Most of us have dabbled with learning a new language on the app Duolingo, or you have at least heard of it. I have had an account on the app for about 6 years and I have tried to learn three different languages (French, German and Italian) in that time. But every time I make an attempt, I end up getting a three day streak and then forgetting the app exists for months. I am sure that is the experience for most. However, this time around I have made it a point to dedicate enough time for at least one lesson a day. At the time of writing this article, I hold a 40 day streak. This may not seem like an accomplishment to some, but for me it is. So what have learned in my first month of Duolingo?
I also spoke to Aisha Giraud, who currently possesses a 977 day streak. She started “seriously keeping a Duolingo streak May 14th, 2019” to learn Japanese. She says she started using the app because she “wanted something that was always the same no matter how much life changed and that was Duolingo.” Now, she is “doing the French course while occasionally doing Japanese.”
They say it only takes 15 minutes a day to learn a language. Some days I spend hours on the language learning app and some days I spend 3 minutes on it. While it is probably more effective to be consistent on the amount of time spent learning each day, just working on it daily still helps. Because I have been inconsistent, I may be a little bit ahead or behind others who also have a 31 day streak. After a month of learning Italian, I reached Unit 2 and learned over 300 words. Each time you finish a lesson, which is comprised of 3-6 levels, you earn a crown. Each skill has 5 regular crowns and once you reach the fifth crown you can “master” the skill by getting the legendary crown. I currently have collected 60 crowns in 31 days, 8 of which are legendary crowns. On each individual day, it may not seem like I am doing much or learning much, but after a month I look back at all of the lessons I have completed and I realize that I have made it pretty far. Just chipping away at it each day, little by little, feels like an accomplishment. In 31 days, I managed to complete about 15% of the entire course. Aisha reminds us that “it is helpful tool if you want to learn a language but you can’t just do one lesson a day and be done.”
So what’s the trick to staying consistent? I personally think it’s different for everybody. As I have previously mentioned, I have made many failed attempts at learning a language on the app. I think I am more consistent because I actually need to know Italian. I am moving to Italy in September, which has acted as a motivator for me to learn a language. When I was trying to learn French or German it was just for fun, I didn’t have a deadline or anything. And, I am the type of person who gets things done under pressure. If I don’t have an end date for something, I most likely will never finish it. But if you aren’t that type of person, you might have more of a chance of actually completing a course. Another thing that helps motivate me is reminders. Duolingo is pretty annoying with their reminders. They will create notifications and send emails multiple times a day until you complete a lesson and extend your streak. And their notifications usually guilt you into doing a lesson as they remind you how long your streak is and how it would suck if you lost it. So keep your notifications on for the app as a way to help motivate you. Another tactic to stay on track is to set a time each day that will be for completing a lesson. If you work on it at the same time every day, it will just become a part of your daily routine.
Duolingo has some cool features that also help you learn besides just chipping away at the lessons. They have stories that you can complete that help you learn words in the context of a conversation. You listen to a conversation between two or three people and then answer questions or fill in blanks to help you learn new vocabulary. The stories often times are comprised of many words and phrases that you haven’t learned yet, so you can tap on any word you don’t know and see what it means. Aisha is a big fan of the stories feature. ” I would say my favorite feature would be the stories and the different levels within them. They are super interesting and sometimes really funny” she says.
If you already have some knowledge of the language you want to learn, have no fear of repeating lessons you’ve already learned. They have a feature that allows you to take a placement test before you start learning so they can tailor the lessons to your prior knowledge and allow you to skip ahead. Aisha says she lives ” in a French speaking household and took French classes”, so she has a pretty good understanding of the language. So, she took “a placement assessment which allowed me to skip some of the levels” which allows her to “mostly review grammar and grow vocabulary in French.”
Duolingo also has leagues. If you are a competitive person, then this app is for you. For each lesson you complete you earn XP. The app puts you in a league with 25 other learners and you compete to see who can earn the most XP each week. If you are in the top 10 learners, you move up to a new league, filled with even more competitive learners. If you are in the bottom 15, you move down a league. And if you are in the middle, you stay in the same one. This can also help be a motivation for some as you want to move up and not down. You can also follow your friends on the app to see how they are progressing. You can see what their streak is, what language they’re learning, what league they are in, etc. And, you can even send them high-fives to congratulate them on achievements such as a milestone streak or moving up in a league. Getting some friends to join can improve your experience and help keep you accountable.
Duolingo sometimes gets some heat. People say that some of the sentences you learn make no sense because they are generated by AI. This used to be true, but they have taken on actual people to create lessons. Even still, sometimes I learn weird sentences like “I am an insect.” While I may never use this sentence in real life, it can be hard to teach new words, phrases or conjugations in a complete sentence if you have only learned like 20 words so far. If I come across a strange sentence like that, I just complete the task and move on. Other than that, I really have enjoyed the last month of using this app and I think it is a great tool to learn a language that everyone should try. Aisha reminds of the importance of actually studying though. It is important to remember that if you want to effectively learn the language, you have to put in the work. She suggests, “to look at the tips given with each lesson, write down, and review material given throughout the course.” But she says that she ” truly enjoy[s] the app and the little characters and features they have.”