I’m sure many of you have heard of Duolingo, an online program to learn languages. As of this moment, there are 27 languages available for English speakers, the most popular of which are Spanish, French, and German. Duolingo makes learning like a game, with points, “lingots” you can use to get power-ups, and streaks. It can send you reminders for daily practice so that you can maintain your streak. This can give you motivation to consistently keep up with your language practice. However, it’s easy to reach the point where your goal isn’t to learn a new language but to win the game.
I recently lost my 65-day Japanese streak. But for the last month or so, I’ve been doing the bare minimum in order to maintain the streak. For the last couple of weeks, I haven’t even been strengthening the skills that I have recently acquired because learning new skills on the Japanese course takes less time than strengthening exercises. I know that this is not the way to successfully learn a language. I’ve been in French immersion since kindergarten. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking the language you’re learning for a few hours a day is how you can learn a language successfully. Five minutes on Duolingo really doesn’t suffice. It’s too easy to cheat. To passively look at the definitions of words you don’t know. To use Google translate to form a sentence because you don’t want to have to redo it at the end if you get it wrong. You speed through exercises because you have other things to do, but you don’t want to lose your streak. You can even freeze your streak in exchange for a few lingots. Eventually, you might move on to something different because you’re bored of the game and forget most of what you’ve learned.
Now, I’m not saying that Duolingo is bad. Not too long ago, “Duolingo Stories” was created, which allows language learners with a grasp of the basics to practice their reading and listening comprehension through the use of very short stories. This feature is currently available for English speakers learning Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. This allows people to practice language as it would be used in the real world, as opposed to the short, unrelated sentences in the Duolingo exercises. Those words and short sentences are a good starting point. However, if you’re serious about learning a language, you should use other resources to supplement your learning, or even be the primary source of your learning. Remember, it takes a lot of time and dedication to master a skill. With consistent, focused learning and time, you will be able to achieve your goal.
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