Does Duolingo work? This question comes up a lot in my world so here’s my take: Duolingo is a great study tool but not where you learn to speak.

What you will get out of Duolingo:
1. It’s an easy and free way to start your language practice.
2. You will get familiar with vocabulary and structure.
3. You will stay engaged because it’s gamified.

What you won’t get out of Duolingo:
1. Effective communication skills: Duolingo only knows “correct” and “incorrect”.  In the real world, you don’t have to be correct to be effective. if you say, “me coffee please”, you’ll probably get a cup of coffee.
2. Learning to produce an original thought: If you find yourself tongue-tied when you get to your destination after your 500-day streak, don’t be surprised. Repeating sentences does not translate into producing original ones.
3. Interaction with another human: Conversation is a dance. When you regularly practice conversation with a real person, you also learn how to shift the speed or complexity of the conversation to your level in real time. Hitting “repeat” or “slow” is not the same thing.

To be clear, I’m not against Duolingo. I love that the app has encouraged so many people to get interested in language. I also think it’s a fantastic tool for study. However, the ultimate reward in language learning is not a ding or a smiling owl. The ultimate reward is having a human interaction with someone in their native language. You’re not going to get that by using Duolingo alone.

#languagelearning #duolingo #languagelearningtips #learntogether