Okay, so I'm not hating on Duolingo or the people who use it, but it really isn't that great (in my opinion).
I think a lot of people in the language learning community agree that Duolingo is not really a great way to learn a language, but it still remains one of the most popular language learning apps among non language learners (people not in the language learning community).
Why do you guys think that is? Is it just a lack of information about the app? Do people just know it's a language learning app so they use it because it's the only one they know of? Or do people really just like Duolingo? Then again, it is free which is a HUGE plus.
I'm sure you all know why Duolingo is mediocre, but I'm going to list some reasons anyway because I can :P
- The vocabulary they teach is not very beneficial to the learner. I'm sure you've all seen the memes, but it's very true. Duolingo will unironically teach sentences that say "I am a butterfly," or "She likes eating butter." Yes, those are grammatically correct sentences, but they are so unbelievably useless to most people who are learning a language. For most people, a language is learnt so that it can be used in the real world, whether that be for a job, travel, or communicating with natives. I have never been in a situation where the sentence "She likes eating butter" was ever needed!! Even other apps (like Memrise) will teach things like "My name is _____," and "I am American," before they even enter the butter-eating territory (I bring this up because it shows that language learning apps can be quite effective, especially for the basics).
- Some languages don't have audio recordings. This may be an outdated point, but I'm still going to bring it up. More than a year ago, I started learning Irish on Duolingo, but I didn't get past the first lesson. Why? Because there were no audio recordings. That may have been okay if I had a footing in the language already, but I had zero experience in the Irish language, and English and Irish pronunciations are very different. I didn't know about forvo.com at the time, so that probably would have helped, but even then, a language learner shouldn't have to switch back and forth between websites just so that they know what the word is supposed to sound like. Again, this may have changed as this was a while ago, so if it has, I apologize, but I thought it was a valid point.
- Duolingo doesn't focus on grammar nearly as much as I would like it to. This is also a personal thing, as I really like to understand the grammar of a language instead of just learning phrases. I know not everyone is the same in that aspect of language learning. From what I remember (I haven't used Duolingo in a long time), there was something you could click to see some grammar info, but it was only available on the computer. That was obviously not very good for those of us who primarily used Duolingo on our mobile devices.
- The speaking aspect is incredibly inaccurate! I saw a tiktok in which a guy was doing a Duolingo lesson, and he just yelled a bunch of gibberish into the computer, and Duolingo said it was good. It was honestly pretty funny, but it shows how flawed Duolingo is.
Yes, I know it's free. Obviously that's a huge reason to use Duolingo over a better program. However, I find that there are still great ways to learn a language without spending a fortune (or any money at all!).
Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion. I made statements that Duolingo is "mediocre" and "not really a great way to learn a language." Obviously, I'm sure some people will disagree. I mean no disrespect to anyone who uses and likes using Duolingo. If it works for you, all the power to you! But yeah I'm just curious what you guys think, and I wanted to share my opinion as well :)
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from Dia dhaoibh | Languagelearning https://ift.tt/3dL9f0S
via Learn Online English Speaking
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