Duolingo - Learn Languages For Free

[HighFlyingA380]

I've been using it for about two weeks now (how else am I gonna waste time during cruise or while on the can...?), and just wanted to get this out there. The one and only place I've ever heard of Duolingo was when it was mentioned on a recent episode of "Stossel," and I wish I would have heard of it sooner. It's quite good, and yup, completely free.

I will say that I've only used it for German, of which I had a few years of experience with a while back. So, I can't really comment on starting with it from absolute zero...

 

[Banjo33]

I just uploaded the App! I took 4 semesters of Spanish in college (hardest classes I took!) and kick myself frequently for not keeping up with it. I like how this is interactive and will break the exercises down into chunks based on how much time you want to devote to it. Can't argue with free either.

 

[jhausch]

I've been messing with it for Italian for a while. My profile shows about 2500 pts or whatever. I like the daily email reminder, but as you move further along there is a lot of "going back for review". I guess that's good/intended, but my competitive side wants to keep moving ahead.

I like buying extra hearts. Of course my wife is messing with it, but she likes buying different clothes for the owl.....

Do you find that the speaking exercises don't work very well? I notice they start checking before I finish and still pass me. Every once in a while I'll fail those, but it is rare.

All of the other exercises seem good, but I did find one of the "listen and type" exercises where the slow version said "una" but the indefinite article was supposed to be "un".

Oh well, you get what you pay for

 

[HighFlyingA380]

Do you find that the speaking exercises don't work very well? I notice they start checking before I finish and still pass me. Every once in a while I'll fail those, but it is rare.

Yeah, I don't even bother with these anymore. Once, right after activating the mic the phone rang and I answered it, and it was counted as correct. After that I tested a few by saying random stuff, or even nothing, and they were all counted as correct. I did email to let them know, but whatever. I think that's probably the least useful anyway.