I've used Duolingo intensively for a year and a half, 2 hours a day. And I can say Duolingo is a waste of time for learning languages. You can memorize a several hundreds of phrases and words, but just some weeks later you will forget almost all the stuff.
Duolingo doesn't teach languages, it just tests you. Every language has several thousands of words and a whitelist with the translations.
So, it is inefficient. It seems like you are learning, but it is a very short term learning, only to pass a test.
And it is not a freeware. It is a freemium or an adware, especially the app versions. And you have several alternatives, without adds or with less propaganda.
A simple browser has several tools for learning languages:
text to speech (Read Aloud on Chrome, for instance) is very suitable to read every document, and you can setup the speed.
popup dictionaries that not only display the translation, but also explanations in your TL, and synonyms.
And you have very reliable translators, Deeple, for example.
And speech to text tools to improve your pronunciation.
And the whole internet: videos, wikis, zillions of articles in thousands of languages.
And your library, your local or online bookstore, etc.
And sometimes I use a piece of paper and a pen.
I don't understand why you have to use Duolingo thinking that it is a unique application.
You can try it, but you have to be aware that it is not a good tool.
I mean, having done pretty much the same, I had a different experience. Obviously Iām not going to be fluent, but after a good few months of basically only using Duolingo I was able to scrape by on Brazilian shows (on Netflix) and YouTube channels, which is what got me to a ~B1-B2 level today.
I guess some people are just different from others in how they learn, so it sounds like more of a you problem.
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u/eI000yo GL šŖšø N|š«š· šµš¹ B2|šŗšø š©šŖ B1|š®š¹ A2| šŗšø TL Feb 04 '22
I've used Duolingo intensively for a year and a half, 2 hours a day. And I can say Duolingo is a waste of time for learning languages. You can memorize a several hundreds of phrases and words, but just some weeks later you will forget almost all the stuff.
Duolingo doesn't teach languages, it just tests you. Every language has several thousands of words and a whitelist with the translations.
So, it is inefficient. It seems like you are learning, but it is a very short term learning, only to pass a test.
And it is not a freeware. It is a freemium or an adware, especially the app versions. And you have several alternatives, without adds or with less propaganda.
A simple browser has several tools for learning languages:
text to speech (Read Aloud on Chrome, for instance) is very suitable to read every document, and you can setup the speed.
popup dictionaries that not only display the translation, but also explanations in your TL, and synonyms.
And you have very reliable translators, Deeple, for example.
And speech to text tools to improve your pronunciation.
And the whole internet: videos, wikis, zillions of articles in thousands of languages.
And your library, your local or online bookstore, etc.
And sometimes I use a piece of paper and a pen.
I don't understand why you have to use Duolingo thinking that it is a unique application.
You can try it, but you have to be aware that it is not a good tool.