Today, I’ll talk about the Duolingo app, (https://www.duolingo.com), because it is, in my opinion, (one of) the best app there is (it’s an app but there is also a website which has more features than the app). Through this app, it’s possible to learn over 20 languages from English.
An app, a game
It’s an app that can become an addictive game. It’s based on the principle of award and the repetition of vocab and grammar (grammar is also explained on the website but usually not the app). The game begins with basics and easy sentences, and gets harder through time. After about 3 months, it’s also possible to handle the language a bit, if we put enough time into it. This can take up to a year if we just take it easy to finish the game.
Excellent to begin with Esperanto!
Among the available languages from English, it’s possible to learn Esperanto, which is an international language made to facilitate communication among people from different mother tongues, and made to be as easy as possible. It’s possible to use the language after only a couple of lessons. I recommend it, the Duolingo course is really good! Esperanto can be used after about a month already, it doesn’t take long to master the basics! So if you such as languages, try this one, it could be the first foreign language you can speak 😉
Which languages?
From English, it’s possible to learn Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch, Swedish, Irish, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Greek, Hungarian, Swahili, Romanian, ….. New languages are regularly added!
What exercises does Duolingo propose ?
Translation exercises with the given vocab as well as very short sentences to listen to and transcribe. Depending on the language, you may be asked to repeat things, or put the words in the right order. When finishing a lesson, you earn 10 points and can get to the next level.
Conclusion
I highly recommend this website for those who struggle with language learning, for what ever language, and who need repetitions. Try it for 5 to 15 minutes a day for a week or two and see the results. Some players have already learnt over 10 languages with this website, which is getting more and more famous and popular. It even got the award of app of the year on the Apple market in 2013!