Duolingo

[FusRohDracarys]

Anyone here using Duolingo to learn another language? Which language(s)?

I'm currently re-working my way through their Spanish course after dropping it 3 years ago. I like what they did to remake the course since then, but I can't help but wonder if completing the course will be anything more than a rudimentary introduction to the language. Anyone have any success with mastering a language with the app?

Bonus: any recommendations for other apps that you found really helpful for mastering a higher level of Spanish would be neat.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

Anyone here using Duolingo to learn another language? Which language(s)?

I'm currently re-working my way through their Spanish course after dropping it 3 years ago. I like what they did to remake the course since then, but I can't help but wonder if completing the course will be anything more than a rudimentary introduction to the language. Anyone have any success with mastering a language with the app?

Bonus: any recommendations for other apps that you found really helpful for mastering a higher level of Spanish would be neat.

This is a fantastic app and I highly recommend it. I was at one point using it for French and Spanish. Unfortunately I lost my motivation to continue with it. I can't say I've seen a free app that does it better to be honest.

 

[Yomyom]

Pimsleur, tried a year ago to learn Hindi, loved the method, it worked for some while but I stopped

 

[FusRohDracarys]

@Brick In The Wall
How long ago were you using it? I'm not sure at what point they redid it, but I launched it last week after years of not using it. One thing that had turned me off to the app way back when was that you had to constantly redo the lower level lessons because you would lose progress on them pretty quickly. Might be good for people who are newer at the language but I just found it tedious. Now it seems like progress isn't lost quite so quickly, or perhaps they changed the way they measure your progress since it seems like other lessons continue to build off the previous ones. Another thing that I noticed was that it seems there are far more lessons than I remember, though that might be bad memory. Also more ads, but that's to be expected. How far did you get with the languages you were learning on it?

@Yomyom
Never heard of this app. Just looked it up and it seems it's pretty conversation focused, which is what I need to focus on, actually. I might check it out, thanks! The app store listing seems to imply it has a free version and a premium version. Which did you use, and do you think the free version is adequate?

 

[Brick In The Wall]

@Brick In The Wall
How long ago were you using it? I'm not sure at what point they redid it, but I launched it last week after years of not using it. One thing that had turned me off to the app way back when was that you had to constantly redo the lower level lessons because you would lose progress on them pretty quickly. Might be good for people who are newer at the language but I just found it tedious. Now it seems like progress isn't lost quite so quickly, or perhaps they changed the way they measure your progress since it seems like other lessons continue to build off the previous ones. Another thing that I noticed was that it seems there are far more lessons than I remember, though that might be bad memory. Also more ads, but that's to be expected. How far did you get with the languages you were learning on it?

@Yomyom
Never heard of this app. Just looked it up and it seems it's pretty conversation focused, which is what I need to focus on, actually. I might check it out, thanks! The app store listing seems to imply it has a free version and a premium version. Which did you use, and do you think the free version is adequate?

Its been atleast a year or so since I used it last. I used it pretty frequently and got pretty far. With everything that has happened between then and now though I can't say I remember much of it.

The ads are to be expected like you said. But it sounds like they are atleast making some decent progress on it. How's it coming along for you?

 

[Yomyom]

Never heard of this app. Just looked it up and it seems it's pretty conversation focused, which is what I need to focus on, actually. I might check it out, thanks! The app store listing seems to imply it has a free version and a premium version. Which did you use, and do you think the free version is adequate?

It's not really an app, it's Audio files.
I don't know the difference between the memberships because I downloaded all the files from a torrents
Search on the pirate bay, should be a lot of them there

 

[enjolras]

This is a fantastic app and I highly recommend it. I was at one point using it for French and Spanish. Unfortunately I lost my motivation to continue with it. I can't say I've seen a free app that does it better to be honest.

Oh oui, vraiment, tu as progressé en français ? Ne me dis pas non.

Absolutely agree. A friend from Turkmenistan recommended it to me. He was learning spanish at a fast pace.
The learning process is intuitive and the business model fair.
Too bad they didn't have available the language course I was interested into : french > catalan , but only spanish > catalan which would have led me to learn 2 languages at once & cross the teachings : MESSY for my pea sized brain ! although I waited a long time for private users to cover that tribal language. Fuck, instead, even Klingon was released but couldn't justify a purpose

 

[Brick In The Wall]

Oh oui, vraiment, tu as progressé en français ? Ne me dis pas non.

Absolutely agree. A friend from Turkmenistan recommended it to me. He was learning spanish at a fast pace.
The learning process is intuitive and the business model fair.
Too bad they didn't have available the language course I was interested into : french > catalan , but only spanish > catalan which would have led me to learn 2 languages at once & cross the teachings : MESSY for my pea sized brain ! although I waited a long time for private users to cover that tribal language. Fuck, instead, even Klingon was released but couldn't justify a purpose

You just totally blew my mind there. I could google translate but it wouldn't be honest. My mind has gone to mush from when I used this app to now.

Like I said, so much has happened that it's practically a lifetime ago now. Klingon would be fukn badass to learn no doubt. The only languages I know now that aren't english is Javascript, C#, and C++. Coding is a legit language so I stick by it.

 

[enjolras]

Without practice, the brain turns to jelly. I was learning german at school, but only to drop class because had a gay teacher in pink jeans who appeared to have a crush on me, biting his lips looking at me, commonly mistaking my names with a blank mind weird winks (maybe I was reminding him lovers?). I was a young innocent soul here to study, not be corrupted lol. Never practiced afterwards. The only phrase left remembered : ich spreche nicht deutsche (I don't speak it).
Tu es pardonné d'avoir le ciboulot ramolli en guimauve (don't try, it's part slang)

Boys need concentration




Ah pal, I was half self-trained at C# (& another proprietary one, simplified) for coding trading systems. Object languages are powerful and flexible. If you're a programmer, you must own one of those weird layout keyboards like...shit what's the name, Dvorak ? Else you're living to the hype, faking your title ;)

 

[FusRohDracarys]

Its been atleast a year or so since I used it last. I used it pretty frequently and got pretty far. With everything that has happened between then and now though I can't say I remember much of it.

The ads are to be expected like you said. But it sounds like they are atleast making some decent progress on it. How's it coming along for you?

It's pretty alright! Granted, it's been only a week so no telling if I'll lose interest and ditch it in another week, haha. My only gripes are with the audio playback and the mic, though maybe it's just my phone. Audio clips cut short and I have to replay them, which is mildly annoying. More irritatingly, when I'm prompted to speak into the mic, it doesn't take. Might be my phone mic, might be that I'm far more shit at speaking Spanish than I realize, but I'm leaning towards thinking it's an issue with their software since my partner has the same issue with a different course on his phone.

Two things I'm quite pleased with are that they seem to have added a competitive component to it where you get ranked with random learners each week, and that they've added these nifty little stories you can read through and are fairly interactive. They're corny, but in a funny way. I've also noted that it seems they have updated their dictionary or whatever to be more relevant. I remember some words that they used to use that I don't see in the lessons anymore. I looked up one of the terms that they've swapped out and it seems like they're veering more towards conversational Spanish rather than textbook Spanish, which I appreciate.

Also, coding is definitely legit. Anyone who says otherwise is plain ole wrong, haha.

 

[mediocre]

I use it a little to pick up some Spanish words and phrases but it's not something you could use to become fluent. You really have to be speaking it to another person everyday to become fluent..

 

[Life sucks]

I use duolingo for many languages, Japanese, Spanish, Italian and much others, although currently focusing on Japanese. I like it and stayed for long years. Its really useful. Think about it like flashcards, it refreshes your memory and keep the language in your head. I'll keep using duolingo until I ctb and won't miss a single day.

 

[enjolras]

Does anybody know equivalent apps to Duolingo of the same quality ?
I search for a french > catalan course, which is rare (at last resort, english > catalan would be manageable)

The government here offers free tuitions but my papers are not in order so I cannot pretend to apply.

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

I'm more of a memrize fan. It's not just language, even though they have like 40 languages in there, and that's the basic fucking pack!
I looked into premium. It's the library of Alexandria!
Math, geography, statistics, history, engineering!
Whatever you want and more!
The not-language courses are smaller, though.
But yeah, if my brain worked, especially during my weeb stage, it's a good thing. Learned some Japanese from it.
The main part of learning a language, though, is not just going through courses, it's mingling with, in my case, Japanese people. That's the hard, but most effective way to keep it in your head.

 

[Notwinnernotawin]

I use it sometimes just to practice my English and make sure I don't forget things. I tried to learn French and German but it's too difficult. I study a little bit of Spanish too, sometimes.

 

[disabledandhopeless]

I used duolingo, it's a great app for beginners!

I was also using hellotalk, it helped me a lot because the app allows me to practice the language with natives.