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Free language learning apps often promise the world — but don’t expect fluency from one. Here’s what to expect before you sign up.
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By Eric Ravenscraft
If mobile language-learning apps are to be believed, it’s never been easier to pick up another language. Just spend 20 minutes a day with a few virtual flashcards and you’ll be fluent in no time! The reality is a lot more nuanced — and arguably more disappointing — than that.
Apps like Duolingo, Memrise, and Babbel all promise to teach you how to read, write, or speak a new language, all from your phone. While they’re similar in concept, they differ a lot in the specifics:
Duolingo offers a skill tree of lessons that use listening exercises, flashcards, and multiple choice questions to drill you on new words, phrases, and sentences. Most questions have a comment thread where users can discuss a particular question in detail. The service also has community features that let you connect with other people who are learning the same language you are.
Memrise offers similar lessons to Duolingo, introducing new words and phrases with flashcards, listening exercises, and more. However, the app has a few unique features: on new words, you can write a note (called a “mem”) with anything that helps you remember the new word or phrase. These will appear later when you come across the word again. It also offers a feature called Learn With Locals, which pairs words with videos of native speakers saying the phrase out loud and demonstrating the phrase. For example, a speaker might shiver when describing cold weather. This helps connect words with their meaning. Memrise also offers more explanatory cards than Duolingo offers when introducing new or complex topics.
Babbel is different from the other two. While it uses similar multiple choice or listening exercises as the others, it uses conversational examples to demonstrate how to use new words or phrases when speaking with another person. It also offers a speech recognition feature that lets you speak words back during an exercise instead of writing them out or answering a multiple choice question. This helps you learn how to pronounce words properly, or at least properly enough for your phone to recognize what you’re saying.
(Video) Introducing Duolingo Math
Despite their differences, they have the same goal: use daily exercises on your phone to teach you an entire language. It’s an enticing promise, especially if you’re not already immersed in a culture or education system that will give you the exposure you need to pick up a second language. The question is, are they effective?
After I accumulated a Duolingo streak in excess of 500 days — a feat that, thanks to the app’s notoriously insistent reminders, has now come to define my self-worth — I found myself in a better place to judge just how much an app alone can really teach you. The short answer is that you can definitely learn some things from an app, but if you want to become fluent in a language — or even conversational — they won’t be enough.
Language apps are great for writing systems and basic phrases
The phrase “learning a language” is deceptively reductive. A language isn’t a singular monolith, but rather a complex interconnected system of components that build a way to communicate. The lexicon consists of the individual words, which speakers have to memorize. The syntax and grammar tell speakers how to properly structure those words in a sentence. Then there’s the writing system, which is the visual representation of words or sounds that allow words to be constructed (for example, in English, the writing system is the alphabet).
For languages that have a different writing system, like Japanese, Russian, or Korean, language apps can be an excellent way to learn. Duolingo and Memrise both use a combination of flash card and simple matching exercises to train you to recognize symbols in a new writing system, while Babbel goes an extra step further with in-lesson explanations for how new symbols or sounds work.
After a few weeks or months of consistently going through lessons, it’s feasible to learn every sound and symbol in a new writing system. You won’t be able to understand every word you can read, but you’ll be a lot closer than if you started from scratch. However, that’s only part of learning a language. Understanding the alphabet used in English doesn’t inherently mean you can understand French or Spanish, for example.
These apps are also better at teaching basic conversational phrases that are useful when you’re traveling. When you visit a city in a foreign country, it’s helpful to learn a few phrases like “Where is the bathroom?” or “How much does it cost?” Using a phrase book to memorize these phrases in another language is a quick and dirty way to get the job done, but that’s not really “learning” the phrases, it’s just memorizing them.
For example, consider the Italian phrase “Dov’è il bagno?” This phrase means “Where is the bathroom?” However, without speaking Italian, can you tell which part of that sentence is “bathroom?” Could you adapt the sentence to say “Where is the door?” or “Where is the hotel?” Language apps don’t just teach you whole sentences. Instead, they break down component parts of a sentence and teach you a few different variations so you understand what you’re saying and can adjust what you’re saying based on your situation. It’s a useful skill to have, especially when traveling.
Most importantly, though, these apps are powerful reminders that learning a new language isn’t a part-time job. Duolingo has infamously persistent notifications that pester you to come back and give that adorable green bird attention every single day. The downside is that it can be tempting to gamify the experience, rather than actually learn. On particularly busy days, I’ve found myself redoing the earliest lessons just to keep my all-important streak going. Which leads to another important lesson: skirting the rules on a self-improvement project hurts no one but yourself.
What language apps can’t teach you
For as useful as learning a new writing system or understanding basic phrases can be, it’s only a small part of fluency in a language. What counts as “fluent” is a tough concept to describe, but the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (or CEFR) is a widely-accepted standard for approximating fluency.
The six CEFR levels are necessarily broad and can overlap a bit, but here’s a (very) brief overview of what each means:
At level A1, learners should know basic phrases, be able to introduce themselves and ask simple personal questions, and understand basic interactions if their conversation partner speaks slowly. Level A2 includes understanding common expressions, communicating about routine tasks, and describing simple aspects of the speaker’s background. Together, these two levels make up the Basic stage.
Level B1 starts to introduce more complex ideas like explaining their opinions, dreams, and ambitions, or handling complex tasks while traveling. Level B2 expects speakers to be able to speak with native speakers of a language without straining, and have complex technical discussions related to their field of expertise. These two levels make up the Independent stage.
Finally, a level C1 speaker should be able to communicate flexibly in social, professional, and academic settings, understand a wide variety of topics, and recognize implicit meaning. C2, the highest level, expects the learner to “understand with ease virtually everything heard or read,” and summarize information from different sources. Levels C1 and C2 make up the Proficient stage.
If it’s not already obvious, language apps simply can’t get someone to level C2 — or anywhere close — on their own. There simply aren’t lessons to teach you, for example, how to have a complex conversation about banking regulations or astrophysics or whatever your field of expertise. It also means that if you stick solely to the lesson plans in each app, you won’t communicate with another person. By definition, these two limitations would rule out reaching even level B2.
Some apps also have a hard time teaching complex grammar. In Japanese, for one small example, “particles” are core parts of a sentence that indicate how words relate to each other in a sentence. They’re usually written with the same symbols used to spell words — sort of like how “a” is both a letter, but also a word on its own — which can get confusing since Japanese doesn’t use spaces between words and symbols.
Duolingo often just drops a new particle on you without much explanation of what it does or even that it’s a particle at all. Memrise handles this a bit better, with lessons dedicated to how certain particles and grammar work, but it helps to have external lessons, an instructor, or best of all a native speaker to help explain some of the finer points of nuance in a language’s grammar.
Language apps also struggle with some of the unspoken aspects of communicating in a language. To focus on Japanese again, there are distinct levels of formality and politeness which dictate what form a word should take based on your relationship with the person you’re speaking to. So, for example, you may use one form of a sentence when speaking to a friend, but a more formal version when speaking to a boss.
Furthermore, body language and posture can have a dramatic impact on how your speech is perceived, and language apps tend not to cover this at all. While understanding body language is not strictly a requirement of any CEFR level, it’s hard to navigate a conversation fluently without a general understanding of what certain gestures mean, or what actions are impolite.
Most importantly, though, language apps are not other humans. It sounds like an obvious observation, but the entire point of learning a language is to communicate with other people. You can learn as many words or sentences as you want, but until you’re able to have a conversation with another person, you’ll never be fluent. Or, according to the CEFR model, you won’t even be halfway there.
For that reason alone, learning a language with an app should be a starting point, not the end. If you make it through an entire Duolingo skill tree or a Memrise lesson plan, it might be time to upgrade to an in-person class, or you might want to find a native speaker to practice with.
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FAQs
500 Days of Duolingo: What You Can (and Can’t) Learn From a Language App (Published 2019)? ›
Research shows that Duolingo is an effective way to learn a language! But the truth is that no single course, app, method, or book can help you reach all your language goals.
Has anyone actually learned a language with Duolingo? ›Research shows that Duolingo is an effective way to learn a language! But the truth is that no single course, app, method, or book can help you reach all your language goals.
How many days does it take to learn a language on Duolingo? ›When signing up for Duolingo, you set a daily goal. You can choose between 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes a day. Most of the Duolingo marketing touts “Spending 15 minutes a day learning a new language.” So, if you have 387.5 hours of material to get through – and you practice for 15 minutes a day – that's 1,550 days.
Can Duolingo get you to B2? ›At Duolingo, we're developing our courses to get you to a level called B2, at which you can get a job in the language you're studying. Reaching that kind of proficiency requires dedication, varied practice opportunities, and a lot of time.
Is Duolingo actually effective? ›Good for Practice, Not Always for Learning
Even with some of the well-developed courses, Duolingo may not be enough to completely teach a language to fluency. As mentioned earlier, Duolingo is great for getting a base in a language—but don't expect to get to advanced fluency on Duolingo alone.
No. Duolingo doesn't become anyone fluent in any language, but it helps. Duolingo has always been an extra resource for my language learning. That's it.
Which is better babbel or Duolingo? ›The biggest difference between Babbel and Duolingo is the approach to language learning. Babbel is a better option if you want traditional language instructions through modules and lessons. By contrast, Duolingo works great if you need a playful, gamified experience.
What is the success rate of Duolingo? ›The effectiveness measure showed that on average participants gained 8.1 points per one hour of study with Duolingo. The 95% Confidence Interval for the effectiveness is from 5.6 points to 10.7 points gained per one hour of study.
What happens when you complete a Duolingo course? ›The guidebook can be accessed any time, even when you complete the unit. NOTE: Guidebooks are not available for all languages. Once you complete all the levels in a unit, you'll complete a challenge to earn your unit trophy. You'll also have the option to earn the Legendary trophy for each unit.
What does 34 hours of Duolingo teach? ›According to an independent study conducted by the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina, an average of 34 hours of Duolingo are equivalent to a full university semester of language education. You can see a full report of the study here.
Does Duolingo give you a certificate? ›
The Duolingo certificate is released 48 hours after attempting the test. As soon as you receive your scores, you can start sending them to institutions around the world via the Duolingo website.
Can you skip to level 1 in Duolingo? ›If you have previous experience with a language and feel that lessons are too easy, you can scroll to the next locked unit and tap the circle that says “Jump here?”. If you pass the test, you'll unlock that unit! NOTE: This will complete all levels up to that point.
What Duolingo score is accepted? ›A good Duolingo score will be 110 and above. If you score above 120, it is considered excellent. This is especially in comparison to IELTS, TOEFL, and CEFR scores. A score of 7 is considered suitable for IELTS, 86 for TOEFL, and a grade of B2 is deemed ideal for CEFR.
Is Rosetta Stone better than Duolingo? ›Yes. After thoroughly testing out and reviewing each language learning app, we found Rosetta Stone to be a superior program to Duolingo. While we like Duolingo's gamification of learning, Rosetta Stone is simply more comprehensive and effective.
Does Duolingo ever get hard? ›Hard Mode is a special type of lesson that randomly appears for learners after they've made some initial progress. It's designed to challenge learners by serving them higher-level content.
How many people actually complete a Duolingo course? ›Duolingo doesn't release completion rates for its courses, but a report last year said American users ranked 68th out of all countries in the number of lessons completed. A separate informal study put the overall completion rate for Spanish at less than 0.01 percent.
What is the easiest language to learn? ›- Frisian. ...
- Dutch. ...
- Norwegian. ...
- Spanish. ...
- Portuguese. ...
- Italian. ...
- French. ...
- Swedish.
Busuu. Busuu is an online language learning platform that is available for a wide range of languages. Busuu offers a social aspect that allows users to get feedback on writing and pronunciation from other users, which Duolingo doesn't have. Busuu offers a language learning experience that compares to Duolingo.
How much does Babbel cost a month? ›How much does Babbel cost? Depending on the length of your subscription, Babbel costs between $6.95 and $13.95 per month. The monthly cost of each subscription type is as follows: One month costs $13.95, a three-month subscription costs $9.95 per month, and a yearly subscription costs $6.95 per month.
What are the weaknesses of Babbel? ›Content may be too basic for advanced speakers. Babbel has a limited amount of speaking exercises and feedback is not as thorough as competitors. Babbel does not offer live tutoring, which means users cannot speak with a live tutor to practice their language skills. Babbel offers a limited amount of free content.
Who is the most followed person on Duolingo? ›
Congrats to John Arnold, who has the highest-ever Duolingo streak of over 2000 days! He's a horse farmer and chemist.
Can I get Duolingo results in 24 hours? ›Duolingo English Test Score is reported on a scale of 10 - 160. Test-takers get their Duolingo English Test results within 48 hours or 2 days of completing the test and can share them with anyone immediately.
What age uses Duolingo the most? ›54% of Duolingo users are aged between 18 and 34 years,
This information can be used to better understand the demographics of the platform and to tailor content and services to the needs of the users. Additionally, it can be used to inform marketing strategies and to target potential users.
Reaching certain milestones (such as 100 day streak) can earn the user 3 days free of Super Duolingo.
What happens when you skip a day of Duolingo? ›A streak freeze on Duolingo allows you to pause (or in this case 'freeze') your streak. This means that if you miss a day — i.e. you don't login and complete any lessons — then your streak won't reset to 0. A streak freeze is basically a safety net that gives your streak that extra bit of protection.
What happens if you reach the end of Duolingo? ›Don't Quit; You're Not Finished
However, you can continue using the platform to good effect even once you've finished a Duolingo tree. While you should also explore using other resources for your target language, you can still use Duolingo to practice your speaking and listening.
You reach the first tier once you hit a 365-day streak. After that, it goes up every year, and this will be reflected on your weekly leaderboards and profile page. So if you keep the flame burning for 3 years, you'll have a little 3-year badge underneath your username.
How many Duolingo levels should I do a day? ›You get 10 XP per lesson, but you can choose how many lessons you want per day. Casual is one lesson per day, Regular is two, Serious is three, and Insane is five lessons in a day.
Has anyone ever finished Duolingo? ›Duolingo gives you a placement test at the beginning of any new course so that you don't have to waste time with things you already know. I immediately “tested out” of 70% of the lessons and was able to take the final test for the Duolingo Award as they call it and completed it.
Can you put Duolingo on resume? ›You can include a link to your Duolingo English Test score reports on your LinkedIn account or resume. This helps potential employers verify your English proficiency as part of the interview process, as they can review your taped responses to random interview questions.
Is Duolingo certificate valid in USA? ›
Is Duolingo Accepted by USA Universities? Duolingo English Test is widely accepted in USA universities as proof of language proficiency for international students. DET is being accepted in top universities in USA for 2023 intakes as well.
Why Duolingo is not certified? ›I received an email stating that you were unable to certify my test results. What happened? If you are suspected of violating any of the rules of the Duolingo English Test, Duolingo reserves the right to not certify your test results. In this case, please review the test rules and requirements before retaking the test.
What happens if you make too many mistakes in Duolingo? ›Hearts are used as a way of pacing Duolingo lessons to balance practice and new material. You can lose Hearts by answering incorrectly too many times, which has been encouraging users to pay closer attention to what they are answering before hitting “check”. You will start out with 5 Hearts each day!
What happens when you finish #1 in the Diamond League in Duolingo? ›You are promoted to the next league. There is no league higher than Diamond. If you reach the top 3 of Diamond, you will remain in that league. NOTE: We no longer offer gem rewards for those in the top 3.
Can you lose progress in Duolingo? ›If you remove a language, you can always add it back later, but all your progress will be lost and you'll have to start the course from the beginning. If you have courses for other base languages, you will have to switch to those and repeat the steps for deleting the course.
Which university is accepting Duolingo in USA? ›| Seattle Pacific University | Northwestern University - Medill School |
|---|---|
| University of Houston – Victoria (UHV) | Boston College - Carroll School of Management |
| University of Maryland Global Campus | Regis University |
| Rice University | Harvard Medical School |
Although taking an English proficiency test (such as the TOEFL, IELTS, etc.) is not needed, you may submit your results if you choose. The Duolingo English Test is accepted for the programs under the Harvard Extension School to verify your English proficiency.
How long should you use Duolingo? ›You don't need to spend hours on Duolingo each day. However, you must put a reasonable amount of time into learning. If you log in to complete one lesson and sign out as soon as you've reached 10XP, you won't get very far. To optimize your learning, aim to spend between 15 and 30 minutes on the app each day.
What is one criticism of Duolingo? ›It focuses on translation
The main tool used on Duolingo is translation. This means they teach you the language by getting you to translate things from one language into another. While translation is a useful language-learning method, using it alone can lead to the inability to produce your own sentences.
- Study a little bit each day. This makes learning more manageable, it's easier to fit studying into your schedule, and it leads to more effective learning.
- Set meaningful, short-term goals. ...
- Use your lessons as a starting point.
What is the most studied Duolingo? ›
- English.
- Spanish.
- French.
- German.
- Japanese.
- Italian.
- Korean.
- Portuguese.
Worth a try for the free features
While the general structure of Duolingo is great for languages that use the Latin alphabet, like Spanish and French, it's not as effective with languages that use other alphabets or writing systems, like Arabic, Korean, and Japanese.
At Duolingo, we're developing our courses to get you to a level called B2, at which you can get a job in the language you're studying. Reaching that kind of proficiency requires dedication, varied practice opportunities, and a lot of time.
How long does it take the average person to finish a Duolingo course? ›Generally, it takes around 10-15 hours to finish Duolingo's language courses, but if you want to become proficient in the language, there's no one-size-fits-all answer. Even if you devote hours daily to completing Duolingo lessons and activities, it can still take months or even years until you become fluent.
How many people have Learnt a language through Duolingo? ›Our data reflects the state of language learning for the most inclusive sample ever amassed: we have over 500 million learners in all 194 countries, Duolingo is free to use and is available as a mobile app and a website so learners from all backgrounds and profiles use our platform, and we offer 98 language courses ...
Can you learn a language by listening to it while you sleep? ›This study showed that people could possibly reinforce new languages they're learning while asleep, but with some key limitations. First, subjects could only remember associations made during very specific periods of sleep: the half-second long peaks within a sleep phase called slow wave sleep.
Is Duolingo better than Rosetta Stone? ›Duolingo vs Rosetta Stone, which is better for travel? If you are going to be travelling and want to learn a language at a beginner to intermediate level, we believe Rosetta Stone is a better option than Duolingo. Their lessons are more comprehensive and you will learn more quickly.
Why is Duolingo speaking exercises not working? ›If you are experiencing issues with speaking exercises in the Duolingo Android app, please check for the following settings/permissions: Speaking exercises toggled ON in the Duolingo Android app (Profile tab > Settings > Speaking exercises) Microphone permissions set to ALLOW for Duolingo in your Android settings.
What percent of Duolingo users finish? ›An informal study estimates that course completion rates fall as low as 0.01% for Spanish learners (second most popular language on Duolingo), and peak at 0.24% for Ukrainian learners.
What is the hardest language to learn? ›Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
What is the simplest language? ›
Riau Indonesian is different from most other languages in how simple it is. There are no endings of any substance, no tones, no articles, and no word order. There is only a little bit of indicating things in time.
Why did Duolingo remove audio lessons? ›We removed the Audio Lesson tab, so we can make some room for some exciting future changes when it comes to reviewing long-form listening exercises.
Does Duolingo let you practice speaking? ›Duolingo's speaking exercises allow you to practice pronunciation and putting words into phrases. In your Duolingo lessons, remember to turn on "Speaking exercises," from the settings under your profile.
Why is Duolingo test blocked? ›What happened? If you are suspected of violating any of the rules of the Duolingo English Test, or engaging in any activity that might damage the integrity or security of the test, Duolingo reserves the right to block you from taking the Duolingo English Test again on any account tied to your identity.
Did Duolingo get rid of listening exercises? ›UPDATE Since 2022: With the new Duolingo Update, Audio Lessons have disappeared from the app. There is no more tab with headphones.