REVIEW
Weighing the pros and cons of Duolingo, where learning languages is made easy and accessible.
BY CHRIS WONG
When attempting to start learning a new language, many youngsters tend to look toward
Duolingo. For the uninitiated, Duolingo is an online language learning service available through
its website in addition to its mobile app. Though not exactly a new product, its popularity has
certainly skyrocketed in the past few years. What is so great about it then? Are there any faults?
Price
Like many apps nowadays, Duolingo operates on a freemium model, meaning that a basic free
version coexists with an optional paid package. For the sake of students’ accessibility, all
features discussed here will be referring to the free version only. Thankfully, the free version
already serves its purpose effectively enough.
Languages
Duolingo currently offers 106 different language courses in 40 languages. Among them include
Japanese, Spanish, German, Korean alongside many more. Rest assured that you’ll find the
mainstream languages you wish to learn.
Motivation
Unlike the seemingly overwhelming traditional methods such as textbooks, Duolingo sets itself
apart by teaching using simple short exercises that take up only a few minutes at a time,
allowing users to conveniently absorb information in between busy day-to-day activities such as
studying or doing homework. Moreover, by sending out push notifications frequently, Duolingo
can make sure that even the most scatterbrained users remember to practice regularly. To
provide extra incentive, Duolingo’s daily streak and leaderboard system also reward users with
a sense of accomplishment, keeping them coming back for more each time.
Teaching method & content
Through listening and textual translation exercises, Duolingo mainly focuses on teaching
pronunciation, basic vocabulary and sentence structure. This can be both beneficial and
detrimental in different ways to the target audience—beginners. On one hand, this makes it a
resourceful tool for practicing basic phrases and words; on the other hand, it tends to train
pattern recognition rather than a nuanced understanding of grammar. Here are where most of
Duolingo’s downfalls lie. For example, in its Japanese courses, little to no explanation is given
regarding the conjugation of verbs into their various forms, no doubt causing confusion for
newbies, whereas almost every single grammar book teaches these rules early on. However,
credit where credit is due, Duolingo does do a good job at teaching pronunciation. Yet again
taking the same example of Japanese, the repetition of hearing the same voice lines over and
over again as you complete your exercises does indeed ingrain the concept of correct pitch
accent into a beginner’s mind, something a textbook could never hope to accomplish.
In a nutshell, whether or not you should use Duolingo depends on what you plan on using it for.
Simply put, Duolingo is more of a supplementary practice tool to be used simultaneously with
other traditional forms of language learning than something meant to be used alone to
completely learn a language from scratch. Nevertheless, it is worth considering as long as you
are willing to put in the extra effort to study beyond what Duolingo itself covers.