Duolingo: The Good, The Bad, And The Really Really Ugly

Why the more you learn a language, the more annoying Duolingo becomes

Image credit: Duolingo

I discovered Duolingo a couple of years ago thanks to my then-stepdaughter showing me this popular language learning app on her phone. It seemed like a useful way to maintain my French and Russian and pick up Spanish and possibly Ukrainian. There are two main options: free with ads, or a paid subscription. I chose the free with ads in order to try it out before deciding whether or not it offered enough value to take the paid option.

Now, some two years later, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the app. This article explains why.

To begin with the positives, it’s an easy way to discover the rudiments of a new language. Duolingo gets the basics right insofar as it begins with simple words and simple sentences. This is how we acquire language in the first place, and the old-fashioned method of attempting to learn lists of declensions or trying to decipher a language from phrases in a tourist guidebook are always going to be nearly pointless. So you can get a decent start with Duolingo in a rough-and-ready sort of way.

But then, as you hit A2 level, you’ll begin to bang your head repeatedly against Duolingo’s deep flaws that early on weren’t so noticable.