Bosnian has about 2 million speakers and is one of three national languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Croatian and Serbian. Duolingo's own course list has no Bosnian course, so this page covers the apps and free courses that do teach it.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Bosnian. You learn from Bosnian you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Say your grandmother lives in Tuzla and you want to talk with her on the phone. Ask Poppy, your AI tutor, for a lesson about that call, and she writes it at your level, with audio. Bubblegum's Bosnian lessons are written in Latin letters.
To practice speaking with a person, see Practice With a Person.
- Poppy writes each lesson for your level, on topics you pick.
- Each lesson plays AI audio while you read.
- Tap a word to see what it means, or ask Poppy to explain a whole line.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- You can't turn your own Bosnian books into lessons. However, you can paste a page in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Ling
Ling's Bosnian course starts with an introduction lesson of survival sentences and everyday basics. After that you say words aloud and practice conversations.
- Short lessons with native audio and game-style practice.
- A dialog feature for practicing conversations, and flashcards for new words.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
50LANGUAGES
50LANGUAGES is a phrasebook course. Each lesson shows the Bosnian next to your language and plays the audio, so you can read and listen at once.
- 100 lessons with text and audio, free on the website.
- The lessons cover everyday places, like a hotel, a store or the doctor, at about the A1 and A2 levels.
MobileWeb
EasyBosnian
EasyBosnian is a course made for Bosnian only. It is new and growing, so check a few lessons before you plan around it.
- 120 lessons across six levels, from A1 to C2, each level ending with a test.
- The course covers cases, verb aspect and the Cyrillic letters, and the site has a dictionary.
MobileWeb
uTalk
uTalk teaches Bosnian words and phrases for talking with family and friends or getting around the Balkans.
- Short lessons with recordings of Bosnian speakers, and memory games.
- Reviews focus on the words you get wrong.
MobileWeb
Drops
Drops teaches Bosnian words through quick games, with pictures and sounds.
- Short, illustrated word games with sound.
- It teaches Bosnian in Latin letters, with pictures for each word.
Mobile
Bosanski: Learn Bosnian
Bosanski is free to download on the App Store. Its lessons start with greetings like selam and build up to full sentences, in the ijekavian spelling used in Bosnia.
- Speaking practice with a character named Nana, and every word spoken by a Bosnian voice.
- Made for families with Bosnian roots, with a kids' mode and offline lessons.
Mobile
italki
italki has Bosnian tutors for one-on-one video lessons.
- Pick a Bosnian tutor and book a video lesson.
- Each profile shows the languages the tutor speaks, so you can choose one who explains in English.
MobileWeb
Preply
Preply has Bosnian tutors for private online lessons. Book a trial lesson to see whether you like the tutor.
MobileWeb
HelloTalk
HelloTalk is for language exchange. You help your partner with your language, and they help you with Bosnian.
- Chat by text or voice with Bosnian speakers who want to learn your language.
- Voice rooms let you practice speaking with other learners.
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (3)
- TalkpalAn AI tutor for Bosnian. You practice by chatting about topics you choose.
- Learn Bosnian - LentilA phrasebook app with Bosnian phrases for greetings, transport, restaurants and shopping. The text follows the audio as you listen, and flashcards help you remember.
- MemriseBosnian word lists made by other learners, which you can study and add to.
Naš jezik is a free beginner textbook from Columbia University's Language Resource Center. It has 20 lessons for learners who want to reach about level A2, and each lesson has a chapter to download, a list of new words and a workbook with exercises that the site checks for you. It teaches Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian side by side, and it marks every word that belongs to only one of them. Lessons 1 to 10 each have a listening exercise with recordings, and lesson 1 also has recordings of its reading texts. Use the marks to pick out the Bosnian words.
Bosnian Language for Non-Native Speakers, A1/A2 is a 2025 textbook from the Pedagogical Institute of the Una-Sana Canton in Bihać. It is written for Bosnian only, with English instructions, grammar explanations and exercises. We found no audio for it.
The International University of Sarajevo ran a Bosnian course for foreigners in February 2026 that starts at A1.1 and lasts 25 hours, in person and online. Check its page for new dates.
To hear Bosnian, SBS Bosanski has news, radio programs and podcasts in Bosnian, and the Learn Bosnian podcast has 22 episodes that start with the basics. For more Bosnian to read, watch and hear at your level, see our Bosnian comprehensible input comparison.
| App | Free? | What's Free |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Free version | Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. |
| Ling | Some lessons free | The first two beginner units are free in every language. Ling Pro opens all the lessons, and the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. |
| 50LANGUAGES | Some lessons free | The single-language apps give you 30 of their 100 lessons for free, and you pay inside the app for the rest. |
| EasyBosnian | Free | The whole course is free. You register for a free account to start. |
| uTalk | Some lessons free | Every language has free starter words, and getting full marks in the games opens one more topic for free. For the rest, you subscribe or buy a language or topic. |
| Drops | Free version | The free version lets you learn for five minutes every 10 hours. Drops Premium gives you unlimited time and all the content, and the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. |
| Bosanski: Learn Bosnian | Not stated | It is free to download. Its App Store page lists in-app purchases and does not say what is free before them. |
| italki | Paid | You pay for each lesson, and each teacher sets their own price. Practicing with the community and taking the level test are free. |
| Preply | Paid | You pay for each lesson, and each tutor sets their own price. If your first tutor isn't a good fit, you can try two more for free. |
| HelloTalk | Free version | Chatting with language partners is free. HelloTalk VIP removes ads and adds unlimited translations and more new partners each day. |
| Talkpal | Free version | Talkpal's free Basic Plan lets you chat with the AI for a short time each day. Talkpal Premium removes the limit and starts with a free trial. |
| Learn Bosnian - Lentil | Not stated | It is free to download. Its page describes a premium experience and does not say which lessons are free. |
| Memrise | Not stated | These are word lists made by other learners on Memrise. |
Menus in your language don't always mean Bosnian explained in your language, so try one lesson before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Ling | 68 | Full list |
| 50LANGUAGES | 55 | Full list |
| EasyBosnian | 1 | Full list |
| uTalk | 140+ | Full list |
| Drops | 16 | Full list |
| Bosanski | 1 | Full list |
| italki | 19 | Full list |
| Preply | 19 | Full list |
| HelloTalk | 16 | Full list |
| Talkpal | 51 | Full list |
| Learn Bosnian - Lentil | 46 | Full list |
| Memrise | 22 | Full list |
Which Bosnian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Bosnian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. If you'd like a free course first, try the Naš jezik textbook, or the lessons on EasyBosnian.
Is Bosnian the same as Croatian and Serbian?
The three are close enough for speakers to understand each other. What differs is a set of words and spellings. In Naš jezik, lesson 3 is titled Šta/ imamo?, because the book teaches all three. Bosnian and Serbian usually say šta (what), and Croatian says . Bosnian and Croatian share the ijekavian pronunciation and spelling, as in mlijeko (milk), and Serbian mostly uses the ekavian spelling. Bosnian is written mostly in Latin letters, and Serbian is written in both Latin and Cyrillic letters.
Do I need to learn Cyrillic to learn Bosnian?
No. Bosnian is mostly written in Latin letters, an alphabet of 30 letters, and Bubblegum and Drops teach those. EasyBosnian and the first lesson of Naš jezik also show the Cyrillic letters, so you can learn them later if you want.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- UCLA Department of Slavic Languages: Background Information (Bosnian) (about 2 million speakers; three national languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina; ijekavian; Latin and Cyrillic)
- Duolingo: course list (no Bosnian course)
- Columbia University Language Resource Center: Naš jezik, a digital resource for elementary Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian
- Columbia University Language Resource Center: Naš jezik textbook and vocabulary files
- Pedagogical Institute of the Una-Sana Canton: Bosnian Language for Non-Native Speakers, A1/A2 (2025)
- International University of Sarajevo, IUS Life: Bosnian Language Course, Level A1.1, 25 hours
- University of Chicago CEERES: Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian language resources
- Ling: Learn Bosnian
- Ling: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Ling: what's free
- uTalk: Learn Bosnian
- uTalk: Languages you can learn from
- uTalk: iPhone App Store listing (Bosnian and what's free)
- Drops: Learn Bosnian
- Drops: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- 50LANGUAGES: Bosnian for beginners (100 free lessons)
- 50LANGUAGES: Learn Bosnian, iPhone App Store listing (30 of 100 lessons free in the app)
- Bosanski: Learn Bosnian, iPhone App Store listing
- EasyBosnian: free Bosnian course
- italki: Bosnian tutors
- italki: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Preply: Bosnian tutors
- Preply: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- HelloTalk: Bosnian language partners
- HelloTalk: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- HelloTalk: what the paid plan adds
- Talkpal: Learn Bosnian with AI
- Talkpal: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Learn Bosnian - Lentil: iPhone App Store listing
- Memrise: Learn Bosnian
- Memrise: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Learn Bosnian podcast: Apple Podcasts
- SBS Bosanski: news, radio programs and podcasts in Bosnian
- Ling: what the paid plan adds
- Drops: what's free
- Drops: what the paid plan adds
- TalkPal: what the paid plan adds
- italki: what's free
- Bubblegum
