Duolingo. Interesting approach to learning languages

[Henrik in Oslo]

Looks promising, I think I will combine Duolingo with my mnemosyne-effort (French). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyzJ2Qq9Abs 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl6jUjFjp4

Experience with Duolingo, anybody?

/ Henrik

[Henrik in Oslo]

I have now been been using Duolingo for a while (to study French). I continue to use Mnemosyne. Below are my first observations and reflections: 

1. Duolingo (DL) require that you are online
1. Apps exist for Iphone and Android, I have not yet tried it
2. It is free and will remain free (DL applies an interesting business model)
3. At this point in time it covers five languages (French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian) 
4. DL seems to be very rich in content and didactically well designed and organised. You are served lots and lots of small learning items suitable for the level you are at. It combines written material with lots of high-quality computer-generated sound and some pictures. 
5. DL applies some traits from gaming software. 
   
1. Most of it is fun and inspiring, personally I could do with a little less
2. It makes me go that "extra mile" to get the extra points, complete a topic, or advance one level
6. DL connects to social media (if you so wish)
1. I discover that my friend in the US has obtained more points (he studies German) than myself the last day. I must admit it triggers my competetive spirit
7. DL require that I write the input
1. Although I have told myself that my main objective with French is to be able to communicate orally, I find that with little effort DL helps me improve my writing skills a lot. This in turn improves my oral competence
2. Good variation from Mnemosyne
8. DL provides lots and lots of learning items with the qualities I want for my Mnemosyne learning base: little sentences from everyday life. Copy-paste from DL to Mnemosyne works like a dream, and I just pick the golden nuggets when they appear. 

Mnemosyne will remain my main learning software. It is the "backbone" of my long-term learning. 

Duolingo provides variation in my learning. Time spent providing good-quality input to my Mnemosyne base will be reduce.  With DL it is likely that I will increase the total time spent (per day, per week) learning French.  My rate of learning will speed up. 

/ Henrik