Duolingo: A Fun Way to Learn Languages for Free

Tu hablas Español?

If you didn’t understand the question, don’t worry because we didn’t either — at least before we tried the online language courses at Duolingo.

Duolingo

Duolingo’s homepage showing the language courses that the site offers.

Duolingo is a website that caters to people who are interested in studying foreign languages through the use of short and easy to understand online courses that are perfect for both beginners and those who already know a bit about the language they are trying to learn.  At present, it’s language offerings are limited to six languages: Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, and English; but talks about offering additional languages in the future are still ongoing.

A Fun Way to Learn Languages

What makes Duolingo a fun way to learn languages? For one, it’s free. If you’ve scoured the web looking for sites that can help you learn a language, you’ve probably noticed that a good number of them offer their services for a fee. Duolingo doesn’t. Instead of membership fees, the website relies instead on funding from companies such as Buzzfeed and CNN which pay Duolingo to translate some of their content from one language to another.

Another thing is it comes in a game format. If staring at books trying to make sense of foreign words and phrases for hours on end is not your thing, then you might want to give the site a try. Just pick a language that you wish to study then move from one level to another by answering the short questions that will be provided after you’re done with the brief lessons.

An example of the lessons available at Duolingo. At the lower portion of the screen, you’ll see a short section covering the tips and notes that you need to remember to make it through the lesson.

Gameplay

Duolingo’s language courses are composed of several levels that you need to complete in order to finish the course. For each level, you would be required to answer short quizzes that cover the things that you have been taught prior to taking the test. Every correct answer would gain you “experience points” (XP) that you need to accumulate in order to level up.

Translating text from your target language to your native language and vice versa is one of the ways to test your understanding of the lesson.

Conversely, every wrong answer would cost you a “heart” which is similar to the “lives” you get at other popular games (You’d have four “hearts” by default at the start of every game). Once you’ve depleted your stock of hearts, you’d lose the game and you’d have to start all over again.

Once you’ve successfully completed a level, you will be awarded “lingot” points that you can use to purchase to purchase “power-ups” and bonus skills, much like how you can purchase extra weapons and ammunition in popular role-playing games.

Screenshot showing the different “power-ups” that you can purchase from the virtual store using your “lingot” points.

Lessons

Duolingo has online courses for both beginners and intermediate learners, so expect anything from simple lessons covering things like basic words and phrases to slightly more challenging lessons covering topics such as conjugation and pluralization. For those who are more interested in specific topics, there are also lessons devoted to politics, spirituality, business, and education among others.

Screenshot showing some of the basic lessons available on the site.

Perks

Just like many games, Duolingo’s lessons can be quite addictive — something that can work well for language learners who struggle with motivating themselves to study more lessons. Their discussion board also allows players to post questions that can be answered by native speakers of the language they are studying — a great way to gather more information about the things that you have just learned.

Screenshot showing an example of a discussion thread that you may follow in order to keep up with the comments about a particular test question.

Downside

Accuracy is a common issue when it comes to language courses and tools, and Duolingo apparently has its fair share of people who have expressed doubts over the accuracy of some of the sentences and phrases it teaches. Our native language is not part of the courses that the site is currently offering, so we have not been able to test the translation ourselves, but comments from bilingual or multilingual users of the site claim that while the basic phrases and sentences are mostly accurate, the more advanced ones are open to argument.

Another issue that has been raised by users is its seeming use of random words in the test questions. While reportedly correct, these random words are apparently not too beneficial as learners are not likely to be able to use them in daily life.

Signing Up for an Account

With all of those said, if you want to try it for yourself, signing up for an account is pretty easy. Just go to their site then choose any of the following sign-up options: signing up with your e-mail, signing up with your Facebook account, or signing up with your Gmail account.
Once you’re done with the sign-up process, you’ll be asked to choose the language you wish to study. After that, Duo the Owl, the site’s mascot, will brief you on how to use the site including letting you get a taste of the lessons to come. Just complete the mini test and you’ll be ready to start the actual lessons.

Good luck! 🙂