Duolingo (2011)

Duolingo has done with language learning what mobile games have done with leisure: it has broken down learning into short lessons and added points, levels, leagues, and that very streak of days that you hate to break. It works: the app has kept millions of people in the daily habit of studying for at least five minutes since 2011 — and the habit in language is more important than the methodology. There are many courses, including rare languages, there is pronunciation checking, short stories, and spaced repetition. Honestly about the limits: an owl does well at the start — the alphabet, basic vocabulary, first constructions — but it won't teach you to speak. Grammar is explained sparingly, there is no living speech and practice with a person, and reminders can pressure your conscience. A reasonable approach is to keep Duolingo as a daily warm-up and vocabulary trainer, take explanations from a textbook, and have conversations with a teacher or in a language exchange. Basic is free, with ads.

Program card in the MegaInet.art catalog — reference information. Files are not distributed.