Duolingo: Make Learning Language Fun

Duolingo is one of the best tools available to modern students of foreign language. Read on to learn more about this wonderful program.

What is Duolingo?

Duolingo makes learning language fun by turning it into a kind of game. You can answer questions about vocabulary and grammar, earn points for buying power-ups in their virtual store, and challenge your friends to do the the same.

What languages are available? 

There are currently lessons available in the following twenty languages: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Greek, Esperanto, Turkish, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Welsh. 

What will I learn?

This program will teach you vocabulary and grammatical concepts in your chosen language, starting at a basic level and working up from there. You can learn everything from sentence structure to verb tenses, all while the program tracks your progress and level of literacy for you.

How does it work?

For each practice session, you will be asked to answer a series of questions. To keep things interesting, these questions come in a variety of formats. We’ll look at them now using French as an example:

1. Matching. You will be given a word in French, and will need to match it to a picture of the corresponding vocab word. 
2. Multiple Choice. You will be given a partial sentence in French as well as several options for how to correctly finish the sentence. 
3. Translation. You will be given a sentence in either English or French and will need to translate it to the opposite language. 
4. Pronunciation. You’ll need to turn on your device’s microphone for these questions! Simply click the microphone button and speak the French phrase or sentence into the mike. 

How do I get it?

To access this free program on the Duolingo website, click here. You can also download their app for Android, Apple, or Windows. 

Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services