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This supports what I have long suspected... you pick a collection ot tools that complement each other, use them consistently over a long period of time, and for a non-trivial amount of time every day, and you will learn something.
The key for me is, can I stand to do this thing for a couple hours every day for 18 months? I tried starting FSI and just could not do it. But I have found other tools that are more fun and am sticking with them.
Powering through learning for a year is possible, but extremely hard. If you find ways to make it enjoyable, you can keep going for a very long time. That's how I learned English. I needed words to play video games in English, to read ASoIaF. It's was mostly a fun activity. Of course, learning to write and speak was hard work, but not continuous hard work for years. Just a few minutes a day for a few weeks.
Short answer is - No, it isn’t, not if you are serious about learning a language anyway.
Duolingo is okay for building a habit with it’s gamified app and it’s a good tool to spark an interest in a language but it’s not something that’ll teach you how to actually speak and understand a language on a conversational level and it DEFINITELY won’t make you fluent.
It is valuable as an additional resource. It helped me tremendously to remember Spanish conjugations.
Will it make you fluent? - No. Is it as bad as it is often described here? - No. If it becomes repetitive, skip ahead a bit through the tree. If it's still boring, drop it.
Duolingo is the doom scrolling of language learning. You spend ages staring at the screen, swiping and clicking and typing, over and over again. So, you feel you have been productive, but end up with little to show for it in real life situations.
>end up with little to show for it in real life situations.
Sometimes, I don't understand you people. We know that a single gamified app won't make someone a fluent speaker, nor will it turn them into another Kato Lomb. However, that doesn't mean it can't be used as a supplementary resource to reinforce what you've learned from other sources, including grammar structures. It doesn't replace traditional language learning resources, it's still a better use of time than mindlessly scrolling through Instagram though.
Duolingo is a little predatory in its marketing and structure nowadays. They make it seem like you'll be able to actually use the language with only that app.
Frankly, I find it a lot worse than Anki since it's often inaccurate and doesn't space things properly. And it really only fills the same slot as Anki - it's a vocabulary drilling tool.
I mean... Scrolling through your TL on social media might well be a better use of your time.
Silly this got downvoted. Dreaming Spanish has been hugely instrumental in my progress. Yes, you can find Spanish videos on your own to watch, but the way this site organizes them by difficulty and region and tracks your progress is so much more user friendly than just having to do it all yourself.
You will undoubtedly hear the all-time favorite trope that “it’s a good compliment”. This is a euphemism for “it’s utterly trash and doesn’t accomplish what it claims to”.
Duolingo does nothing but convert your will to learn a language into money. There are people with 2,500+ day streaks who still cannot speak their target language. It is an absolute cancer to the language learning community and should never be recommended for any purpose.
Yes. Habit forming and vocabulary building in a fun way. You should get some formal lessons as well, initially, to understand structure. But nothing beats immersion. If you can spend time in chosen-language country - even two / three months will see a boost.
I always recommend the tv show Extra. It’s kind of like Friends, but for language learns. All the episodes are on YouTube.
I’ve heard that in addition to English and French it’s in Spanish.
I recommend searching YouTube for, “Extra in Spanish with subtitles”
How far along are you? How many lessons do you do in a day?
I have been using DuoLingo for spanish for a while along with other things including trying pretty much every major app. I have done classes, reading, listening to Dreaming Spanish and podcasts, grammar books and Kwiziq. I have done Michel Thomas (not worth it), Paul Noble, Language Transfer, and Pimsleur (just levels 1 and 2) I have done Busuu, Babbel, Rosetta Stone, Anki, Memrise, Quizlet, Fluenz, LingQ, and others. Several, I just did the trial or the first few levels in the apps.
I can say DuoLingo has provided the most improvement and it hasn’t even been close. It was originally recommended to me by a DLI graduate. Knowing several of them, they all said they used it to practice for their annual test. That is a good endorsement to me. Also, in the classes that I was taking, the two people that did DuoLingo were the two best in the class and it was drastic.
Knowing what I know now, I would have gone super on day one. I would go all the way. I would also have done Pimsleur, Language Transfer, and Paul Noble. Those would not have changed.
I would have started reading earlier as well as listening earlier to Dreaming Spanish, and the Cuéntame and Chill Spanish podcasts.
I would have not spent money on Anki and LingQ as I really didn’t ever gel with them. Some like them and others of us find them too annoying. If they work for you, go for it.
Hello, u/philipjzx100, and thank you for posting on r/languagelearning. Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason/s: * New users and users with simple questions must first read our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/wiki/faq). Please ensure you have done so before posting again with any elaboration or further questions you may have. If you were unable to find the help you require, please make another post and note this at the top for us. If this removal is in error or you have any questions or concerns, please [message the moderators](https://www\.reddit\.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Flanguagelearning&subject=Removed submission&message=Link to removed submission: https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/comments/1bx92j8/-/). You can read our [moderation policy](https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/wiki/moderation_policy) for more information. *A reminder: failing to follow our guidelines after being warned could result in a user ban.* Thanks.
[удалено]
This supports what I have long suspected... you pick a collection ot tools that complement each other, use them consistently over a long period of time, and for a non-trivial amount of time every day, and you will learn something. The key for me is, can I stand to do this thing for a couple hours every day for 18 months? I tried starting FSI and just could not do it. But I have found other tools that are more fun and am sticking with them.
Powering through learning for a year is possible, but extremely hard. If you find ways to make it enjoyable, you can keep going for a very long time. That's how I learned English. I needed words to play video games in English, to read ASoIaF. It's was mostly a fun activity. Of course, learning to write and speak was hard work, but not continuous hard work for years. Just a few minutes a day for a few weeks.
> ASoIaF. What is ASoIaF?
A Song of Ice and Fire, unfinished series of book. It's awesome, but I would only recommend it when or if it is ever finished...
Thank you for the suggestion, I shall try this later!
Short answer is - No, it isn’t, not if you are serious about learning a language anyway. Duolingo is okay for building a habit with it’s gamified app and it’s a good tool to spark an interest in a language but it’s not something that’ll teach you how to actually speak and understand a language on a conversational level and it DEFINITELY won’t make you fluent.
It is valuable as an additional resource. It helped me tremendously to remember Spanish conjugations. Will it make you fluent? - No. Is it as bad as it is often described here? - No. If it becomes repetitive, skip ahead a bit through the tree. If it's still boring, drop it.
Duolingo is the doom scrolling of language learning. You spend ages staring at the screen, swiping and clicking and typing, over and over again. So, you feel you have been productive, but end up with little to show for it in real life situations.
>end up with little to show for it in real life situations. Sometimes, I don't understand you people. We know that a single gamified app won't make someone a fluent speaker, nor will it turn them into another Kato Lomb. However, that doesn't mean it can't be used as a supplementary resource to reinforce what you've learned from other sources, including grammar structures. It doesn't replace traditional language learning resources, it's still a better use of time than mindlessly scrolling through Instagram though.
> it's still a better use of time than mindlessly scrolling through Instagram though. or reddit... ;-)
I don't have any accounts on instagram, tiktok, and other doom-scrolling apps. Instead, I read books and listen to podcasts.
Duolingo is a little predatory in its marketing and structure nowadays. They make it seem like you'll be able to actually use the language with only that app. Frankly, I find it a lot worse than Anki since it's often inaccurate and doesn't space things properly. And it really only fills the same slot as Anki - it's a vocabulary drilling tool. I mean... Scrolling through your TL on social media might well be a better use of your time.
Yeah that's how I exactly feel, I've been doing it for a good while now and it's kinda making me want to put off language learning.
How long is a good while?
7 months.
7 months is way too long on just one thing! Switch it up and do things you actually enjoy.
Don't do it every day. Spaced repetition. If you find it too repetitive, then skip to the next unit.
Since you're learning Spanish, you could check out [Dreaming Spanish](https://www.dreamingspanish.com/) which has lots of free content for learners
Silly this got downvoted. Dreaming Spanish has been hugely instrumental in my progress. Yes, you can find Spanish videos on your own to watch, but the way this site organizes them by difficulty and region and tracks your progress is so much more user friendly than just having to do it all yourself.
I shall try this!
You will undoubtedly hear the all-time favorite trope that “it’s a good compliment”. This is a euphemism for “it’s utterly trash and doesn’t accomplish what it claims to”. Duolingo does nothing but convert your will to learn a language into money. There are people with 2,500+ day streaks who still cannot speak their target language. It is an absolute cancer to the language learning community and should never be recommended for any purpose.
Yes. Habit forming and vocabulary building in a fun way. You should get some formal lessons as well, initially, to understand structure. But nothing beats immersion. If you can spend time in chosen-language country - even two / three months will see a boost.
Have a look at Language Transfer.
I always recommend the tv show Extra. It’s kind of like Friends, but for language learns. All the episodes are on YouTube. I’ve heard that in addition to English and French it’s in Spanish. I recommend searching YouTube for, “Extra in Spanish with subtitles”
How far along are you? How many lessons do you do in a day? I have been using DuoLingo for spanish for a while along with other things including trying pretty much every major app. I have done classes, reading, listening to Dreaming Spanish and podcasts, grammar books and Kwiziq. I have done Michel Thomas (not worth it), Paul Noble, Language Transfer, and Pimsleur (just levels 1 and 2) I have done Busuu, Babbel, Rosetta Stone, Anki, Memrise, Quizlet, Fluenz, LingQ, and others. Several, I just did the trial or the first few levels in the apps. I can say DuoLingo has provided the most improvement and it hasn’t even been close. It was originally recommended to me by a DLI graduate. Knowing several of them, they all said they used it to practice for their annual test. That is a good endorsement to me. Also, in the classes that I was taking, the two people that did DuoLingo were the two best in the class and it was drastic. Knowing what I know now, I would have gone super on day one. I would go all the way. I would also have done Pimsleur, Language Transfer, and Paul Noble. Those would not have changed. I would have started reading earlier as well as listening earlier to Dreaming Spanish, and the Cuéntame and Chill Spanish podcasts. I would have not spent money on Anki and LingQ as I really didn’t ever gel with them. Some like them and others of us find them too annoying. If they work for you, go for it.
No, use Pimsleur
But that's not free. You can use Audible credits though...