Duolingo Review:
Is This App Good for Learning Languages?

krys international dating
Krystyna
Polyglot, language geek and story teller

Stay connected with me! 

Facebook Youtube Linkedin Medium
Duoliongo Review

WHAT IS DUOLINGO: Duolingo is a language-learning app where you can learn different languages. It’s like a fun game on your phone that helps you practice and improve your language skills.

WHICH LANGUAGES CAN YOU LEARN: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Yiddish, Zulu, and more.

WHO IS IT FOR:  It’s easy to use and suitable for kids, students and adults alike.

QUICK VERDICT: Duolingo is great for beginners and intermediate learners, with a fun and colorful interface. I appreciate its quick lessons and the option to review. However, it lacks grammar explanations, which could enhance learning. Despite this, I find Duolingo valuable, and its effectiveness depends on your goals and effort. 

PROs

  • Free, but with ads
  • Entertaining, bite-sized lessons
  • Gamification for engagement
  • Structured progression from basics to advanced

CONs

  • Lack of guidebooks
  • Absence of grammar explanations
  • Limited real writing and listening practice
  • Varying quality based on the language studied
I’ve been learning languages for as long as I can remember. And technology has advanced so much, especially in the last decade, making learning a new language easier,  more accessible, and more convenient.  While you can still go to a language school or find a tutor, nowadays, you can learn from the comfort of your home or while commuting to work.
Duolingo has been around for over a decade, and it’s no surprise that it’s a popular choice for kids and adults to learn a language.
I’ve been using Duolingo to learn Turkish and Italian for a few years, and my son is learning German via the app. Here’s my honest Duolingo review so you can decide whether it’s the right platform for your language learning needs.

WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THIS REVIEW

What Language Did I Try to Learn on Duolingo?

Languages have always intrigued me, and I currently speak 8 languages. I studied language and culture studies in college (at the Goethe University Frankfurt), and learning new languages is a personal hobby I love.
A decade ago (while I was at the university), I embarked on learning Turkish and Italian. At the beginning of 2023, I decided to refresh and enhance my proficiency in both languages by using various language learning apps, including Duolingo.
I personally loved the idea that I could learn a new language with as little investment as 10 minutes a day (or less) in bite-sized lessons (that’s Duolingo’s “promise”).
Since I loved the Duolingo easy-to-use interface, and the gamification features kept me coming back for more, I started spending more time on the app (when I had more free time!).
Duolingo Learning_Progress
The ads in the free version were a distraction I didn’t need (nor liked), so I quickly signed up for Duolingo Plus (as the paid version was then known).
For the purpose of this review, I created a new account on Duolingo and started learning Spanish (since it’s so similar to the other Latin-based languages like Italian that I know). I used Duolingo to learn Spanish for 5 minutes a day for a week (and loved it as a “pretend new user”).

What Is Duolingo?

Duolingo is an educational technology company that has learning or educational apps and language certification programs. Duolingo has various offerings, making it a comprehensive learning platform.
Duolingo Homepage
Use Duolingo to learn:
  • Languages
  • Music
  • Math
  • How to write and read with Duolingo ABC (for kids aged 3 to 8)
If you’re a teacher, you can also use Duolingo for Schools.
And you can certify your English with Duolingo’s English Test.

The company officially launched in June 2012 (for the public), and according to Business of Apps, 10 million people downloaded the app within a year. Currently, Duolingo has more than 500 million registered users, and 83.1 million are monthly active users.

Interestingly, Spanish for English speakers and English for Spanish speakers are Duolingo’s most popular language courses.

Duolingo also has a podcast that talks about cultures and languages in the world.

What Languages Are Available on Duolingo?

At the time of writing, Duolingo offers 42 languages (I counted and even made a spreadsheet!). What’s available depends on your native language or what you’re proficient in.
For example, if you’re an English speaker, you can access 39 languages (the most Duolingo offers), and if you speak Chinese, you can learn 7 languages.
Duolingo Language Courses
For most other language speakers, like those who speak Korean, Thai, Hindi, Telugu, or Greek, Duolingo offers only an English course.
The 5 most popular real-world languages Duolingo offers are:
  • Spanish
  • French
  • Japanese
  • German
  • Korean
Other languages you can learn include Hindi, Italian, Chinese (Mandarin, and if you natively speak Chinese, you can learn Cantonese), Arabic, Russian, Polish, Swedish, Yiddish, Greek, Navajo, Dutch, Swahili, Zulu, and Haitian Creole.
Duolingo Languages Japanese speakers
Duolingo also offers two fictional languages:
  • High Valyrian from Game of Thrones (so you can converse with fans when you role-play or attend Comic-Con)
  • Klingon from Star Trek (Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory will be so proud.)

      Excited to learn more? Explore my reviews listed below:

How Does Duolingo Teach You?

Duolingo uses research-backed teaching methods to help you learn. In essence, the language-learning platform ensures you: 
  • Learn by doing, so when you have fun with the interactive lessons, you learn without fully realizing it.
  • Focus on what matters via U.S. and international standards.
  • Stay motivated with bite-sized lessons, fun challenges, Duo (the mascot owl) cheering you on, and gamification features, which help make learning a habit.
  • Learn in a personalized way for faster learning.
  • Enjoy learning to improve your confidence and skills.

The language courses offered by Duolingo align with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), so your education is on par with this international standard.

The app works on cultivating your reading, writing, and translating skills while you can practice your listening skills via Stories and Duolingo’s Podcast. Speaking exercises aren’t a main focus, and they are optional.

The effectiveness of Duolingo is severely overestimated, and it’s more a starting point than a genuine language learning tool.
krys international dating
Krystyna
Language Blogger & Polyglott

Duolingo’s Language Courses and Exercises

You’ll see a learning path once you’ve signed up and chosen a language course. When I took this screenshot, I was busy with the second Level (the circle on the path) in Unit 1 (for my Spanish course). This one had 4 lessons about forming basic sentences.

Duolingo Learning Path

Lesson three started with listening to words and matching them to the English equivalent, and then there were filling in the missing word and various other exercises.

exercise Unit 1 Level 2 Lesson 4 Spanish

Once you select the Level you’re on, you continue doing the exercises until you reach the end of the Lesson.

Duo, the mascot, also encourages you after every couple of exercises so you can keep going.

Encouragement Duo mascot

There’s also help when you click or tap on the words (either in English or Spanish, depending on the exercise).

Reminders or help Duolingo

The end of a lesson tells you how much XP you gained and how well you did. You can either “Continue” to the next Lesson or Level or “Review” what you’ve learned.

Lesson last page Duolingo

To help, you can also use the Guidebook, found next to each Unit.

Duolingo Guidebook

In the Guidebook, you’ll find:

  • Key phrases
  • Tips, e.g., for gender and verb usage 
  • Spanish sounds to learn how to pronounce the words better

How Effective Is Duolingo?

After using Duolingo to learn Spanish for a week, I am confident that I can form basic sentences and greet people. I might need to work a bit on my pronunciation, and I wrote down how to conjugate verbs in Spanish because I kept mixing that up (I found that writing stuff down helps me remember better).

I actually like the repetitiveness of the exercises. Repetition is essential when you learn, and it helps you remember better and retain the information for a longer time. So, while others complain about the repetitiveness of Duolingo’s exercises, I know how important it is.

I’ve been using Duolingo to revise Turkish and Italian for almost a year, and I honestly can’t say I feel confident that I’d be able to hold conversations (even basic ones) with natives. While I do well in the app and score 90%+ in almost all the lessons and stories, being confronted with a real-life conversation with a native is a whole other story.

So while I feel like I’ve advanced quite a lot, the progress is superficial. The lessons are less focused on real-life scenarios and more on making you feel good about learning a new language.

But even scoring 100% in all the exercises and review lessons can’t make you proficient – not when practicing conversation and language skills on an app is so different from being immersed in a culture and practicing a language in real life.

My son Roman is learning German on the Duolingo app, and my German-native husband is not impressed by the Duolong German lessons for kids.

Can you become fluent with Duolingo?

I’d say that you can’t become fluent using Duolingo alone. The app can’t help you with actual speaking practice, interacting with people who speak that language, or the nuances of a language.

However, fluency is an elusive goal in language learning because it means different things to different people. Fluency is a vague language goal.

Using Duolingo to learn a new language is effective. In fact, various studies have been published showcasing Duolingo’s effectiveness when you use it to learn a language.

So you can learn a ton using Duolingo. Still, it’s good to supplement your language-learning journey with other resources and interact with real people who natively speak the language you’re learning.

Psst … When you use Duolingo to study 5 sections of your chosen language, you are at the level of someone who’s had 5 semesters of language instruction at a university.

This is what Duolingo claims, but personally, I don’t believe this. It is like all those apps and courses that promise you can earn thousands with the skills they teach you when in actual fact you spend more than you’ll ever earn.

Duolingo’s Pricing and Subscription Options

Duolingo has a freemium version, so you can learn languages at no cost – but you need to put up with annoying ads.

Super Duolingo

The premium subscription is called Super Duolingo (available for individuals or families), and once you sign up, you access the ad-free version of Duolingo to study in peace.

You also unlock unlimited Hearts, and you can review your mistakes (to learn from them, of course!). There’s also the option to win the Legendary trophy since you get unlimited attempts with these challenges.

Super Duolingo Features

There’s a two-week trial period, and if you like what you see with the language-learning platform, you’ll pay US$7.99 per month or a discounted US$47.99 once-off for an annual individual subscription. Or, pay US$71.99 for a year’s family plan.

Super Duolingo 2 week Trial

I use the family plan because my son and I use Duolingo in our language-learning adventures.

Duolingo Max

There’s also Duolingo Max, which is currently only available in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada. Sadly, I couldn’t try it out since I live in Malta.

But Duolingo Max is like Super Duolingo but on steroids with AI-powered features called Roleplay and Explain My Answer.

Duolingo Max has individual and family subscription options, starting at ±$30 per month if you opt to be billed annually.

Does Duolingo Offer Discounts?

The main discount offered by Duolingo is the reduced price you pay when you sign up to be billed annually for your subscription plan.

I haven’t seen that Duolingo offers any Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or similar discount offers, but if you Google “Duolingo discounts” or “Duolingo coupons,” loads of results pop up with promo codes (with up to 60% off a new subscription).

How to Cancel Your Duolingo Subscription

It’s pretty easy to cancel your Super Duolingo subscription.

First things first: On what platform did you subscribe? Was it on the Duolingo website, the app on your smart device, or via the App Store (for iOS users) or the Google Play store (for Android users)?

You need to cancel your subscription on the platform you subscribed on, and you can continue using Super Duolingo until your subscription expires.

Here’s a mini guide for canceling your Super Duolingo subscription on each platform.

For Desktop Users: Canceling via the Duolingo Website

  1. Open your browser (e.g., Safari, Edge, Chrome, or Firefox) and the Duolingo homepage. 
  2. Sign into your account, then click on your username (top-right corner). 
  3. Choose “Settings.” 
  4. Click on “Super Duolingo.” 
  5. Click on “Cancel Subscription” and then confirm the cancellation.

For Android Users: Canceling via the Google Play Store

  1. Open the Google Play App. 
  2. Tap on your profile. 
  3. Tap on “Payments & Subscriptions,” and choose “Subscriptions.” 
  4. Choose the subscription you’d like to cancel, tap on “Cancel,” and follow any other instructions that pop up.

For iOS Users: Canceling via the App Store

  1. Open “Settings” on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Tap on Your Apple ID at the top (It says your name with Apple ID, iCloud, Media & Purchases). 
  3. Tap on “Subscriptions.”
  4. Select the subscription you want to cancel (e.g., Duolingo). 
  5. Tap on “Cancel Subscription” and then confirm it.

Canceling on the Duolingo App

  1. Open the Duolingo App on your smart device. 
  2. Tap on the Super Duo icon. 
  3. Tap on “Settings.” 
  4. Tap on “Manage Plan” and then on “Change Plan.” 
  5. Tap on “Cancel Subscription.” 
  6. Confirm the cancellation.

Duolingo's Pros

  • Free, but you need to contend with the ads. 
  • A paid subscription is affordable. 
  • Great structure with entertaining bite-sized lessons.
  • Gamification features keep you entertained and encourage you to keep going. 
  • The structure Duolingo offers when learning a language ensures you start with the basics and progress naturally.

      Excited to learn more? Explore my reviews listed below:

Duolingo's Cons

  • Improving your speaking ability requires meeting up with native speakers or hiring a tutor.
  • Guidebooks aren’t available for every Duolingo language course.
  • Found it challenging to access basic information like the languages Duolingo offers without first signing up.
  • Quality varies, depending on the language you’re studying.
  • Not suitable for advanced speakers. The exercises are way too easy.
  • The written exercises and half of the listening ones are all translation exercises, so you don’t really practice real writing and listening on Duolingo to truly advance your language proficiency.
  • A significant drawback of Duolingo, much like Rosetta Stone, is the absence of grammar explanations, and you end up parroting instead of learning.

All in all, the effectiveness of Duolingo is severely overestimated, and it’s more a starting point than a genuine language learning tool.

Is Duolingo Right for You?

Duolingo is for anyone who wants to learn a language (provided the app offers the language you want to learn). You can start as a beginner, or you can take a placement test to begin learning at the level you’re at. If a Unit is too easy, you can also jump ahead to the next one.

Ideally, however, Duolingo is best if you are new to learning a specific language.

Does Duolingo Have a Customer Service Team?

On the Duolingo website and app, there’s no clear way to get in touch with their customer service team.

No contact info is available … so #Bummer.

Duolingo Help Center

You can, however, visit the Help Center, Frequently Asked Questions section for common issues, submit a bug report via the online form, or follow Duolingo’s social platforms (Facebook, X, and TikTok).

Review Verdict: Is Duolingo a Valuable Tool?

WHY I RATE DUOLINGO WITH 7/10

Duolingo is accessible and perfect if you are a beginner or intermediate learner of a language. It is a valuable learning tool, and I really like the game-like and colorful interface, quick lessons, and ability to revisit lessons. However, a huge drawback is the absence of grammar explanations, which would aid in learning and understanding a language.

I believe that Duolingo is worth it, and ultimately, as with any tool, how valuable it is depends on what goals you want to achieve and how much work you put into achieving them.

You can easily pair Duolingo with another language-learning app and make friends with a native speaker so you get real-life exposure to the language and culture.

In conclusion, the vocabulary trainer and exercises are satisfactory, but the app falls short in effectively teaching foreign language grammar.

If Duolingo isn’t right for you, check out my comprehensive review on Babbel.

krystyna coach
Krystyna
Language Learning Blogger
If you enjoyed my article, please feel free to share it. Have any questions? Don't hesitate to email me!

Disclaimer: I select and review independently. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions that help support my testing at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

Join Our Newsletter

Sign up now to get the freshest updates on language learning and exclusive app deals delivered straight to your inbox!

mobile krioda ebooks (375 x 665 px)