Duolingo is a Glorified Waste of Time

 

For the past two years, my father has been slaving away learning Spanish on the popular language learning app "Duolingo." 

He's spent about an hour of his life on the app clicking away at a touchscreen for the past 700 days, and still can't speak a lick of español. 

In my opinion, real language learning only comes through immersion and actual applicable practice, NEITHER of which Duolingo have to offer.

So, at the start of this summer, I made a bet with him: I promised mi Papi that I would learn more in two months without Duolingo than he had in two years with the app.

With the power of Spanish YT videos, the Spanish audio lessons from the Language Transfer app, and practicing the dialect with some fellow non-gringo amigos, I did it.

Now, it's the start of August, and I can certainly say I have fulfilled that promise.

I'm certainly not fluent, not close to it yet. 

But if you dropped me out of a helicopter into Barcelona, I would probably be able to get myself a roof over my head before dusk, using the native dialect of course. 

So how did I do it, and why was it so much easier?

Why Duolingo (and School Language Learning) Suck-

Learning a language by reading it off a screen (or a textbook) won't work in the slightest.

 You'd make more progress spending a day in Madrid, Spain conversing broken Spanish with the locals than from half a year of Duolingo, quite literally.

Going back to the bike riding example, you'd obviously get started by learning how to ride a bike by getting on one (maybe with training wheels) and just riding the damn thing. 

And yet, similar to language learning, Duolingo and the modern school system opt to teach it like this-

(Credit to anandsanwal.me for the graphic, go read his blog as well, his posts are EXCELLENT)

As with most things, biking riding included, Duolingo (and the school language learning system) sucks because it doesn't teach you how to use the language applicably.

Is it any surprise that the CEO of Duolingo, Luis Von Ahn, hasn't learned a SINGLE language to fluency with the app HE created? (If that doesn't get you to quit Duolingo, I don't know what will)

Why Duolingo Especially Sucks-

My biggest gripe I have with Duolingo isn't just that it's a shitty app that's been milked and monetized more than MorePeagasus with the MrBeast drama. 

It's more that Duolingo itself is marketed as the "world's best way to learn a language" and the "easiest" app to get started with. 

Is it easy? Yes. Is it fun? For my dad, it certainly was. But is it as useful as it claims to be? Hell no.

And that's the most important issue. I was personally discouraged from trying to learn Spanish after using Duolingo for more than a year, and getting nowhere. 

If Duolingo was the "easiest" and "best" way to learn, then all the fault must've been on me. Maybe it was just cause I "couldn't" learn a new language. 

And in the end, I think that's the biggest harm that Duolingo has done. 

Giving unaware users the impression that they're simply not built for learning a new language, since Duolingo is already the "best" that education has to offer. 

But hey, while we're at it, why not use this as newfound motivation to learn that one language you've always been procrastinating on? I personally recommend the "Language Transfer" app. It's 100% free, and uses audio lessons to actually immerse you in the language. 

Mix that in with some easy language videos from YT, and you'll be set. Just stay away from that green owl. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to help this blog succeed- the best thing you can do?

Share it. Post the link. Send it to a friend. Share it to Reddit, X (aka Twitter), Facebook, MySpace (jk lmao). Whatever works.

----> thepennyofficial.blogspot.com