The most important thing to know before you spend money and half a year on this: almost every language app trains recognition, not speech. You'll flawlessly pick the right answer out of four, rack up a streak — and still go silent at the checkout counter.
And second: when it comes to Czech, the selection is much smaller than it looks. Half of the popular apps simply don't have it.
What You Actually Need From an App
Before comparing anything, be honest about which skill you actually need. They're different skills, and no single app covers all of them.
| Skill | What it is | What trains it |
|---|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Knowing words | Flashcards, spaced repetition |
| Grammar | Cases, tenses, forms | Exercises, textbook, teacher |
| Listening | Understanding by ear | Podcasts, shows, dialogues |
| Speech (production) | Saying it out loud in two seconds | Only speaking out loud |
If you already understand Czech but don't speak it, you need the fourth row. You probably already have everything else — and one more flashcard app won't move the needle an inch. We go into why in Understand But Can't Speak.
Duolingo: It's There, But It Plateaus Fast
The world's most popular language app does have a Czech course — it's been around since 2017, launched in beta right there in the English interface. So if you're reading this in English, there's no workaround to hunt for: open the app, pick Czech, start.
The catch is the ceiling. The course tops out around A1–A2 — roughly 1,500 words. A functional B1 needs 2,500–3,000. And Duolingo's whole game loop is built around picking the right answer out of four, not producing it yourself.
Verdict. As a free vocabulary starter — fine. As a way to start speaking — no.
Czech Just Isn't Here
Before you subscribe to anything, check that the language is actually supported at all. Czech isn't Spanish — it's not there by default:
- Babbel — no Czech.
- Busuu — no Czech.
This isn't nitpicking: people pay for "learn languages" subscriptions for years before discovering Czech isn't among them. Check the language list before you pay, not after.
Vocabulary Trainers: Anki, Memrise, Drops, Mondly
All of these are about words, and in that lane they work fine.
- Anki — free, ugly, the best of the bunch. Spaced repetition, your own decks (including ones built around A2 exam topics). Requires discipline and setup.
- Memrise, Drops, Mondly — prettier and easier, short sessions, Czech is supported.
What they give you. Vocabulary. What they don't. Speech. You recognize unavený
in a list in under a second — and can't pull it out of your head when you need to tell an
actual person "Jsem unavený."
Audio Courses: Czech in Your Ears and Out Loud
Audio courses (Pimsleur and similar) work differently: a narrator asks a question, you say the answer out loud, then you hear the correct version. It's probably the only "old-school" format that actually makes you open your mouth.
The catch. You're talking into a void: the recording doesn't hear you, doesn't correct you, doesn't react to what you said. There's no dialogue — just scripted pronunciation drills. Plus the price, and a fairly slow pace.
AI Conversation Partners: The Thing That Didn't Exist Ten Years Ago
The only category that actually trains speech production.
- ChatGPT and other assistants in voice mode. The universal option: you can just ask it to "talk to me in Czech at an A2 level and correct my mistakes." It works, but you have to explain what you want every single time; the assistant doesn't remember your level or your recurring mistakes from one conversation to the next, doesn't track progress, and will happily wander off into philosophy instead of practice.
- Dedicated language AI platforms (TalkPal and similar). Many languages at once, Czech is one of them. Upside: ready-made scenarios. Downside: the Czech is generic, with no local context — they know nothing about úřad, cizinecká policie, or the residency exam.
- czechready — an AI trainer built specifically for the A2 residency exam, scoring your speaking and writing against the official criteria, with mock exams in the ÚJOP format. If passing the exam is your only goal, take it seriously — it's the tool closest to the actual exam.
- Mluvik — ours. It's a Telegram bot, not a standalone app: voice conversation at your level, gentle error correction, and tap-to-translate. Built for Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking expats living in Czechia.
Being honest about AI's downsides. It's not human: it's predictable, polite, never interrupts, has no accent, and never loses the thread. A real Czech person does all of that. AI won't replace a conversation club — it makes showing up to one less terrifying. We cover every option for live practice here.
Not an App, But a Competitor for the Same Money: A Tutor
italki, Preply, local teachers. For the price of a few subscriptions, you get an hour with an actual human, once a week. It's still the best way to learn — it's just expensive and tied to a schedule, and between lessons you don't speak at all.
What We'd Actually Install
Depends on where you're stuck:
- Starting from zero. Anki (or Memrise) for words + a textbook or course for grammar. The app is secondary here.
- You understand but can't speak. Don't buy another vocabulary trainer — you already have the words. What you need is a daily voice conversation: an AI partner every day + a real person once a week.
- Your A2 exam is a month out. The official NPI mock tests (free) plus practicing the speaking part out loud. What it actually asks — broken down by task.
And one rule nobody likes hearing: an app you never open your mouth for won't teach you to speak. No matter how long the streak.