Review Of Duolingo

Learning  a  foreign  language  has  become  a  very  important ability in  the  world.In  many  cases  learning  a  foreign  language involves using  language learning  software  or  computer  assisted  self study. There  are  many  language  learning  software  tools  available, but according to my experience Duolingo is one of the bests.

The website duolingo is an online language learning platform. Its main objective is to make language learning more fun and effective but in a creative way. Everyone can access to this website just they have to sign up and which is free. We can learn different languages on Duolingo completely free. We can use it in our mobile devices as well as in our computer if we connect both devices with the same account. Duolingo is a great example of a straightforward language app. It is really simple to use. We have to set up a profile, choose our target language, set our weekly goals and then start learning!

There are thousands of website where people can learn different languages. But this website Duolingo is very much easy to use and very much user friendly. Using this website is also very much friendly because it gives short and simple instruction so that everyone can understand the simple steps. When we start learning a language it gives 4 stages or level : easy to hard. After selecting the level it will give the whole schedule. It tells everything, for example how much time should we spent daily etc. Duolingo dictates the order in which we need to complete the different modules, with new modules becoming active only once we have completed the previous one. This is also the case with individual lessons within each module. We need to complete lesson 1 to be able to progress to lesson 2, and so on.

Each lesson in Duolingo is made up of a range of activities, such as translation or an activity where we have to match words to their foreign language equivalents. New vocabulary is often taught with images, and grammar points are explained in little speech bubbles. There are also listening exercises where we need to type what we hear, and speaking exercises where we say what we hear. Duolingo  has hearts with a progress bar that goes from 0-100% that can go up or down as we get things right or wrong. At the end of each lesson, we get a progress report that also shows the number of days in a row that you’ve completed.

Motivation is another important thing while learning something. Because motivation gives more interest to do that work with more effort. This website is motivational also. New vocabulary is often taught with images, and grammar points are explained in little speech bubbles. This is very much colorful, instructions are easy to follow, and with these, it also gives us the motivation if we click the correct answers.

Duolingo recognizes that language learners need to be motivated to make sure they come back to the app and engage in some more language fun. Duolingo uses several different methods to keep us hooked.

the sleek interface of Duolingo is so much attractive. the little turtle button that allows to listen to ‘slow’ pronunciations of the word or phrase. This slow voice is a very useful feature in the exercises that ask  to type what we hear.

A lot of the learning that goes on in Duolingo is visual. There are pictures for learning vocabulary, colours that indicate whether we are right or wrong, and highlighted text for new words or grammar points. Visual learners will enjoy a lot.

The website Duolingo is interactive also. While practicing a language, when we select an answer it shows the result in the same time. There are few websites which first collect all our answers and then show the correct answers together. By doing this our motivation decreased. But this duolingo website shows our result at the same time we are giving the answers one by one. And along with that the motivations!

A pitfall for learners is that it is extremely structured and does not leave much room for flexibility. Once we sign up, it keeps us active by diminishing strength bars and sending daily reminders in our email to practice. Duolingo also does not allow us to jump ahead to different skills. We can only open a new skill when we have completed the one before it.

One thing I would like to suggest that, while practicing, I can point my pointer on the learning word and it shows the meaning. So it gets easy to get bonus points. It should be limited. We can peek the words for limited times only, not all the times. It will not help to learn the new target language.

In conclusion, I believe that the program is easy and fun and a great way to start learning a language while we are still a beginner. Duolingo is not a stand-alone language course, but it’s an excellent addition to a language learner’s toolbox. It’s easy to use, it’s fun and it works.