Comparativa de los mejores cursos de idiomas para empresas [2024]

Do you want to give your company a competitive advantage by investing in language learning? It’s certainly a smart choice. In this increasingly globalized economy , choosing the right tool can unlock a wealth of opportunities for your employees .

And the cherry on top? Your business can benefit from corporate language training and at the same time from new language skills for your team.

So, if you want to explore the best online English courses for organizations in 2024, you have come to the right page.

You will also discover why language learning is so beneficial for business and what factors you should take into account before implementing a corporate language program or a business English course in your company.

Ready to choose the right language learning program for your company? Let’s get started!

Why is language learning important for companies?

Unsurprisingly, there are numerous benefits of language learning for employees and their employers . On an individual level, research shows that learning a new language changes the way your brain operates . And these transformations can improve the cognitive skills of your workforce.

Specifically, it strengthens a person’s working memory, reading skills, verbal fluency, decision-making ability, attention span, confidence, ability to multitask, and creativity. Not to mention, it increases overall well-being by warding off problems like dementia.

These benefits of learning a second language not only benefit employees but also the companies they work for. For starters, the cognitive rewards of language learning listed above will naturally elevate workers’ job performance.

This can also improve internal communication in your organization as global teams become more diverse.

By breaking down language barriers between employees from different backgrounds, a more cohesive and productive workforce can be developed .

Del mismo modo, si tu equipo puede comunicarse con clientes y asociados que hablan otro idioma, tu negocio puede expandirse más fácilmente a nuevos mercados. Además, esta inclusión lingüística mejorará la reputación de la marca de la empresa y al mismo tiempo generará una mayor lealtad de los clientes si se cuenta con los mejores cursos de idiomas.

Finalmente, se puede fortalecer el compromiso de los empleados a través del aprendizaje de idiomas, lo que en consecuencia aumentará la retención de los empleados. Como puedes ver, cursos de idiomas para empresas tienen el potencial de contribuir al éxito a largo plazo de cualquier negocio.

¿Cuáles son los mejores cursos de idiomas para empresas?

Con tantas plataformas educativas disponibles, puede ser bastante difícil encontrar la mejor herramienta para enseñar un idioma extranjero a tu personal. Así que hemos decidido ayudarte a reducir esa búsqueda.

En la lista a continuación, compararemos los programas de aprendizaje de idiomas que actualmente lideran la industria, examinando tanto sus fortalezas como sus debilidades.

Aquí puedes descubrir el par adecuado para tu organización y así acercarte un paso más para ayudar a tus empleados a prosperar a través de la capacitación en idiomas para empresas.

1. Preply Business

Preply Business es una de las principales empresas de aprendizaje de idiomas del mundo. Y su programa de capacitación en idiomas para empresas está diseñado específicamente para ayudar a los empleados a lograr cualquier objetivo lingüístico que puedan tener, sin importar el contexto profesional. Preply puede ofrecer una experiencia de aprendizaje personalizada porque sus profesores expertos enseñan a los usuarios a través de clases en línea 1 a 1.

Estas clases privadas se adaptan a las necesidades individuales, la industria, el nivel de habilidad, los objetivos y las preferencias de aprendizaje de cada estudiante. Las funciones de los cursos de inglés para empresas de Preply se encuentran entre las más populares para las empresas.

La plataforma de Preply está disponible en el sitio web y la aplicación móvil. Los managers o directivos pueden evaluar el progreso de su personal a través de pruebas de competencia y realizar un seguimiento de la asistencia a clase de cada miembro del equipo.

Alternativamente, los empleados pueden usar la plataforma para asistir a las clases, enviar mensajes a su profesor y acceder a materiales de aprendizaje adicionales. Por ejemplo, hay ejercicios de autoaprendizaje y tarjetas didácticas digitales disponibles para el aprendizaje independiente.

Y como cereza del pastel, programar clases con Preply Business es pan comido, independientemente de la disponibilidad limitada de tu personal. Como todas las clases se imparten en línea, los estudiantes pueden asistir a clases desde cualquier lugar: su oficina, la biblioteca, su casa o un café.

Además, Preply conecta a los empleados con un profesor que puede reunirse con ellos en el horario que prefieran: mañana, mediodía, tarde o noche. Capaz de trabajar tanto con equipos pequeños como con grandes empresas, Preply Business posiblemente cuenta con la mejor capacitación en idiomas para empresas en el mercado actual.

Idiomas disponibles: más de 50 idiomas, incluidos inglés, español, francés, alemán, japonés, italiano, coreano, árabe, chino mandarín, ruso, portugués, polaco, turco, holandés, etc.

2. italki Business

Italki es una plataforma en línea que conecta a los estudiantes con instructores nativos para clases privadas de idiomas a través de chat de video. Los usuarios pueden tomar lecciones informales con tutores no acreditados o lecciones estructuradas con maestros certificados. El programa también proporciona recursos para que los estudiantes estudien por su cuenta: evaluaciones, podcasts, artículos, foros de discusión y cuestionarios. Las empresas que se registran para obtener una cuenta comercial de italki tienen tres opciones de membresía: básica, estándar y premium..

La versión básica admite un máximo de 20 alumnos y genera reportes financieros y de progreso del estudio para los clientes. Equipa a las empresas con una herramienta de gestión de empleados, pero solo ofrece atención al cliente por correo electrónico. La versión estándar agrega al paquete recomendaciones de maestros profesionales, informes mensuales por correo electrónico, certificados de estudio y una capacidad ilimitada de usuarios.

Sin embargo, solo la versión premium más cara asigna maestros a estudiantes individualmente y proporciona un administrador de cuenta dedicado.

Idiomas disponibles: más de 130 idiomas, incluidos inglés, español, alemán, francés, japonés, coreano, chino, griego, italiano, portugués, polaco, turco, holandés, ucraniano, etc.

3. Cambly for Organizations

Like italki, Cambly employs 1-on-1 virtual classes with native-speaking teachers to teach students another language. Unfortunately, the only language currently available on the Cambly platform is English . Users can choose a teacher based on their industry and book classes in advance with a chosen teacher . Or, learners with different schedules can connect with random instructors right away. But beware: last-minute lessons don’t give teachers time to prepare organized classes that can address students’ specific needs .

One drawback of the program is that Cambly does not require its teachers to have teaching experience or credentials. Therefore, Cambly’s business English lessons use a conversation-based methodology that relies primarily on informal discussions with the instructor about their area of ​​expertise. However, the platform’s library provides untrained teachers with two guided courses to work through if they’re lacking ideas: «Business English» and «Advanced Business English.»

Available languages: English

4. Duolingo for Business

Duolingo is a mobile app that offers short , self- paced lessons to introduce users to another language. During these sessions, students engage in translation exercises , listening activities , vocabulary games , and pronunciation practice . But sadly, this platform does not offer teacher-led classes for a more personalized learning approach. Despite this shortcoming, Duolingo tracks users’ progress through quizzes and uses leaderboards to encourage competition among learners around the world.

Joining Duolingo for Business gives companies access to quarterly reports on their team’s sign-up rate, engagement levels, and chosen languages. It won’t provide information on individual workers due to privacy concerns. Another strong feature is community building: employees can follow and congratulate each other on their achievements. But here’s one final point to consider: Duolingo can teach basic vocabulary and phrases , but its siloed approach to language learning isn’t enough to reach professional fluency without the guidance of a teacher.

Available languages: More than 35 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Ukrainian, Polish, Greek, English, etc.

5. Udemy Business

Udemy is an educational platform that hosts thousands of online video courses covering a wide range of topics , including language learning. All videos are pre-recorded , which has its pros and cons. For starters, on-demand videos allow students to learn at their own pace , starting and stopping videos when necessary. In contrast, learning from a recorded instructor doesn’t give users personalized feedback or authentic interaction with the language — strategies that can quickly improve fluency.

In addition to video lessons, some Udemy language courses offer downloadable resources, articles, and certificates of completion . However, since classes are designed by different instructors, they all vary . For example, one language course may provide additional materials and a certificate, while another may only contain videos. Courses can also last anywhere from 2 to over 50 hours . Finally, signing up for Udemy Business grants users unlimited access to all content and provides employers with learner insights and analytics.

Available languages: More than 50 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, etc.

6. Lingoda

Lingoda offers online language courses with native instructors . Classes are divided into three main areas . The “ learning and development ” (L&D) category aims to improve a company’s business results through bilingualism and multilingualism. The “ nursing ” category focuses on foreign language proficiency within the nursing profession. And the “ global mobility ” category prepares relocating employees to communicate effectively with colleagues, clients, and locals in their new city abroad.

In corporate classes , the program provides onboarding services, a proficiency level assessment , free supplemental learning materials, 24/7 class scheduling availability, a set schedule , progress reporting , and flexible group sizes . On the downside, corporate classes are only taught to groups , meaning there are no one-on-one lessons with customized learning plans. The service also comes with a limited number of languages ​​for employees to learn.

Available languages: 4 languages ​​including English, French, Spanish and German.

7. Berlitz

Berlitz aims to provide working professionals with language courses that enable them to speak and write effectively in their current roles. Classes are led by live instructors, either online or face-to-face, but in-person sessions are only available in select locations: Washington DC, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

These courses can be scheduled for individual workers or groups of employees.

Other interesting features of the Berlitz program include cultural training classes that help workers better understand and connect with their multinational colleagues, as well as relocation services that prepare employees to live and work in another country. The company also touts scheduling flexibility and company-specific learning content.

Available languages: More than 30 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Greek, Hindi and Thai.

8. Learnlight

Learnlight is a language learning program that focuses on developing employees’ foreign language proficiency to advance their professional and personal communication with colleagues and clients in the workplace. The company offers three instructional approaches for corporate language training: blended e-learning, self-paced digital training, and in-person corporate programs.

The blended option involves working with personal tutors who guide students through a structured, linear online curriculum. The self-paced online option means workers independently complete digital courses and activities on the company’s platform.

The in-person option involves first working through online exercises and then participating in 1-on-1 in-person classes with Learnlight teachers. The organization claims to offer these in-person lessons anywhere in the world.

Available languages: More than 60 languages, including English, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Czech, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Catalan and Polish

9. Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is one of the most well-known online language programs and also gets credit for being one of the best Spanish learning programs based on its immersion-style approach. Similar to Learnlight’s blended instruction, employees have access to the company’s structured content, including speech recognition software, interactive exercises, audio clips, and business texts.

Customers also have the option to participate in unlimited live tutoring sessions with Rosetta Stone instructors whenever they need clarification on any questions.

Additionally, the platform provides companies with detailed reports on their team’s engagement with the training program and their language progress based on various learning assessments. The company claims that these tools can be seamlessly integrated into another learning management system (LMS) so that supervisors can easily manage and monitor the language learning program.

Available languages: 25 languages ​​including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Filipino, Greek, Hebrew, Irish, Persian, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese and Dutch.

10. Memrise

Memrise is an online learning tool available through its website and mobile app. It provides learning resources for 23 different languages. Its interface uses a scoring system, a leaderboard, flashcards, and video clips from native speakers.

The platform uses mnemonics to enhance learning retention with the association-visualization technique and offers offline video and audio lessons. The platform has a free basic version with limited access and a premium version with an annual payment. It is best for learners who are considered visual and for vocabulary memorization, as well as for group learning and leaderboard feature to engage the entire team.

Advantages include access to community-created courses for specific topics and a customizable experience. Disadvantages are that repetitive training exercises can bore or turn off employees, and community-created courses added on the website do not appear on the mobile app.

11. FluentU

FluentU is a language learning platform that uses real-world videos—transcribed and gamified. It turns movie trailers, music videos, news and other media from 10 different languages ​​into an interactive learning tool.

The platform offers video subtitles with translations and interactive practice activities, access to full transcripts of all videos, gamified quizzes after each video, with vocabulary progress tracking.

It works best for visual and auditory learners who want to hear native speakers interact and communicate authentically. Advantages include gamified learning features, a condensed vocabulary list, and thousands of videos covering a wide range of topics. Disadvantages include a lack of course structure and SMART goal setting, and a lack of transliteration for some language scripts like Japanese and Chinese.

With so many options available, it can be quite a challenge to decide which language program best suits your team’s needs. If you’re struggling to choose the best language program for your employees, our article «Things to Consider When Choosing Language Training for Business» provides some pretty useful tips and advice from experts to help you make the right choice.

Conclusion

Companies that invest in language learning benefit from highly qualified and highly engaged employees .

They also conduct international business operations more efficiently due to better communication between colleagues and clients, a better understanding of different cultures , and stronger brand differentiation .

Therefore, language training for companies is quite crucial for organizations seeking long-term success .

Now that you’ve seen a comparison between the top language learning programs , it’s important to select a tool that addresses the diverse needs of your company and its employees. Look especially for corporate language courses that are tailored and provide your staff with a personalized education .

By doing so, you can ensure that your workforce has the language knowledge and skills needed to compete in this ever-changing world.