Croatian is the official language of Croatia and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union, which Croatia joined in 2013. About 6 million people speak it. Duolingo and Babbel do not teach Croatian, so learners put together audio courses, vocabulary apps, and free courses from Croatian universities.
Here are the apps and services that teach Croatian, grouped by what they help you do. You can start with one and add another when you need it.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
Bubblegum suits learners who want Croatian built around their own lives. Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, what you want to learn. She writes lessons for your level and helps you understand the words and grammar. You can read and listen, and ask her about anything that is unclear. News and stories give you more Croatian to read about music, food, family, and other things you care about.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum does not replace real Croatian voices. For recorded speakers, Pimsleur and Glossika are the better fit. For a fixed course, try Mango or Ling, and for conversation, try the apps in Learn With People.
- Read Croatian lessons for free.
- Lessons fit your level, interests, and goals.
- Read and listen to news and stories in Croatian about things you care about.
- Ask Poppy about a sentence while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
- Lesson audio uses AI voices, not recordings of Croatian speakers.
- You cannot import your own books or articles.
- The free plan includes one new custom lesson each day.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Follow a Croatian Course
If you want someone to choose what comes next, start here. These apps give you an ordered path through Croatian words and sentences.
Mango Languages
Mango's Croatian course has three units, 15 chapters, and 83 lessons. Check your local library first, since many libraries include Mango.
- Conversation-first lessons with audio from native speakers.
- Grammar notes and culture notes.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Ling
Ling has a Croatian course for beginner to intermediate learners, from level A1 to B1. It also includes cultural notes about Croatia.
- Five-minute lessons with game-like exercises and audio from native speakers.
- A dialog feature with speech recognition for practicing your pronunciation.
- Flashcards
Mobile
Practice Speaking and Listening
Pimsleur
Pimsleur suits learners who want to hear and speak Croatian before they read much. The lessons start with greetings and directions and later cover shopping and talking about family.
- 30-minute audio lessons built around conversations with native speakers.
- Reading instruction comes with the audio lessons.
MobileWeb
Glossika
Glossika is an audio course that teaches Croatian grammar and vocabulary through sentences you hear and say. You can use it online or offline, with your hands free.
- Audio training one sentence at a time, from level A1 to C1.
- Start from zero or take a placement test.
MobileWeb
Build Vocabulary
Drops
Drops teaches Croatian words through short, illustrated games. Topics range from travel talk to nature and animals, and the lessons are made with local translators and native speakers.
- More than 2,500 Croatian words and phrases, with pictures.
- Review with Favorites, Review Dojo, Quiz Mode, and Word Collection.
Mobile
uTalk
uTalk helps you learn Croatian words through games and audio. The course takes you from basic greetings to about level A2.
- More than 2,500 words and phrases across more than 60 topics.
- Short lessons with native speakers' voices, and reviews that focus on the words you find harder.
MobileWeb
Clozemaster
Clozemaster shows you a Croatian sentence with one word missing, and you choose or type the word. Each word appears inside a real sentence, so you see how it is used.
- Thousands of fill-in-the-blank Croatian sentences.
- Sentences start with the most common words, so you learn the most useful ones first.
MobileWeb
Read and Listen to Croatian
LingQ
LingQ lets you learn Croatian from real online content, such as podcasts and e-books. You learn new words in context and review them with spaced repetition. Beginners can start with its Mini Stories course.
- Import your own videos, books, and songs and turn them into Croatian lessons.
- A Croatian forum where tutors and learners answer questions.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Learn With People
Choose a tutor if you want teaching and correction. Choose a language exchange if you want a practice partner and are happy to help with English in return.
italki
italki has a Croatian tutor page with a profile for each teacher. Some are professional teachers, and others are community tutors who offer conversation practice.
- Choose a Croatian tutor and book lessons around your schedule.
- Get feedback while you speak.
MobileWeb
Preply
Preply lists more than 50 Croatian tutors. Their profiles describe their teaching style and the levels they teach, so you can find one who fits your goals.
- Compare tutors by profile and reviews.
- Ask for a free replacement if your first tutor is not the right fit.
MobileWeb
HelloTalk
HelloTalk has a Croatian page for finding language exchange partners. You help your partner with your language, and they help you with Croatian.
- Meet Croatian speakers who want to practice another language.
- Chat by text or voice, or try a timed language exchange call.
- It can take a few messages to find a partner who has time to chat.
Mobile
Tandem
Tandem lists Croatian among its languages, and it has a page for language exchange partners in Zagreb. Agree with your partner on how to split time between your two languages.
- Practice with messages, voice notes, and video calls.
- Use the correction and translation tools while you chat.
- It can take a few tries to find a partner who matches your interests and time.
MobileWeb
University Courses and Other Resources
Croatian universities and public bodies offer courses for learners. Croaticum, the University of Zagreb's centre for Croatian as a second and foreign language, runs the free online courses A1.HR and A2.HR, with help in English and Spanish. Its LearnCro app continues at level B1 and works offline. The University of Zagreb and the Croatian Heritage Foundation also run HiT-1, a 12-week beginner course online with live lessons, twice a year.
For textbooks, Tako Lako is an open online textbook from the University of Texas at Austin, with audio dialogues. Naš jezik from Columbia University teaches Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian side by side. That works because the four standard varieties are close enough for speakers to understand one another. Colloquial Croatian is a printed course with dialogues and grammar notes.
To hear Croatian at natural speed, HRTi streams the public broadcaster's television and radio channels, and keeps recent shows to watch later. When you can read definitions in Croatian, the Hrvatski jezični portal is a Croatian dictionary written in Croatian.
Learn Croatian in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings. Lesson explanations and other platforms may differ.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Mango Languages | 2 | Full list |
| Ling | 67 | Full list |
| Pimsleur | 3 | Full list |
| Glossika | 2 | Full list |
| Drops | 16 | Full list |
| uTalk | 1 | Full list |
| Clozemaster | 37 | Full list |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
| italki | 19 | Full list |
| Preply | 19 | Full list |
| HelloTalk | 16 | Full list |
| Tandem | 14 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (5)
- Memrise word listsCroatian word lists made by other learners, which you can study in the Memrise app.
- MondlyAn app with Croatian lessons on 50 topics and 41 conversations, plus a phrasebook of everyday expressions.
- Learn Croatian - LentilA phrasebook app with more than 300 free phrases and words recorded by a native speaker from Croatia. It also has flashcards with spaced repetition and a quiz.
- Learn Croatian - 50 LanguagesA phrasebook app with 100 lessons, and 30 of them are in the free version.
- TalkpalAn AI language tutor with a Croatian page. You chat about topics by writing or speaking and hear voice replies.
Common Questions
Which Croatian app should a beginner choose?
Start with Mango if your library offers it, or with Ling if you want a course that tells you what comes next. Add Pimsleur if you want to hear and say Croatian from the start. Bubblegum suits learners who want lessons around their own interests. Croatian uses the Latin alphabet with the extra letters č, ć, đ, š, and ž, so you do not need to learn a new script first.
Can I learn Croatian for free?
Yes. Croaticum's A1.HR and A2.HR courses are free, and so is its LearnCro app for level B1, which has 80 interactive units. Tako Lako is a free online textbook with 112 lessons. Bubblegum's lesson library is free to read too.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. You can read the free lesson library and ask Poppy for one new custom lesson each day on iPhone and Android. Become a Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons and to support our team.
Sources
- Croatian Parliament: Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (consolidated text), Article 12
- European Union: Languages, multilingualism, language rules
- European Union: Croatia
- UCLA Slavic Department: Background Information (Croatian)
- University of Cambridge Language Centre: Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin & Serbian
- Croaticum: Free Online Tools to Learn Croatian
- COERLL, University of Texas at Austin: Tako Lako
- Bubblegum
- Mango Languages
- Ling
- Pimsleur
- Glossika
- Drops
- uTalk
- Clozemaster
- LingQ
- italki
- Preply
- HelloTalk
- Tandem
Checked on October 4, 2026 against each app's own pages.
