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Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

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Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#91

Post by generj »

gsumpster wrote: post #69
simonswords82 wrote: post #34

Wouldn't it be good if Duelingo hooked you up with native language speakers so you could try to strike up conversations in text and voice? It's great to learn words, phrases and so on in isolation but actual conversations in a new language are where the real learning happens. You've got to be on the ball

They do offer real classes done through independent teachers, they are typically group lessons, but they are at a pretty reasonable price! http://classes.duolingo.com

I was super interested, but the link highlights they are unfortunately shutting this down Classes next month.

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#92

Post by shaklee3 »

I've been doing Duolingo religiously for about 150 days now. like anything, it is what you make of it. My Spanish has gotten significantly better during that time, and I think I'm learning at a faster pace than I did in high school. sure, it's not perfect and I wish it would explain some things a little better. but it does get me to come back and do it every day and hopefully in a couple years I'll be at least able to understand things.

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#94

Post by hyperpape »

One thing about Duolingo is that it’s very easy to spend very little time on it. It will cheerfully tell you how awesome you are, when you’re spending 5-10 minutes a day.

When I did 30-60 minutes a day for a few months (I did Spanish, then Portuguese, then switched to Memrise because it had European Portuguese), that seemed to lay a decent foundation. Conversationally, I was hopeless for a few days, but I learned quickly (unlike when I went to Mexico without having done Duo). I don’t think there’s any substitute for being thrown a curveball or two by a real person and having to muddle through.

Meanwhile, here are CIA estimates for time to reach professional working proficiency. 600 hours for Spanish or French, up to 2200 for Japanese or Arabic. https://www.state.gov/foreign-language-training/. Just gotta wait for that 3000 day streak!

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#95

Post by remarkEon »

eliasbagley wrote: post #87
remarkEon wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think so. Some people can pick up languages relatively easily, and some people can’t. I don’t really know how AI could solve this, unless you mean that the AI can ferret out your gaps and tune the program to your learning needs. Isn’t this what Duolingo tries to do? Genuinely asking. I pay for the “super” Duolingo for no ads and unlimited learning because I’m kind of addicted to it, but I plan trips to German…

I'm guessing he's suggesting the AI can be a conversation buddy anytime you want, and also point out your mistakes so you can learn from them. imo this would be awesome and a game changer

Ah, okay yeah that would be really good. It’s hard to find time to hang out with a native speaker if you aren’t already in that country. Maybe this is already possible with ChatGPT?

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#96

Post by jfoster »

gsumpster wrote: post #69
simonswords82 wrote: post #34

Wouldn't it be good if Duelingo hooked you up with native language speakers so you could try to strike up conversations in text and voice? It's great to learn words, phrases and so on in isolation but actual conversations in a new language are where the real learning happens. You've got to be on the ball

They do offer real classes done through independent teachers, they are typically group lessons, but they are at a pretty reasonable price! http://classes.duolingo.com

According to that page, Duolingo classes is "going away" on January 18.

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#98

Post by colordrops »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #57

The Spanish course is one of the best courses on Duolingo. I took a slightly less-developed course -- the Portuguese course and completed it. At the end of the course, I was able to have basic conversations in Portuguese. I had one half hour conversation where I talked only in Portuguese to an Uber driver and we talked about what he was doing, what he did in his spare time, etc. It was a little rough going at times b…

I've had a similar experience with Spanish. But I learned another language, Mandarin, in a more formal way, so I alread had experience throwing myself out there and immersing without fear for years. That experience made it much easier to try speaking broken Spanish without hesitation when I finally had the opportunity. In other words, if you already know how to learn languages, Duolingo is a great way to build grammar, vocab, and pronunciation for when you do get a chance to practice, but may not be great for first timers.

If I was younger and without a family I'd still consider in-person courses full time instead though.

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#99

Post by jimjimjim »

I was a long time duo user (1000+ day streak) learning german. I wanted to be able to read german (books etc) rather than being able to converse in german. The streak system and the gold->diamond tier system kept me going but after a while I realized I had plateaued and I felt like I was forgetting more than I was learning.

Then I realized, I had got to the point where I was good at answering what duo wanted to get the daily requirements rather than learning.

One day I just stopped and let it go

Re: Can Duolingo actually teach you Spanish?

#100

Post by mynameisash »

lordofgibbons wrote: post #60

Has anyone tried "Language Transfer" to learn a foreign language? I've done a few of the lessons and it's so incredibly intuitive. They use concepts and patterns in the listener's native language to learn concepts in the target language. Surprisingly, It's completely free (please donate if you can) https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish

I did some Language Transfer briefly, but only after I had already learned a significant amount of French with other tools. Then I did it again for a bit when my son wanted me to learn German with him.

While I can't really speak to its efficacy, I really liked it, thus would probably stick with it, thereby making it effective.

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