Is Duolingo worth it?

After more than 400 days in Duolingo, I can say without a doubt that it works, but just the app it’s not enough, you have to complement it, and the actual value you get out of it it’s the fact that it shows you that you can develop the discipline to learn a new skill.

When I reached 365 days streal, I realized something: I did something consistently for a whole year, and this was no minor thing, keeping up with a routine can be hard, after all, we are the sum of our habits, and being able to develop a new positive habit and maintain it for a whole year is no easy task, after noticing this I became more confident and I realized I could develop time strategies and positive habits to help me improve myself, then I decide to pay a subscription for an online platform to learn digital marketing and after 5 months of using this platform regularly, I can say that I developed the habit of self-learning. Duolingo became an addiction for me, I do it on the train, after breakfast, and on vacation sometimes I just do one lesson to keep my streak, and sometimes I spend two hours on it and what keeps me engaged is the streak after you reach a certain point you cannot afford to lose it and you will do everything just to maintain the streak, and I think this is the main reason of why Duolingo became a successful app.?

IT'S NOT ABOUT LEARNING LANGUAGES IT'S ABOUT LEARNING HOW TO DEVELOP HABITS?

Duolingo is the most popular app for learning a language in the world, it has been around for 10 years and its mission is: “develop the best education in the world and make it universally available”. ? With more than 49,2 million monthly active users, 2,9 million paid subscribers, and more than 500 million downloads. This app became the world’s most popular way to learn languages and the top-grossing app in the Education category on both Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Back in the year 2021, I received admission to start an MBA program in Germany, that’s when I started my Duolingo journey to learn German, it’s reassuring to think that I’m not spending my time endlessly scrolling Instagram and YouTube, but does this even work? Or is it just a pacifier?

The real question is: are Duolingo methods effective or is there a better way to learn a new language??

In my experience Duolingo by itself is not enough, you can devote yourself to Duolingo every day for one hour, and after one year your knowledge will improve but to learn a language, you must be actively engaged with it, by going to classes, listening to podcast and music and just speaking with other people. Duolingo lessons are basic, they are based on the idea that you learn a language by repetition.?

This is pretty good if you want to practice a language because you are using it and after a million times making a grammatical mistake your brain will kind of know when a sentence is right or wrong. but this by itself is not enough

How do I learn a language??

Besides doing Duolingo daily do this?

1. Listen to podcasts and music in the language you are learning.

Trust me on this one, this is the best way to engage, and don't require effort, just chose a topic you like and listen,? even if you only understand 10% of it,? just listening to somebody talking will train your ear, teach you words and train you for conversations.

I recommend using an app called Castbox, it’s free for android and iPhone and allows you to stream podcasts or download them.?

2. Talk with people even if it’s online

This might be self-explanatory but it is not, one of the main problems that I see when people are learning a language is the fear of making mistakes, I know people that can speak English perfectly just when they are drunk, but in a normal state, they refuse because they think that they skills are not good enough.

A lot of people do this, they refuse to speak the language because they think they are going to make mistakes and people are going to judge them. If you want to speak a language you have to get over this fear.

?If you want to practice for free you can download Tanda, this free app will allow you to connect with people that are learning a language you already know, it’s a tandem program online, and if you can spend a couple of dollars you can use Preply or Italki, these websites allow you to connect with native speakers of the language you are trying to learn and have a conversation with them, a lot of them offer you lessons, some just a conversation, the prices vary but this is an excellent way to learn if you don’t know anybody who speaks the language you are learning.

3. Go to classes?

Online or in-person I think that good old language classes are a must if you are learning a language, not only because you will have the tools to use the language properly, but also because you will meet people with similar mindsets and goals.