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I fully believe it can get you to A1 reading and writing, but it totally falls down for speaking and listening. Which may very well be ok/useful for certain use
by j4yav 3y ago
I fully believe it can get you to A1 reading and writing, but it totally falls down for speaking and listening. Which may very well be ok/useful for certain uses, but it's disappointing for people (like me) who mainly wanted to use it to talk to people. I thought I was making a ton of progress that I just wasn't until I started doing something else.
- jghn 3y ago> I fully believe it can get you to A1 reading and writing For some languages they claim B1 and I believe B2 (Spanish & French?) for reading/writing. I'm only about 1/3 through the spanish course and testing at the A1/A2 range on reading/writing tests, so I'd buy it. But yes, it's almost useless for speaking. When I've been in conversational situations I can sometimes make out what the person is saying, but I can't talk at all. Which also tracks, at no point does it put your brain in a situation where it needs to come up with & speak arbitrary sentences in response to random events. Different neural pathways. That's neither good nor bad, it just requires people to have properly set expectation. There is no way to build up conversational skills without having conversations.
- yurishimo 3y agoThis has been my experience as well A1 means nothing if you cannot understand the average speech of a native. Most natives talk extremely fast when compared to the speed of duolingo. Natives also slur words together in a way that duolingo never does. It’s great that you’ve learned the words to be able to buy groceries or order in a restaurant (basic numbers, yes, no, etc) but if you cannot understand the person asking you questions, then it’s all moot.