Knowledge of at least one foreign language has long been desirable. A specialist who additionally speaks one or more languages ​​is always given preference when applying for a job, not to mention the fact that such people feel easily and confidently abroad, they can read books in the original language ... The list is endless. Progress does not stand still, and tutorials can be replaced by a great application called Duolingo. User reviews are unequivocal - this is one of the best educational applications.

What is Duolingo?

Learn languages ​​for free! You need to install the program on the computer from the official website, and you can start classes. Scientists have long found out that a person perceives information very well if it is presented in a free game form- it seems that this remains with us from childhood. And if there is an alternative to just memorizing or hiring a teacher, then why not use it? In addition, no financial investment is required.

The Duolingo app is suitable even for those who are completely new to English. By the way, in addition to it, there are also courses in German, Spanish and French.

How is the training

Simplicity combined with powerful functionality is what the user gets in Duolingo. Registration takes just a few minutes. After confirming the email, the virtual student gets access to tasks that can be performed both on the site and in the application installed on the computer.

The difficulty of tasks increases as a person develops his skills. Each big topic is divided into many small tasks, so a person does not need to absorb tons of information, he can choose what to learn today. Each topic ends with a special mini-lesson to consolidate knowledge.

Motivation

Someone will say that it is not necessary to go for such tricks, because you can learn English from a textbook. However, most people learn the language not because they "should", but because they "should", therefore there is not enough will and perseverance: poring over a book quickly gets boring. Duolingo, on the other hand, works like a teacher, issuing portions of assignments and grading them.

Vocabulary is also of great importance when working with a foreign language. Even if a person knows the rules perfectly, he will not be able to build a sentence if he does not know any the right words. Yes, you can often use synonyms, but, you see, it is quite difficult to use them for such a word as, for example, fork. It's much easier to use word sets, which Duolingo allows you to do.

Levels already passed by the user are not postponed to the far corner - this is also a huge plus. Periodically, the program offers to repeat the material covered. So, by repeated repetition, it is easy to remember a large number of words that, in turn, are used in other tasks (for example, when you need to compose a phrase).

Practice and more practice

"Daily low" is what else helps users in Duolingo. Reviews of the project often include references to how hard it can be to force yourself to open a textbook after a hard labor day. The application offers a small number of tasks every day, and the volume can be increased or decreased depending on your own employment, in addition, they can be completed one at a time during the day, when there are a few free minutes, or on the way to work.

Practice shows that daily classes of 20-30 minutes are more effective than one many-hour lecture once a week. This rule applies to Duolingo as well: do a few tasks daily.

In the application, you can set the so-called "goal" - this is the minimum tasks that must be completed during the day in Duolingo. The levels are: Easy, Medium, Serious and Insane. To complete tasks" easy target"It takes only a few minutes a day, but if you have time, you can work overtime. The system automatically calculates how many days you have been working out in a row, and it is important not to miss days here. This is a great motivation.

In addition to learning words and rules, the application has tasks for constructing phrases. Here, the developers did their best: in addition to simple colloquial sentences, sometimes there are quotes from books, idioms, aphorisms, and just funny speech turns. This diversifies the learning process.

The site has technical support, whose specialists are ready to help the user in case of difficulties, they can report bugs. An important part is also a forum where you can communicate with colleagues, look for interlocutors and even organize competitions.

Duolingo can easily squeeze out of a person's life such time wasters as social networks and Learning is easy and interesting, it does not tire, but it allows you to get distracted or unload your head after a busy day. mental work. All this is backed up positive emotions from the fact that time is not wasted, something useful is being done.

By level

If the user is no longer new to the language, the system will quickly determine his level, and you will not have to monotonously perform a lot of too simple tasks. If, for example, a person reads and writes well, but is not good enough at listening, then this problem is also easily solved. Lessons that the user already knows can be taken ahead of schedule.

The main thing in learning a language is to learn how to speak it as quickly as possible, to overcome the "audio barrier". To do this, the app features listening tasks, but to make your workouts as intense as possible, you can use voice input. Thus, if the answer to the question needs to be written (printed), the user simply pronounces it. The system may recognize words incorrectly, but this will be an incentive to practice pronunciation.

Polyglots

To fundamentally study the base of the language, use two courses, for example, Russian-English and English-Russian at the same time. The peculiarity is that there are many more materials for English speakers, and by choosing the reverse course, the user gets access to them.

For Russian speaking users only four languages ​​​​are available for study, but for the English-speaking audience the list is much larger. Therefore, as soon as English is brought to an intermediate level, you can take, for example, an Anglo-Spanish course, and improve two languages ​​at the same time. In addition, this will open access to new interesting materials.

For kids

An indispensable tool in teaching children a foreign language is Duolingo. German, French or English - it doesn't matter, because not only an adult, but also a child will be interested in learning and monitoring their "leveling" in the profile, receiving lingot bonuses, which are the so-called game currency, and buying various additions to the functionality for them , for example, the ability to complete a task on time.

However, do not forget that this is an educational game, and the child should be unobtrusively reminded of it.

Minuses

Despite many positive qualities, Duolingo also has disadvantages. User reviews allow you to compile some statistics: the application does not cause any complaints only among beginners. For those who are fluent in the language and, for example, want to deepen their knowledge or prepare for an exam (IELTS, TOEFL), the application will not help much. However, here we can mention a wonderful alternative - the LinguaLeo project. Its major disadvantage is narrow specialization: exclusively English language, but there are significantly more materials than in Duolingo.

English with the help of this service can also be learned from scratch. True, some functions will be available only when purchasing a premium, however, you can easily do without it, knowing a few tricks. For example, using mobile application along with the functionality of the site itself, it will allow you to expand the number of available workouts (for some reason, there is a significant difference in tasks on these platforms). In addition, many interesting and motivating videos are available without any premium. English subtitles. For beginners, such materials may seem complicated, but for those who are more advanced in the language, the videos will be very useful.

Tasks where you need to speak the answer can become a real problem if the Internet connection is unstable or not at all. The same goes for listening.

There is one more small minus in Duolingo. Reviews about the program are periodically updated with reports of bugs in some courses, but they are not critical and are quickly eliminated by the site's programmers.

Instead of a conclusion

No, Duolingo is not a program that will set a foreign language to human " operating system". Without effort, there will be no effect. But for those who really want to learn a language, this application will really help. Nevertheless, you need to study comprehensively, Duolingo alone is not enough. "Learn languages ​​for free" is the slogan of many conversation clubs.

Some of them are really free, and some of them do not take money only from those who already have a good command of the language. In any case, this will be not only a great addition to the main tasks, but also an opportunity to make interesting acquaintances. Often, native speakers also come to the evenings of conversational clubs, and this is also an opportunity to get to know the culture of another country better.

Without leaving home, you can use various chat services, where people from all over the world are looking for interlocutors to talk in the language they are learning. There are many self-learning tools, and best of all, many of them are free (or almost free), you just need to know how to use them correctly.

Duolingo is an online service that allows you to learn foreign languages ​​in a playful way. English, Spanish, French and German courses are open for Russian speakers, 30 live and artificial languages. Training takes place in a completely free web version and in applications for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

Thanks to the comprehensive educational process Duolingo is suitable for children from preschool age. To increase the level of the language, the ability to skip is provided initial stages and go to more sections high complexity. Teachers are offered the "For Schools" format, which allows them to compose classes, create accounts for students, assign tasks, monitor activity, and restrict access to certain functions. They may also conduct group lessons, including those specially designed taking into account the skills and needs of a particular class.

The training program is divided into lessons, arranged in order of complexity and, after entry level dedicated selected topics. Each lesson contains exercises different types for translation, reading, writing and listening, designed to study grammar rules or new vocabulary in the context of live speech. At any stage, training is available to consolidate the acquired knowledge. The game format is represented by elements such as experience points, levels, rewards, and in-game currency for purchase. additional features and bonuses in the store. To keep track of the regularity of classes, you can set a daily goal and set reminders for email. For further development skills, the Stories project has been opened, where you need to complete interactive tasks as part of a voiced situational dialogue.

Key Features

• Completely free web version
• Discussions for each task
• Learning vocabulary in context
• Paid testing for a certificate in English
• Russian-language interface only for 4 languages

The official application for Android, designed to learn foreign languages ​​for free. The application will allow you to as soon as possible learn English, German, French and many other languages, just download Duolingo and install it on your phone or tablet.

Screenshots of Duolingo →

Languages ​​are learned in an easy game form, which significantly increases the comprehensibility of the material, and the course itself is designed in such a way that both absolute beginners and those users who already have certain knowledge can start learning. Downloading the Duolingo app for Android is very easy, a direct link is available on this page.

The Duolingo app offers:

• Teaching foreign languages ​​in a playful way.
• Acquisition of conversational skills.
• Several learning levels, from the easiest to the most difficult.
• The presence of built-in tests that allow you to determine the level of knowledge and language skills of the user.
• Different types of exercises: translation, choosing the right translation, working out correct pronunciation, definition grammatical form, composing words, sentences, etc.
• Random alternation of questions to prevent cramming.
• Teaching lessons on specific topics.
• Keeping track of achievements.
• Easy switching between languages.
• Ability to compete against other Duolingo users.

For each successfully completed lesson, the student receives lives and bonuses, and when the latter reaches a certain number, a transition is made to more difficult level. At the same time, from time to time Duolingo software offers to repeat previously learned material, for which he uses color markers. The program also has a built-in store with its own game currency - "Lingot", which you can buy extra life. You can download Duolingo for free for Android from our website. The application is equipped with a pleasant and user-friendly interface, the Russian language is supported.

Knowledge of at least one foreign language is a big plus for becoming successful career and in any field of activity. Undoubtedly, the most effective way language learning is communication with its native speakers: discussion of films and books, discussions, expression of one's point of view, etc. But, alas, not everyone has such an opportunity. But almost everyone has access to the World Wide Web, where you can choose suitable online services for yourself, available for both mobile phones as well as for computers.

One such service is Duolingo, a relatively new online project launched in June 2012 dedicated to independent study languages. The idea of ​​its development belongs to the young American professor Louis von Ahn. The earlier successful Capture and Recupture projects are known to most Internet users. This platform for language learning and crowdsourced translations is completely free. The service is designed in such a way that users, as they progress through the lessons, help to translate articles in parallel, various documents and websites.

The effectiveness of Duolingo's approach, which is based in part on the analysis of statistics, was verified by a third-party study commissioned by the company. A study conducted by professors from the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina found that 34 hours of Duolingo training provided the same reading and writing skills as taking an initial semester course at an American higher education institution. educational institution, lasting about 130 hours.

What is the essence of the project?

Duolingo is not only a learning service, but also a platform for collective translations. Many users have to face the problem of the lack of one or another material on their mother tongue, since almost 70% of all information on the Internet is now in English. In addition, text translations are required by various organizations (for example, CNN and BuzzFeed), which have become regular customers of Duolingo. Inviting students to translate texts on a voluntary basis as language practice, the creators of Duolingo are solving the aforementioned problem little by little.

What and how does the program teach?

Designed for beginners, Duolingo includes 55 "skills" from articles to modal verbs, from time to time ( Future Perfect), business vocabulary. There are tasks that are more designed for expansion vocabulary, while others are for testing grammatical constructions. Concerning grammar material, then in Duolingo it is presented very unobtrusively, in an entertaining way. The user is required to be able to build phrases, and memorize the wording of the rule.

Learning English involves daily exercises, taking into account the time allotted for practice. Per successful lessons the user is rewarded with a special currency called lingots. The applicant initially chooses the amount of time that he plans to spend each day on assignments. Based on this, lingots will be awarded to him. The program also includes a period of practice, for which a separate promotion awaits him.

Duolingo mobile app

Among the most popular Android apps by number of requests and downloads, according to the rating provided by Google, the Duolingo service is the best. The mobile version of the program received the Apple App of the Year award and the Best of the Best award in Google Play.

The installation process is simple, everything goes quickly and smoothly. To start the installation, you just need to visit the official page of the project on Google Play.

The Duolingo app, designed for smartphones and tablets, is somewhat inferior to the web version. So, for example, in big version When translating phrases, the text must be typed manually. AT mobile version translation is made up of words, like a puzzle. Apparently, the creators have foreseen the fact that typing on the phone is not very convenient.

In the large version, before the start of some lessons, it is proposed grammar help, the rules are explained. There is no theory in the mobile application. And without explanation about the construction English sentence or it will be difficult to understand the system of times. Duolingo will be useful if you use the program as a simulator to consolidate existing knowledge obtained from other sources.

What not to expect from Duolingo?

For those who want to diversify their classes, develop initial listening comprehension skills, improve spelling, learn how to compose simple phrases, Duolingo is a great helper. A big plus is the presence of a mobile application that almost completely repeats the functionality of the large version.

But you should not hope that after completing the program you will be able to read non-adapted literature, speak English fluently, understand films. To master the language of that vocabulary, grammar and simple listening exercises provided by Duolingo, it is not enough. Practice in writing and speaking, reading and listening is important (at least adapted texts), which Duolingo doesn't provide.

Duolingo can be characterized more as an educational game that complements the main classes, making them diverse, whether it be lessons with a tutor, in courses, or independent work with textbooks. This option is also suitable for those who have just started (or want to start) learning English, but have not yet decided on the source. Duolingo helps you learn the basics of a language without overloading you with unnecessary information.

Click "Home" to get to your skill tree. In the skill tree, you will perform most your learning. It is divided into separate sections, and each block contains several lessons. The more you advance in learning the language, the more units will be available to you.

Pass ahead of time what you already know (optional). If you already have the basic knowledge, you can take part of the skill tree ahead of time. Click on the golden keyhole at the end of each section to take the quiz. You will have three attempts.

Click on the first skill block. It will probably be called "Basics 1"

Click on a lesson. Within each block of skills there are several lessons. Click on the first one to get started. You start with four hearts (which will later turn into three as you progress in the language). Every time you answer a question incorrectly, you will lose a heart. The goal is to get through the lesson with hearts saved. Here different types Questions that may come up in class:

• Vocabulary: You will be shown a picture of an item and asked to name it.
• Translation: You will be prompted to translate a word or phrase from your language to the target language, or vice versa.
• Listen: You will hear an audio playback of the word or phrase and be asked to type it in (Please note that these questions are not supposed to be translated - for example, if you hear a phrase in Spanish, enter it in Spanish, not English.) For slower playback clip click the smaller turtle icon under big button mouthpiece.
• Speech (optional): You will be asked to repeat or translate sentences using the microphone on your computer or mobile device.
  • If you don't want to do oral questions, click the dropdown box on the right upper corner, select “Settings” and turn off the microphone option.

swipe over words for help. If you are unsure of the meaning of a word, hover over it. Duolingo will provide the translation or give you some options.

• Please note that as your sentences become more complex as you progress in your studies, this tool will not be as useful. Beware!
• Duolingo will note that you were peeping. However, you will not lose any points from this.

Use keyboard commands. Navigating Duolingo lessons with the keyboard is much faster and easier than using the mouse (this also comes in handy when you're doing a timed test) Here's what to do:

• Enter: enters the answer
• 1, 2, or 3: Choice of answers to a multiple choice question
• Up and Down Arrows: Scroll through options in a drop-down menu
• Ctrl + Space: Replay audio
• Ctrl + Space + Shift: Replay the audio recording more slowly.
• Click the dropdown in the top right corner and select "Keyboard Shortcuts" to see a visual table of keyboard commands.

Train! The key to learning a new language is to repeat what you have learned. After every few lessons, stop and do a few practice rounds. Or if you only have 5 minutes to work on the language today, spend it testing yourself. Duolingo offers several various ways to test your skills:

• Practice knowledge in general: go to the skill tree and click the blue "Practice all skills" button on the right. You will be randomly asked questions about the topics you have studied up to this point.
• Practice Individual Skills: To upgrade a block of skills, click on the blue “Practice Skill” menu on the right side of the page below the lessons. This will help practice what you have learned in that particular unit.
• Practice weak words: Click Dictionary in the navigation bar at the top. Then click the blue "Practice Weak Words" menu on the right. Duolingo runs you through words you've learned recently or seen less frequently.