Duolingo

I’ve been gathering up many ingredients for the next few experiments and skills I’ll be displaying.  I’ve got many small ones lined up of very cool stuff that likely anyone will be able to do at home themselves as well as a few bigger long term ones.  In between all of that I’m also going to keep people abreast of what I’m doing to keep my ole noggin sharp as the Super Geek must keep his brain on high alert and seek to ever learn.  Batman is the greatest detective, his greatest asset (aside from his billions of dollars) is by far his mind.  The last experiment I did was all about getting the body in shape, now let’s shift the focus to the mind.

I’m currently using many different productivity apps and learning platforms for many things.  I’ve mentioned a few throughout last month while tracking the experiment and while I will probably dip into some of them in more depth later I should say that I’m particularly impressed with the Duolingo App. I’m sure many of my readership have already heard of it.  For me it was something that I kept hearing about but never quite got around to testing out.

Language learning history for me:
Was a bad high school language student (took Spanish).
Then I joined the military.  When I saw the world, the need and value of language learning hit me like a ton of bricks.  I picked up a bit of everything where I went and knew that whenever I went back to school I wanted to formalize a bit more of my knowledge in the area.  I highly recommend everyone spark the desire to understand one another as the world gets smaller every day.

When I went back to school after my initial service, aside from becoming an incredibly focused and diligent student I also flipped the switch on the language learning center of my brain.  I took Spanish through Spanish Literature, German through German II, Latin through Latin III and Ancient Greek as taught by my Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman history professor to a smaller group tutorial session.

Interestingly enough my greatest Spanish learning experience occurred in Bosnia…this requires a bit of explanation.  While I was in school, I had to take a break and suffice it to say, I was deployed one last time in 2008 to Sarajevo, Bosnia. There was a small operation left over and very few US personnel.  In fact the largest contingent of soldiers and the ones technically leading the post at the time were the Spanish Marines (literally the Marines of Spain).  Between my half schooling, and their broken English we were able to communicate and made by far the farthest leap in a language in a short period of time I had ever made.  I just think it is an interesting point that I made the most progress in Spanish, in a country that speaks a language completely unlike it.

Since graduating I’ve also used the Rosetta Stone Platform to refresh many of my skills, a handful of dictionary apps and Pimsleur’s German and Mandarin.  It should also be noted that I currently work for a company that sends purchase orders, official policy documents, and other business pertinent text in languages other than just English.  It can keep you on your toes.

Is my point to show off?  Well ’tis impressive maybe…but NO, my point is that I’m just saying I’ve ran the gambit of options for learning language, from travel and immersion (always choice number one if possible), to formal university training, to the various commercial applications available.

Aside from travel and immersion I have to say that the best by a long-shot of all the options I’ve mentioned is Duolingo App.  Now let me explain.  You pick the language you wish to learn, of which there are many.  You can choose to take a placement test or start at the beginning.  There are modules that you work through that in my opinion are far more engaging then a Rosetta Stone module which I found to be very dull and almost too dumbed down at first.  Additionally it was more engaging then a Pimsleur methodology which is mainly based of of listening to the same conversations over and over.
Duolingo gamified the process giving me experience points and filling up a daily meter.  If you fill up the meter then you qualify to do a daily streak.

The modules are simple enough where you don’t have to spend too much time with it or think too hard.  I personally do some between meetings, or while at lunch or just in a waiting room.  It really is that quick.  You’ll also never run out of things to do, as you unlock new modules, the old ones lose strength forcing you to revisit them from time to time in order to review.  For an OCD maniac like myself it can be daunting (though to be fair they are timed adequately), however this is a wonderful organic way to ensure that you continue to review.  If you let too many of these modules weaken, you end up losing fluency percentage (there is a percent meter giving your overall fluency percentage).  I think it may be off as I only scored a 34% on Spanish for fluency placement, however I still use it as a trusty marker when working through the modules.

I at first missed having the conjugation tables and glossaries that a formal program would have but quickly got over it as I was learning contextually.  Listening, reading, speaking and translating are all there.   The app even allows you to join clubs which are communities of people using the same learning program to fill in the gaps and speak to each other.

When I open the app and do a module here and there throughout the day, I will fill up my meter and be officially on my  30 Day streak for the Italian learning of which I can say it is a wonderful experience.

Now why would I put my name behind this?  Why would I say that currently it’s the best option outside of travel?  Well despite some of its shortcomings, it is overall a superb learning experience.  I enjoy when something gives me a clear cut meter showing exactly where I am (and triggering the completionist in me). But best of all, especially when comparing to other commercial packages and even formal education…IT’S FREE.  F-R-E-E.   Chew on that for a second.  This hands down gives it the title and overall value and if it were up to me I would have every Super Geek download it right now.

It’s available on Android and iOS.   www.duolingo.com.

I imagine I’ll be using this for quite some time!!