I first want to make a disclaimer that everything in this post is my opinion. I do not mean anything in a negative way. This review is of a product which I used for a long time, and since then have found another product which works better for me. If you use Duolingo and it works for you, that’s great.
I did use Duolingo for a significant amount of time. I used it on and off for probably about a year or so. It worked for me for awhile. I did find it helpful in bringing back by knowledge of Spanish, since I had taken a couple of years off from studying it. The way that Duolingo works is through translation exercises. When you sign up, you have your known language, usually your mother tongue, and then you are able to select one or more from a list of target languages. That list is different for every starting language. Many languages from various parts of the world offer courses to learn English, but no other language. If you speak English, you have many options. As of writing December 2014, you can learn Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish, and Swedish, with the last four being in beta. If you speak Spanish, you can learn English, French, Portuguese, German, and Italian. The program is open source, so there are new courses that people are working on. For English, there is Turkish, Hungarian, Esperanto, Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, and Polish. If you know any of these languages as well as English, you can contribute to the course.
When it comes to learning a language, you have two options. You can learn by using their website, or if you have a smartphone or tablet, you can use the Duolingo app. Both programs work just as well, they are just better suited to their respective platforms.
Above is a screenshot of what the Duolingo program looks like in the web browser, with my username and other personal information covered. Below is a screenshot of the Duolingo app for iPhone.
As you can seen in the photos, you start with the lesson titled “Basics 1.” This is where you learn really simple phrases and words that will come up again. After that, you can almost always choose in which order you complete the lessons. In the first few lessons, you receive four hearts or lives. This means you can miss up to four questions and still successfully complete the lesson. After the first few lessons, you get three hearts each time. You also have the chance to earn Lingots, a form of points, which can be used to purchase lessons such as idioms in your target language, or you can use it to buy clothes for your icon. The way you earn Lingots is by completing lessons, completing a section of a lesson with no errors, or by testing out of a skill or two. The number of questions per exercise varies, but it is always around 15-20. Some lessons have less, and some have more.
The way you advance in Duolingo is by earning experience or XP. Once you hit a certain number, you advance to the next level. In addition to completing exercises and lessons, you can do a couple of other things, based on the platform you are using. In the mobile app, you can play against the computer, a random user, or you can play against the clock. On the desktop, you can go to the Immersion tab and help translate articles, and you can also interact with other users on the forum.
I have never really done those last two things. I was not able to figure out how to go into the translation program to translate articles, and I have never interacted with anyone on the forums.
Even though I do not use the program now, Duolingo can be an effective way to learn languages, especially if you have next to no money. It can be a great staring tool, but if you have money and are willing to budget for a paid program, I would recommend LingQ. You can join for free, but to get the most out of the program, you should pay for the ten dollars per month membership. I have found that the LingQ community is very friendly and very helpful. When someone posts on the forum for the first time, members are always eager to help that person out. That is also true with longtime members. Here is my referral link if you would like to check it out, you earn 100 “LingQ”s when you join (you only have 20 with a basic free account) http://www.lingq.com/?referral=hhaefele
If you would like to read my review of LingQ, let me know by commenting or tweeting me!
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