First, this is totally unsponsored and is my honest opinion. I have been using Duolingo for about a year and a half now, in multiple languages, and I think it’s very helpful.
First, the pros… it’s FREE! Also, it has a ton of languages – it doesn’t have every language I’m learning (i.e., Icelandic) but it has all the rest,
including hard to find ones like Hawaiian or Czech or Finnish. It can be VERY hard to find quality materials in those languages.
I also like that it’s fast… I learn multiple languages so it takes me a while, but if I was only learning one language, Duolingo is a fast and fun way to work in a daily lesson, even when there’s a time crunch.
My only con is that the computer-y speech is not ideal and sometimes it messes up when it says the sentences… i.e., it says “Je – apostrif – ai ” instead of “J’ai” in French, as one example. But for something that is free, fun, and fast, I can’t really complain.
I hear a lot of complaints about Duolingo, from people who say they’ve used it for 1,000 days streak but they still aren’t fluent. To that I would say that no program in isolation is going to lead to fluency.
You have to do a variety of study activities every day over the course of a year or two (for the easier languages – and even longer for the harder languages!).
So no program alone is going to make you fluent, but in my opinion, Duolingo is a solid addition to a good language study program.
My favorite thing about is that I can always fit it in, even when there is literally no time for anything else. Because it is a phone app and a website, it is also convenient to do whenever, wherever.
My final rating – 4.75 out of 5!
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