Let's finally talk about the completely free, user-friendly, incredibly informative language learning website.
Duolingo
Since my first visit to the website, I haven't looked back. As mentioned before it's completely free, you never have to pay for anything at all - which is great! I have tried a few courses that I have paid for which have been nowhere near as great as Duolingo.
And the logo is a cute little green owl, where can you go wrong?
The website itself is very self-explanatory and very easy to navigate, even if you're not very technologically advanced. The layout is clean, well thought out, very well spaced - in my humble, clutter-hating, opinion. No muss, no fuss.
You have your own profile, which keeps you up to date with your levels and progression, you can link up with friends and 'compete' if you so wish, not being a competitive person I haven't done this so can't really tell you how it works!
On to the languages;
You can currently choose from 13 languages, they are always adding more which, understandably, take time to produce and perfect! You can currently choose from French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Danish to name a few - you can find the whole listing if you visit.
When you start you can either start from scratch, or if you have had past experience can do a quick test to see what level Duolingo will recommend for you. Each section is divided in to lessons which get progressively more difficult.
They handle the lessons in different ways, sometimes you have to select the write word to complete a sentence, translate a sentence that is played to you (which you can repeat), pair up words, select the right words to write out a whole sentence, translate a sentence from English to your chosen language and so on and so forth.
I think the lesson structure is a great, as it has different activities which keeps you on your toes and encourages you to translate from both languages.
The lessons vary in subject, taking you from the very basics, to greetings, animals, food, interaction, adjectives, family - they do have some very strange sentences but I think this is more to get the vocabulary and structure in your mind so you can remember them when you need to use them.
It is a very encouraging website, when you first start it asks you how much XP you would like to hit your daily goal, it ranges from 10 - 50 depending on how much time you have to commit.
You are also awarded Lingots when you reach different levels which can be spent in the store - you can buy extra lessons for fun such as flirting or idioms, you can purchase a streak freeze to keep your daily streak if you know you are busy and won't have time to do a lesson one evening.
They have other sections to access other than lessons; they have a 'words' section which lists all the words you have learned and the strength of your use with them. It's a great tool if you just need a refresher or are struggling to remember a word.
There is a 'discussion' section which are forums created for specific questions or people offering help on certain topics. Everyone is super friendly and there is always someone who is able to give you a succinct answer to any issues you may be having or if you are having trouble understanding why a certain sentence is structured in a certain way.
Finally there is an 'immersion' section which are documents, books and news reports that are in the language you are learning and you can select sentences to translate - I think this is a great tool for when you are more well versed in the language you have chosen to learn.
I highly recommend checking out Duolingo, whether you used to be fluent in a language and want to refresh your memory or whether you are a complete newbie I think there is something useful for everyone.
Please let me know if you found this useful or even if you use Duolingo yourself - what do you like about it? Is there anything else you recommend using?
Toodles.
x
You have your own profile, which keeps you up to date with your levels and progression, you can link up with friends and 'compete' if you so wish, not being a competitive person I haven't done this so can't really tell you how it works!
On to the languages;
You can currently choose from 13 languages, they are always adding more which, understandably, take time to produce and perfect! You can currently choose from French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and Danish to name a few - you can find the whole listing if you visit.
When you start you can either start from scratch, or if you have had past experience can do a quick test to see what level Duolingo will recommend for you. Each section is divided in to lessons which get progressively more difficult.
They handle the lessons in different ways, sometimes you have to select the write word to complete a sentence, translate a sentence that is played to you (which you can repeat), pair up words, select the right words to write out a whole sentence, translate a sentence from English to your chosen language and so on and so forth.
I think the lesson structure is a great, as it has different activities which keeps you on your toes and encourages you to translate from both languages.
The lessons vary in subject, taking you from the very basics, to greetings, animals, food, interaction, adjectives, family - they do have some very strange sentences but I think this is more to get the vocabulary and structure in your mind so you can remember them when you need to use them.
It is a very encouraging website, when you first start it asks you how much XP you would like to hit your daily goal, it ranges from 10 - 50 depending on how much time you have to commit.
You are also awarded Lingots when you reach different levels which can be spent in the store - you can buy extra lessons for fun such as flirting or idioms, you can purchase a streak freeze to keep your daily streak if you know you are busy and won't have time to do a lesson one evening.
They have other sections to access other than lessons; they have a 'words' section which lists all the words you have learned and the strength of your use with them. It's a great tool if you just need a refresher or are struggling to remember a word.
There is a 'discussion' section which are forums created for specific questions or people offering help on certain topics. Everyone is super friendly and there is always someone who is able to give you a succinct answer to any issues you may be having or if you are having trouble understanding why a certain sentence is structured in a certain way.
Finally there is an 'immersion' section which are documents, books and news reports that are in the language you are learning and you can select sentences to translate - I think this is a great tool for when you are more well versed in the language you have chosen to learn.
I highly recommend checking out Duolingo, whether you used to be fluent in a language and want to refresh your memory or whether you are a complete newbie I think there is something useful for everyone.
Please let me know if you found this useful or even if you use Duolingo yourself - what do you like about it? Is there anything else you recommend using?
Toodles.
x
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