Duolingo
I don't think Duolingo is judged fairly by people online. Whenever I read online comments about it, I can't help but think that people who comment on it have never really committed themselves to using it long enough to give it a fair assessment.
I have:
- Completed over half of the English → German course with very little (but not zero) prior knowledge.
- Used it religiously for months at a time, but I also took months-long breaks in between.
- Sometimes paid for premium, sometimes not.
Will it help you learn a language?
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
The most common method of figuring out how good your foreign language skills are.
- A1-A2 → You know the basics and are able to string together some sentences about everyday topics using your fairly limited vocabulary.
- B1-B2 → Intermediate level. You can speak about a broader range of subjects, but there are still topics which are way outside your comfort zone, making you feel like an impostor.
- C1-C2 → Indistinguishable from a native. You'll make a mistake here and there, but in general you have no issues communicating with locals on any topic thrown your way.
It will help you reach A2 level, maybe a flimsy B1. You will definitely not be able to speak to a native without any issues. It's also definitely not the best option out there, as it takes a ridiculous amount of time and money to complete.
The good
- You will learn the basics through sheer repetition.
- You will be able to comprehend texts that are oriented towards beginners, just be prepared to use something like Google Translate from time to time.
- Its gamification system and constant reminders, though annoying at times, really do help you build up a language learning habit, which is incredibly important.
The bad
- Unusable without premium. In the free version, you're only allowed five mistakes before you have to wait for a heart to regenerate. One heart regenerates every five hours. On top of that, ads in between lessons are a nuisance. Using it without a (fairly pricey) premium is a painful experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
- Not private at all by default. Every lesson you complete online is available to everyone who figures out your username, alongside a timestamp down to a minute. There's not even an option to make your profile private in the Android app. There is such an option when using a desktop browser, so I'd highly suggest you go ahead and do that.
- Voices sound very robotic. Deciphering one letter variations between words spoken fast by robotic voices gets incredibly tedious at times.
How it could be better
- I feel like it doesn't take into account when I request a hint at all. I'd think that if I needed a hint multiple times, the app should take a note of that and allow me to practice it more.
- It teaches you some very basic words surprisingly late in the course. Like, shockingly late.
- If I miss-click on a word in the middle of the sentence, I should be able to drag-and-drop it. Instead, I have to delete every subsequent one one-by-one, correct my mistake, and then re-add all of those I got right the first time around.
- It sucks at complex sentences. Whenever a sentence has something like 15+ words I have to assemble in the right order, I just get overwhelmed, not because I don't understand the sentence, but because assembling the sentence out of a bunch of randomly thrown words is just so damn tiring.
- It dedicates an equal amount of attention to something I find very simple and something I find very complicated. In the former case, I feel like I'm just wasting time answering the same questions over and over again. In the latter case, I feel like I'm progressing through the course without truly learning what I am supposed to learn from it.
My top tips
- Completely ignore legendary levels, the ones requiring you to pass a certain lesson with under three mistakes. They're very frustrating and a giant time-waster.
- Always aim to stop at 5/6. When you pick up the app next time around, you'll get a 15 min XP boost after only a couple of minutes.
- Don't drag it on, aim to complete a unit within in a day or two. You're only learning new words in the beginning of a unit, so if you waste like a week within a single unit, you're not really learning anything new.
- Supplement it with a lot of videos. There are dozens of YouTube channels out there aimed at language learners like yourself. Your favourite video streaming service probably has dubs and/or subtitles of your favourite TV shows, push yourself outside your comfort zone by utilizing them.
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