Duolingo

Today I’m introducing another one of my favourite language learning apps. Duolingo is awesome, because it teaches you not just vocabulary, but also how to build sentences including the articles, tenses and other grammar rules.
It’s easily recognisable because it uses this adorable little green owl as a mascot.

You can study 23 languages including Hawaiian, Welsh, Hebrew, Latin, Indonesian, Navajo, Esperanto or Scottish Gaelic but also High Valyrian or Klingon. If you are a non-native English speaker (and crazy enough), you can practise English while learning Spanish for instance.

It’s super easy and intuitive. You just choose a language you would like to learn and decide if you want to start from the beginning or take a placement test in case you have some experience with the language. At first, you are introduced to some basic vocabulary using pictures and soon you’ll start to put them into simple sentences. It is possible to practise listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. There are multiple layers in every lesson, which are divided according to various topics (either grammatical or semantic).

Duolingo uses a freemium model, which means that you can use it for free or sign up for premium membership and unlock some extra functions.

You can set your daily goal, come back any time and practise what you already know.

They are trying to make learning fun. I bet some of the example sentences will make you giggle.

I use it for Norwegian these days. In the past, it came in handy when I needed to quickly refresh my Japanese, Russian and Spanish knowledge and check how much I understand.

When you focus on the achievements, it feels more like a game than studying.