The Wonder of Duolingo
A Game with an Aim: Mastery of Foreign Languages
For a change of pace, we are taking a break from the Sangha and discussing the smash-hit language education app Duolingo. For the uninitiated: Duolingo is a free app that teaches foreign languages, in accessible, bite-sized chunks. It offers lessons over 30 languages, with each lesson building understanding in meaningful ways using images, audio, and voice to test one’s written and verbal comprehension. No exaggeration, it’s one of the best programs you can have on your smartphone.
This autumn Duolingo is introducing Latin, and I am doing (mental) cartwheels. I have been in a state of giddy expectation for this particular course. It’s been over a decade since I last studied Latin, and since I’m not currently in a position to support the app as a subscriber, I decided to show my appreciation in the form of a glowing testimonial. So let’s talk about how this little tool can improve your life…
… but first some background. I’m a bit of a language buff — a casual linguist, if not a cunning one. My first foreign language was Latin in high school, a foray into the world of the Romans with the added bonus of learning enough root words to excel at the SATs. When our Latin class went to Italy at the end of high school, I also took an Italian class at the local community college, learned some basic phrases, and my world unexpectedly broadened with the added benefit of being able to communicate with millions more human beings. This brought me some rare joy in my teen years; to break away from my cohort of rowdy American teenagers and roam the Florentine streets, to visit a local cafe, order a delicious hot chocolate in my finest stilted Italian and blend in as best I could. I had a taste of the joys that come from being multilingual, from being a cultural chameleon, and it filled me with curiosity for the rest of the world out there.
That trip to Italy also taught me something about our motivation. Generally, there are two main reasons to learn a foreign language: cultural enrichment, and access to a new population. Both are equally valid. Following the first reason, I decided to study German in college, and study in Germany for a half-year. For one month I resided in the city of Bonn — my own family’s namesake, by chance! Diving into the history of the area was fascinating and greatly expanded my horizons. Leaving there was very hard.
Around six years ago I began using Duolingo to re-up my crumbling German skills, long since lapsed from my days in Germany. There unfortunately isn’t a very large German community in the US to practice German with. Duolingo allowed me catch up, fill in holes I’d forgotten, and progress beyond where I was when I left Germany over a decade ago. Now I attend German meditation sessions in VR, armed with the ability to understand perhaps a third of what is said. Progress comes in small pieces.
Furthermore I turned to Duolingo when preparing for a family trip to France, a river cruise up the Rhone through wine country. I was able to understand the local signage and have basic conversations with locals during the cruise’s various stops.
Next was Spanish. Learning Spanish had been a goal of mine for some time — it is practically the United States’ second language. And as my partner and I began making plans to move to California, it was a no-brainer. In between, I’ve dabbled in Indonesian, Japanese, Navajo, Arabic, and even Klingon. All this experimentation has taught me that it’s best to focus on one language, two if necessary, or three if you’re a little crazy.
Duolingo is hands down the best free app out there — it provides a huge public service to users worldwide, and I highly recommend it to anyone: kids, adults, and seniors of all proficiency levels can do it. You can set goals for casual use, perhaps a few minutes every other day, or raise the bar higher and go for ten or twenty minutes a day — it’s totally up to you. And with new features being added, including tutors, as well as a premium option with subscription fees to support the app’s development and remove the refreshingly mild advertising between lessons, it is definitely worth checking out. This is not a paid endorsement, just immense enthusiasm.
