The importance of knowledge of languages has been said millions of times, and even more sites and applications have been created to study them. Today we will talk about one more - the program “Duolingo. Learning languages. ”
What is it?
What is interesting about the Duolingo program? Reviews about it are the most enthusiastic, as it allows you to learn a language anywhere and anytime absolutely free of charge. The creators earn money by translating documents for various companies.
Today, Duolingo is not only a resource for individual language learning, but also:
- the opportunity to use the site’s facilities in the classroom (Duolingo for schools);
- to check the level of knowledge and official confirmation of obtaining a certificate at the level of IELTS and TOEFL, recognized by many foreign companies (Duolingo English Test);
- to test the knowledge of the English applicant for the position (Duolingo Englih Test for Business);
- Tinycards are flashcards that help you remember anything from Italian cuisine to complex Japanese characters. The creators made sure that users can create their own decks of cards, look for them and subscribe to created by other users.
Incubator
For people who are passionate about languages or just knowing a different language, the resource offers to participate in the creation of new courses. A similar step allows you to quickly develop and launch a course. Another goal is to preserve dead languages and languages on the verge of extinction.
How does it work?
So, if you want to learn English through Duolingo, the reviews inspired you, and you have at least 10 minutes a day, it will be interesting to find out how the program works.
You can learn a language in 2 ways - through a course and translation of articles from the Internet.
All material in the course is divided into topics, and they are divided into lessons. Each lesson includes writing, reading, speaking, and listening assignments. Classes are built on the principle of “from simple to complex”, and it is impossible to move on to a new lesson without successfully mastering the previous one. This form of training resembles a quest, which encourages the user to learn new things in a playful way. As in the game, the user has 3 lives that burn out if he answers incorrectly. In this case, he returns to the beginning of the lesson and repeats the material again. For winning, you can get game currency - lingots that can be exchanged for clothes for an owl, new expressions and other prizes.
Gradually, when moving from level to level, something may be forgotten. To avoid this problem, you should periodically repeat the material covered. To do this, look at the scale under each level - if it is complete, then knowledge is not yet forgotten. If it is empty, you should pay attention to this. The creators of the resource say that a user who has completed all levels will know 2000 words. According to the European Competence of Languages, so many words need to be known at A1 level, that is, basic. Thus, it is possible to answer an important question for users (also based on the Duolingo reviews): "Can I learn a language?" Yes, you can, but at a basic level. This is a good result for those who have started and quit studying English, German or other languages many times because it was uninteresting, difficult or not enough time.
Thus, Duolingo will not help to read adapted literature and understand the speech of native speakers by ear. For these purposes, specialized services are more suitable.
What languages can I learn?
The list of languages available for learning depends on the native. For those who know Russian, 5 languages are available - English, German, Spanish, Italian and Swedish.
English-speaking courses are available for Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch, Swedish, Irish, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Hungarian, Greek, Romanian, Czech, Korean, Klingon, Indonesian, as well as Hindi, Swahili, Esperanto and Hebrew. This is the largest language list available.
How to register?
To make friends with Duolingo, you need to register on the site. You can do this in three ways: through your Facebook and Google accounts or by registering on the website by e-mail. Only a username and password are required to enter. But there is an opportunity to add more personal information - full name, location, biography, profile photo and links to profiles on Facebook and Twitter. To do this, click on your name and select the "Settings" tab in the window that opens. After logging in, a list of languages will be available in which you can choose the one that the user wants to learn. You can also choose the duration of one lesson - from 5 to 20 minutes per day.
There is an automatic registration in applications for users of the operating systems Android, iOS and Windows. At the moment, there are the following applications that can be downloaded from the application directories of the specified operating systems:
- Duolingo;
- Duolingo English Test;
- Tinycards.
What to do after registration? Step-by-step instruction
- If the user has basic knowledge, he can take a language test, and Duolingo after the test will give the opportunity to start learning from lessons with unfamiliar topics.
- If there is no basic knowledge, you need to start with the first lesson, that is, with an introduction to the most basic vocabulary and grammar.
- In the beginning, the user has four hearts, allowing you to make four mistakes. But with increasing progress, the number of hearts will decrease to three. The goal of the game is to complete the entire level, preserving the number of hearts.
- If the user is not familiar with the translation of the word, he can hover over it, and Duolingo will display a translation or use cases.
The computer version suggests the possibility of using hot keys:
- input response - Enter;
- choice of answers to questions with many answers - 1, 2, 3;
- repeated playback of the audio recording - CTRL and space;
- Repeatedly slow playback of an audio recording - CTRL, Space and SHIFT.
Pros and cons of the course
What is good about Duolingo? Resource user reviews allow you to identify the following advantages:
- game form of training allows you to learn a language easily and naturally;
- thanks to the presence of a scale, under each lesson you can see topics that need to be repeated so as not to forget the material you have learned;
- Lingots can be exchanged for additional lessons that are not in the standard Duolingo language course;
- it is possible to discuss tasks on the forum with both other users and with the creators of the course;
- the resource adapts to the user and issues those tasks and words that are given to him most difficultly, or those that need to be repeated.
No matter how useful and good the application may be, it will definitely have disadvantages. Duolingo also has them. User reviews on the network allowed to identify the following:
no grammar explanations;
the resource is not suitable for those who want to learn a language at a level above the base;
lack of alternative translation options in assignments;
the program only works when connected to the Internet;
not suitable for learning a language as an independent tool;
lack of video tutorials.
Pros and cons of the test
The test, like the course, has its positive and negative sides. What kind of test do they have from Duolingo? Reviews from the "Play Market" give a clear picture of them. So, the pros:
- You can quickly learn about your level of knowledge of English;
- Duolingo test results are on par with the TOEFL and IELTS exams;
- issues an official certificate that can be used as an addition to a resume;
- many global companies and national governments accept the Duolingo certificate (Uber taxi company, Colombian government, Harvard University) ;
- You can share your results on LinkedIn.
And now for the cons. What do Duolingo reviews say? So:
- test results are not saved;
- there are no keys to questions at the end of the test, so the user cannot see his mistakes, not to mention parsing them;
- paid, unlike courses.
If you are interested in the Duolingo test, the reviews about the application in a negative way did not bother you, then you should download the program to just check your level of English.
What else can be found on the site?
The Duolingo office is located in Pittsburgh. On the website of the resource, in the section "Vacancies", you can find out what kind of specialists are required by the company. It can be programmers, designers, copywriters.
On the site in the section "Souvenirs" you can buy T-shirts and sweatshirts with an owl - the symbol of "Duolingo".
Conclusion
If you have been striving to master a language for a long time, but you just can’t learn or learn it, but you can’t understand, it’s definitely worth downloading the Duolingo program. Testimonials of other experienced users may be supplemented, perhaps by yours.