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Does Duolingo Work?

I've been thinking about picking up German again (I was once conversational many moons ago) and learning Spanish from scratch via Duolingo.

I was just wondering if anyone has had success learning a language via the app and only the app?

Comments

  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 9,418 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    These are "your mileage may vary" type things.  One person may learn anything and everything from an app alone, others will learn naff all and would be better off just watching a foreign movie on something like Amazon Prime or Netflix with the subtitles on to get the gist of the language that way.

    We all learn in different ways.  What works for somebody else won't necessarily work for you.
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,736 Forumite
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    akira181 said:
    I was just wondering if anyone has had success learning a language via the app and only the app?
    There are lots of different styles of learning and everyone has their own preference. The app will work well for some and others wont get anything from it.

    Its broadly agreed that once you know an additional language learning more becomes easier so if you have already managed to achieve a reasonable level in one second langage your odds are better on a third.
  • Neil49
    Neil49 Posts: 3,256 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    There are numerous free videos for learning Spanish on YouTube and my wife has found some that are very useful.

    I'm sure there are plenty in other languages as well 
  • akira181
    akira181 Posts: 538 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    akira181 said:
    I was just wondering if anyone has had success learning a language via the app and only the app?
    There are lots of different styles of learning and everyone has their own preference. The app will work well for some and others wont get anything from it.

    Its broadly agreed that once you know an additional language learning more becomes easier so if you have already managed to achieve a reasonable level in one second langage your odds are better on a third.
    I think that only applies to languages that share a similar root. English is my native and I'm fairly fluent in Chinese but it took me 5 years to get comfortable in German but far from fluent. Since I left Germany nearly 10 years ago, I've forgotten most of it since I don't get a chance to use it.
    I'm not having much joy with Duolingo for Spanish. Might try it on German to see if it jogs my memory at all. If not, probably safe to assume Duolingo lessons aren't for me.
  • JGB1955
    JGB1955 Posts: 3,733 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I've just ditched Duolingo Spanish after a 300+ day streak.  Knowing how to ask for train tickets, or the 'bill' in a restaurant is useful.  Knowing how to ask about your 'abuela' in South America, or studying at the 'universidad', less so. I'm now trying a couple of the (free) Open University courses instead....

    Horses for courses.  (Bet Duolingo would struggle with that phrase!)
    #2 Saving for Christmas 2024 - £1 a day challenge. £325 of £366
  • kipperman
    kipperman Posts: 267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I suspect probably good to start with - but my journey to ( I think) pretty good French in my case left behind apps a while ago. There are tons of podcasts and interesting stuff in your chosen language and often aimed at intermediates. Once you get more confident, I'd recommend https://conversationexchange.com as a way of hooking up with a native speaker ( you generally do half an hour in one language and then swap over). Italki.com is also good, but in this case you pay for it - but I have found to be pretty good value. In the end being confident in speaking is what counts, and TBH you just won't get that with apps such as duolingo.
  • nickkohl
    nickkohl Posts: 18 Forumite
    10 Posts
    Yes, Duolingo can be boring and repetitive at times but repetition is important for learning a new language. Taking on a new language is a workout and it’s not always going to be fun. There are going to be dull moments that are challenging but they are so worth it by the time you realize you’re becoming fluent. Nothing worth having ever comes easy.
  • akira181
    akira181 Posts: 538 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 28 March 2023 am31 10:46AM
    nickkohl said:
    Yes, Duolingo can be boring and repetitive at times but repetition is important for learning a new language. Taking on a new language is a workout and it’s not always going to be fun. There are going to be dull moments that are challenging but they are so worth it by the time you realize you’re becoming fluent. Nothing worth having ever comes easy.
    It's not so much that the lessons are dull but instead, rather useless/fundamentally flawed. The translation part being multiple choice makes it too easy to guess correctly, giving you a false sense of progress at the start. Sure it'll get harder as it goes along, but the fundamentals of language are not being taught.
    Duolingo doesn't teach the rules of language so you never properly understand grammar and sentence structure, Duolingo themselves say they expect "grammar to be learnt implicitly". Good luck learning the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive cases in German implicitly, considering some of the words cross cases, (e.g. "der" is nominative masculine, dative & genitive feminine, & genitive masculine). Not to mention that German also has 6 tenses. Combine those and you're guessing grammar and structure at best.
    I don't think German is alone in having more complicated cases, tenses, and rules than English. Languages have rules for a reason, they're the foundation of the language and knowing them helps you understand and learn properly.
    So far, I think Duolingo is good for an introduction to a language but kinda detrimental after the basics have been learned as learning rules/grammar "implicitly" encourages bad habits that can be hard to break. I think for any serious self teaching, you need to buy a textbook, listen to podcasts, or find a native speaker to converse with after you've gotten the basics down.
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