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Duolingo
It is probably the world's most famous language learning app and has many users. That's Duolingo. I'm studying Spanish little by little, so I am naturally thinking about how to learn the language in a fun way. And I'd like to write what I felt as a position to use Duolingo in its own way. Official Homepage, Google Play Link, App Store Link
One of the biggest advantages of Duolingo is its great value for money. Since Duolingo is a leader in this field, quite a lot of foreign language study apps are also available for free for about 5 minutes a day like Duolingo. However, Duolingo differs from other apps in several ways.
Duolingo has a stronger game element than other apps. Like the concept of stamina in any mobile game, there is a kind of heart, and each time you get a problem wrong, that heart decreases one by one, and when the stamina runs out, it is not learned until the heart is filled again. For reference, it takes 4 hours to fill one heart, so if this was a real mobile game, there must have been a lot of complaints about what kind of crazy heart it fills in one every 4 hours. However, because it is a study, not a mobile game, there are probably few people who say much.
But this is where Duolingo's first real value comes from, and when you practice (kind of review) your studying, it fills the heart up one by one! In fact, there are quite a few users compared to other language study apps, so I think advertising alone has earned some income so they can use this method. Nevertheless, it is truly a kind service.
In terms of games, the more you play the game, the more it fills your stamina, so what a blessing it is... Of course, as I emphasize again, Duolingo is not a real game, it's just a study, so I think there may be a psychological calculation that they wouldn't do it so much. Of course, nonetheless, the service is very good.
On the other hand, Duolingo used to offer a kind of translation service to other sites with a completely free service, but now it has been financially difficult, and now it has ads and premium plans like other apps. We are offering a billing model. Actually, Ads tend to come out. However, they pursued a profit system that was fresh and completely free in their own way, but as they faced reality and provided a billing model, I thought that it might be a way to not lose their original intention.
However, the paid version itself has a certain price. Well, there are a lot of additional elements compared to the free version, so it's several times more efficient, so they are advertising in this way. However, if other apps are discounted, the price is still affordable for workers, but even though Duolingo already gave a year-end discount at the end of last year, the price was still quite high for an app, so this is a pity. Of course, even this is much cheaper than the actual academy, but it's disappointing to compare with the apps. If you pay a certain price for some language studying app, you can buy a lifetime service without difficulty.
In fact, compared to many other language apps that support Korean, Duolingo has a little weak support for Korean. Currently writing, I know that there are only English lectures in Korean. They say they are still developing it in their own way... However, the level of its English is not that high, so at least so far, there has been no problem studying at all. Until you study a very long sentence later, it doesn't seem to interfere with your study up to a certain level.
One thing I want to point out here is that, although many language apps above have been translated, there are few apps that have excellent translations. While Drops has a fairly good translation, Memrise is still at a level that is understandable, but honestly, I sometimes feel they just use a translator. Busuu has a fairly good level of organization. Therefore, just supporting Korean is not necessarily a good thing.
And among the apps mentioned above, drops and memrises are relatively easy to translate because they are vocabulary-based apps, but Duolingo has its own story and various characters, so it may be a little difficult to simply use a translator. Of course, apart from that, I would like the development to be done quickly, but honestly, it's a pity.
I mentioned earlier that there is a concept of fatigue by combining the game method, but Duolingo seems to have incorporated the basic study method itself into the game. First of all, speaking, listening, writing, etc. do not come out in a fixed order, but randomly to eliminate the boredom as much as possible. And there are various characters. It's not just like men and women. These characters have their own personalities, and not only their voices but also their way of speaking seem to contribute to the fun.
And now it's a favorite feature of other apps as well, and ranking systems such as the Silver League Gold League also inspire some learning motivation. Because if you don't go into the app, it says that your ranking is going to fall, and it gives me a kind of desire to win.
Also, there is something I thought was funny. When I don't go into all kinds of language studying apps, there is usually an alarm that tells me to study today. Duolingo also has those kinds of alarms too. But it is not like 'Just study today'. The character speaks in his or her own tone, and it feels fresh and different from other apps. For example, the chic character says, "You studied for days in a row, and I think it is going to break that record. It's just that..." she says like this.
In addition to this, there are a lot of things to read or have their own podcasts, so if you can listen to it, there are more elements to enjoy the app. But I'm not good at listening... I can't even listen to English, and my Spanish is especially bad...
The advantage of Duolingo is definitely fun, but it's a pity that I feel less like I'm learning something systematically. Of course, Duolingo also has a rough theme like school, travel, people, and family. However, I learn vocabulary and grammar. It's not like this, but it gives words, grammar, pronunciation, etc mixed. within the subject. So I think a little that it was not suitable for those who prepare for some kind of test.
So, for those who simply want to study, Duolingo is good enough, but for those who want to study languages for some special purpose, or for those who need to study faster, it seems a good idea to use other language study apps together to some extent. For example, apps like drops and memrises mentioned above are optimized for word study, so I think they can fill in some shortcomings in Duolingo. Duolingo is comprehensive, but it's a pity that it doesn't seem like something special.
They said that if you complete one Duolingo course, you will become a B2 European language standard. B2 is really high level. To be honest, I am not sure that I am at B2 level although I have been studying English since the 3rd grade of elementary school... It's not just about completing the course, but it's the standard when you know all the words and sentences in the course with sufficient review. Nevertheless, it is clear that it is at a top-level. Moreover, it is certainly great to be able to achieve such a high level while having fun studying.
To be honest, it may be better to just go to the academy if you must get results quickly and if you have some money and time. But these days, even with COVID-19, most office workers are busy, right? When I used to work, it was usually 9 o'clock after work, so I couldn't go to the academy at all. For those who are very determined, they could have gone to early morning and weekend classes, but I decided to study the app instead.
Anyway, if your purpose is to study, it's accessible and above all, it's free, so it's a good idea to try it as if you're fooled. In fact, there are so many downloads that many people who will study may have already used it or tried it. I'm studying too now, and honestly, I can't do that much, but I'm trying to do it often. I hope I can study longer and more and get results soon. I will study harder.
