4 reasons why you need to be using Duolingo

When I came across Duolingo for the first time, it was a no-brainer. I immediately decided to join and check out the platform myself. And I haven’t regretted it. But you may still be struggling to make up your mind whether to join this platform or not. Will it be useful? Or is it all hyped claims and you’d do better keeping away from their course? I understand the fact that just because Duolingo is free doesn’t mean it’s worth your time. So, here in this post, we want to provide you solid reasons why joining is a good idea. Here are 4 reasons why you need to be using Duolingo:

First reason: They have proven to be effective with 300 million users worldwide.

The first remarkable point about this platform is how big its userbase is worldwide. And it’s surprising how many of them are actively learning a language with the platform.

Up until the moment of writing this post, 300 million users have signed up. This is astonishing. With such popularity, Duolingo surely must be doing something right.

There was a study conducted in 2012. It aimed to discover how effective Duolingo was. They established two groups. In the first, they placed users relying solely on Duolingo. On the second, college students relying only on their college courses. They compared how much progress individuals from both groups achieved. Guess what? This study arrived at a surprising conclusion. It takes only 34 hours of Duolingo lessons to learn the equivalent of one college semester.

Second reason: You’ll not only learn; you’ll have fun while you do.

I’m one of their 300 million users. And I can tell you from my own experience that Duolingo is capable of capturing our attention. And it does it from the first day. It’ll keep you excitedly coming back, over and over again, to learn the language you choose.

Do you remember your high school’s foreign language classes? What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it those boring long hours? Duolingo on the contrary makes learning a language interesting. Its gamified style helps us relax and enjoy our time. And at the same time, learn the basics of any language.

Duolingo was ranked in position No. 44 on Fast Company’s “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” list in 2018. And the tag for Duolingo was “for making new languages irresistible”.

Third reason: It effectively encourages us to practice daily.

They have a streak system in place that motivates us to daily log into the platform. They also make us set general goals for every day. Thus, without realizing it, we end up daily achieving our goals.

The most efficient way to learn a language is practicing a little every day. Some may think that they need to set apart many hours to study their target language. And this induces them to believe that cramming 5 hours of study once a month may be helpful. But experience tells us something different. Ten minutes a day render better results than studying many hours once a month.

Duolingo is good at keeping us coming back daily. And ultimately makes us grasp the basics of any language. That in itself is a huge accomplishment.

I have said Duolingo will “help us grasp the basics of any language”. Please read until the end of this post to get a clear and honest picture of what I mean.

Fourth reason: It is well designed to maximize the use of our time.

Duolingo’s sleek interface helps us feel nice while we’re on the platform. But it’s not only a matter of looks. They placed careful attention on their user’s experience. Visuals are important to them. Therefore, with nice cartoon pictures they help us remember new vocabulary. They also have red and green colors telling us if we answered correctly or not. And the whole way the course is presented makes our experience enjoyable. So, at the end of the day, it translates into learning faster.

Forget about the platform crashing or having to deal with annoying bugs. Come to think about it, wouldn’t that be expected for a free app? However, the journey of learning the basics of any language will be very smooth.

Would I recommend Duolingo?

I didn’t know all these things when I first joined the platform. But now that I have spent several years using it, I can’t stop being surprised. All these features are offered for all languages they support, completely free.

Would I join Duolingo again? Yes, I definitely would. And I feel you should too.

Duolingo’s reach:

Nonetheless, I also have to make clear Duolingo’s reach. You won’t become a fluent speaker just with Duolingo. As I said while I mentioned the third reason, Duolingo will only help you grasp the basics.

Luis von Ahn, founder, and CEO of Duolingo is clear about what a user should expect. He promises to get users to a level between advanced beginners and early intermediate.

In my book, one of the critical stages of learning a language is the initial stage. Once you have managed to stick with a language during this phase, you’ll be connected to it for the rest of your life. So, this is one of Duolingo’s greatest accomplishments. To provide users worldwide a platform to learn the basics of a language. And to do it in a way that they will enjoy. And to cap it all, completely free.

Can I rely only on Duolingo for learning a language?

No, you can’t. Duolingo is not a stand-alone language course. There are other good courses out there that fill the gaps left by Duolingo. We advise you to simultaneously try out other tools. Some good platforms will aid you in your language-learning journey. To check them out, click here.

But please, don’t forget to try Duolingo.

Do you want to test drive Duolingo yourself

In a globalized world, this is a tool you can’t afford to let go by. Click here to start using Duolingo.