Look, Duolingo is obviously not the only thing you use to become proficient in another language. It's not perfect, it's gamified, it's over simplified - it's a

Look, Duolingo is obviously not the only thing you use to become proficient in another language. It's not perfect, it's gamified, it's over simplified - it's a tool in the toolbox. That being said, it's helped me immensely with both polishing my Dutch (I passed my state exams a while back but there are still so many words I don't know), and I'm now learning Japanese. Yes, Duolingo does not teach you directly all the intricacies of Japanese grammar. That's because it's a dumbed down, spaced repetition app. If you're actually serious about learning a language you'll see that pretty much from the start and like, buy some Japanese textbooks or something to supplement what you learn from the owl app. I'm currently using Satori Reader and have bought a manga to practice my Japanese reading. My grammar is still woeful, so I'll need some other material to work on that and get a real understanding. Anyway, I don't really disagree with the author on their criticism per se. But I think the criticism applies to a bunch of language learning methods...