Other Duolingo

[KokichiLove]

Has anyone else used this awesome free app? For those who don’t know what it is, Duolingo is a website/app that teaches over 30 languages for free with interactive lessons that make it very engaging and even fun. It’s very easy to use too.

I am currently enrolled in three courses on it; Japanese, German, and Spanish. I’m serious about learning Japanese, I’m trying to pick up some basic Spanish for convienence sake, and German I’m just doing for fun on the side

 

[TheObsessedOne]

Honestly? From my point of view, it's pretty useless. It does very little to help you understand syntax; unless a lot of things changed since I used it years ago, it pretty much relies on you making inferences from context which doesn't really work when you're new to a language. It MIGHT work if your native language is similar to the one you're studying, but it can seriously fuck you up when you internalize wildly inaccurate observations about a language. It's difficult to get rid of a bad habit. Japanese in particular is a language you should make NO assumptions about if you're a speaker of a European language.

Call me conservative, but I think that Duolingo is only good for memorizing vocabulary and even then, apps like Anki will probably serve you better.

 

[KokichiLove]

Honestly? From my point of view, it's pretty useless. It does very little to help you understand syntax; unless a lot of things changed since I used it years ago, it pretty much relies on you making inferences from context which doesn't really work when you're new to a language. It MIGHT work if your native language is similar to the one you're studying, but it can seriously fuck you up when you internalize wildly inaccurate observations about a language. It's difficult to get rid of a bad habit. Japanese in particular is a language you should make NO assumptions about if you're a speaker of a European language.

Call me conservative, but I think that Duolingo is only good for memorizing vocabulary and even then, apps like Anki will probably serve you better.

Yeah you make good points. They have a lesson overview to read through but without someone to explain it it can be difficult. I already had studied a bit of Japanese before so I already knew enough about it to avoid these issues. There also is a community on it now that centers around helping eachother out, but again, it’d be easier to have someone explain it. My sister’s Spanish class uses it though and they do just fine

 

[TheObsessedOne]

Yeah you make good points. They have a lesson overview to read through but without someone to explain it it can be difficult. I already had studied a bit of Japanese before so I already knew enough about it to avoid these issues. There also is a community on it now that centers around helping eachother out, but again, it’d be easier to have someone explain it. My sister’s Spanish class uses it though and they do just fine

Oh yeah, I imagine that it can be useful if you use it for reviewing old material or in tandem with a teacher, but I'm still skeptical, lol. I'm the old-fashioned type that prefers textbooks and immersion when you're advanced enough. That's how I learned to speak English, haha.

 

[Corrosion]

I've been considering downloading the app to improve my terrible Mandarin. Mandarin is supposed to be my mother tongue, but I dropped out years ago. While I still can speak and understand a tiny bit, I'm trying to actually be fluent since just about everyone in my country speaks the language. Cheaper than actually signing up for a tuition course.

Also, I want to learn Russian. Because when it's Duolingo, it's Russian

OR CONCUSSION

But mostly to understand what the NPCs in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are saying.

 

[Xenoblade]

duolingo is an evil force we must destroy

 

[_luna_]

Yes, I’ve used it. I’m currently learning Spanish using Duolingo and it’s helping me out lots!

 

[Sinnama]

 

[Dove]

I’m learning Spanish as well so I’m definitely using Duolingo for picking up vocabulary and to drill in practice. I’m not sure if I trust it for grammar lessons, I use my textbook for that part. And fortunately, I have native Spanish speaking friends to practice conversations with.

If you’re looking to improve reading and writing, I would look for a proper textbook or even online resource to guide you through forming sentences. If you’re looking to improve speaking, I would start by honing in your listening skills. I watch this series called “Extra” on Youtube to hear how to properly pronounce words. It’s a little outdated, but the dialogue is simple enough to actually understand the conversations that the characters are having. c: