Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Well, if one of them happens to be Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, or English, the newly released (and free) Android version of Duolingo might be of help. Duolingo provides a series of language lessons and mini-games with scaled difficulty as you gain proficiency.
To begin, you must create a Duolingo account which is super easy (muy fácil) if using a Google or Facebook login. Next, you simply choose the language you’d like to learn and you’re ready to delve into the tools Duolingo offers. The app holds your hand in the beginning, teaching you the essentials of vocabulary and grammar before challenging you with full sentences or phrases.
The app makes learning more play than work and you can unlock achievements by doing well in the lessons. Lessons take the form of various mini-games and you are given four hearts at the start of each series of lessons. If you fail a lesson, you lose one heart and you must complete a series with at least one heart remaining for it to count.
The games (die spiele) are all fun and more important, genuinely helpful in learning the language. They range from fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice and translation to actually entering in the text of a spoken audio clip. The audio exercises even provide the ability to slow the speed of the spoken clip to make it easier to follow. Overall, the variety of exercises is very good (molto buono).
With all of the tools available online to learn a new language, it’s never been easier or more fun to try. Duolingo provides a great service for free and is fun to boot. They’re reportedly working on providing Chinese lessons in the future as well, but in the meantime why not pick up one of the many currently on offer? Of course it will take a lot of practice but c’est la vie.
Source: Duolingo: Learn Languages App for Android
[Image Credit: Google Play Store]