My grandad speaks a number of languages and reads more. He's self taught. He reads dictionaries then goes onto reading books. It's scary. He worked as a translator once he retired. Got an award for best newcomer to Gaelic after a year of teaching himself. I couldnt do what he does I don't think many could. But I'm glad Duolingo etc exist to help some.
@@harambe8372 yes. That is the secret. It makes your understanding of the language far deeper and your vocabulary grows naturally. It's how I learned English🤗
The biggest difference I have noticed with Duolingo is that it doesn't outright tell you the grammar, instead you learn it through completing sentences in a way that actually sticks it in your head. The Scottish Gaelic course- despite having only a handful of creators who made it - has been really good, with a variety of speakers and hilarious sentences.
I find it’s very similar with the Welsh course: you spend a lot of time learning about Owen and his parsnip obsession, but somehow it really does help to fix the grammar in your mind.
Duolingo actually has been giving you grammar "tips" on select languages (especially the "flagship" ones that Evan mentioned), used to be only available on Desktop/Web, but now also on the mobile app. But it definitely isn't the main feature on Duolingo.
I'm loving the Scottish Gaelic course. It would be nice if they could offer checking pronounciation in that course. But, watch out for Iain and Mairi! And at this point I'm at 760 days.
productivity "hack" : learning your 3rd or 4th lang in your 2nd language, so that you are exercising one and learning the other 😏😏 Ex: Spanish as a German speaker but you speak English. I'm doing Dutch as an Eng speaker but my mother tongue is Italian
I'm currently learning Portuguese from Spanish in DuoLingo. My native language is English. If I was learning Portuguese exclusively from English, the similarities between Portuguese and Spanish would likely result in the Portuguese that I'm learning actually overwriting my existing Spanish. This might sound like hyperbole but this actually started happening when I was initially learning Spanish - it started overwriting my existing knowledge of French. So seeing the two languages side-by-side (as opposed to relying on my memory for a reference as to how it is said in a previously studied language) really helps avoiding this problem. Maybe it's just my brain but I imagine other people have probably experienced this too.
I've been doing the cascading method on the Italian lessons and I absolutely live for it, it's so helpful to make sure you actually are remembering things and returning to things you've learned previously
I'm glad that you didn't say you became fluent in a two days with Duolingo. There's really no shortcut to becoming proficient at a foreign language. In my experience, the most important factor in language learning is having a real reason to learn the language followed by exposure. The notion that "it would be nice to know Spanish" rarely translates into useful proficiency.🙂
Me stuck in the states with no likely hood of ever leaving or needing any of the languages I like... Well I would give up but I've been raised to believe that giving up on anything you start makes you a failure and that being a failure is tantamount to commiting a cardinal sin......
@@demonheart13 If you can't, find German youtubers, shows, chatrooms with Germans to surround yourself in the language. I've never had a chance to leave my country, but because I surrounded myself with English content and people online, I have become fluent, albeit after 6-10 years lol
So true! You must immerse yourself in the language. I love the stories...not only do they use the everyday language, including the slang, but the stories are funny and entertaining.
One of my closest friends is bilingual, i really appreciate that he speaks english with me but I truly want to learn and hes been all for it so i decided to start this journey a week ago. Kinda early but maybe ill be back a year or two now and a little more close to fluent 😅
I'm doing a languages degree and I'm over 800 days, Duolingo really helps with the vocab because it organises the structured repitition for you. I also use all the methods Evan suggested and I think that's what really elevates it. Listening and repeating out loud are important. Of course I have access to a ton of extra resources so who knows how I'd get on with just duo but it definitely complements the other work I'm doing.
Sorry but out of curiosity, what's your degree called ? Cause I'd love to learn languages as a course but all I see around me is linguistics degree and I'm not sure that's the same
@@p.ot.a It's a BA in modern languages and cultural studies (all the materials are based around the history of the country) and then you can choose a foreign language and English studies or two foreign languages which is what I'm doing, at the end I'll have recognised C1 fluency in the European framework
@@p.ot.a The focus is absolutely the language, history/culture is just the means to get it across. All the assignments are in the language and once you're in the second year all the material is delivered in the language you're studying
First: WHERE DID YOU GET THE PLUSH DUO?!?! Second: As a Spanish teacher I really do think that duolingo is a wonderful tool! I don't think it's a one stop shop to learn the entire language but it's a great springboard!
I'm going to Spain next year for a university course (taught in English), but I'd really like to learn the language as much as I can so I'm not floundering. Do you have any tips you can share as to where to go (other than Duo)?
@@jsh7939 Good question... I am debating which second language I want to take on in university (you must take two courses in the same foreign language to get a Bachelor of Arts). Spanish is an option which seems interesting. I'd like to know too how vastly Spanish differs between nations. Could someone from Spain understand someone from Peru? Is it like English in that respect?
@@BBC600 I am from Chile. I can tell you that is like english. Every country has it's own words of choice and lingo and voice volume. I speak english since 1995 and by now I can understand easily scotish, australian, british, german, french and italians "own english accent". With spanish is the same: for example in Peru and Bolivia they speak very softly with jaws tight so you have to be close to hear what they are saying right. In Argentina they are very loud, as well as in Brazil (they understand spanish well but they answer in Portuguese), so you can understand well. In Chile, Mexico and central america we speak with A LOT of made up words so it's hard (but fun, some people say) to understand well at first. I want to add that I have been learning Italian in Duolingo for the past 3 years and now I could watch all of Petrucci's interview for Dakar and I understood like 70%. I found it awesome. My current record is just 289 days straight.
You've inspired me. I've attempted to learn french many times in my life (I'm 69). took 6 years of it in school (moved a lot, really took 2 years 3 times lol), did home studies, took a college course. I could parse sentences, I could read/write but I just couldn't get it to come out of my mouth. And I couldn't hear it; it was just a mumble in my ears. I'm on my 4th day of Duolingo, trying French once again. I'm enjoying it, recalling some of my old french. And I'm beginning to be able to 'hear' it. It's becoming less of a mumble, and I can hear more actual words. So, thanks, eh!
I'm about to hit my 900 day streak for Greek and this video made me wish Duolingo cared more about the smaller languages. We have ai voices that can't do intonation well, no stories and no speaking exercises. But fortunately we do have very dedicated contributers that find and even create extra resources to make up for it, which is why I do still enjoy learning with Duolingo over most other free language apps
Ahh someone else who's learning greek too! The video made me a little sad as well. I've never tried out another language on Duolingo before, so I was bummed out to hear what cool features other languages have. On top of that you can only learn Greek in English, which isn't my native language, so that makes it harder as well.
@Random Gaming Yes! I've been using Language Transfer to improve my grammar in Greek for over a year now and it's been very helpful. I do still find Duolingo useful to practice reading and grammar. I also use Clozemaster for vocabulary, so in my years of learning I have found many ways to compensate for all the things Duolingo lacks
Hello. I am using Duolingo to learn English since 373 days ago, and today, for the first time, I understood an English video without legends: yours. Thank you, very much.
Nice! Duolingo has helped you learn English to the point where you can understand a video in English! Good job, you're English is pretty good, it is understandable. :D
@@keagaming9837 It's a a bit robotic, but 100% understandable for any native speaker. All he needs to do, is just talk it as much as possible now, and his brain will slowly adapt to the language, and will notice what sounds natural to say.
I'm learning French on Duolingo. I'm only on unit 4 and I'm already getting those more advanced comprehension questions with longer paragraphs. Duolingo has definitely refined its learning system so much, I've been saying you've gotta stick with it, I'm so glad someone out there finally agrees, haha!
Best AND most realistic description of Duolingo that I’ve seen! THX ☺️ It’s definitely an excellent teaching tool IF you’re motivated and willing to put in whatever amount of daily time…choice on time is totally yours!
4:53 The silent 'skit' with you doing Duolingo and yelling at Duo is uproariously funny and, I'm ashamed to admit, how I feel doing Spanish Duolingo lessons the majority of the time 🤣
The only problem is, Duo pushes you to rush through the lessons as quickly as possible. With the double xp that last only 15 minutes (rather than, say, three lessons), and the leagues in general, it makes you want to complete as much as you can, as quickly as you can, so it's actually sabotaging people trying to carefully learn a language like this.
true lol I made 240.000 XP in less than 3 month just because of the XP x2 rush 😂 didn't learn a lot because I there was no time to really learn something in that rush.
Fully agree that Duolingo works! I'm about 300 days into learning Swedish. Am I fluent yet? No. Is my vocabulary lacking? Yes, a lot. Do I have an advantage because I already know Romance and Germanic languages (German, French, English, Luxembourgish)? Yes. But still, I am able to understand basics when watching a TV show or reading an article, which I wasn't before, and I'm convinced this will only improve with more practice and learning.
How easy is it to learn other romance languages after learning one? (If you know more than just french it sounded like you knew maybe spanish or italian)
I also learned Swedish with Duolingo! I definitely needed supplementary learning methods once I was a high-beginner but it was a really effective tool for learning the basics.
I know very little about content creation, but I just wanted to say as a serial content consumer that the camera setup in this video really stood out to me as excellent. The depth of field is very crisp.
Great video Evan. I just passed 1000 days on Duolingo learning French, Danish and Welsh. I've realised that the app on its own probably won't get me to the level I'd like to be at, so I've started to do it in parallel with books (the Harry Potter series is a good choice as you say) but also podcasts and subtitled films. My goals are to be fluent in all three languages one day, but also just to keep the old grey matter in good shape!
My 10 year old started Spanish at the start of 1st lockdown, a year ago we supplemented duolingo with 30mins with a real teacher a week and he's at GCSE level now! But the Spanish is Latin Spanish, not Castillian, so a few words are different. He's also learning Welsh for fun, and husband is learning Gaelic.
Doing welsh on duolingo too aswell as in school. Sad that because its a smaller language that we don't get the advantage that French or Spanish learners do as they have stories and actual real voices instead of poor AI ones
We’ve been around Duo about the same amount of time - I’m at a 2119 day streak today I am now functionally fluent in Esperanto, and good enough and getting better in french as well as improving in Spanish and German and making an effort to learn some rare languages. Cascading is very good, laddering is useful and you must do other things, reading, conversing, and watching stuff in the target language. Harry Potter in target language for the win.
I can personally attest to the Irish course being good. As an Irihsman who cant speak Irish, I started it at the beginning of lockdown 1 (uk), but got too into the gamey aspect and getting each lesson to lvl 5 before moving on that I got burned out really quickly. I've picked it back up, but not finished the course yet, and it has been really good in giving me a good start in the language.
I am so glad I found this video! Truly enjoyed it, so tired of the vague commentary of other videos about language learning. I am 50 days into my third language learning and I am using Duolingo plus, they have a family option so 2 of my children have started to use it as well. When I was 13 years old, I learned English by immersion, it took 3 years to feel comfortable speaking, though I had good comprehension in about 6 months, I was painfully shy. So this is my first desired language venture. I look forward to your videos, thank you.
Good luck! I’ve been using the app to learn Welsh and polish for just over 3 months now, and I’m almost fluent in both languages which is exciting. Don’t give up!
@@casluvs Dzięki! Ja też uczę się polskiego, ale uczę się głównie z nauczycielką. Greckiego uczę się głównie z Duolingo (z Duolingiem? lol). Powodzenia też dla ciebie! :D
Having spent the past week isolating with my family, we have all been doing very well in duolingo. I placed 1st in the Ruby league and now have moved into the emerald league. So this video is coming just at the right time
I'm halfway through unit 2 in Italian (so I can talk to my relatives) and have just begun Welsh (as I plan to move there at some point). You were the reason I started, so thank you!
Thank you Evan for this video. So helpful. I’ve used Duo for quite some time. I have a streak of 780+ which I started when the pandemic started. I like your cascading method and will start using it. You seem to have the same frustrations I’ve experienced. Finding you online is like the clouds parting and the Duo owl swooping down in all his glory.
To the consistency element: Connect duo with something else that you do every day: Maybe as the first thing in the morning(instead of checking twitter) or just before bed (instead of checking facebook), or, if you don't read out loud, do it on your daily commute.
Hi! I agree with you! Duolingo is good, and it took me very far with Norwegian! I completed the tree back in 2018, and from there, I could successfully continue studying on my own. It sure raised my self-esteem because I went so far (on my own!) that now I can read books and listen to podcasts in Norwegian! But the grammar is so easy, and the vocabulary resembles English, so I could start reading and listening to the news in easy language early in my studies. Inspired by my success, I want to continue this trend, and I am thinking of picking up another language. But this time, I've set my eyes on a HARDCORE language, Finnish. I am doing my exercises on Duolingo, and so far, it isn't that hard. What could be your strategy in learning a language with super complicated grammar and vocabulary that doesn't resemble anything I've heard in my life. That could apply to Asian languages on Duolingo too.
I've been doing the Spanish course for about 18 months now having previously done a lot of French (back when there were lots of issues and it drove me mad) and completed the very petite Danish tree. I'm really enjoying the Spanish tree and like that now I'm getting questions entirely in Spanish where I really need to use my brain. I like to only have 2-3 lessons on the go at once and as I get one to gold (I always test out that level) I start a new one. Maybe the cascade method would be better but I'm a creature of habit! I really love the Spanish podcast. Even at first when you barely understand anything (although it really helps to listen at 0.8x speed) the stories about Spanish speaking countries are really interesting. I think it's Lily who has the drone voice and does my head in. I like how a lot of the stories are genuinely funny. After doing the Danish tree with almost no other input, I decided with Spanish to also buy a grammar book and books to read alongside, plus I watch a few RUclips channels. Aside from learning better and quicker, it stops Duo from feeling so monotonous.
I started relearning German on duolingo in December after watching your previous videos. I took 2 years of German in high school (which was 10 years ago) so that's why I chose to do German since I had a baseline.
Learning Korean currently after doing Italian. Works pretty well! Especially with the new hangul specific tests where you only learn the sounds and "letters".
Probably, in a few months, I will be at 1000 and maybe another year and a half through the Swedish but, I find, I get the most out of it by listening, reading, writing, repeating, and reviewing. The lessons take longer but find. I am getting more out of them that way!
I was laughing out loud at you yelling at the owl. I don't know why but it was so funny. Thank you for the laugh. One of my goals for 2022 is to start to learn Spanish
I'm on day 779 of my current streak (got the flu a few years ago and wiped out my previous 240-something streak). I type all my answers in French and English, never use the matching or bubbles. I've found it a good refresher for my previous French knowledge and now it's bringing me new grammar and vocabulary. I'm in book 2 of HP in French.
I love Duolingo, I have been learning Hungarian for almost two years and have been brushing up on my Spanish for quite as while as well. I usually do it between fifteen minutes to an hour a day, and enjoy it a lot. 555 day streak and have been using the cascading method for almost a year now. Great tip!
Yes! I've been waiting for this video. I started using the app to get more fluent in French again in 2020 and it really helped. By now I also started learning Irish for the first time. It's a lot of fun!
I've passed my 1st year on duolingo and i'm doing german and French both of which i did at school, though i barely did like a semesters worth of german and like went up to a level of french. I find the apps are much more effective for me, especially in encouraging me towards sentence construction which i really struggled with at school. Writing was always my weakest because i felt i didnt even have the base understanding of subjects let alone verbs and how to construct them. This has really helped boost me, specially as i set the pace for myself. I'm still in unit 1 of french but i get quite a few of those comprehension questions as well. When i started, i took the test to see how much i remembered and it filled up one level for half the unit for me so its possible it remembers this and is trying to challenge me more. I very much enjoy them.
I'm on a 375 day streak, completed the level 5 tree in Korean in about 365 days and am working on bringing it up to legendary level. At the same time I also filled 10 exercise books with handwritten copies of every lesson that I have done. That's about 2000 pages for context, so about 1000 pages of handwritten Korean, and this really helped me to learn the letters and solidify them into memory.
I've been doing Duolingo for about 7 months now - the last 33 days every day on French. I've also dabbled in the German and Dutch courses. Evan said that the currencies in the desktop and mobile version are now the same. I'm thinking that's in the UK only, because I'm in Canada and there's still gems in the mobile version and lingots in the web/desktop version. I've chosen to do Duolingo to keep up and review my French for now. I'm looking at taking a DELF (CEFRL) French course later in the year (after I get my first job in my new career in web dev). I'm the first generation to not speak Acadien French, so it's really important to me to get to at least B2 level. I wasn't using the cascading method but just started because of this video. It's much better!
I haven't seen the video, but I can say that it really works. But not like some people think, it's not like you could only use the app once a day and be fluent. You have to take notes and practice at least one hour a day. I know my english is bad, but I started using duolingo 5 months ago
I haven’t watched most of the video yet, but you 100% convinced me to use the app from one of your videos ages ago. I’m almost to 1000 days which is nuts. I’m learning Spanish and Italian; Spanish is a lot better imo with the app - just more stuff to do. I’ve gone through all of the stories in Spanish, I’m redoing them to help my speech which I never was good at in school. I should do more of the lessons but the stories are so much easier.
Also super mad I was a few weeks too late to finish some of the stories they removed like the Edgar Allen Poe one. I’ve been trying to reach that goal for a year - going through all of the stories and then *poof* gone
This is really cool to read, I find myself checking up on total strangers when they make a comment expressing their inspiration like 5 years ago. 1000 days is just nuts, it takes a ton of dedication to reach that and I hope you keep it up to 2000 and more On a 300 day streak myself (broken at 164 8 months prior, but I did continue using what I had learned every day with my native friends). I am super comfortable with the Chinese course Duolingo has to offer
@@babytiny5807 It all started for me when I had an exactly 100 day streak that I dropped and after that I decided to just see how long I could keep it up.
Great video. I have been using Duolingo for 150 days to resurrect/improve the languages I have already learned. I find it a great way to keep engaged with the languages as I can do a lesson in three to ten minutes (depending on the language) and switch between languages. I also think the exercises in the app are structured in a way that exercises the brain and improves your memory (a lagniappe especially beneficial to seniors).
Vielen Dank für diesen sehr unterhaltsamen Beitrag. I am learning Czech with Duolingo. But I have to learn it with English. So I have to translate it twice. Sometimes it is a challenge. And never take it too serious. Have fun and enjoy 👍😉
I am dabbling with the French course on Duolingo. It is really quite challenging. I need to start writing down words, rather than relying on memory. It is a good course, given that it is free of charge. Thank you for the video!
Instead of writing things down with pen and paper I just take a screenshot on my phone of any translation that I find in anyway challenging. I can then review the screenshots later in my leisure.
Another thing I do is I use google voice typing for any exercise that requires typing. It's not a good way to learn accents necessarily but it does allow you to realize exactly what you're not pronouncing correctly (for example the most frustrating for me is Juan always ends up being one or Quan or Laura ends up as Lara etc, hay ends up as I Etc...) Duolingo also started doing some events online, where you can take classes or get together with other people to practice and talk about topics of interest with other people in the language your learning. I've only been using it for a year but it's good to hear I'm on the right track!
I love your attitude towards language learning. I am doing German in Duolingo and find myself getting overwhelmed and frustrated, especially because the grammar is not explained in depth. That you were successful gives me hope. Thanks. Your advice for advancing in the leagues is exactly what I do.
I completely agree with you, Evan, learning should be free. Germans and French also feel the same way that's why they keep their tuition fee costs minimum in their schools and Universities.
Just discovered your you tube today, have to say I like watching it. I’m Dutch, 74 years old, and i am learning Spanish for about 1200 days now. I need to do english-Spanish, because there are no lessons in Dutch, and my English has improved too. I’ll come back for other videos from you, keep them coming!
On day 459 on Duolingo French course, I can empathise with your frustrations as well as your commendations. Overall I think it is an excellent app and my French has improved such that I now chat with a French lady - half English for her, half French for me - and this, combined with Duo has moved my comprehension and speaking skills on much faster than Duo alone.
I love Duolingo and really want to become fluent in Spanish. I've been working on it for over 2 years but have been doing each lesson to level 5 before moving on to another and its been painfully slow progress so this video was very helpful. Thanks for posting.
As someone who uses duolingo at like 11pm, the early bird is a slap in the face. And I’ve given up on the above diamond league, way too tryhardy. I’ve been in diamond for forever and that’s where I’ll stay.
I find duolingo great as i am learning Norwegian. The issue i have with it is that it uses the Bergen dialect, it dropped one article after a single lesson and entirely removed a word from lessons. If you were wondering (ei) which is the feminine form for "a/an" and "iskrem" which meant ice cream but now entirely replaced it with "is". A lot of the times i don't understand how sentences should be formed so i am forced to go onto to things like hinative or just ask questions in discord. I have even went through like 8 other sections before i even knew how to conjugate "lille" and only thought "små" meant small. Not entirely great for Norwegian but it can improve a ton to make more concepts less confusing.
finally another Norwegian learner! The only reason I don't have much of a problem is because I speak to a lot of Norwegian friends who speak standard Bokmål, the Stavanger dialect, and the Bergen dialect, but it definitely still causes issues
I started Duolingo in 2019 after watching one of your videos, now on a 905 day streak. Using it to practice my German (have a degree in it) and learn Spanish. It may not be the best language learning tool in the world and has its flaws but it works for me. It’s helped me build a habit and I like the gameified side of it as I’m too damn competitive for my own good, that one year streak in the diamond league is going strong!!
i'm so thankful that i stumbled upon your last duolingo video. l've just finished the spanish tree and am now going through everything using the cascade method, trying to turn all the gold crowns into blue.
I mainly use Duolingo to learn Japanese and must say: the course is maybe 80-90% there, but due to the system Duo uses to generate its exercises there are problems with languages that have more than one pronunciation for one character. Sometimes the audio is wrong and sometimes the furigana are (which are essentially easier to read characters in Japanese used to show the pronunciation of the harder Kanji characters). It happens maybe once every two units, especially in the later stages of the course, which makes it hard to progress beyond your current level of understanding without having to fear learning mistakes. This course definitely needs fixing! I have been using the app consistently for just over 2 years now and about 1 year ago they changed the characters to have unique voices and implemented the new exercise creation system. Since then these problems persist. Basically, there are problems with most courses using a different writing system, in one way or another. Anyways, they are constantly improving the app and adding new features and using data to find better exercises and so on, so I am hopeful, but I have been waiting for about 1 year for my fixes and am glad that this is not the primary learning tool I use. Also, am really looking forward to the new progression system coming soon!
I love the cascade method idea. I’m learning German with Duolingo after getting a basic understanding living in Bielefeld for a few years and getting my B1 für Zuwanderer at the Gütersloh Volkshochschule. Back in England I found all my German fading, and I’m determined to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The experience is dictated so much by the language you’re learning. When I studied French duolingo was amazing. Studying Turkish it’s not been so good. The English sentences are clunky - it feels like my mistakes are in my English as often as my Turkish. And there are no stories or audio stories etc, plus only 4 units which when I finished I wasn’t at a super high level.
for fun, i would recommend watching shows in the language that you are learning. i'm an english speaker doing french on duolingo, and i'm watching miraculous ladybug in french. i'm actually enjoying the experience, and it feels like it complements duolingo lessons quite well!
Awesome video. I'm definitely going to try the cascading method next! For myself, I found I needed supplemental classes to really get my speaking skills to a good level, but I found Duolingo very helpful for my reading and listening comprehension. Its also just amazing for forming a daily practice habit.
I’ve got a 30 day streak so far in Spanish and so far it feels very effective. I learnt Spanish for a year at school but i hated it. Duolingo has kept me interested so far, and I can’t wait to try out the method Evan talks about
But does it teach Spanish 2nd person plural? No it f***ing doesn't. For them vosotros/vosotras is not a thing, but for millions in Spain it is normal! So centred on American/Latino. Should be separated out, but Duo won't. Too expensive.
Thank you for the video. I've been learning French for 2 years but as I am approaching the end of unit 3, I know I am forgetting the earlier lessons. So I will try the cascade method. I agree, saying phrases out loud is good, and I need to do more of it. Thanks again!
One thing I wish Duolingo would do is to upgrade the other languages to at least a level comparable with the popular before they upgrade the popular courses even more lol
@@wistyeria Not all courses are made by the Duolingo team, the less popular ones are actually made by community volunteers, some have also been abandoned.
Evan, first time viewer, with a 1500 day streak in 4 languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese). I recently decided to drop Portuguese as it was difficult to find occasions to speak it in the US. Also, studying four Romantic languages leads to some confusion as many of the words are the same. I found my knowledge in French and Italian useful when I visited those countries, especially in what I refer to as shop, restaurant or street usage. I enjoyed your explanations. Thank you.
As a Canadian, I feel like I'm learning two different languages at once while learning Welsh because all the translations involve vests, caravans and lorries. Took me a while to wrap my brain around it. Lol
I am currently 199 days in the Spanish lessons. It is very effective. I can read spanish now better than I can speak it but I am not giving up until I know Spanish as well as I know English. I am 62 y.o. and retired but never stop learning, no matter your age.
@@lloydfoster6679 I finished 365 days then stopped because I was spending too much time sitting. My new outlet is 10,000 steps per day. I loved duolingo in the beginning but it got harder and harder and my 63 year old brain was about to blow a fuse and it quit being fun but I wanted to complete one solid year so I stopped at 365 days.
Personally, Duolingo is alright. I've been using it for years to keep my German sharp and expand into Spanish and Gaelic as well. It's absolutely gotten better over the years. I took 6 years of German classes in school and even went on an exchange trip. In spite of all that, I only count myself as conversational. Knowing my flaws, my biggest language weakness is figuring out how to speak my thoughts in a different language. I think it would be extremely helpful to Duolingo learners if they developed a feature where it asked questions and accepted a variety of responses. (And example: Was sind deine Lieblingskleidungsstücke? / What are your favorite articles of clothes? With accepted responses that vary to include everything from t-shirts to hats and shoes.) More generally, the one feature I'd love to see in a language learning app is a forum to encourage people to speak with others in their learned language. Bonus points if it has active translation aids. (Think autocorrect suggestions.) I understand how difficult this would be maintain, but as someone who lives in the U.S.A. and doesn't get to practice German very often, I would get a lot of use out of it.
I joined Duolingo because I was not very good at Spanish and needed to practice, now over a year later my Spanish reading, writing, listening, and to some extent speaking skills have grown a lot! For me, Duolingo is effective for the first year, and then after a year you have to start using multiple sources not just Duolingo. When it comes to practicing speaking, Duolingo is not the best option but for reading writing and listening it is amazing, especially in the first year of learning a language using the app. I've been on the Duolingo Diamond league for months at a time, in fact only recently did I drop back to the Obsidian league. I hope one day I can finish the Spanish course on Duolingo, though it will take a long time since there is a lot of content on the Spanish course.
One problem I nodiced is while doing the Japanese storys there was no kanji (one of the Japanese scripts) which ironically made it way harder to read. Just as a note for other people. The issue is most likely because it's hard to know which kanji a person knows but it's still a little annoying
Such a useful video. Thanks for making it. I've been learning Spanish on duo for almost two months now and it's better than any other method I've tried before. The cascading technique seems like a great tip.
10 месяцев назад
Hi. I just started learning Spanish on duolingo as a new years resolution (2024). I would like to know how you are progressing in Spanish after a year? Are you able to understand a movie in Spanish after 1 year? I find that listening and understanding is the most difficult part.
I had been reading some "natural method" textbooks for a few months. Duolingo is great for getting practice when I can't sit down for an hour or so to do book exercises. It's definitely sped my learning up a lot by keeping the immersion up. (difficult when studying a dead language) Gratias tibi ago!
I have an account with a 1,261 day streak with 119,000+ xp..and started with German like you! I agree very much with what you mentioned! I can attest the fact that Duolingo can actually teach you something, as long as you are consistent, and dedicated.
Oh!! Good idea Evan! I’m going to stop getting all purples now. Thanks! OMG I watched your channel 6 years ago when you just moved to London and were talking about puns. And this video just popped up!
Guys Irish is a great language to use like a “secret language”. I’m Irish and my sister and I are fluent in it, so we use it on holidays all the time 😂
I'm on a 1601 day streak today learning Spanish using Duolingo. I went to Spain in the summer and had multiple conversations in Spanish with natives and they understood me just fine. I've got numerous people to use this app (none of them have stuck with it as long as me) but I always recommend it to people. They have just changed me over to 'The Path' though and I can't say I am a fan but I will persevere anyway. I'm heading straight towards a 2000 day streak!
I have used Duolingo for over four years nothing has stuck I realized I must be doing something wrong and gave up. Now randomly these influenced Duolingo videos are popping up so I’m going to give it a try and drum roll…I’m going to pay the monthly subscription fingers crossed. Thank you for your content Evan
I've done over 430 days of French in Duolingo. I love the stories section and blew through them. I have also had issues where correct answers weren't accepted, which is really annoying. I basically left one lesson incomplete for over a month waiting for their system to update - and reported the mistake. I've only used Duolingo on my phone - did not even realize there was a desktop version. I do wish that the app included some more grammatical/vocabulary explanation at times. For example, there are at least three french words for room (salle, chambre, and piece - sorry for my lack of accents on my English keyboard), but the app does not explain what the difference is between these types of rooms. Similarly, it does not provide explanation of what the various accents mean or do. Thankfully I have an Acadian friend who is willing to provide me some language support.
Thanks for making this video, I have been thinking of quitting Duolingo Spanish because of all the videos saying it was ineffective, and this really helped! Thank you.
Hi! Just want to add that stories and listening exercises (as well as tips) are only a feature when you learn a language from English so if there are people here whose native language isn't English, you may be wondering why you can't find those. Consider taking a Duo course from English rather than your native language :) also, those listening exercises unfortunately are iOS only
Great tips! I am just starting to get consistent with the app. The first thing I realized when I first jumó a few steps ahead quickly was that I needed to use a “cascade” method (thanks for the term btw). I appreciate getting reassurance regarding this tip. I definitely also verbally repeat statements & listen to how it is pronounced by the bot. I also click on words I struggle with & words I just don’t know so that I can hear how the bot pronounces the word. I think getting to a place of being consistent is the first challenge & people need to realize it may take a few false starts before you get momentum. Another thing I felt helpful was to start with a language that might be simpler for me to learn while I get the hang the app & learning a new language for the first time. I had tried other languages of interest to me but because I didn’t have confidence or consistency, I quickly felt it was harder to gain momentum. Since I know two languages (English/Spanish), I decided to start with Portuguese. I also made sure to learn that language from the Spanish translation - I had initially tried learning it from English & I noticed I was double translating in my head as I was learning (English-Portuguese-Spanish). It’s definitely been much easier going with Spanish to Portuguese.
I’m on day 636 for Norwegian and it’s not really effective. I’ve done one and half trees. I just fix one cracked thing once a day as I don’t have time to dedicate myself to do it. So streaks don’t really mean anything because some like me don’t do much on the app except maintain my streak
I agree they should list what level you're at! I'm learning Welsh and unfortunately there's no stories which is a bit sad,wish they'd change it. Great video by the way
Re: using text speak for business. I had a friend in Japan doing English at UNI. She was taught is fine in a business context to use "u" as "you". I told her its not (and it kind of bugs me even just chatting when people use it). She got really mad, told me she was going to continue how she learned (why listen to an ACTUAL English person?) and hasn't spoken to me in 4 years.....
I know you don't care but you inspired me to start my Japanese journey, I bought a book and listen to children songs, as well as Duolingo and sometimes Anki. I currently have a 38 day streak in Japanese and hope to be at JLPT N4 Level in 1-2 Years
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Duolingo should sponsor you at this point you've been loyal to them for over 2000 days
There is no incentive for them to; he's already advertising them for free.
They're so consistently looking for money, they wouldn't pay for anything!
absolutely they should sponsor you.
wait it isn't?
Like 6 years!
I can imagine Evan dropping his phone breaking it and he has to run to the nearest phone store shouting “MY DUOLINGO STREAK!!”
DESKTOP
@@evan always ruining my jokes 🥺
that's a great reason for getting a girlfriend. you'll always have an extra smartphone
@@evan imagine if you lost your phone for like a day
@@CairnsG streak freeze
My grandad speaks a number of languages and reads more. He's self taught. He reads dictionaries then goes onto reading books. It's scary. He worked as a translator once he retired. Got an award for best newcomer to Gaelic after a year of teaching himself.
I couldnt do what he does I don't think many could. But I'm glad Duolingo etc exist to help some.
This is awesome, though! Low-key one of my dream jobs.
Wow you inspired me. Your granddad is wonderful. My warm regards to him.
Just dictionaries and reading? Is that the secret?
It's all about willpower, great grandad!
@@harambe8372 yes. That is the secret. It makes your understanding of the language far deeper and your vocabulary grows naturally. It's how I learned English🤗
The biggest difference I have noticed with Duolingo is that it doesn't outright tell you the grammar, instead you learn it through completing sentences in a way that actually sticks it in your head. The Scottish Gaelic course- despite having only a handful of creators who made it - has been really good, with a variety of speakers and hilarious sentences.
I find it’s very similar with the Welsh course: you spend a lot of time learning about Owen and his parsnip obsession, but somehow it really does help to fix the grammar in your mind.
Duolingo actually has been giving you grammar "tips" on select languages (especially the "flagship" ones that Evan mentioned), used to be only available on Desktop/Web, but now also on the mobile app. But it definitely isn't the main feature on Duolingo.
I'm loving the Scottish Gaelic course. It would be nice if they could offer checking pronounciation in that course.
But, watch out for Iain and Mairi!
And at this point I'm at 760 days.
and thats how i have my chinese introductio engraved in my brain. Not the hanzi(i think thats the chinese symbols???????), the pronounciation
it does actually have a little question mark bubble you can click that explain the grammar and words to you outside of the levels!
productivity "hack" : learning your 3rd or 4th lang in your 2nd language, so that you are exercising one and learning the other 😏😏
Ex: Spanish as a German speaker but you speak English.
I'm doing Dutch as an Eng speaker but my mother tongue is Italian
That’s a bloody great tip
I'm currently learning Portuguese from Spanish in DuoLingo. My native language is English. If I was learning Portuguese exclusively from English, the similarities between Portuguese and Spanish would likely result in the Portuguese that I'm learning actually overwriting my existing Spanish.
This might sound like hyperbole but this actually started happening when I was initially learning Spanish - it started overwriting my existing knowledge of French.
So seeing the two languages side-by-side (as opposed to relying on my memory for a reference as to how it is said in a previously studied language) really helps avoiding this problem.
Maybe it's just my brain but I imagine other people have probably experienced this too.
Most of the languages only work(or work well enough) in english on Duo, so everyone whos first language is not english does this out of necessity
They don’t have a Japanese course for German, I’m afraid. But I’ve absolutely wanted to try this.
I knew this must be a good use of the courses, as doing them in my mother tongue feels a bit like grammar lessons lol
I've been doing the cascading method on the Italian lessons and I absolutely live for it, it's so helpful to make sure you actually are remembering things and returning to things you've learned previously
Me too! How far into the course are you?
@@theotherbrief I've finally reached checkpoint 1
@@insecureegg oh nice! I'm in about the same place- just up to Time in checkpoint 2
@@theotherbrief oh awesome!!
I'm searching the video about it, could you share it with me please?
I'm glad that you didn't say you became fluent in a two days with Duolingo. There's really no shortcut to becoming proficient at a foreign language. In my experience, the most important factor in language learning is having a real reason to learn the language followed by exposure. The notion that "it would be nice to know Spanish" rarely translates into useful proficiency.🙂
Me stuck in the states with no likely hood of ever leaving or needing any of the languages I like...
Well I would give up but I've been raised to believe that giving up on anything you start makes you a failure and that being a failure is tantamount to commiting a cardinal sin......
@@demonheart13 If you can't, find German youtubers, shows, chatrooms with Germans to surround yourself in the language. I've never had a chance to leave my country, but because I surrounded myself with English content and people online, I have become fluent, albeit after 6-10 years lol
So true! You must immerse yourself in the language.
I love the stories...not only do they use the everyday language, including the slang, but the stories are funny and entertaining.
@@demonheart13 I live in HK, I learn German at school and am learning Spanish on Duo. It really helps.
One of my closest friends is bilingual, i really appreciate that he speaks english with me but I truly want to learn and hes been all for it so i decided to start this journey a week ago. Kinda early but maybe ill be back a year or two now and a little more close to fluent 😅
I'm doing a languages degree and I'm over 800 days, Duolingo really helps with the vocab because it organises the structured repitition for you. I also use all the methods Evan suggested and I think that's what really elevates it. Listening and repeating out loud are important. Of course I have access to a ton of extra resources so who knows how I'd get on with just duo but it definitely complements the other work I'm doing.
I think memrise does vocab work a lot better then duolingo.
Sorry but out of curiosity, what's your degree called ? Cause I'd love to learn languages as a course but all I see around me is linguistics degree and I'm not sure that's the same
@@p.ot.a It's a BA in modern languages and cultural studies (all the materials are based around the history of the country) and then you can choose a foreign language and English studies or two foreign languages which is what I'm doing, at the end I'll have recognised C1 fluency in the European framework
@@Wulfuswulferson thanks a lot. Would you say your course is a lot of history and less of language learning
@@p.ot.a The focus is absolutely the language, history/culture is just the means to get it across. All the assignments are in the language and once you're in the second year all the material is delivered in the language you're studying
First: WHERE DID YOU GET THE PLUSH DUO?!?!
Second: As a Spanish teacher I really do think that duolingo is a wonderful tool! I don't think it's a one stop shop to learn the entire language but it's a great springboard!
Yes, the plush is so cute.
I'm going to Spain next year for a university course (taught in English), but I'd really like to learn the language as much as I can so I'm not floundering. Do you have any tips you can share as to where to go (other than Duo)?
@@jsh7939 Good question... I am debating which second language I want to take on in university (you must take two courses in the same foreign language to get a Bachelor of Arts). Spanish is an option which seems interesting. I'd like to know too how vastly Spanish differs between nations. Could someone from Spain understand someone from Peru? Is it like English in that respect?
@@BBC600 I am from Chile. I can tell you that is like english. Every country has it's own words of choice and lingo and voice volume. I speak english since 1995 and by now I can understand easily scotish, australian, british, german, french and italians "own english accent". With spanish is the same: for example in Peru and Bolivia they speak very softly with jaws tight so you have to be close to hear what they are saying right. In Argentina they are very loud, as well as in Brazil (they understand spanish well but they answer in Portuguese), so you can understand well. In Chile, Mexico and central america we speak with A LOT of made up words so it's hard (but fun, some people say) to understand well at first.
I want to add that I have been learning Italian in Duolingo for the past 3 years and now I could watch all of Petrucci's interview for Dakar and I understood like 70%. I found it awesome. My current record is just 289 days straight.
looking things up they're only given out as gifts to people like global ambassadors etc
You've inspired me. I've attempted to learn french many times in my life (I'm 69). took 6 years of it in school (moved a lot, really took 2 years 3 times lol), did home studies, took a college course. I could parse sentences, I could read/write but I just couldn't get it to come out of my mouth. And I couldn't hear it; it was just a mumble in my ears. I'm on my 4th day of Duolingo, trying French once again. I'm enjoying it, recalling some of my old french. And I'm beginning to be able to 'hear' it. It's becoming less of a mumble, and I can hear more actual words. So, thanks, eh!
Thank you for sharing your story. You are great
I'm about to hit my 900 day streak for Greek and this video made me wish Duolingo cared more about the smaller languages. We have ai voices that can't do intonation well, no stories and no speaking exercises. But fortunately we do have very dedicated contributers that find and even create extra resources to make up for it, which is why I do still enjoy learning with Duolingo over most other free language apps
Ahh someone else who's learning greek too! The video made me a little sad as well. I've never tried out another language on Duolingo before, so I was bummed out to hear what cool features other languages have. On top of that you can only learn Greek in English, which isn't my native language, so that makes it harder as well.
@Random Gaming Yes! I've been using Language Transfer to improve my grammar in Greek for over a year now and it's been very helpful. I do still find Duolingo useful to practice reading and grammar. I also use Clozemaster for vocabulary, so in my years of learning I have found many ways to compensate for all the things Duolingo lacks
Japanese is one of the most popular languages on the site but they give it little love. Even Chinese has the "speaking into the mic" lessons.
I do Greek too! The old AI voices were so bad I couldn't continue for like 2 years until they got a new robot voice.
Same here - learning Greek and enjoying it tremendously, but missing the cool features that Spanish has on Duolingo
Hello. I am using Duolingo to learn English since 373 days ago, and today, for the first time, I understood an English video without legends: yours. Thank you, very much.
Nice, great job!
Nice! Duolingo has helped you learn English to the point where you can understand a video in English! Good job, you're English is pretty good, it is understandable. :D
@@keagaming9837 It's a a bit robotic, but 100% understandable for any native speaker. All he needs to do, is just talk it as much as possible now, and his brain will slowly adapt to the language, and will notice what sounds natural to say.
❤
I'm learning French on Duolingo. I'm only on unit 4 and I'm already getting those more advanced comprehension questions with longer paragraphs. Duolingo has definitely refined its learning system so much, I've been saying you've gotta stick with it, I'm so glad someone out there finally agrees, haha!
Best AND most realistic description of Duolingo that I’ve seen! THX ☺️ It’s definitely an excellent teaching tool IF you’re motivated and willing to put in whatever amount of daily time…choice on time is totally yours!
4:53 The silent 'skit' with you doing Duolingo and yelling at Duo is uproariously funny and, I'm ashamed to admit, how I feel doing Spanish Duolingo lessons the majority of the time 🤣
Good to know I'm not the only one.
@@foolishstrudel2689 To be fair, I left my comment with a timestamp so I could go back to that part whenever I want 😆
This is relatable as hell lmao
The only problem is, Duo pushes you to rush through the lessons as quickly as possible. With the double xp that last only 15 minutes (rather than, say, three lessons), and the leagues in general, it makes you want to complete as much as you can, as quickly as you can, so it's actually sabotaging people trying to carefully learn a language like this.
Gut gesagt.
Yes, exactly! If I do new material I may get 10, 20, maybe even 40 XP. If I go back and do much needed review, I may only get 5 or 10 XP.
true lol I made 240.000 XP in less than 3 month just because of the XP x2 rush 😂 didn't learn a lot because I there was no time to really learn something in that rush.
Fully agree that Duolingo works! I'm about 300 days into learning Swedish. Am I fluent yet? No. Is my vocabulary lacking? Yes, a lot. Do I have an advantage because I already know Romance and Germanic languages (German, French, English, Luxembourgish)? Yes. But still, I am able to understand basics when watching a TV show or reading an article, which I wasn't before, and I'm convinced this will only improve with more practice and learning.
Fun to see people learning Swedish. good luck :)
How easy is it to learn other romance languages after learning one? (If you know more than just french it sounded like you knew maybe spanish or italian)
Lär dig göteborgska 😎
nice to see other people learning swedish
I also learned Swedish with Duolingo! I definitely needed supplementary learning methods once I was a high-beginner but it was a really effective tool for learning the basics.
I know very little about content creation, but I just wanted to say as a serial content consumer that the camera setup in this video really stood out to me as excellent. The depth of field is very crisp.
I thought the same. Like ‘why is this man in my living room’ clarity. Lol
Great video Evan. I just passed 1000 days on Duolingo learning French, Danish and Welsh. I've realised that the app on its own probably won't get me to the level I'd like to be at, so I've started to do it in parallel with books (the Harry Potter series is a good choice as you say) but also podcasts and subtitled films.
My goals are to be fluent in all three languages one day, but also just to keep the old grey matter in good shape!
Hej! Hvordan går det med dit dansk?
I’m learning Romanian and Korean with Duolingo
Er dit dansk blevet godt?
My 10 year old started Spanish at the start of 1st lockdown, a year ago we supplemented duolingo with 30mins with a real teacher a week and he's at GCSE level now! But the Spanish is Latin Spanish, not Castillian, so a few words are different. He's also learning Welsh for fun, and husband is learning Gaelic.
Doing welsh on duolingo too aswell as in school. Sad that because its a smaller language that we don't get the advantage that French or Spanish learners do as they have stories and actual real voices instead of poor AI ones
We’ve been around Duo about the same amount of time - I’m at a 2119 day streak today I am now functionally fluent in Esperanto, and good enough and getting better in french as well as improving in Spanish and German and making an effort to learn some rare languages.
Cascading is very good, laddering is useful and you must do other things, reading, conversing, and watching stuff in the target language. Harry Potter in target language for the win.
What is laddering?
I can personally attest to the Irish course being good. As an Irihsman who cant speak Irish, I started it at the beginning of lockdown 1 (uk), but got too into the gamey aspect and getting each lesson to lvl 5 before moving on that I got burned out really quickly. I've picked it back up, but not finished the course yet, and it has been really good in giving me a good start in the language.
Do the cascade method!
@@TheJayWay101 have done, it still gets boring
Wait what the fu*k? You learn fluent Irish in school lol
@@COBRA-rq1ig Nope, it aint compulsary in the North.
Sorry, I thought u were an Irishman. You northerners wanted to play a pretend game where u were Brits, and I will never forgive you for that
I am so glad I found this video! Truly enjoyed it, so tired of the vague commentary of other videos about language learning. I am 50 days into my third language learning and I am using Duolingo plus, they have a family option so 2 of my children have started to use it as well. When I was 13 years old, I learned English by immersion, it took 3 years to feel comfortable speaking, though I had good comprehension in about 6 months, I was painfully shy. So this is my first desired language venture. I look forward to your videos, thank you.
I've been dabbling in Greek in Duolingo and am excited to see how far I can get using Duolingo as my primary learning source. :)
Good luck! I’ve been using the app to learn Welsh and polish for just over 3 months now, and I’m almost fluent in both languages which is exciting. Don’t give up!
@@casluvs Dzięki! Ja też uczę się polskiego, ale uczę się głównie z nauczycielką. Greckiego uczę się głównie z Duolingo (z Duolingiem? lol). Powodzenia też dla ciebie! :D
@@sungalaxia wow twój polski jest bardzo dobry, jak długo go się uczysz?
@@vadympopov5278 Teraz, od 4 i pół roku 🙈 Nie uczę się intensywnie, więc nie poprawiam się szybko.
Having spent the past week isolating with my family, we have all been doing very well in duolingo. I placed 1st in the Ruby league and now have moved into the emerald league. So this video is coming just at the right time
I'm halfway through unit 2 in Italian (so I can talk to my relatives) and have just begun Welsh (as I plan to move there at some point). You were the reason I started, so thank you!
Thank you Evan for this video. So helpful. I’ve used Duo for quite some time. I have a streak of 780+ which I started when the pandemic started. I like your cascading method and will start using it. You seem to have the same frustrations I’ve experienced. Finding you online is like the clouds parting and the Duo owl swooping down in all his glory.
To the consistency element: Connect duo with something else that you do every day: Maybe as the first thing in the morning(instead of checking twitter) or just before bed (instead of checking facebook), or, if you don't read out loud, do it on your daily commute.
Hi! I agree with you! Duolingo is good, and it took me very far with Norwegian! I completed the tree back in 2018, and from there, I could successfully continue studying on my own. It sure raised my self-esteem because I went so far (on my own!) that now I can read books and listen to podcasts in Norwegian! But the grammar is so easy, and the vocabulary resembles English, so I could start reading and listening to the news in easy language early in my studies. Inspired by my success, I want to continue this trend, and I am thinking of picking up another language. But this time, I've set my eyes on a HARDCORE language, Finnish. I am doing my exercises on Duolingo, and so far, it isn't that hard. What could be your strategy in learning a language with super complicated grammar and vocabulary that doesn't resemble anything I've heard in my life. That could apply to Asian languages on Duolingo too.
I've been doing the Spanish course for about 18 months now having previously done a lot of French (back when there were lots of issues and it drove me mad) and completed the very petite Danish tree. I'm really enjoying the Spanish tree and like that now I'm getting questions entirely in Spanish where I really need to use my brain.
I like to only have 2-3 lessons on the go at once and as I get one to gold (I always test out that level) I start a new one. Maybe the cascade method would be better but I'm a creature of habit!
I really love the Spanish podcast. Even at first when you barely understand anything (although it really helps to listen at 0.8x speed) the stories about Spanish speaking countries are really interesting.
I think it's Lily who has the drone voice and does my head in.
I like how a lot of the stories are genuinely funny.
After doing the Danish tree with almost no other input, I decided with Spanish to also buy a grammar book and books to read alongside, plus I watch a few RUclips channels. Aside from learning better and quicker, it stops Duo from feeling so monotonous.
I started relearning German on duolingo in December after watching your previous videos. I took 2 years of German in high school (which was 10 years ago) so that's why I chose to do German since I had a baseline.
Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen! Ich gehe auf eine Deutsche Schule.
Learning Korean currently after doing Italian. Works pretty well! Especially with the new hangul specific tests where you only learn the sounds and "letters".
I’ve finished Korean-English and now doing English-Korean, that is really helpful!
@@Kumulmeskis I did the same for german and have learned more by doing so.
Probably, in a few months, I will be at 1000 and maybe another year and a half through the Swedish but, I find, I get the most out of it by listening, reading, writing, repeating, and reviewing. The lessons take longer but find. I am getting more out of them that way!
I was laughing out loud at you yelling at the owl. I don't know why but it was so funny. Thank you for the laugh. One of my goals for 2022 is to start to learn Spanish
I just hit my 300 day mark so I'm stoked for this video =)
I'm on day 779 of my current streak (got the flu a few years ago and wiped out my previous 240-something streak). I type all my answers in French and English, never use the matching or bubbles. I've found it a good refresher for my previous French knowledge and now it's bringing me new grammar and vocabulary. I'm in book 2 of HP in French.
I just wanted to say, Evan, that this is a BEAUTIFUL scene and set for the video. Amazing job on the decoration!
I love Duolingo, I have been learning Hungarian for almost two years and have been brushing up on my Spanish for quite as while as well. I usually do it between fifteen minutes to an hour a day, and enjoy it a lot. 555 day streak and have been using the cascading method for almost a year now. Great tip!
Sok sikert a magyar tanuláshoz!
@@orsolyatoth7440 Köszönöm szépen.
Yes! I've been waiting for this video. I started using the app to get more fluent in French again in 2020 and it really helped. By now I also started learning Irish for the first time. It's a lot of fun!
I've passed my 1st year on duolingo and i'm doing german and French both of which i did at school, though i barely did like a semesters worth of german and like went up to a level of french.
I find the apps are much more effective for me, especially in encouraging me towards sentence construction which i really struggled with at school. Writing was always my weakest because i felt i didnt even have the base understanding of subjects let alone verbs and how to construct them. This has really helped boost me, specially as i set the pace for myself.
I'm still in unit 1 of french but i get quite a few of those comprehension questions as well. When i started, i took the test to see how much i remembered and it filled up one level for half the unit for me so its possible it remembers this and is trying to challenge me more. I very much enjoy them.
I'm on a 375 day streak, completed the level 5 tree in Korean in about 365 days and am working on bringing it up to legendary level.
At the same time I also filled 10 exercise books with handwritten copies of every lesson that I have done. That's about 2000 pages for context, so about 1000 pages of handwritten Korean, and this really helped me to learn the letters and solidify them into memory.
Oh yeh? 2000 pages only? Do 3000 more just to make sure it's really solidified.
I've been doing Duolingo for about 7 months now - the last 33 days every day on French. I've also dabbled in the German and Dutch courses. Evan said that the currencies in the desktop and mobile version are now the same. I'm thinking that's in the UK only, because I'm in Canada and there's still gems in the mobile version and lingots in the web/desktop version.
I've chosen to do Duolingo to keep up and review my French for now. I'm looking at taking a DELF (CEFRL) French course later in the year (after I get my first job in my new career in web dev). I'm the first generation to not speak Acadien French, so it's really important to me to get to at least B2 level.
I wasn't using the cascading method but just started because of this video. It's much better!
No, I'm in the UK and it's still different for me
@@ItssMitch Me too! I honestly don't understand why he said that. Maybe he uses the US version of the app/site with a VPN
I haven't seen the video, but I can say that it really works. But not like some people think, it's not like you could only use the app once a day and be fluent. You have to take notes and practice at least one hour a day. I know my english is bad, but I started using duolingo 5 months ago
I haven’t watched most of the video yet, but you 100% convinced me to use the app from one of your videos ages ago. I’m almost to 1000 days which is nuts. I’m learning Spanish and Italian; Spanish is a lot better imo with the app - just more stuff to do. I’ve gone through all of the stories in Spanish, I’m redoing them to help my speech which I never was good at in school. I should do more of the lessons but the stories are so much easier.
Also super mad I was a few weeks too late to finish some of the stories they removed like the Edgar Allen Poe one. I’ve been trying to reach that goal for a year - going through all of the stories and then *poof* gone
This is really cool to read, I find myself checking up on total strangers when they make a comment expressing their inspiration like 5 years ago. 1000 days is just nuts, it takes a ton of dedication to reach that and I hope you keep it up to 2000 and more
On a 300 day streak myself (broken at 164 8 months prior, but I did continue using what I had learned every day with my native friends). I am super comfortable with the Chinese course Duolingo has to offer
@@babytiny5807 It all started for me when I had an exactly 100 day streak that I dropped and after that I decided to just see how long I could keep it up.
@@Drawfield No point stopping now right? A stupid high number like 9000 would be funny to show people
Great video. I have been using Duolingo for 150 days to resurrect/improve the languages I have already learned. I find it a great way to keep engaged with the languages as I can do a lesson in three to ten minutes (depending on the language) and switch between languages. I also think the exercises in the app are structured in a way that exercises the brain and improves your memory (a lagniappe especially beneficial to seniors).
Vielen Dank für diesen sehr unterhaltsamen Beitrag. I am learning Czech with Duolingo. But I have to learn it with English. So I have to translate it twice. Sometimes it is a challenge. And never take it too serious. Have fun and enjoy 👍😉
I am dabbling with the French course on Duolingo. It is really quite challenging. I need to start writing down words, rather than relying on memory. It is a good course, given that it is free of charge.
Thank you for the video!
Instead of writing things down with pen and paper I just take a screenshot on my phone of any translation that I find in anyway challenging. I can then review the screenshots later in my leisure.
Another thing I do is I use google voice typing for any exercise that requires typing. It's not a good way to learn accents necessarily but it does allow you to realize exactly what you're not pronouncing correctly (for example the most frustrating for me is Juan always ends up being one or Quan or Laura ends up as Lara etc, hay ends up as I
Etc...) Duolingo also started doing some events online, where you can take classes or get together with other people to practice and talk about topics of interest with other people in the language your learning.
I've only been using it for a year but it's good to hear I'm on the right track!
I love your attitude towards language learning. I am doing German in Duolingo and find myself getting overwhelmed and frustrated, especially because the grammar is not explained in depth. That you were successful gives me hope. Thanks. Your advice for advancing in the leagues is exactly what I do.
I imagine that the owl is fuming because he wants an excuse to send a passive-aggressive notification but Evan's just like nah mate screw you
I’ve been trying to do Duolingo more regularly, thank you for the cascading Metroid, defiantly going to try it for more consistent learning!
I completely agree with you, Evan, learning should be free. Germans and French also feel the same way that's why they keep their tuition fee costs minimum in their schools and Universities.
Just discovered your you tube today, have to say I like watching it. I’m Dutch, 74 years old, and i am learning Spanish for about 1200 days now. I need to do english-Spanish, because there are no lessons in Dutch, and my English has improved too. I’ll come back for other videos from you, keep them coming!
On day 459 on Duolingo French course, I can empathise with your frustrations as well as your commendations. Overall I think it is an excellent app and my French has improved such that I now chat with a French lady - half English for her, half French for me - and this, combined with Duo has moved my comprehension and speaking skills on much faster than Duo alone.
I love Duolingo and really want to become fluent in Spanish. I've been working on it for over 2 years but have been doing each lesson to level 5 before moving on to another and its been painfully slow progress so this video was very helpful. Thanks for posting.
As someone who uses duolingo at like 11pm, the early bird is a slap in the face. And I’ve given up on the above diamond league, way too tryhardy. I’ve been in diamond for forever and that’s where I’ll stay.
2:13 Point 2 Remember
3:19 Best Strategy?
3:34 Cascade Methodist
8:00 Best Duolingo Strategies
8:46 How 2 Win at lLeagues
11:56 Mobile vs. Desktop
13:55 Is Duolingo Plus worth it?
15:20 Comprehension Exercises
16:57 CEFR Compliant?
18:09 Duolingo Stories
19:04 Duolingo Stories Deletion.
21:21 Audio Lessons & Podcasting
21:57 App Pitfalls
I find duolingo great as i am learning Norwegian. The issue i have with it is that it uses the Bergen dialect, it dropped one article after a single lesson and entirely removed a word from lessons. If you were wondering (ei) which is the feminine form for "a/an" and "iskrem" which meant ice cream but now entirely replaced it with "is". A lot of the times i don't understand how sentences should be formed so i am forced to go onto to things like hinative or just ask questions in discord. I have even went through like 8 other sections before i even knew how to conjugate "lille" and only thought "små" meant small. Not entirely great for Norwegian but it can improve a ton to make more concepts less confusing.
finally another Norwegian learner! The only reason I don't have much of a problem is because I speak to a lot of Norwegian friends who speak standard Bokmål, the Stavanger dialect, and the Bergen dialect, but it definitely still causes issues
Love your set up Evan and all the extra work and graphics you put in the video really shows.
I started Duolingo in 2019 after watching one of your videos, now on a 905 day streak. Using it to practice my German (have a degree in it) and learn Spanish. It may not be the best language learning tool in the world and has its flaws but it works for me. It’s helped me build a habit and I like the gameified side of it as I’m too damn competitive for my own good, that one year streak in the diamond league is going strong!!
i'm so thankful that i stumbled upon your last duolingo video. l've just finished the spanish tree and am now going through everything using the cascade method, trying to turn all the gold crowns into blue.
I mainly use Duolingo to learn Japanese and must say: the course is maybe 80-90% there, but due to the system Duo uses to generate its exercises there are problems with languages that have more than one pronunciation for one character. Sometimes the audio is wrong and sometimes the furigana are (which are essentially easier to read characters in Japanese used to show the pronunciation of the harder Kanji characters). It happens maybe once every two units, especially in the later stages of the course, which makes it hard to progress beyond your current level of understanding without having to fear learning mistakes.
This course definitely needs fixing! I have been using the app consistently for just over 2 years now and about 1 year ago they changed the characters to have unique voices and implemented the new exercise creation system. Since then these problems persist. Basically, there are problems with most courses using a different writing system, in one way or another.
Anyways, they are constantly improving the app and adding new features and using data to find better exercises and so on, so I am hopeful, but I have been waiting for about 1 year for my fixes and am glad that this is not the primary learning tool I use. Also, am really looking forward to the new progression system coming soon!
can you name the primary tool you are using to learn Japanese?
@@unibyte09 Duolingo, they literally say it at the beginning
thanks for the tips! loved everything in this video the vibes and the advise!!
I love the cascade method idea. I’m learning German with Duolingo after getting a basic understanding living in Bielefeld for a few years and getting my B1 für Zuwanderer at the Gütersloh Volkshochschule. Back in England I found all my German fading, and I’m determined to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Come on we all know that Bielefeld doesn't exist XD
So happy to hear you! To each their taste, learning style and patience. But I do love DL, can't wait to get a job and buy plus 😊
The experience is dictated so much by the language you’re learning. When I studied French duolingo was amazing. Studying Turkish it’s not been so good. The English sentences are clunky - it feels like my mistakes are in my English as often as my Turkish. And there are no stories or audio stories etc, plus only 4 units which when I finished I wasn’t at a super high level.
Mega helpful and also kinda spooky that this video was uploaded on the day I reinstalled Duolingo to start learning Welsh
for fun, i would recommend watching shows in the language that you are learning. i'm an english speaker doing french on duolingo, and i'm watching miraculous ladybug in french. i'm actually enjoying the experience, and it feels like it complements duolingo lessons quite well!
Im gonna try this on shera! Thanks 😁✊
How are doing now? Learning French rn :D
Awesome video. I'm definitely going to try the cascading method next!
For myself, I found I needed supplemental classes to really get my speaking skills to a good level, but I found Duolingo very helpful for my reading and listening comprehension. Its also just amazing for forming a daily practice habit.
I’ve got a 30 day streak so far in Spanish and so far it feels very effective. I learnt Spanish for a year at school but i hated it. Duolingo has kept me interested so far, and I can’t wait to try out the method Evan talks about
But does it teach Spanish 2nd person plural? No it f***ing doesn't.
For them vosotros/vosotras is not a thing, but for millions in Spain it is normal! So centred on American/Latino. Should be separated out, but Duo won't. Too expensive.
@@johnburton3865 the spanish course in german does teach vosotros/-as. Maybe they added it recently? Would be a weird thing to leave out
@@johnburton3865 it does teach it very early on bro
Thank you for the video. I've been learning French for 2 years but as I am approaching the end of unit 3, I know I am forgetting the earlier lessons. So I will try the cascade method. I agree, saying phrases out loud is good, and I need to do more of it. Thanks again!
One thing I wish Duolingo would do is to upgrade the other languages to at least a level comparable with the popular before they upgrade the popular courses even more lol
Well, they are a business. Popularity pays
@@wistyeria Not all courses are made by the Duolingo team, the less popular ones are actually made by community volunteers, some have also been abandoned.
@@technicolourmyles yeah but they worry about adding Klingong so Lol
❤
Evan, first time viewer, with a 1500 day streak in 4 languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese). I recently decided to drop Portuguese as it was difficult to find occasions to speak it in the US. Also, studying four Romantic languages leads to some confusion as many of the words are the same. I found my knowledge in French and Italian useful when I visited those countries, especially in what I refer to as shop, restaurant or street usage. I enjoyed your explanations. Thank you.
As a Canadian, I feel like I'm learning two different languages at once while learning Welsh because all the translations involve vests, caravans and lorries. Took me a while to wrap my brain around it. Lol
Lol I've just hit 1024 days of Welsh & I've found that Megan is always great and Owen is always worse but obsessed with parsnips. Lol
@@nat3007 I use that one also
@@tkfaf15 Dw i'n hoffi pannas😀😋
@@leahavea6313 lol
@@tkfaf15 Fisher is my aunts last name😁
I've never been this early. Love your video's Evan!!
I am currently 199 days in the Spanish lessons. It is very effective. I can read spanish now better than I can speak it but I am not giving up until I know Spanish as well as I know English. I am 62 y.o. and retired but never stop learning, no matter your age.
I am now on day 255, yes, I kept going.
today I am at 299 days
@@kathleenmacdonald5511 nice - how is it going now since before ? just wondering , starting to use duo consistent too
@@lloydfoster6679 I finished 365 days then stopped because I was spending too much time sitting. My new outlet is 10,000 steps per day. I loved duolingo in the beginning but it got harder and harder and my 63 year old brain was about to blow a fuse and it quit being fun but I wanted to complete one solid year so I stopped at 365 days.
@@kathleenmacdonald5511 oooo okay , i understand . congrats on doing a full a year. steps are also a great outlet.
thank you for sharing :)
Finally a language person that realizes Duolingo is really great! Subscribed for you having the right opinion.
Personally, Duolingo is alright. I've been using it for years to keep my German sharp and expand into Spanish and Gaelic as well. It's absolutely gotten better over the years. I took 6 years of German classes in school and even went on an exchange trip. In spite of all that, I only count myself as conversational. Knowing my flaws, my biggest language weakness is figuring out how to speak my thoughts in a different language. I think it would be extremely helpful to Duolingo learners if they developed a feature where it asked questions and accepted a variety of responses. (And example: Was sind deine Lieblingskleidungsstücke? / What are your favorite articles of clothes? With accepted responses that vary to include everything from t-shirts to hats and shoes.)
More generally, the one feature I'd love to see in a language learning app is a forum to encourage people to speak with others in their learned language. Bonus points if it has active translation aids. (Think autocorrect suggestions.) I understand how difficult this would be maintain, but as someone who lives in the U.S.A. and doesn't get to practice German very often, I would get a lot of use out of it.
I joined Duolingo because I was not very good at Spanish and needed to practice, now over a year later my Spanish reading, writing, listening, and to some extent speaking skills have grown a lot! For me, Duolingo is effective for the first year, and then after a year you have to start using multiple sources not just Duolingo.
When it comes to practicing speaking, Duolingo is not the best option but for reading writing and listening it is amazing, especially in the first year of learning a language using the app.
I've been on the Duolingo Diamond league for months at a time, in fact only recently did I drop back to the Obsidian league. I hope one day I can finish the Spanish course on Duolingo, though it will take a long time since there is a lot of content on the Spanish course.
One problem I nodiced is while doing the Japanese storys there was no kanji (one of the Japanese scripts) which ironically made it way harder to read. Just as a note for other people. The issue is most likely because it's hard to know which kanji a person knows but it's still a little annoying
There's is Kenji Now
@@emanueldelacruz1101 I don't see it, which story and what duolingo version (online/mobile app)
Such a useful video. Thanks for making it. I've been learning Spanish on duo for almost two months now and it's better than any other method I've tried before. The cascading technique seems like a great tip.
Hi. I just started learning Spanish on duolingo as a new years resolution (2024). I would like to know how you are progressing in Spanish after a year? Are you able to understand a movie in Spanish after 1 year? I find that listening and understanding is the most difficult part.
I had been reading some "natural method" textbooks for a few months. Duolingo is great for getting practice when I can't sit down for an hour or so to do book exercises. It's definitely sped my learning up a lot by keeping the immersion up. (difficult when studying a dead language) Gratias tibi ago!
The most helpful video that I have seen about a Duolingo experience!!! THANK YOU!!!
An alternative method of really good learning is memorising the most common 1000 in the language. Really helps with conversation right off the bat
I have an account with a 1,261 day streak with 119,000+ xp..and started with German like you!
I agree very much with what you mentioned! I can attest the fact that Duolingo can actually teach you something, as long as you are consistent, and dedicated.
😲 omg, I didn't know you could move letters around on the app. I've been foolishly starting again anytime I made a mistake 😕 🤦
Me too! Lol
Oh!! Good idea Evan! I’m going to stop getting all purples now. Thanks! OMG I watched your channel 6 years ago when you just moved to London and were talking about puns. And this video just popped up!
Guys Irish is a great language to use like a “secret language”. I’m Irish and my sister and I are fluent in it, so we use it on holidays all the time 😂
I'm on a 1601 day streak today learning Spanish using Duolingo. I went to Spain in the summer and had multiple conversations in Spanish with natives and they understood me just fine. I've got numerous people to use this app (none of them have stuck with it as long as me) but I always recommend it to people. They have just changed me over to 'The Path' though and I can't say I am a fan but I will persevere anyway. I'm heading straight towards a 2000 day streak!
please please do a video about the new duolingo learning path !!!!! i am struggling so much with it
I have used Duolingo for over four years nothing has stuck I realized I must be doing something wrong and gave up. Now randomly these influenced Duolingo videos are popping up so I’m going to give it a try and drum roll…I’m going to pay the monthly subscription fingers crossed. Thank you for your content Evan
I've done over 430 days of French in Duolingo. I love the stories section and blew through them. I have also had issues where correct answers weren't accepted, which is really annoying. I basically left one lesson incomplete for over a month waiting for their system to update - and reported the mistake. I've only used Duolingo on my phone - did not even realize there was a desktop version. I do wish that the app included some more grammatical/vocabulary explanation at times. For example, there are at least three french words for room (salle, chambre, and piece - sorry for my lack of accents on my English keyboard), but the app does not explain what the difference is between these types of rooms. Similarly, it does not provide explanation of what the various accents mean or do. Thankfully I have an Acadian friend who is willing to provide me some language support.
I’m learning french on it rn!!
Thanks for making this video, I have been thinking of quitting Duolingo Spanish because of all the videos saying it was ineffective, and this really helped! Thank you.
Hi! Just want to add that stories and listening exercises (as well as tips) are only a feature when you learn a language from English so if there are people here whose native language isn't English, you may be wondering why you can't find those. Consider taking a Duo course from English rather than your native language :) also, those listening exercises unfortunately are iOS only
Great tips! I am just starting to get consistent with the app. The first thing I realized when I first jumó a few steps ahead quickly was that I needed to use a “cascade” method (thanks for the term btw). I appreciate getting reassurance regarding this tip. I definitely also verbally repeat statements & listen to how it is pronounced by the bot. I also click on words I struggle with & words I just don’t know so that I can hear how the bot pronounces the word.
I think getting to a place of being consistent is the first challenge & people need to realize it may take a few false starts before you get momentum.
Another thing I felt helpful was to start with a language that might be simpler for me to learn while I get the hang the app & learning a new language for the first time. I had tried other languages of interest to me but because I didn’t have confidence or consistency, I quickly felt it was harder to gain momentum.
Since I know two languages (English/Spanish), I decided to start with Portuguese. I also made sure to learn that language from the Spanish translation - I had initially tried learning it from English & I noticed I was double translating in my head as I was learning (English-Portuguese-Spanish). It’s definitely been much easier going with Spanish to Portuguese.
I’m on day 636 for Norwegian and it’s not really effective. I’ve done one and half trees. I just fix one cracked thing once a day as I don’t have time to dedicate myself to do it. So streaks don’t really mean anything because some like me don’t do much on the app except maintain my streak
I agree they should list what level you're at! I'm learning Welsh and unfortunately there's no stories which is a bit sad,wish they'd change it. Great video by the way
Re: using text speak for business. I had a friend in Japan doing English at UNI. She was taught is fine in a business context to use "u" as "you". I told her its not (and it kind of bugs me even just chatting when people use it). She got really mad, told me she was going to continue how she learned (why listen to an ACTUAL English person?) and hasn't spoken to me in 4 years.....
I've been using the cascading method and i love it!
I know you don't care but you inspired me to start my Japanese journey, I bought a book and listen to children songs, as well as Duolingo and sometimes Anki. I currently have a 38 day streak in Japanese and hope to be at JLPT N4 Level in 1-2 Years
Well now that’s 117 days
Well now that’s 140 days
good luck man!!!! keep continuing your streak!!!!!!
@@aidenexclamationpoint730 I sadly quit two weeks ago
@@pvpkarma1 :(
This is such an excellent video! Really appreciate how in-depth you went on this free app. The video was entertaining and so informative.