Duolingo Russian Review: It's Free But Does it Work?
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- Опубликовано: 12 май 2024
- Duolingo is great for the first 2 weeks of learning Russian, but after that I recommend you follow a serious program: learntherussianlanguage.com/c...
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So in this video I downloaded Duolingo and we're going through the app together. We'll discuss the:
- good things
- bad things
- what my mother thought of Duolingo
- alternatives
Duolingo throws you in the middle of the pool to teach you how to swim. And I love that.
Yeah it definitely has its place!
I'm currently on a 562 day streak on Duolingo learning Russian.
I like Duolingo for the following reasons.
It's fun, the challenges, the game style, even the silly graphics keep me going. It's pushing me beyond what I could do with my own motivation, some days it seems like a chore so I fire off a few practice rounds just to stay in the game. It's actually addictive, a quick practice can turn into hours sometimes.
What I don't like about Duolingo.
The grammar rules are not explained, have to keep making mistakes until you somehow figure out what's going on. I still don't understand some grammar rules but by brute force of memory get them right. As I'm using the free version, the advertising has ramped up to ridiculous levels after the latest update. The rewards are less frequent now and am now constantly bombarded with offers to pay for an annual subscription.
As far as the speaking goes, I usually pass them by as I'm not willing to yell unintelligible sounds at my phone when people are around.
Overall, I'm happy with my progress, I can understand more and more Russian when watching videos, as long as they slow down. Reading is a lot easier as you have time to use context to figure out hard words. I know it is time to switch to a different method by now but time constraints still make Duolingo my main method.
I've also tried Dutch, since I spoke it as a young child. It seemed more boring. Perhaps because it was too familiar!
I like watching videos such as yours as well as a few others to expand my ability to hear and understand Russian.
Congrats on your 562 day streak, i just finished the Russian tree, now i'm trying to learn Spanish i'm on my 695 say streak.
For the grammar rules not explained, maybe you know, but on the computer version there's more explanations when you click on "tips" section. I also got a lot of help in the comments sections, the moderator and the comunity are very helping and nice.
Good luck with your practice and congrats on your progress. I'm happy with mine too but i lack practice in speaking (practical knowledge like he well said). Well, learning a new language is a long, enjoyable road after all ))
A 562 day streak is super impressive. Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Yea, the grammar lessons are only available on web. Using your phone, go on Safari or Google to read the ‘lightbulb’ icon when selecting a skill to read all the grammar included in that skill. Hope that helped.
how good can you speak it now?
I gotta tell you, Ari - it’s been a blessing to watch your videos! This whole “learning Russian” thing felt very overwhelming for me at first, but slowly and surely through your advices on here, I’m finally feeling like I’m making progress (although the speaking is the easier part for me - typing, not so much). Thanks for keeping up with your videos and advice! I’d be totally lost if it wasn’t for you.
Thanks! That's great to hear. Learning Russian looks more difficult than it is. But if you just learn a little bit each day, you look back in several months and will be surprised by your progress.
Also cool to hear that speaking is the easier part for you. Most people struggle with that the most.
Also, I should probably mention that you get more out of the Duolingo lessons if you write things down and repeat instead of just clicking. Sure, they take longer the lessons but things are guaranteed to stick more.
That's true. Writing something is a great way of improving memory retention.
Its comprehensive a progressive program that if used alone creates drone like behaviors. Anyone learning a language that doesn't live in the native country should be watching movies going to bars or places where the language is spoke and probably taking a course where the instructor is fluent and speaks mostly in the learning language. Outside of that duo is just a stepping stone
I completely agree! It's great for beginners, but afterwards more variation and real speaking should be introduced.
I love my duolingo :) Yes, I also watch Russian movies and follow Russian teachers here on YT, I correspond with Russian friends and send (postcrossing) cards to Russia, in Russian (they LOVE that!), I have a Dutch-Russian course - book, I talk to myself out loud in Russian (by lack of Russian speakers). But I still do my daily skills on Duolingo, 667 day streak :) I am over halfway the total course.
You can learn the alphabet by clicking on the second icon from the bottom left. Other than that, I agree with you. Use it for the basics or to maintain a streak (where you still do the bulk of your work somewhere else), and it can be a fine tool.
Thanks! Yeah it's indeed a good tool for beginners, but the sooner someone switches to something like Ankidroid, the better.
I studied russian language at an institute of foreign languages during 2 years (until pandemic arrived) and during that time we never practiced our speaking by conversation, it was rare when we tried to practice pronunciation but we did some reading exercises, anyway, I've been playing duolingo for 70 days in russian and sometimes it gives me funny phrases that I could say in real life 😂 it forces me to practice my speaking EVERY DAY, something I never did, only every Saturday (before the pandemic), I'm studying by myself and duolingo helps me to better understand grammar and how to build sentences (something that I didn't learn with a teacher) so, it worked for me 🥰
That's horrible that you studied at an official place but never practiced speaking. Glad to hear Duolingo is working out for you!
thanks for the review, great video!
Good to hear! How is your Russian doing?
Pretty nice, i trained for 40-50 in a row then did a stop but now i am back and i am learning fast👍
@@milanabramov3590 That's a good streak. Good luck!
They actually have an alphabet learning section now! Still can’t find anything that explains the Russian grammar rules on Duolingo but other than that it’s useful for learning new words and stuff
That's great that they're improving. They're a good support tool in the beginning, but after a while it's much better to start using real programs.
It's really awesome !! Thank you for all your videos, it really made me want to continue learning Russian!!
I started with Duolingo, that's really nice but it's true that sometimes it lacks explanation. I also tried Babel, and Busuu. Busuu has a great advantage of being corrected by natives. For me it's a very good app.
Now that i need to practice i will try Tandem ✌😎
спасибо за все и наслаждайтесь открытием новых видео 🙏👏👏
Glad to hear that. Keep it up! Удачи))
I have learned russian in school for 6 years before and I started Duolingo a few months ago and I love it, it still helps me a lot. Studied Greek with duolingo before.
I agree with you about the VR type idea. Some decades ago, one of the TV channels had short setups in the outside world where phrases would be spoken in context, after the few onscreen foreign words were shown. Perhaps that's an idea for an online course where it's not a 'talking head' situation in a bare room but for a couple of student actors to be filmed in clips in an environment in the real world situation.
That's a nice idea, thanks.
@@LearntheRussianLanguage perhaps you could do a co-production with a company like StarMedia(EN) who are quite innovative, to output educational content. I know each year in VK they do a competition for new content.
I think, Duolingo is good to start with to become familiar with a new language. I still use it daily but with time it is better to pull away slightly and look for other resources. Also , I am not a “new beginner “ to learning Russian but it is good to review but I found some of the translations off or not directly on Duolingo. Sometimes I was like, that doesn’t sound right? I would say 80-90% is spot on but I would double check those translations.
Yes, Duolingo is indeed great to become familiar or to brush up on the basics. Thanks for sharing your experience!
The next tab over has the alphabet where it teaches you the sounds and how to write the letters.
Thanks! That's super helpful.
They do include alphabet now in the latest version (:
If you found this video helpful, you'll love my FREE PDF with my 26 Best Learn Russian tips and tactics. Download it here for free: learntherussianlanguage.com/youtube/
What other apps would you recommend. I am using drops now. I got tired of dulingo. 🙂 ty for the content.
Lingq
Anki
I'd go for Ankidroid.
i tried to learn Dutch and that seemed hard-im part Finn and welsh
If you know English, Dutch shouldn't be hard.
@@LearntheRussianLanguage thats what they tell me,nethertheless.....
Как мило ты говоришь на русском, как настоящий Русский ❤❤❤❤❤
Спасибо!
Согласен, хорошо разговаривает
Ари, я хотел спросить кое-что. Это правда, что в Голландии ты обязан впустить в дом человека, которому нужно в туалет? Просто многие в России говорят про это.
Хаха, я думаю это неправда))
Dutch, do you have a plan? 😅
Это отоично !!
Спасибо
R u Russian ? ❤🇷🇺
Я голландец!
It uses declensions without explaining them. The games are totally unnecessary. Overal the course provides an introduction to the language but other courses are needed to supplement it like A + Russian and similar courses on RUclips and Hugo's Russian in 3 Months which has a book. The cassettes are on RUclips.
However..................Duolingo is good for pronunciation and getting the feel and sound of the language.
Btw duolingo does teach you the alphabet its in a seperate section
Does anyone know how to write ñ when translating in English in Duolingo
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Hello you can help me practical speak english ?
I'm not a native English speaker. I recommend you look for specific English channels on RUclips :)
@@LearntheRussianLanguage thanks you
I too there learn English
I think it comes with the fact that the entire world is learning English. It's blessing and a curse at the same time :)
@@LearntheRussianLanguage thanks
help me you speak very fast you are great
Duolingo does teach the alphabet but it's in its own tab
its too tiring to learn russian
That's not a helpful attitude. If you feel that way, maybe you should see if there's another language that you find more interesting? That should help you have more energy to put into it.
@@LearntheRussianLanguage lol dont know why i said that
@@LearntheRussianLanguage im still learning
@@lonewolfnormanfinndian6129 Haha no problem. It's a tiring situation at the moment.
Ты так быстро говоришь на английском, что, я еле понимаю фразы на слух😅
I don't see why you should need duolingo to learn a language
It' works if someone isn't sure if they want to learn Russian, and just want a simple free course to get a quick overview of the language.
@@LearntheRussianLanguage I'm not saying it's a bad idea to try it.. if someone likes learning this way it's good. Just doesn't look like a lot of fun to me personally. I find your videos helpful! Love listening to you speaking Russian, and you motivated me even more
@@ralfj.1740 I also never used it much. I just know that my mom used it for a couple of weeks before we went to Russia the first time. She found it quite fun, and it helped her learn some basics.
@@LearntheRussianLanguage Now I'm trying it myself because I spend so much time on the train. I see it as a supplement for my studies and good for refreshing the basics.