Rachel’s App of the Week: Duolingo

By Rachel Degginger, Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing

Growing up, and to this day, there is one person who I always look to learn new languages from. My Omi (Great Grandmother), was born in Germany, forced to leave the country, where she lived in a French-speaking convent in China and taught English, moved to Spain, then finally settled in the US. Fluent in many different languages, she continues to inspire me to learn different languages and travel. This weeks app of the week is dedicated to her.

I took a few years of French in high school, but pretty much inconsistently practiced afterwards. My Omi came and spoke in French to my class my senior year, so she pushed me to continue via our long calls and emails. Even at 92, she still pushes me to learn to continue our conversations.

With the help of Duolingo, I got back into learning French, alongside practicing German and Hindi as well. I’m very competitive, so the game-like interface and points really pushes me to keep going and learn more.

How it works:

Duolingo is a free application to download and use. Training is personalized to you, for instance, since I already knew some French, it allows you to skip some of the basic levels and move on by taking a quiz. Based on those quizzes, it tests your knowledge and determines which level you should go to. Duolingo offers courses in 40 different languages. You can also utilize the app by breaking it down by your goals, I’m learning at a more casual pace due to trying to learning to keep up with my Omi. You can be taking multiple language courses at once if you’d like to. It provides a fun way to learn something new, and encourages you to continue learning.

 

Favorite feature:

Like I mentioned earlier, I’m really competitive. Duolingo allows for me to have all of my achievements in one place and get to see how I stack up to others. I also like that the user experience is more similar to something of a game, where you get the chance to score points you can put towards different achievements and keep earning. At the end, you even get a sweet congratulations from the mascot, Duo. It’s a lot of fun, and easy to slip into several hours of learning with such a wonderful platform and wanting to put your learning to the test.

 

  

 

If you’re looking to learn a new language in a new and fun way, Duolingo is an amazing option. Even though we can’t necessarily be there, we can learn the language, learn the culture, and enjoy places in other ways.

 

For more information, check out there website and download the app here: Duolingo