. Lingoda offers one-hour small classes and one-on-one sessions, all conducted over Zoom. Babbel now has similar classes that it sells separately from its app subscription. Between them, we recommend Lingoda more highly. Another place to get human instruction is Rype, which focuses on one-on-one tutoring in 30-minute sessions. Not quite ready to converse? Try Yabla, a site that's flush with videos of native speakers, which can help you acclimate your ear and expand your vocabulary.

Sometimes, you need resources that are specific to the language you're learning. For example, when learning American Sign Language, you really need either a live instructor or videos. Sign It ASL, an online course whose video lessons have the feel of a television show, is extremely effective. 

Similarly, for languages with a script that's new to you, it's best to find an app that includes content for teaching reading and writing. In some cases, you might pick up two apps, one that focuses solely on reading and writing and another that teaches speaking and listening. There are plenty of apps that teach only writing for Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, and other non-Roman scripts.

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How Do You Learn Language Best? 

One of the hardest parts about learning a different language is that if you succeed 100% of the time, it's not difficult enough. If it's too easy, you're not learning. It's uncomfortable for many people, but it's another reason you need to explore all your options and language learning apps and resources that match your skill level. 

For example, podcasts are a great way to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Babbel and Duolingo both have good podcasts. If you can understand about 80% of what's being said, that's right where you should be. If you're not into podcasts in the first place, you might get frustrated and supply up.

A few apps, including Lingoda, offer placement tests so you can find out which level is the most appropriate place for you to start.

Duolingo is the best free language learning app, offering bite-sized interactive sessions. (Credit: Duolingo)

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What Is the Best Free Language Learning App?

The best free app for learning a language is Duolingo, hands down. We recommend it enthusiastically, no matter your level or language goals, as it has just about everything. You won't become fluent using only Duolingo, but it is excellent for helping you study and keep up your skills.

It's available as a web app and mobile app, and it works well whether you're a total beginner or already have experience. You can study as many languages as you like on Duolingo. It has more than 30 languages with instruction in English, plus more options if your preferred language of instruction is something else.

If you're not a beginner, Duolingo lets you take a placement test to find the right place to start. It also makes it easy to practice specific skills because it has lessons that focus not only on vocabulary themes (Family, Hobbies) but also on verb tenses and grammatical rules (Past Imperfect, Dative Case).

You can practice exercises in bite-size lessons or explore content for intermediate and advanced speakers, including Stories and podcasts, which are only available for some languages. Duolingo also has some gamification aspects, so you can set a goal for yourself and compete against others. The more you hit your goal, the more bonus points you earn. It's a wonderful app that's totally free. You can support Duolingo by paying for a Plus account, but it's not necessary to get everything this app has to offer.

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Is Rosetta Stone Worth the Price?

Rosetta Stone is the most polished language-learning app, with plenty of extras. Among paid programs, it continues to be our top pick, with Fluenz being a close second. Rosetta Stone is often on sale, so you can expect to pay less than the list price to get it. If you and your family members study multiple languages often, the Lifetime membership is a good deal because it gives you access to all of Rosetta Stone's languages for your lifetime for one flat rate (usually you can get it for about $179 on sale).

Rosetta Stone is reliable, accurate, and thorough, with more than 20 languages. We like its rigor, especially for beginners. You know what to do every day, and you can plan to spend about 30 minutes per day completing your lesson. If you follow this routine, Rosetta Stone has enough content to keep you busy for months. Again, you won't become fluent in a language using only Rosetta Stone, but it's superb at getting you started and helping you build a foundation so that you can add more tools to further your learning.

For all these reasons, Rosetta Stone is ideal for anyone who is new to a language and wants to develop a base vocabulary and grammar. It's well-structured, clear, and moves at a deliberate pace. Use Rosetta Stone faithfully for a few months, and you'll learn to speak, read, write, and understand basic words and phrases.

Rosetta Stone uses an immersion teaching style in its interactive software. (Credit: Rosetta Stone)

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The Best Language Software With a Virtual Teacher

Some learners do best when they have an instructor to guide them. When you're starting with a language, seeing another human being speak it, watching their facial movements, and seeing their smile can make it feel less intimidating. Fluenz gets it. This program uses videos of a teacher to introduce new lessons and review concepts, then follows them up with interactive learning exercises and quizzes. It's as rigorous as Rosetta Stone, but it uses a completely different approach, which some people prefer.

Fluenz has prerecorded video-based lessons with an instructor, plus interactive exercises. (Credit: Fluenz)

As Fluenz progresses, the instructor walks you through lessons in not only pronunciation and grammar but culture, too. If you learn best when you see a familiar face, Fluenz is a great program to pick.

Fluenz offers seven language courses: Chinese (Mandarin with Pinyin writing only), French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Latin American Spanish, and European Spanish.

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Lingoda's small group classes are limited to five students. (Credit: Lingoda/Zoom/PCMag)

The Best App for Group Classes and Speaking Practicing

Lingoda is our top pick for live, video-based group classes designed to get you speaking. With Lingoda, you take a placement test and then commit to a package of classes, which you pay for upfront. Classes take place over Zoom and are limited to five students. One-on-one sessions are also available for a higher per-class cost.

The curriculum and levels used in Lingoda are based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Lingoda offers classes in French, German, Spanish, English, and Business English.

Babbel is the best language learning app for people who like challenging content. (Credit: Babbel)

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What Is the Most Challenging Language Instruction App?

One app stands out for having lessons that are harder than others: Babbel. While testing this app, we kept a notebook by our side and quickly filled it with words and phrases just to keep up. Not everyone can jump into tough language-learning content, but some people can and like it.

For example, if you're learning a language that's linguistically close to the one you already speak, such as German and Dutch or Spanish and Portuguese, tougher content might be best for you. Additionally, experienced language learners might find Babbel's content just the right speed.

Babbel has 13 languages, assuming your language of instruction is English. You can learn Danish, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. There's also a course for learning English, with instruction available in French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

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If you've studied a language before and find that most language learning apps are too easy, you might want to try an app that gives you movies and TV shows in your target language, plus some tools to help you learn the words, phrases, and expressions that are new to you. Two good apps offer this: Yabla and Lingopie (which didn't score high enough to be included in our final list of the 10 best language apps). Both Yabla and Lingopie let you watch videos with the option to show closed captioning in the native language as well as English subtitles. You can look for content from a particular country or region if you're trying to acclimate your ear to a certain dialect or accent.

Yabla helps experienced learners practice listening and comprehension. (Credit: Yabla)

What makes them different? Yabla offers six languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, plus an English program for Spanish speakers. When you sign up, you choose just one language. Lingopie has six languages as well (French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish). When you pay for an account, you get access to all the content in all the languages. Yabla has more interactive exercises for practicing the new words you learn, and in terms of genre, it offers both instructional learning videos and entertainment. Lingopie has only entertainment—no lessons on grammar or anything else—and only flashcards for interacting with new words you learn along the way.

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The Best Audio-Focused Language Apps

If you're the kind of person who can get immersed in podcasts and audiobooks, you might consider an audio-focused language learning program. Two that stand out are Pimsleur and Michel Thomas. (Michel Thomas did not score high enough to be included in our top ten.) Each is named after the person who created the learning technique used in the program. Both were sold as tapes, then as CDs, and now as apps.

Pimsleur offers audio-focused lessons, plus interactive app content for select languages. (Credit: Pimsleur/PCMag)

Pimsleur, named for Dr. Paul Pimsleur, uses a spaced repetition method. In other words, the program uses specific intervals of time between when you first learn a word and when you're asked to recall it, and these intervals are designed for maximum language retention. Each lesson takes about 30 minutes, and you're supposed to do exactly one lesson per day. For select languages, you can find a version of the Pimsleur app with interactive exercises, too.

The method used in the Michel Thomas app is different. Michel Thomas was a polyglot who developed a method of informal teaching. It involves putting people into a classroom and teaching them words that can be used as building blocks. That way, you get to speaking quickly and can mix and match the words you've learned to say in several sentences. When you buy the Michel Thomas program, you hear the recording from one of these classrooms, and you're supposed to play along as if you were there in person.

For learning a language that isn't widely taught, Mango Languages is one of the best places to look. (Credit: Mango Languages)

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The Best Apps for Hard-to-Find Languages

Most language-learning software is available for Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. What do you do if you need to learn Igbo or Ojibwe?

When you're in a bind to find an app for a language you want to learn, there are two sources to try: Transparent Language Online and Mango Languages (which didn't make the cut for this list). Transparent has programs for more than 100 languages. Some of those programs are short, but the company is adding to them over time. Mango Languages is an option if you're stuck, though it's not an app we highly recommend. For some languages, however, it may be your only option.

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The Best App for Learning ASL

There are several useful apps for learning American Sign Language, but our clear favorite is Sign It ASL. This app meets the unique challenges of teaching fingerspelling as well as more complex signs, grammar, culture, and etiquette. 

Sign It ASL is the best service we've tested for learning American Sign Language. (Credit: Sign It ASL)

As you might guess, the content is entirely video-based, using pre-recorded and professionally produced videos. Sign It ASL manages to convey a lot of information in relatively long (up to an hour) video lessons that are entertaining and engaging.

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Make Sure Your Apps Are Tough Enough

However you choose to learn a language, stick with it! Don't be afraid to change the app you use as you progress. When an app feels too easy, it's time to stretch yourself in new ways.

If any of the apps in this list sounds right for you, click the link for an in-depth review. If you're looking to learn something other than a language, from coding to sewing, see our roundup of the best online learning services.