The application you need - Duolingo

Duolingo has between 300 million and 1.2 billion users worldwide ... it looks like the day after a demo to listen to the unions and the police give us figures! What is certain is that Duolingo has quickly become the most popular language learning app. The reason is due to its objective since its creation: to offer a fun and personalized learning while remaining accessible to all.

How does Duolingo work? In the English version, there are an incredible number of languages, from the most classic to Navajo or Swahili! For us French speakers, Duolingo offers 5 languages: English, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese. Whatever the language, Duolingo allows you to learn vocabulary and a little grammar through quick exercises, sequenced in series, on a fairly fun and easy to use interface. Learn English or Spanish with Duolingo We tested the app for English and Spanish to find out which languages we speak differently, and to see if the positives or negatives were proven in multiple languages. Personalization according to your objectives and your level Before starting to learn the language of your choice on Duolingo, the application will ask you a question: Why are you learning this language? Different choices of answers will be offered depending on the language in order to adapt the content. Below are the proposals for Spanish. For English, the choices also included "Family and friends".

Different learning themes Learning about Duolingo is divided into several levels and different categories. Each level is identified by its icon, the tower of a castle.

At first the application offers you quite a few, then you unlock them as you go. So you don't feel like you will ever get to the end, but on the other hand you don't really know where you are compared to the last level. Duolingo is intended primarily for beginners. For others, it may be useful to immerse yourself in a language that you have not practiced for a long time but it is clearly not the most suitable application for intermediate or advanced levels. The lessons can relate to a theme (food, family, sensations, etc.) or a linguistic domain (bases, expressions, grammar, conjugation, etc.). They are based on your learning motive. Thus, someone who chooses "professional opportunity" will not have the same exercises on offer as a child who has chosen "school". Below an overview with the list of topics after unlocking levels 1 and 2, and part of level 3.

 

Learning aids Duolingo takes into account the need for repetition spaced over time to really acquire vocabulary. So they developed a concept of strength for each word learned, to let you know if it's time to review it.Go to the "Words" section, find all the words you have already learned and at a glance see the ones you may start to forget. The downside: the application sometimes considers a bit quickly that you have learned a word. If you guessed it in the context of a sentence, without having to transcribe it from French, that does not necessarily mean that the word is acquired.

You will also have a dictionary. You can consult it for a word in French or in the chosen language. You will then have a complete file giving you the meaning of the word, its pronunciation, its conjugations if it is a verb, and examples of sentences with this word. Finally, at the bottom of the page, you will have a link to the forum discussions where the word could possibly have been used.

Finally, you will have the opportunity to participate in the Duolingo forum and chat with other users of the application.Duolingo has chosen to help you in your learning while remaining fun and attractive, a very important element for children or adolescents. Indeed, a school application would probably not meet the same success with children. But Duolingo decided from the start to create a colorful application that makes you want to constantly improve. To learn while having fun, you have to feel like you are playing and earning points. So to seduce you, Duolingo relies in particular on easy-to-understand exercises, objectives to maintain a daily rhythm, crowns and lives, and finally ingots and gems. Here is our opinion on each of these elements.

 

1. The lessons make you work the language in its written and oral aspect. Because in addition to translating words or sentences, you will also have to transcribe heard sentences or repeat certain sentences. The exercises are thus quite varied but they do not reach the excellence of paid applications like Mosalingua or Gymglish for example. They are also not as fun as the apps dedicated to children to learn a language while playing. Let’s say that for free, it's quite interesting but depending on your level and your expectations (especially if you have already practiced other apps for languages), the exercises may seem repetitive, especially for the basics. For example, one of the exercises in the first lessons is based on the words: woman / woman, man / man, girl / girl and boy / boy. Once you have passed the first questions that allow you to review these words, their meaning, their pronunciation and their use in sentences, the following questions are tiresome because they continue to address the same words and the same concepts. On the other hand, this repeatability is an advantage when tackling more difficult themes, such as conjugation for example.

2. Regarding the daily goals, it's up to you to set them. You have the choice between 4 possibilities: easy (5 minutes per day), normal (10 minutes per day), serious (15 minutes per day) and intensive (20 minutes per day). It is always possible to modify your objectives according to your availability and your needs. You will receive a small notification every day reminding you that it is time to learn. Simple and efficient.

3. Each passage to the next level is rewarded with a crown. It’s not really motivating for adults, but it’s a rewarding detail for children who see their work rewarded. To validate the lessons of a level you have a certain number of lives. It's part of the game to fuel your challenges, but it can be frustrating to have a limited number of lives. First of all for children, but also when tackling more complicated concepts. It then becomes very easy to lose a life by giving the wrong answer. Therefore, it may seem difficult to go beyond your daily goal or the concept discussed.

4. Each concept worked and acquired can yield ingots. These ingots turn into gems, the app’s virtual currency. This gives you access to little extras, bringing variety to your daily exercises and a little fun and originality.

However, let's do a little aside on the app store. What you find there is supposed to motivate you to win lots of bars to buy things to learn better or have more fun. On that we are a little hungry ... With your gems you can buy: boosters to help you finish your series: - recharge of lives to be entitled to a greater margin of error during the lessons, and not to have to go to premium version (where your lives are unlimited) - serial freeze to keep a series of training sessions (uninterrupted learning) even if there is a day when you cannot connect to Duolingo - quits or doubles: bet 5 ingots and win 10 if you manage to make a series of 7 days - timed training to train for a defined time on units already worked bonus units: for example you will offer the lesson to flirt in English, or Spanish expressions and proverbs outfits to personalize your “Duo” owl.

The store provides important elements to keep motivation in the long term but according to some discussions on the forum, several users would appreciate having other boosters than those offered today. It is true that the choices are limited but as Duolingo seems to be listening to the comments of its users, we can hope that updates will come to improve this point. Because indeed, a forum is open to all Duolingo users. Although quite basic visually, it will allow you to interact with all registered members of the platform in case of doubt about a translation, problem on the site or on the application, etc.

So why is Duolingo attracting so many users? Because if you weigh the pros and cons, a lot of people can figure it out, at least for a while. Here is our recap of the major advantages and disadvantages of Duolingo, it will help you to know if this app is made for you or if other applications would better suit your needs: 4 advantages of Duolingo: 5 languages for free, easy for beginners, quick exercises, challenges with friends 4 disadvantages of Duolingo: repetitive exercises, inaccurate translations, only 5 lives, shop too small Our conclusion to this: Duolingo will be useful for users looking for free or something to have fun as a beginner or to refresh their memory. For those who want a method or a tool to progress in the long term and acquire a good level, it will be necessary to look elsewhere, or in any case not be limited to Duolingo.