I tried Duolingo. It's fun according to the reputation and I'll review the effect

With the development of SNS, it has become easier to follow your favorite foreign celebrities and make foreign friends.

If you use Google Translate or the translation function provided in SNS to read foreign language articles and posts, you can understand the general contents.

However, even though machine translation is getting better every day, it is not perfect.

If you just read articles and posts, you can get an overview with machine translation, but when you want to comment on posts or enjoy chatting with friends overseas,

There is a limit to how you can accurately convey your feelings through voice chat.

After all, it is best to learn a foreign language by yourself. As a method of learning a foreign language

, etc.

Foreign language schools and study abroad are expensive. Language exchange with people from the country you want to study is also effective, but the first condition is that you have a language that you can speak in common, and there are other factors such as time constraints.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money and want to learn on your own time, self-study is the best option.

This time, I will introduce Duolingo, which is particularly fun and effective among language learning apps, and review its effects.

What is Duolingo?

Duolingo is said to be the most downloaded app in the world.

First of all, I would like to tell you about the history and overview of Duolingo.

Duolingo started as a research project in Pittsburgh by Carnegie Mellon University professor Louis von Ahn (founder of ReCAPTCHA) and his student graduate student Severin Hacker.

Antono Navas, Vicki Cheung, Marcel Uekermann, Brendan Meeder, Hector Villafuerte, and Joe Fuentes also joined the development.

This project was originally sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

After being spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, the Series A funding will be funded by Union Square Ventures and A-Grade Investments run by actor Ashton Kutcher.

Since then, we have received Series B (US$15 million), Series C (US$20 million) and Series D (US$45 million) funding from venture capital firms such as NEA, Kleiner Perkins, and Google Capital. I proceeded with the development.

Then, in April 2011, the concept for the general public was announced, and on November 30, 2011, the beta version of the web version was released. Duolingo released its iOS app to the App Store on the 13th.

On May 29, 2013, Duolingo also released an Android version,

With over 1 million downloads in the first week after release, it quickly became the #1 app on the Google Play store, and in December 2013 won Apple's First Educational iPhone App of the Year award. increase.

In other words, Duolingo is an amazing language learning app developed by talented researchers with development support from various institutions.

There are no charges or ads, so you can learn languages ​​for free.

Mass media companies such as TIMES

"It may fundamentally change the image that language learning is not fun."

"May hold the secret of future education."

"So much more than a free language learning app."

"No language learning app can beat Duolingo."

I praise it.

Next, I will explain the features of Duolingo. A quick summary of Duolingo's features

Four.

Although it is completely free, Duolingo's revenue is part of learning, inviting advanced users to translation activities, translating content and voting,

It is obtained by the mechanism that the company that requested the translation of the content pays the translation fee to Duolingo.

So there are no ads displayed in the app and no in-app purchases.

For foreign language courses that Japanese speakers can currently learn, only English can be learned, but courses that English speakers can learn English include Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, etc. There are courses in about 20 languages, including language.

If you're fluent in English, it's a good idea to study multiple languages ​​to become trilingual or multilingual.

Get started with Duolingo!

Let's take a look at how to use Duolingo.

You can download Duolingo from the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android. Please refer to the link below for the destination.

In addition to the app, you can register as a member using an account such as Facebook on the web, but here we will explain how to use it with the app.

As soon as Duolingo is installed, launch the app. Just start the app and tap "Start learning" to start.

In most other applications, user information is required first, but Duolingo does not enter user information at this stage.

Next, select the language you want to learn. If your language is Japanese, the only option is English. After choosing a language to learn, choose a learning goal.

There are four types of learning objectives: 5 minutes a day "casual", 10 minutes a day "normal", 15 minutes a day "serious", and 15 minutes a day "super difficult".

You can change the goal later from "Settings", so if you feel that casual or standard is not enough, try changing it to serious or super difficult.

You can get gems by clearing 2 lessons in the early stages. After that, gems will accumulate according to your progress.

Gems can also be used to purchase items used in the app and restore your life.

There are items that do not reset the count of consecutive days even if you do not achieve your daily goal, items that allow you to earn 5 x 2 times more gems if you achieve your goal for 7 consecutive days, and a timer function. There are things that can be used and clothes of characters.

Review of Duolingo

Now, let's review what I felt when I actually tried Duolingo.

Anyway, it's such a great app that I can't believe it's completely free.

I will tell you the wonderfulness in order.

The first thing I felt was that it was easy to use, with a minimum of 5 minutes and a maximum of 20 minutes.

Studying by yourself for a set amount of time, such as 1 hour or 2 hours, may be due to your personality, but you may get bored in the middle, or you may not be able to take the time you intended to study due to sudden errands. There are times when it's boring and sometimes it doesn't last.

However, if it's 5 to 20 minutes, you can use "clear time" such as when you're free, on the way to work or school, during breaks, or between housework.

Even if you are enthusiastic about studying for an hour, it is quite difficult to secure an entire hour to study.

However, if you use 15 minutes of gap time, you can easily complete 1 hour with 4 times a day. Dividing 1 hour into 4 and 3 times will keep you focused and you will be able to continue without getting bored.

Another thing is that it's not just a text display, it's also fun because it incorporates visual elements such as photos and illustrations.

In the section, words and expressions with similar themes are repeated, so I felt that the learning effect steadily appeared while having fun.

You will acquire practical skills not only in vocabulary and reading comprehension, but also in listening, pronunciation, and speaking. Listening, pronunciation, and speaking are quite difficult to learn on your own.

It is said that studying abroad is the best for listening and speaking. However, Duolingo uses the words and sentences spoken by native speakers for listening, and the audio you speak is analyzed and pointed out for mistakes.

It's a little lonely to talk to a smartphone or tablet instead of in person, but Duolingo seems to be comparable to studying abroad in terms of listening and speaking.

In addition, self-studying can be lonely and motivating, but Duolingo is working hard to keep you motivated.

For example, every time you complete a course, you will be able to see your grades, so you can feel your achievements. You can also do it, so you can stay motivated without feeling lonely.

Each time you complete a lesson, you accumulate "gems" that can be exchanged for various items.

It seems that the fact that you can enjoy it like this game is also helping to keep you motivated.

The first step is really basic, and many people feel that it is too easy, but I made a mistake in an unexpectedly simple place, did not put "a" or "the" where it should be, or did not put it on the contrary. You can also discover careless mistakes and assumptions such as putting it on a good place.

At first, I felt that it was too easy and unsatisfactory, but as the lesson progressed, the difficulty level increased. To go.

It's also a very potentially useful app on Duolingo.

Because, in 2014, the Duolingo Test Center, where you can take the Duolingo Language Proficiency Test, was released in 2014.

This Duolingo Test Center allows you to take a language test for $20 from your computer, Android or iOS. You will be graded and notified of your score within 48 hours of taking the exam.

Surprisingly, it is said that this result can be used as official proof of English proficiency in the future. Even now, LinkedIn, which is an SNS specialized for business, can officially display the results of the Duolingo language test on the profile.

In addition, some universities in the United States are considering adopting the Duolingo language proficiency test as an alternative to TOEFL.

From the above perspective, Duolingo is an app that anyone who wants to study a foreign language should definitely have.

Usage summary of Duolingo

That was the introduction and review of Duolingo.

Anyway, Duolingo allows me to use my spare time to learn, and I really enjoy doing it.

Spending money on a language school or studying abroad is certainly a better way to acquire the authentic language, but Duolingo's free "study abroad" is also quite good.

In addition to Duolingo, I also tried "iKnow" and "Babel". "iKnow" and "Babel" are also excellent apps, but I would like to recommend Duolingo because it's completely free and you can enjoy learning like a game.

Please try Duolingo and experience its fun and effects.