Duolingo and other popular language learning apps are marketed as amazing technology to help people learn languages.
But can Duolingo and similar apps actually help you become fluent?
They are marketed as a replacement for traditional classroom learning for foreign language due to the immersion factor.
There is also a free version (and a paid version). It’s portable and flexible for your schedule. I can see why it is so popular.
The problem? It can’t replace traditional classroom or clear instruction.
It’s not enough to just practice a language, you have to know what you are practicing. Let’s look at why:
What is the science behind Duolingo?
Two theories Duolingo works off are gamification and consistency.
What is gamification?
Gamification is turning a normal task or environment into a game-like environment. Most commonly used in education currently.
Rewards range from a point towards future rewards, badges, or physical rewards.
Studies have shown that it does improve motivation in students and employees but only for external motivation.
Duolingo offers their little owl doing a dance or showing you a ribbon when you achieve levels. These are not external rewards but still activate the reward center of your brain, which makes you want to do more.
Why is consistency important?
Consistency is like creating a path in the forest. Each time you walk that path it makes it easier to find the next time. Consistency in the brain does the same thing, making it easier to find that information each time.
Duolingo offers that with daily reminders to enter the app for your lesson.
Both of these are pros and based on data and research, which I love!
How important is immersion to language fluency?
First, fluency does not have to be the only goal in learning your target language.
Other goals can include being conversational, reading, topic specific and more.
Second, there are a number of learning methods and strategies, some of which I’ve covered here.
Immersion is just one method. .
What is immersion for language learning?
Immersion in regards to learning another language is only working in your target language. Whether that’s one whole hour a day, or a week straight, the goal is to only be 100% in your target language instead of your native language.
Living in the target country (I.E. Germany if you want to learn German) is the most immersive but not practical and can be overwhelming depending on your knowledge starting out.
How does Duolingo use immersion?
Duolingo instantly has you practice skills. You jump right into learning vocabulary and hearing phrases.
This instant immersion replicates the learning process of children immersed in a language. As an adult, we have knowledge of learning and our native language that we can apply in learning a new language.
The limited instruction, compared to traditional college lectures, is supposed to feel less overwhelming.
Other benefits of Duolingo
Repetition
Consistency when learning any skill is important but so is repetition of past knowledge and skills.
Constantly moving forward without refreshing or reviewing previous knowledge.
Duolingo’s set up to periodically review past skills and make sure they’re incorporated into new lessons. This set up matches traditional programs and is necessary for fluency success.
Multi-modal approach
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are all valuable parts of learning any language.
Duolingo gets points for using all the parts of a language in their daily lessons.
Remember, it is possible to focus on one of these 4 (reading, writing, listening, speaking) as a fluency goal. It’s not the best way to learn a language but it is possible.
What are some cons of Duolingo?
Does Duolingo teach skills in context?
Duolingo tries to teach useful phrases and words, like any good language program should.
It can be difficult to take skills from one area of your life to another.
Taking the words and phrases learned in an app (or even classroom) to the real world can be difficult, especially trying to hear accents or colloquial expressions.
Duolingo cannot teach skills in the moment of needing them because it has limited programming. The classroom can take a field trip to even a local restaurant to practice skills but even their reach is limited.
You, the learner, must take your skills and apply them to new situations as they arise, which can be difficult, regardless of instruction.
Is there a formal explanation or instruction?
Duolingo focuses on getting you into the language and practicing right away, so there isn’t formal instruction like in a classroom.
The instant immersion can be beneficial but you don’t often get explanations for why the grammar is that way or how to transfer that knowledge to new vocabulary or situations.
Not everyone is able to learn this way and many people need explicit instruction (which has been shown to be successful thus its widespread use in traditional schools).
For example, the gendered nouns are briefly explained (you can read my explanation on those here). Knowing if a noun is der, die, or das (masculine, feminine, or neuter) helps determine context, adjective endings, and more. It’s an important part of the grammar structure.
Does Duolingo teach accents?
Duolingo does not teach you to have an accent.
To be fair neither does formal classroom instruction. You either pick up an accent when learning or your normal speech is your accent in the new language. I had a friend from Boston learning German with us in Berlin and he clearly spoke German with a thick Boston accent.
When you start learning any language, you want the formal speech or the newscasters speech as I’ve heard it called. This speech is clear and enunciates every word, so that you’re able to hear the proper pronunciation.
Unfortunately, that’s not how most of the world talks so eventually you need to hear accents. Duolingo is starting to incorporate this but it’s still not the same as talking to a real person who can adjust their speech.
Does Duolingo teach colloquialisms?
Duolingo is starting to teach colloquialisms, but this is difficult to cover while teaching the basics of the language at the same time.
There’s so many different colloquialisms for each language as they are culture based and many can only be learned in that culture by natives.
In fact, I have a small collection of dictionaries for different areas, Berlin and Swiss German my most used.
My overall opinion of Duolingo
Overall, Duolingo is not a bad tool. It’s perfect in some contexts but not a replacement for a full language program.
It’s a great tool for practice or a fun interactive app that is better than just playing solitaire.
Will you learn fluency from it? Maybe, but not likely. The skills are out of context so not true immersion but the consistency that many struggle with is an integral part of the app and so valuable.
I will not use Duolingo to teach my children German, partially because I myself know the language, but also because it won’t be enough.
I use the app to practice my German and French, but I’ve already had a traditional academic foundation of both those languages prior.
At the end of the day, your use of Duolingo depends on your goals, whether it’s full fluency or just for fun.
Comment below your goals or experiences with Duolingo!
