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I learned Spanish in HS and started using Duolingo to see if it was useful for teaching my young child Spanish. She had exposure to spoken Spanish via her nanny
by gnicholas 4y ago
I learned Spanish in HS and started using Duolingo to see if it was useful for teaching my young child Spanish. She had exposure to spoken Spanish via her nanny, but had very little exposure to written Spanish.
My first reaction was that there was no way for someone to learn Spanish just by using Duolingo, as there wasn't enough 'teaching' happening. But then I realized that there is some scaffolding in the app, but you have to go search it out. This could work for a motivated adult (or older student who has some existing language knowledge). But I wouldn't recommend it for a younger student starting out.
- cpeterso 4y agoWhat do you mean by "scaffolding in the app"? Are you still using Duolingo?
- gnicholas 4y agoYou can get hints and tips when you're doing problems. This helps you understand root words and such. I'm not using the app anymore.
- medellin 4y agoDuolingo is great for building a base but after maybe the first 5 levels it’s a complete waste of time. If your goal is to actually learn Spanish you need to be listening and speaking it as soon as possible. Both the listening and speaking parts of the app are absolutely terrible. I think the worst thing is people get stuck in the trap of thinking they are learning by keeping the streak going but in reality it has diminishing returns. All this coupled with Duolingo gamifying it more and trying to squeeze money out of you by making the timed challenges pay out more points. Overall great for beginners and then you are wasting your time.
- watwut 4y agoIt worked well for my kids tho. Basically, they ended up using correct words and sentence structures in correct situations.