Audio courses have become a buzz in the language learning community lately because you can learn with them anywhere—the car, at home, on a run, etc. But I’ve always been hesitant to try one as my main resource because I feel like I learn better when I can sit at a desk and write things down.
But after hearing about Coffee Break Languages over and over again on YouTube, I finally decided to give it a try. This is my experience learning Italian from scratch with a free trial of Coffee Break Italian’s premium course, and Portuguese with only their free podcast on Spotify.
Overview
Name: Coffee Break Languages
Description: A podcast-based language learning program available for free on streaming platforms and with extra study materials on their Coffee Break Academy.
Languages offered: French, Italian, Chinese, German, Spanish, English, Swedish, Gaelic, Portuguese, Japanese
Offer price: Free on streaming platforms, $120-$145 per season for full access
Coffee Break Languages offers podcast-style courses in 10 languages. All of their episodes are available for free on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but subscribing to their Coffee Break Academy gives you full access to learning materials like lesson notes, transcripts and quizzes. You learn a lot from each lesson, but purchasing full access to a season is a bit pricey.
User friendliness - 10/10
10/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 8/10
8/10
Value for price - 6/10
6/10
Pros
You learn a good amount of new words each lesson
Culture lessons are incorporated into each lesson
Teaches neutral accents
Accessible on multiple platforms
Perfect lesson length
Content for all levels in most languages
Cons
The Premium versions are pricey
Grammar isn’t deeply explained until later in the season
Some of the podcasts haven’t been updated in years
Coffee Break Languages was made by Teach Yourself, a huge language learning company that’s well-known for their textbooks. Coffee Break is most known for their podcasts, but they also have workbooks and Coffee Break TV.
They currently offer 10 languages: French, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, German, Spanish, English, Swedish, Gaelic, Portuguese and Japanese. (You can see our in-depth review specifically on the Coffee Break Spanish course here.)
The podcasts are available on the website and streaming platforms like Spotify for free. And with a membership to the Coffee Break Academy, you get access to extra materials like accompanying PDF lesson notes, lesson transcripts, quizzes and more.
Features of the Coffee Break Languages Courses
Progressive audio and video lessons
The Coffee Break courses are built on podcast-style audio lessons, with around 40 episodes per season. In most courses, there are three or four seasons total. The seasons represent levels, so season one is beginner and season three or four is advanced.
There are usually two native-speaker hosts and one learner. The main host explains vocabulary and grammar topics to the learner, and they have practice conversations using the new material. The lessons are supposed to feel like going on a walk or a coffee date with a friend who’s teaching you their native language.
I was using the Coffee Break Portuguese podcast on Spotify, and it covered the same amount of material as the paid Italian course in the main lessons. But it’s 100% an audio-only course since I didn’t have access to the lesson notes or transcripts—something I’m not used to, but I still learned a lot.
In both the Italian and Portuguese courses, I learned how to greet people and ask “how are you” in the first two lessons. I also learned many ways to respond to questions or various ways to say the same phrase, which I loved. For example, in the Italian course, I learned that I could say sto bene (I’m good) or sto benissimo (I’m very good). And the host explained why adding -issimo makes the adjective stronger.
The lessons build on each other very well—there are small reviews scattered throughout the lessons, and I was using words I learned in the first lesson to make longer sentences and responses in the later ones.
When you pay for a Coffee Break Language course, you also get the same lessons in video format. I personally used the video lessons instead of the audio for Italian. But honestly, the only difference is that the videos showed me the new Italian word on the screen as I was learning it. Since I’m a visual learner, I liked this—but the videos overall weren’t very engaging. They’re pretty much just a green background with the new words and conversation scripts popping up.
Accompanying PDF lesson notes
The paid courses come with downloadable lesson notes that review each new word and grammar point discussed. They also include the cultural notes from the lesson, and the explanations of new material are straight-to-the-point and very easy to understand.
They’re really easy to read—the layout is nice and there’s lots of space so they don’t feel overwhelming. All the conversations are included as well, making the notes double as a lesson transcript.
Lesson quizzes
Another thing I liked about the lesson notes is that translation tests come at the end. They come after the “Review” section and ask you to translate English phrases into Italian.
Although honestly, I would’ve preferred to see a more interactive quiz on the website—such as a multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank that you can check. Some of the quizzes only have five questions, and the answer key isn’t separated enough—so it’s easy to “accidentally” cheat.
Bonus audio
Each lesson in the paid courses include a bonus audio. This doubles as extra learning content and a review of what you learned in the lesson.
The hosts ask you to partake in a conversation with them using the words you learned in the main lesson. They start by asking a question, and you’re prompted to take a few seconds to think of a response. Afterward, they go over the possible correct responses.
While going back and forth in these conversations, the hosts slip in a few new words that weren’t covered in the main lesson. After the conversation is over, they point out the new words and teach them.
I think the bonus audios are very well done. They gave me just enough time to think about my responses and challenged me to use the words I learned in new ways that weren’t in the scripted conversations. The only thing I don’t really like is that the words from these bonuses aren’t included in the lesson notes, so they were harder for me to remember. And I don’t see the point in not including them since the lesson notes are a paid feature anyway.
Other Coffee Break Language Products
Coffee Break Books
These workbooks are titled “50 [Language] Coffee Breaks” and are like a collection of practice exercises in your target language. They’re currently available in English, Swedish, Spanish, German, Italian and French.
The book is divided into five-minute, 10-minute and 15-minute coffee breaks so you can pick an exercise that you have enough time for. There are about 10-20 exercises in each one.
The exercises are a mixture of mini grammar challenges, word builders, guided translations, “say what you see,” translation challenges and more. The answers are at the end of the section—so for example, all of the solutions to the five-minute exercises will be in an answer key before the 10-minute ones start. The 15-minute exercises even have reading and writing challenges.
Lastly, the books are super affordable—about $11 for the paperback version and around $3 for the Kindle version.
Coffee Break TV
Coffee Break TV is available for four languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish. It’s a huge library of videos that attempt to immerse you in the target language. You can sort them by level and choose between a lesson-style format or a conversation-focus video.
I decided to test out the Spanish videos, and I noticed that quite a bit of the videos are purely lessons. For example, “Three subjunctive triggers,” “The present subjunctive” and “Pronouns in perífrasis verbales.” But most of them are based on a theme, such as “If you had to recommend a food from your country, what would it be?”
All four of the languages only have videos up to the upper-intermediate level, which they consider B1-B2. I watched a few videos in this level as a fluent speaker (but self-taught), and the first thing I noticed was that the videos just seemed too easy for this level. One of the videos even used a lot of English, which should be completely unnecessary for someone who’s upper-intermediate.
Aside from that, Coffee Break TV would make a great supplement resource to the podcast courses. It’s a great way to get extra immersion and to learn topics that might not be covered in the course.
It’s $19.99 a month and you get access to all four languages, which I think is a great value for the price. I would just recommend it to beginners and intermediate learners—there’s really no advanced content.
How Much Does Coffee Break Languages Cost?
The Coffee Break podcasts are free on streaming platforms, but buying a season with all the supplemental study tools costs between $120 and $145 per season.
Pros of Coffee Break Languages
You learn a good amount of new words each lesson
One of the main doubts I had about Coffee Break Languages—and audio courses in general—was that I wouldn’t be able to learn (and remember) many words since I’m a visual learner and like to write things down.
Now, you definitely can write things down if you’re using the paid courses. The words appear on the screen and you can download the notes, but with the free version, you rely on what you hear. For a beginner, you probably will have difficulties correctly spelling the words without seeing them.
But I actually learned about 15 words each lesson, and I didn’t have trouble remembering them—even with the audio-only Portuguese course.
Culture lessons are incorporated into each lesson
Lots of cultural knowledge is incorporated into the lessons. In the Italian course, each lesson includes a “Caffè Culturale” section where Francesca explains something about Italian culture. The culture tip is related to what you’re learning in the lesson, making it easy to remember.
I also like that the notes include a recap of the culture segment. In the Italian course, it was highlighted in a light red box to separate it from the rest of the notes.
Teaches neutral accents
Something I loved about the free Portuguese course on Spotify was that it teaches a neutral accent. The main host is from São Paulo, Brazil, but the second host is from Portugal and makes appearances throughout the lessons.
They note different pronunciation possibilities between both dialects. For example, in the first lesson, I learned that como esta is pronounced with a normal “s” in Brazil, but in Portugal, it would be pronounced more like an “sh.”
Accessible on multiple platforms
When you purchase a Coffee Break Languages course, you access it using the Coffee Break Academy on the official website. But if you’re using the free podcasts, you can find them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
Perfect lesson length
Coffee Break’s main goal is to make lessons that feel like a “coffee break,” so each of them is about 15-25 minutes long. This is the perfect length to me—you can squeeze it in during any break, and since it’s audio-based, you can complete the lesson anywhere.
Since the episodes are conversation-based, you aren’t prompted to repeat after each phrase—you just need to sit back and listen. It helps to say the words out loud, but I found it wasn’t necessary to remember the words. So you can complete the lessons anywhere you are without having to disrupt the peace or feel like a weirdo talking to yourself.
Content for all levels in most languages
Most of the common language courses are fully developed with three or four seasons. For some of them—like the French and Spanish courses—the third season is upper-intermediate and the fourth season is advanced.
But for others—Italian included—there’s no upper-intermediate level, so the third level is advanced.
As of June 2024, the newer courses with only one season are Chinese, Swedish, Portuguese and Gaelic.
Cons of Coffee Break Languages
The Premium versions are pricey
The biggest drawback for me is the price of the courses. Each season costs between $120 and $145, depending on the language—a season in the Italian course is $145. Since there are three seasons total in the course, you’d spend around $435 to complete it.
To me, this is just too expensive when all the episodes are accessible for free on streaming platforms. So what you’re really paying for is the lesson notes, bonus audio and some supplemental materials like the quizzes (which are part of the lesson notes).
Grammar isn’t deeply explained until later in the season
Grammar honestly isn’t explained deeply enough for my personal satisfaction. For example, I was never explained the difference between stou and sono in the Italian course and I’ve already taken three lessons. Because I know Spanish, I was able to guess—but that’s all it was, a guess. And someone who’s never studied a Romance language before probably wouldn’t be able to.
I looked over the Season 1 curriculum before making this point just to see when and how much grammar would be taught. What I found was that Italian grammar isn’t introduced until lesson 8. And of the three Italian verb endings, you only learn to conjugate one (-are verbs) in the present tense during all 40 lessons.
The very last lesson—Lesson 40—introduces you to one of the past tenses.
If you aren’t that into grammar, this might even be a pro for you. But for my personal taste, it just isn’t enough—especially after spending $145 and almost 20 hours of learning.
Some of the podcasts haven’t been updated in years
After the advanced level of a language course, Coffee Break stops publishing new episodes. It’s like the end of any other course, which makes sense. But some of the languages don’t have advanced seasons yet and haven’t been touched in years.
For example, Coffee Break Chinese only has one season (beginner) and the last episode was published in March 2019. Coffee Break Swedish also only has the beginner season, with the last episode being published in April 2022.
Free trials are only available for 5 languages
Coffee Break Languages only offers free trials for five of their language courses—French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. So if you want to learn one of the other languages with more than just the free podcast, you’ll have to pay for the season upfront.
With FluentU, you hear languages in real-world contexts—the way that native speakers actually use them. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of FluentU videos on offer:
FluentU really takes the grunt work out of learning languages, leaving you with nothing but engaging, effective and efficient learning. It’s already hand-picked the best videos for you and organized them by level and topic. All you have to do is choose any video that strikes your fancy to get started!
Each word in the interactive captions comes with a definition, audio, image, example sentences and more.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab, and easily review words and phrases from the video under Vocab.
You can use FluentU’s unique adaptive quizzes to learn the vocabulary and phrases from the video through fun questions and exercises. Just swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you're studying.
The program even keeps track of what you’re learning and tells you exactly when it’s time for review, giving you a 100% personalized experience.
Innovative Language also uses podcast-style videos and audio lessons. They have courses in 34 languages, such as Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Filipino, Arabic and more.
They publish new audio and video lessons weekly in all their languages and have beginner- to advanced-level content.
The progress tracking system is detailed and keeps your motivation high, and the levels are very well structured. You can choose from multiple different learning paths within your level, working your way through the lessons and seeing your progress in the dashboard.
Another feature in common with Coffee Break Languages is their downloadable PDF lesson notes and quizzes. But Innovative Language takes it a step further and offers built-in spaced repetition flashcards as well.
You can read more about Innovative Language in our more in-depth review here:
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Pimsleur is an audio-only learning program available in over 50 languages.
The courses are broken down into levels, with each level containing 30 lessons (to be completed in 30 days). Some languages only have one level, but others have as many as five.
Each lesson is 30 minutes long and follows a listen-and-repeat format. The lessons start with a conversation—at first, you’re not able to understand any of it (or at least not all of it). But by the end of the lesson, you’ll be able to understand everything.
The goal is to use as little English as possible, even in the very beginning levels—which I love.
We also have a Pimsleur review if it’s piqued your interest, which you can check out here:
Is Pimsleur’s popular, audio-based language learning program right for you? I’ve put together an in-depth Pimsleur review to help you decide. Discover the pros and cons of…
Final Thoughts: Should You Use Coffee Break Languages?
My final opinion is that the Coffee Break podcasts are among the best audio-based language programs out there, but I personally wouldn’t pay for the online course and would stick to streaming on Spotify like I did for Portuguese.
All the lessons are available for free, and I found that I learned enough from them without the extra study materials (which honestly didn’t meet my expectations).
But the content is very well made and follows an excellent progressive structure, making it a great resource to use for free.
Coffee Break Languages is a big name in the language learning community, so I hope my experience has helped you figure out if it’s a resource you’d like to check out or not.
I’d love to see more languages offered in the future and more seasons to the ones that don’t go beyond beginner—like Chinese and Portuguese.
