Languages and Learning - A Duolingo Review

Ok, This week's post is a bit different. It's about a language learning program called Duolingo. I normally wouldn't post this except that I've had a wonderful experience using this program, and I think that it can really help you out if you're even dabbling in learning a language.

As some of you might know, my minor in undergrad was German. I was considering a license to teach it in high school, and so I studied how to teach and how to learn a language. I also taught English as a foreign language for two years, so I've got some background when I say Duolingo is worth checking out. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am not affiliated in any way with Duolingo except as a user. But I do like their program.)

Here's a few reasons why I would suggest it:

1. IT'S FREE. And I mean free. It's not free for one or two lessons, or free but. It's completely free to you as a user. There's an in app store, and when I went to check it out I thought, "Ok, this is how they make their money." But it's not. The in app store only uses in game currencies. You earn points by learning, and then you spend those points to learn more. The incentive program is exceptionally well designed from a game aspect, and from an educational viewpoint. And you don't pay anything. I might be wrong, but I've yet to encounter any thing requiring money. I'll be sure to update here if I come across something later.
2. IT'S CONVENIENT. Duolingo is a tablet/phone app, and a web page, and it takes about 10-15 minutes a day. And with language learning, 10 minutes a day is worth way more than 1 hour every six days.
3. IT HITS MULTIPLE LEARNING GOALS IN EVERY LESSON. Each lesson requires you to listen to the target language, speak the target language, read the target language, write the target language, and arrange words in the target language. There are a few pictures to help with vocabulary, and the lessons are short and well organized.
4. USEFUL PROGRESSION. The difficulty curve is just right. You'll come across words that you don't know, but Duolingo introduces those words in a way that will get them into your brain. You'll be stretched outside your current skill level enough that you're learning new things, but not so far that you can't learn. The principle applied here is i+1. I've found this is true from the early lessons on.
5. ACCURATE ASSESSMENT. I can't tell you how many language learning programs I've picked up and started at the beginning and wished for a way to jump right to the level I needed to progress in my learning. I wanted to skip ahead, but I didn't want to miss skills that I might need. The tests in other programs were alright, but the Duolingo test really honed in on the skills I needed to work on. It uses a system of questions that start out easy and then get harder until you get one wrong. Then it asks another similar question to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. Once it finds your skill level, it asks a bunch of questions that hone in on your strengths and weaknesses so it can put you in just the right spot. I felt like it really pinpointed my skill level.
6. IT'S CONNECTED. You can post your successes to Facebook or twitter so that others know what your learning if you want. Having partners is important for achieving any goal. But there's more than that. When you complete a question (on the web app, I don't know about the iPad app) there's an option to discuss a question or report a problem. Discussing a question allows you to ask why your answer was wrong, or talk about alternate translations.
7. GOALS. Duolingo has a simple optional goal setting mechanic. You choose how many minutes you want to practice each day, and it sends you a reminder. It tracks your progress, and encourages you to practice every day. It's so simple you could do it yourself, but it's in-app so you don't have to go anywhere else to plot your progress.
8. IT ENCOURAGES REVIEW. Once you pass a lesson, you move on to another. It's pretty simple. But as you keep practicing, there's a visual display showing past skills diminishing. It shows you which skills you should go back and review, and then it rewards you with points and in game currency when you do. The review doesn't happen immediately either. It happens after a few days, so that you're reinforcing your learning rather than just drilling or waiting til you forget it and need to learn it again.
9. MONETIZATION IS GENIUS. They make money by crowd sourcing translation. If you want, you can participate in translating real world documents. But here's the kicker, that's exactly the kind  of thing you want to do if you're learning a language. It's another way to help you learn, and it's optional.
10. IT'S EFFECTIVE. According to the Wikipedia(I know, wikipedia. If you want a more definite source, you look it up.) article, Duolingo commissioned an external study which "estimated that 34 hours on Duolingo may yield reading and writing ability of a first-year college semester, which takes in the order of 130+ hours." That's also better than Rosetta Stone if you were wondering. I'm not going to claim that the specifics are true, but given my own experience, I'm inclined to believe them. I've tried a number of language learning programs and apps (BUSUU, Mango, Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Babbel, Actilingua, etc.) and while I would happily recommend some of those, Duolingo is by far the best. (EDIT: I found the study. You can download the final report on this page.)

I could say more. I could tell you about Duolingo's data-driven methods, their crowd-sourcing method to expand the languages they offer, Duolingo's Luis von Ahn's views on massive scale online collaboration, and more.

But all that is beside the point. The point is this: if you're learning a language offered by duolingo, you should use Duolingo. If I were teaching a high school German class I would require all of my students to use Duolingo every day, and given my background that I almost was a high school German teacher, that might mean something to you.

But here's something more succinct. 

Learn language? Use Duolingo.