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By Kaiku
Let's talk about Duolingo, the well-known language learning app among language enthusiasts worldwide. Some folks treat it like a gift from the language gods, while others would rather compare it to the spawn of the devil that just teaches you the most random stuff while threatening your family.
How did it gain its reputation? And how can you use it best? We'll unpack its history, peculiar teaching methods, and the most common complaints. And hey, we'll even sprinkle in some pro Duolingo tips from a language streamer on how to use this tool best.
The Beginning of The Owl
Duolingo was born in 2011 thanks to the creative minds of Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker. Their goal was to make language education accessible, and most importantly, make it fun and free for everyone. The idea started cooking in their brains way back in 2009, and today, it’s a global hit with millions of users.
Why Is The Owl Threatening Me?
One thing you gotta love about Duolingo is its bizarre and sometimes nonsensical example sentences. You might raise an eyebrow at these weird phrases, but there's a method beyond the madness. Duolingo uses them as a memory trick. Silly sentences stick in your mind like chewing gum on a hot sidewalk. The catch is, Duolingo is all about building your vocabulary. While that's great for word collecting, it's like teaching you how to dance but never explaining when to do the moonwalk or the Macarena. You might want to blend your Duolingo diet with other learning resources to fill in those grammar gaps and improve your language skills.
And then there's the notorious Duolingo streak. It's like a pet that needs daily feeding. Some users become so obsessed with keeping their streak alive that they forget to stop and smell the linguistic roses. Balance is the key of language learning. Use the streak to motivate yourself, but don't rush through it like you're being chased by a language-loving cheetah.
Some Common Complaints and Duolingo Tips
We gathered the top complaints you might hear about Duolingo from its users, and some ideas on how to solve them:
Clicking Words in Order: Duolingo's sentence-building games can feel a bit like a word jigsaw puzzle. If you're tired of this, switch to keyboard input for a more efficient language learning experience.
Lack of Control over Learning Order: Duolingo dictates what you learn and when. It's like a strict teacher, but you can always plan your study sessions around its choices. Think of it as the red thread to your main language learning course.
Limited Vocabulary: Duolingo's got huge but still a finite set of words and phrases. If you want to beef up your word bank, try reading in your target language or, better yet, chat with native speakers.
Limited Language Options: Duolingo is continually adding new languages, but it doesn't have them all. If you're dreaming of mastering a rare language, you might need to spread your wings and look for specialized courses.
So How Do Some People Actually Use Duolingo?
We had the amazing opportunity to chat with a Duolingo streamer who's not only an everyday language learner but also a beloved member of the Language Cafe community. You might know him as "The_1ndiegamer" on Twitch. While he's been on Twitch on and off for a while, he truly started in the spring of 2023 sharing his progress with Dutch and Duolingo and streaming games such as Stardew Valley.
The_1ndiegamer is currently learning Dutch and he’s driven by his love for Dutch culture and his dream of eventually calling the Netherlands his home.
What's his secret to language-learning success? He told us that Duolingo is a big part of it. This language enthusiast also recommends adding a bit of spice to the learning process by using other resources such as news articles and subtitled shows. However, similar to many of us, The_1ndiegamer’s learning time with Duolingo is limited by the free plan's daily heart limitations. But when these run out, it's time to explore different learning sources.
Of course, we had to delve into the details and ask about his personal take on Duolingo as well. "It’s a quick and easy tool to get refresher lessons in, but if I had to change something I’d revert the changes to the heart system on the PC version, as well as add better explanations to what and why a certain word is used."
The Key Takeaway
Duolingo is definitely a useful app for language learning since it can be used for free and has a special method for learning. However, speaking with multiple people about what they use in their language learning reveals that there isn’t a single tool that’s the holy grail – usually people make up their own learning strategy by combining several resources and methods. As The_1ndiegamer mentioned, finding other resources to complement your learning is important so you have a wider variety of language skills you improve on.
About Kaiku
Kaiku, a Finnish IT professional living in Poland with a passion for visual arts and languages. To them finding different perspectives and ideas is important, and expressing them in various forms from text to visual content.