Is there such thing as a Duolingo accent?

[BatshitIsTheOnlyExplanation]

I've recently started learning a language on Duolingo, but I'm wondering whether I'm saying the words with an accent that is specific to Duolingo and doesn't exist in the real world.

If someone speaks to you in your language and they've learnt it on Duolingo, how does it come across?

I don't know anyone who has learnt English on Duolingo, but I have used Duolingo in class (French lessons) and have taught a child who is moving to Spain and has been doing Duolingo to support her learning. The language produced by these children has varied according to how good an 'ear' they have and how well they reproduce specific phonemes and intonation. My view is that Duolingo is teaching the equivalent of a BBC accent. However, as the app doesn't give feedback on the accent you are using, your spoken new language could vary in authenticity.

I guess it may depend on the language, but i was learning on Duolingo for 2 years before starting group lessons with a native speaker, and the teacher is very complimentary about my accent. And without sounding rude to my fellow classmates, there is a big difference between my accent and them just saying the words in a different language but with broad South Yorkshire accent! I think the amount of practice online has helped increased my confidence in using the accent, I am not as self conscious as I would have been in the past.

I would think there is. I use it to practise languages I've learnt previously in proper classes, and I'd say the Spanish is more Latin American than European.

I would expect if you learnt English, it defaults to US English, rather than British English or any other variety of English, going by the number of times I have to translate from US English to British English before giving the answer in Spanish or German or whatever. If I'm giving the answer in English, it will accept e.g. trousers rather than pants, but questions in English will always be "I would like these pants in black".

If you're teaching a language you would usually aim for a comparatively neutral accent (I suspect there is no such thing as an accent thst is entirely neutral.) I would not teach English in my thickest Dorset accent, though I'm sure elements of it are reflected. But it would get confusing if you did some words as Dorset, some Yorkshire, Scottish, Irish, Australian, Southern USA, etc - there needs to be some consistency.

In my Welsh (taught) classes, we did a module on accents and dialect round the start of B2 level. There were a couple of voices I couldn't really follow at all. I think in Spanish and German it came up in class sometimes in the sense of, you will hear different accents (high German, low German, Swiss German...) But it wasn't really covered unless someone said, "when I was on holiday, I heard..." And I remember for French A-level about a million years ago, we watched Jean de Florette and I remember realising it was a different accent from what I had been taught (by teachers who had mostly been in Paris and Normandy.) But it was never specifically mentioned.

Fwiw duolingo recently sacked a bunch of staff linguists in favour of AI so expect it to get enshittened.

I hadn't thought about American vs British English, but perhaps there is a setting for selecting which you prefer. My Duolingo app is set to native Spanish so I can learn Catalan!

If someone speaks to you in your language and they've learnt it on Duolingo, how does it come across? Based off my experience trying Duolingo, I don't believe it's possible for someone to have learned the language on Duolingo. They might have learned some phrases and words on Duolingo, sure.

It doesn't matter if you have an accent, what matters is being understood and being able to understand. I've rarely met a non native English speaker who didn't have a strong accent when speaking English, but it doesn't matter!

Just looked up 'enshittened'. Fabulous word.

I know someone European who learnt English through this and kept saying to people at work they sounded American - I was told this is why!

Yes but the same could be said for how anyone learns a language. For example if learning Irish how you'll pronounce your Duolingo is not the same as how I learnt to pronounce it in school which was also not the same as someone on the opposite side of the country from me. Equally someone who's taught Spanish for Spain will not have the same pronunciation as someone who comes from a Spanish speaking south American country.

It depends howyou use it. If you rely on Duolingo alone, that's probably true. If you get a grammar guide alongside, there's more hope. I think it depends on your experience of language learning to that point.

I've been doing Dutch from scratch on Duo, and because I already know some German, it's okay. I think I would be totally confused by separable verbs if I'd not come across them before. Duo is rubbish at explaining grammar.