Poll: Have you ever used Duolingo to learn/practice a language? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever used Duolingo to learn/practice a language?".
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I've been trying to learn Dutch. One of my granddaughters lives in Flanders, is married to a Flemish man and I'd like to surprise them, the problem has been my irregularity...
| | | | Lieven Malaise 
Belgium
Local time: 16:40
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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| Not my cup of tea | Mar 5, 2025 |
Learning a new language would be somewhere at the bottom of my current priority list, but if I would want to learn a new language I would prefer a more serious and effective approach than this criticized app.
It might be interesting though to use it to practice a language you already know (especially new/forgotten vocabulary), but even then I wouldn't be a fan of an app that would tie me even more to my cell phone.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 16:40
English to French
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No, I wouldn’t use such apps, if I were to learn a new language.
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I started Duolingo a year ago. It is great to practise a language that you do not speak often and for vocabulary. Challenges, ranks and scores can be motivating to go back every day for practice. I believe that it can be interesting if you want to do a little surprise for your loved ones who speak another language.
Still, I do not think it is the best way to do it. Duolingo just makes you learn sentences and words, but no grammar and conjugation. It will help you to spend one week i... See more I started Duolingo a year ago. It is great to practise a language that you do not speak often and for vocabulary. Challenges, ranks and scores can be motivating to go back every day for practice. I believe that it can be interesting if you want to do a little surprise for your loved ones who speak another language.
Still, I do not think it is the best way to do it. Duolingo just makes you learn sentences and words, but no grammar and conjugation. It will help you to spend one week in a foreign country, but not to talk fluently with someone. Furthermore, in Japanese, the kanji, katakana and hiragana are in a different section. You do not learn it with lessons, even though it is a main part of the language. My conclusion is that Duolingo can be fun but is not enough to learn a new language.
I also tried the music part : even though I told them that I am an experienced musician, they still made me learn the basic notes. ▲ Collapse
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I considered it a while ago, but that's when Duo was beginning with its weird guilt-tripping AND its AI enshittification was kicking in. Just like Grammarly, Duolingo is almost unusable nowadays due to AI.
| | | | | I tried for a while | Mar 5, 2025 |
I have been trying to learn Italian on and off for family reasons, and practised for a while with Duolinguo, but I got tired of it. There is not much actual teaching where I live, so I have to work at it in other ways.
Some of the grammatical explanations from Duolinguo were excellent, but in the exercises, the constant stream of unconnected sentences drove me mad! It might have been better if I had chosen the paid version, but the preliminary free exercises did not make me feel thi... See more I have been trying to learn Italian on and off for family reasons, and practised for a while with Duolinguo, but I got tired of it. There is not much actual teaching where I live, so I have to work at it in other ways.
Some of the grammatical explanations from Duolinguo were excellent, but in the exercises, the constant stream of unconnected sentences drove me mad! It might have been better if I had chosen the paid version, but the preliminary free exercises did not make me feel this was something I wanted to pay for. A good grammar and verb list is far more useful, at least for anyone with an old-fashioned training in languages!
I bought a book with ´50 Italian Coffee Breaks´ recently, and that is far more inspiring. It is a bit basic, but many of the activities are ´open ended´ - you can spend more time on them as needed. It is also important not to forget the basic rules! For a limited number of languages there is some free online material, and far more if you pay for it. I have not tried it, but it looks more promising for an English speaker learning Italian. ▲ Collapse
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I learnt some Russian when Ukrainian refugees from Kharkiv were living here. Now I know how to say "a horse on a square" in Russian ... Really useful stuff!
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Carla Selyer
Local time: 16:40
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
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| Duolingo works well with other tools | Mar 5, 2025 |
I love Duolingo, it's engaging and fun and I enjoy being prodded by the app to keep up! I've been using it on and off for years with different languages and now even with the music and Maths. That being said, it should not be the only way to learn a language, it works very well with other language learning tools, apps and methods.
| | | | | Call me old fashioned, | Mar 5, 2025 |
but I prefer learning languages the classic way: talking to real humans. In particular if I want or wanted to learn a new language for work purposes.
| | | | Ivana Kahle
Germany
Local time: 16:40
German to Croatian
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I´ve been using it for 1750+ days to learn Spanish and it´s simply great
Thanks to Duo I have also decided to take an in-person Spanish course and am currently at level B1.
It´s a great way to start learning a language!
[Edited at 2025-03-05 20:41 GMT]
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