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I got huge value out of Duolingo as a first step. I live in a German speaking country where it’s entirely possible to speak no German. Duolingo and textbooks go

I got huge value out of Duolingo as a first step. I live in a German speaking country where it’s entirely possible to speak no German. Duolingo and textbooks got me far enough to enroll in a B1 course and find some speaking partners. The alternative would probably have been paying for a year of A-Level courses, and to be honest I may not have found the time. For absolute beginners, Duolingo has a lot of value.

least 5y ago
I'm glad that it worked out for you! I can't comment on the quality of every individual course, but if it propels you towards your language learning goals, then it's definitely doing its job. I do think that for many languages there are more effective ways to learn in a given time period than Duolingo, but if Duolingo helps you stay motivated and keeps you practicing in a way that other methods couldn't, that in itself has a ton of value.
- end0r 5y ago
  I have been learning languages on Duolingo and Babbel for years now. None of them I can speak well, but certainly well enough to have a good base of knowledge to start with. Duolingo has the advantage that you can do it whenever you want, while commuting, quickly a lesson before lunch, or on the loo. It just sums up if you consequently keep doing it. I totally agree with your point, though, that some languages are better suited for Duolingo style of learning than others. For example with Russian it was quite difficult without any grammar basics explained so I needed to additionally read about it, while with Danish it was much easier to grasp the mechanics. Not quite so with the pronunciation...
JCharante 5y ago
The alternative could be a $40 textbook and an open source flashcard / srs program.
- neurotrace 5y ago
  The problem with just textbooks is you don't get to hear or speak the language at all. There's also very little structure so you're expecting a novice to know how to effectively test themselves.
  - JCharante 5y ago
    The beginner textbooks I've used have accompanying CDs, and also audio available on their websites. The best beginner listening practice is to focus on minimal pairs so that you can start to hear the difference between different sounds that originally sounded the same. Some textbooks include this (I remember having to combine initials and finals in Chinese with my teacher) For speaking, Duolingo speech recognition isn't very good and is not going to provide specific feedback for improving your pronunciation. I'm not even a fan of practicing pronunciation virtually with a live tutor. I have found in person pronunciation practice to be very valuable compared to doing the same thing but online. A textbook doesn't solve this and neither does Duolingo.
    - watwut 5y ago
      They are also boring to the extreme and don't bite size it for you. They are also unpactical format- fiddling with cd requires you to be at home and have cd player available when you want to learn. So basically you have to be near laptop. I don't know anyone who did stick with textbook approach long enough to learn something.
- rafaelero 5y ago
  Ok, boomer.
- thenoblesunfish 5y ago
  I also used those things! I used Anki and Quizlet (which isn't open source but you can import your own word lists so it doesn't feel too "sticky"). Duolingo was still key, though - it felt less like work, because it was nicely gamified. (I give all this praise with a twinge of dread now, because I'm sure that with the IPO, Duolingo will be twisted in the way that all publicly-traded companies are).

least 5y ago

I'm glad that it worked out for you! I can't comment on the quality of every individual course, but if it propels you towards your language learning goals, then it's definitely doing its job. I do think that for many languages there are more effective ways to learn in a given time period than Duolingo, but if Duolingo helps you stay motivated and keeps you practicing in a way that other methods couldn't, that in itself has a ton of value.

end0r 5y ago
I have been learning languages on Duolingo and Babbel for years now. None of them I can speak well, but certainly well enough to have a good base of knowledge to start with. Duolingo has the advantage that you can do it whenever you want, while commuting, quickly a lesson before lunch, or on the loo. It just sums up if you consequently keep doing it. I totally agree with your point, though, that some languages are better suited for Duolingo style of learning than others. For example with Russian it was quite difficult without any grammar basics explained so I needed to additionally read about it, while with Danish it was much easier to grasp the mechanics. Not quite so with the pronunciation...

JCharante 5y ago

The alternative could be a $40 textbook and an open source flashcard / srs program.

neurotrace 5y ago
The problem with just textbooks is you don't get to hear or speak the language at all. There's also very little structure so you're expecting a novice to know how to effectively test themselves.
- JCharante 5y ago
  The beginner textbooks I've used have accompanying CDs, and also audio available on their websites. The best beginner listening practice is to focus on minimal pairs so that you can start to hear the difference between different sounds that originally sounded the same. Some textbooks include this (I remember having to combine initials and finals in Chinese with my teacher) For speaking, Duolingo speech recognition isn't very good and is not going to provide specific feedback for improving your pronunciation. I'm not even a fan of practicing pronunciation virtually with a live tutor. I have found in person pronunciation practice to be very valuable compared to doing the same thing but online. A textbook doesn't solve this and neither does Duolingo.
  - watwut 5y ago
    They are also boring to the extreme and don't bite size it for you. They are also unpactical format- fiddling with cd requires you to be at home and have cd player available when you want to learn. So basically you have to be near laptop. I don't know anyone who did stick with textbook approach long enough to learn something.
rafaelero 5y ago
Ok, boomer.
thenoblesunfish 5y ago
I also used those things! I used Anki and Quizlet (which isn't open source but you can import your own word lists so it doesn't feel too "sticky"). Duolingo was still key, though - it felt less like work, because it was nicely gamified. (I give all this praise with a twinge of dread now, because I'm sure that with the IPO, Duolingo will be twisted in the way that all publicly-traded companies are).