Is Duolingo the best way to learn a language fast?

[Davidsdaughter]

Going abroad in 6 weeks - a friend recommended Duolingo to me and I have been using the free version with adverts, and a cut off after you have made a certain number of mistakes in a day.

I am very impressed, and about to pay the full subscription, but before I do, is it really the best? Or is my ignorance of language apps impairing my judgement.

Thank you for any experience and advice

YABU - there is an even better one called....
YANBU - Duolingo is the best!

Oh and the bloody annoying dings.

You can turn those off very easily!

I was told that it helps with vocabulary and grammar and, to an extent, pronunciation, but doesn't really teach you the language. What it does do, however, is give you a head start in learning it, and I think that's true.

Some of the English they use is seriously irritating, though, e.g. "Didn't used to".

It's not the best for learning how to get by on holiday quickly, which is probably what you want right now.

I tried it before a trip to Portugal and after a couple of weeks learning useless things like 'this is a blue duck' and 'I am a carrot' I gave up and just had a play with Google translate and got it to speak words and phrases that would be more useful like 'a glass of white wine please' please/can I have a box of custard tarts/thank you/hello/good bye/sorry/do you speak English/the bill please/how much, numbers and wrote down all this sort of stuff so I could refer to it and that was a lot more useful.

You might also want to consider an app called Language Transfer, which my DS found on YouTube. It's purely about the spoken language and the author (who is Greek) is good at explaining regional differences in pronunciation. I found Duolingo a bit childish too.

I've found Duolingo fine for languages I already know the basics of, but frustrating for new languages. I want to learn to read menu items and ask how much things are, not learn how to say "I am a woman and I have a child" multiple times! Also the Latin American Spanish and American English are beyond annoying.

You also have to translate from American English, though it does accept things like trousers instead of pants in your answers.

It's useful for revision of languages you've learnt in the past. It's rubbish for grammar, in that it doesn't really explain things - it shows you the pattern, but not really why. I've been doing Dutch from scratch, and I think if I hadn't previously done German, I would be really confused by separable verbs (which took me a while to get my head round in German as I remember.) There are some other constructions where yes, I get the pattern, but it's not clear to me when I'd use that tense rather than this one. So I bought a grammar book alongside, which helps.

Having said all that it's probably one of the most accessible apps. It might not always be useful for learning touristy stuff. I could now order food or find the station in Dutch, but I would probably have preferred to focus on that before learning words like rhinoceros or tortoise, which don't come up so often in daily conversation... Welsh has a weird obsession with Owen's parsnips, and Latin (which is a very short course) is overrun with drunken parrots - not quite the Pliny of my school days!

@EBearhug

agree with you- I also did Dutch earlier this year and I got to nearly 100 days, but was frustrated by the lack of actual practical language. I wanted to know how to order a chocolate ice cream rather than “the rhinoceros runs under the table”. And lack of any grammar explanation frustrating.

I have also done the Spanish course though which is much more comprehensive- that said I found this useful to recap on my rusty Spanish rather than starting from scratch.

basically OP I’d recommend but if you want a proper grip on the language you will need to use other tools too.

Yes, all the other languages I've done on Duolingo have been refreshing things I've learnt in formal classes, be it at school or evening classes, and it's good for that.

Thank you, that is worth knowing

This is still true. You do get less XP (and XP bonuses etc) on the app, but that's irrelevant if you care about language learning more than the gamification aspect!

@Davidsdaughter I completed the Duolingo course in my chosen language, but have supplemented it with a variety of other apps/websites/books/speaking etc, and still am probably only at an intermediate level. I am using a much better app now, but without knowing your language I cannot comment if it might work for you, because not all languages are on it (also available as free and paid and it's so good that I now pay to access all the features, unlike with Duolingo). Watching/listening to your chosen language helps too, so check out if Channel 4 Walter Presents, Netflix, YouTube etc have things you can watch, or if Spotify has podcasts you could listen to while travelling/driving/walking etc.

Thanks for all the information and suggestions, I am reading them all.

I did Greek on Duolingo for over a year and got frustrated that most of what I was learning would be of very little use in real situations. I learned a fair amount of vocab, but I'm not sure when I will need to tell someone about a pink throne...

About a month ago I switched to Pimsleur which has a week free trial and have learnt more conversational Greek in a month than I did in over a year on Duolingo. It does cost more, but totally worth it in my opinion.

I could say very 'useful' phrases such as my right leg is longer than my left leg, but nothing useful like having a conversation in a restaurant.

Look for Coffee Break Languages on YouTube & see if they’ve got the language you’re after. I got up to a reasonable level of Italian with a mix of Coffee Break & Duolingo, though I’ve found a class now which is, as someone said upthread, the ideal.

I use the free version and find the gamification is helping me to stick with it. I use the practice sessions a lot to gain more hearts and use the early bird/night owl double points sessions to gain more points.

I’ve currently been provided with a free 3 day trial of Superduolingo as I hit a 400 day streak so I’ve been focusing on doing the legendary lessons. I’ve realised that, since I don’t have to worry about mistakes, I’m not really taking as much care as I do when I might run out of hearts in a single lesson so I wonder whether moving to the paid version would motivate me to keep practicing in the same way.

They have run special offers with a hefty discount in previous years (I was offered 60% discount on a year’s subscription last Christmas) so, if that might affect your decision, keep on with the free version to see what you’re offered.

I completed the Duolingo course in my chosen language, but have supplemented it with a variety of other apps/websites/books/speaking etc, and still am probably only at an intermediate level.

@EhrlicheFrau I agree, I’ve been learning Spanish with Duolingo for two weeks now and although it’s got me started, I realize that I need some supplementary materials to really grasp the language. I’ve just ordered a Spanish Grammar book as I find it easier to see verbs fully conjugated, etc.

I’ve found that nothing really compares to being able to have conversations and having an actual teacher - I know I’m bloody lucky to have that opportunity though.

Agree, Memrise is way better.

Also, all you will learn is a few useful phrases for your holidays. Im not knocking this in any way, it is very worthwhile doing and will be appreciated, but you will not ‘learn’ a language on an app.

I read and write French fairly well and can have basic conversations. I tend to use Duolingo daily to practice grammar so I don't embarrass myself on holiday.

I am not sure I would use it to learn a language from scratch.

Duolingo does seem good!

Try the app Tandem too

memrise is great for vocab!

I’ve found Paul Nobel much better for learning languages. Duolingo just irritated me!

I prefer Busuu, more structured and also has a free version. I was doing both but have now dropped Duolingo.

I'm going to try all these other suggestions as well, thank you.