Duolingo App Review III – It works extremely well

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I have been using the Duolingo app for three weeks now and know how to say more in Spanish than I ever thought was possible. The best part is that I do not sound like a complete idiot and my pronunciation is not too shabby at all. It is as easy as creating an account and advancing step by step through the language skills system. You progress through the different levels from basic language to tense and verb phrases. It can all be done at your own pace which makes it even better.

The true testament to this apps success is how extremely fun it is and how learning eventually feels like you are playing a game. In essence you actually are playing a game. You get three hearts to start with on each level. Each time you answer a question incorrectly, you lose a heart. If you get the answer wrong four times then you need to repeat the level.

Duolingo is a highly motivational app as it allows you to earn points that can be spent on making your own character owl look really cool. You can even get your friends to join you on your quest for knowledge and end up making really great challenges to help you learn. Making the learning experience fun and interactive whether on your own or in a group.

It is designed to teach you from the basics in the beginning to the more advanced in the end. No being thrown in the deep end and forced to swim. The lessons start with basics like male/female and move on to food and phrases. Once the easy part is over you move on to sentence structure and more challenging tasks. What I personally enjoyed was that it not only asked you to translate from Spanish to English but from English to Spanish as well. This really helped me grasp the language as I was now forced to write in it, not just merely guess the words.

My favourite and hands down best attribute to this app is the daily reminders that I receive reminding me of the winning streak I am on and why I should continue with my awesome progress. There is just no beating cheap compliments and a good nudge to keep you motivated. It is either you feel this way or extreme amounts of guilt for having ignored the message.

Duolingo is an entirely free application that can be downloaded onto your smartphone or ipad. It is structured in the best way that I have seen a language course layout. I am a walking and Spanish talking testament to how good this app works. I now feel confident and am determine to follow my three week not one day missed streak of language success. This app will continue to grow into an even more popular sensation once it adds more languages. Duolingo is the best language platform out there and everyone should be using it.

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Duolingo App Review II – Fun Language Learning

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I have been so excited to give another report on Duolingo that I am tempted to recite my cheap Spanish phrases but I think have tortured my household enough. Never in my life have I ever enjoyed learning a new language so much. I decided to start with Spanish based on advice from friends. They say it is the easiest way to ease into other languages when you are done. So I click on start and begin my first lesson.

Not even two minutes and I have completed Basic 1 Lesson 1. Wow can it really be that easy? Yes it can. I think what makes this app so great for learning is that it is designed with such a clever way of teaching the language. You can get a question where there are four pictures and you have to select which is the boy in Spanish. There are chances for you to easily guess the translation or have to type it out which is a bit more challenging. It even includes sentence structure and a fun way to practise by repeating phrases into the microphone.

I can confidently say that you will be kept entertained for hours. Before you know it you have learnt Spanish, French, German, Italian or Portuguese. I am by no means a natural linguist and so it is not like I take easily to learning new languages. The unique concept to this course is that each course is broken up into sub categories that are easy to follow when done sequentially. You use the information used before to help understand the new information. Each category has about 3 levels that you need to complete.

Every time you get a question correct or incorrect you have a buzzer go off that sounds like it comes from a TV Game Show. You have three hearts to start off with and each time you get a question incorrect you lose a heart. There is a progress bar above it that shows how far you are through the level. The sad owl and its adorable face pop up if you do not advance. Once completing a category you have a small brain test at the end that you can do over again whenever you like. It compresses the information for you to test yourself and get some practice.

Besides it being extremely useful, entertaining, fun and at times frustrating this app is the Best! The feature I love the most is that each day I get a message that reminds me that I am on a winning streak and should continue. The guilt of ignoring this message is too much to stand so you end up doing a level or two. It is so much fun you cannot help but want to. If you are looking for a relaxed way to learn a new language that does not feel like a drag then this is the app that you need in your life.

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Duolingo App Review – The fun way to learn language

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I do not consider myself much of a linguist and that is surely not for lack of trying. I have on more than one occasion attempted the Pimsleur Language Guides or found myself buying phrase books only for them to collect dust on my bookshelves. My best friend, who is a linguist, spent hours torturing me with language CD’s in her car on the way out to a party. So far I can say only one sentence in 5 languages. Great help that does for when I actually need to say something it will be ‘Hi my name is’ or ‘Where is the bathroom?’.

I was a bit reluctant to now have to attempt another language learning programme. Duolingo is an application for your phone that you can sync to an account you create with them to track your progress. You can learn English, Spanish, French, Italian, German or Portuguese. The course is designed to be fun and let me tell you that from someone with my language history, this app is Awesome! The course work is designed in such a way that each phase you do only takes a few minutes at most.

I decided to tackle Spanish and found myself really entertained and absorbed for about 20 minutes just trying to get past phase 1. You get little hearts that accumulate at the top for each question you get right. If you do not get enough then you do not advance. The course has a really incredible layout with such stunning graphics.

Phase 1 takes you through pictures where you select the correct words, every click on the answer will say the word out in that language. You can also have an opportunity to translate the sentence and it all is really easy. There is a section where you select the missing word from multiple choice answers or translate the sentence. If you do not get enough hearts then a very sad owl tells you that you did not make it.

By simply just scrolling through the course material you will be so excited to see how they have laid everything out. The course starts with basics and divides all the material into such interesting sub categories. If you feel you know the work there is even an option to take a shortcut and advance to the level that is best suited to your language experience.

I am now for the first time really excited to learn a new language and not feel like a complete moron repeating phrases over and over again. Duolingo is designed with such great imagery and an extremely fun way of learning. It has now become a game to advance to the next level in each language and I am so entertained doing it.

This app should be commended for making such a useful way of learning and for making it so much easier to understand. I look forward to the hours of fun I am about to have learning a language that seemed so difficult before.

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