There are millions of Spanish speakers all over the world, and many people want to learn what’s commonly considered to be one of the easiest languages to learn.
Plus, once you know Spanish, you have opened the gateway to learn the other Romance languages (like Italian).
You may want to learn Spanish because you are moving to one of the 20+ Spanish-speaking countries or because you have a Spanish friend and want to speak in their native language.
Or, maybe you are dating online and want to overcome the language barrier with your senorita.
How to Register for Duolingo?
Registration on Duolingo is easy. Simply follow these steps:
1. On the homepage, click on “Get Started.”
2. Choose the language you want to learn. I signed up with Spanish (conveniently first on the list).
3. Then I met Duolingo’s mascot owl – Duo – who cheers you on with his other friends.
4. A couple of questions follow. You have to answer things like “Where did you hear about Duolingo?” and “How much Spanish do you know?” I chose the total newbie option.
5. Duolingo tells you what you can allegedly achieve with your Spanish studies. Of course, your achievements depend on various other factors such as how much time you spend learning and practicing and whether you supplement your learning of Spanish with other resources.
6. You also need to say what your daily learning goal is and click to turn on notifications to remind you to study and cheer you on. Then select where you want to start – from scratch or take a placement test.
7. Duo lets you know that Duolingo is like a game to keep learning fun.
8. Next, complete the first set of exercises or take the placement test. You can do all this and even study on Duolingo without creating an account or paying.
If you create a Duolingo account, your progress will be saved, making learning easy, and you can decide whether you want to opt for one of the subscription plans (though you can keep learning as many languages as you want for free).
9. Once the exercises are done, you’ll set your daily goal. Learn about earning gems and the Streak and then create your profile.
10. Fill in your details for the account. Interestingly, Duolingo also asks your age so it can ensure the language material is age-appropriate.
11. Once registered, you are taken to your “learning path” screen. It shows you the Leaderboards, your learning path and guidebook, Daily Quests, the Shop, your profile so you can customize it, and more.
Learning Spanish on Duolingo
Spanish is one of the 40+ languages you can learn on Duolingo. The language-learning app gives you interactive lessons with various exercises and stories to complete.
The exercises focus on practicing and improving your listening, reading, and comprehension skills with some writing and speaking practice.
You can also learn with the guidebook that offers basic grammar explanations at the start of each Unit, the Practice Hub that offers various ways to review and practice what you’ve learned, and Duolingo’s Spanish podcast. Duolingo’s Blog includes study tips and tricks.
When you use Duolingo to learn a language, you mainly learn via memorization and translation. There are a few instances where I found that the exercises were immersive in that you had to figure out how to complete the exercise (with knowledge you gained in previous lessons).
Duolingo’s Spanish Lessons
The Spanish lessons on Duolingo are interactive and you can complete them on the website on your PC or via the mobile app on your smartphone.
There’s a standard format to the lessons. For example, when you are learning new phrases or concepts, the lesson focuses on that, and then as you progress, the exercises get more challenging.
You can follow the learning path set out by Duolingo, but you can also skip ahead to different Units. Doing so requires that you know the content of the previous Units because Duolingo uses the “i + 1” teaching method, where every future lesson builds on knowledge you learned in previous ones.
When you register, you get a taste of what lessons on Duolingo are like.
For example, the first exercise asks you to identify which image is “the man.” Click on each to hear the pronunciation, but use your “detective skills” to see what image matches the phrase.
The following exercise asks you to translate the Spanish into English (and there are plenty of exercises asking you to do the opposite). Click on the words in the right order or use your keyboard to type them.
The lesson walkthrough explains what to expect for future Spanish lessons. For example, you can hover over the words to get the translation.
I feel like this is a kind of cheat, but it is also helpful. If you do the Legendary review of a lesson, you won’t be able to “cheat” and that’s a true measure to evaluate how much you have learned.
There’s also the “writing what you hear” type of exercises.
After every 5 or so exercises, Duo and his friends encourage you to keep going with a motivating message.
There are also “fill in the blank” exercises.
And if you got something incorrect, you lose a heart (or life) in the free version of Duolingo. But you have a chance to redo the exercise at the end.
Once your lesson is done, Duolingo gives you an evaluation of how many points you earned, how much time you spent, and how well you did.
My Thoughts About the Spanish Lessons on Duolingo
The lessons start with the basics and then progress at a steady pace. When you get to Section 2, you start learning a lot more and a lot faster.
While the lessons follow the same format with speaking, learning, listening, reading, and translation exercises, I haven’t been bored. Once or twice I got a bit annoyed with the repetition, but then at other times, I wish there was more repetition so I could hone in on a word or phrase.
Overall, the lessons are well structured, progressing well from what you learned previously. But it does feel like you learn in a vacuum. For example, you start learning five colors (blue, green, red, gray, and brown), six countries (France, Spain, the U.S., Italy, England, and Mexico), and so on.
That makes it quite limited when you may need other vocabulary if you are traveling or starting to converse with a pen pal via video chat.
I like that you can complete a lesson in less than 5 minutes, making it easy to learn something every day.
Duolingo’s Spanish Podcast
Each podcast episode narrates a story from the Spanish-speaking world.
However, the podcast is designed for intermediate learners so if you are totally new to learning Spanish, you would struggle to understand and keep up. But as you learn more, the podcasts help immerse you in the Spanish language.
I would say that listening to the podcast as a beginner is helpful because you can pick up words and phrases, find them in a dictionary, and learn.
Plus, the narrators don’t speak as fast as native Spanish speakers do, which is a huge plus if you aren’t at an intermediate+ level.
You start to recognize the verb forms, retain phrases better, and feel more comfortable with the vocabulary.
The more exposure you get to Spanish, the better.
How Much Spanish Can You Learn on Duolingo?
If you just use Duolingo to learn Spanish, you’ll be able to learn 5,000+ words (over 10 sections with 200+ units), master basic verb forms and tenses, and hold a very basic conversation.
The language-learning app, however, promises that you’ll be relatively proficient (at a B2 level) at the end of the Spanish course. That means you should be at an intermediate level with a solid grasp of grammar, be able to communicate and understand Spanish in various situations, and express your ideas coherently and clearly.
Reaching a B2 level requires a lot more exposure to and practice in Spanish than relying on Duolingo alone. Duolingo, however, can be a helpful tool to get you there – it just cannot be the only tool.
3+ Ways Duolingo Motivates You to Learn Spanish
Since Duolingo is designed like a game, it uses various methods to keep you entertained and motivated.
Streak Functionality
One of the main methods to keep you motivated is the Streak feature.
For every day that you complete a lesson, you get a “tick,” which translates to an “X day streak.”
If you do at least one lesson on Duolingo every day for a week, you’ll have a 7-day streak. Do that for a month, and you’ll have a 30-day streak (and so on).
But skip a day and your streak resets, meaning you have to start from day 1 all over again.
You get some Streak Freeze power-ups, which you can use to “freeze” and retain your streak for a day or two.
Daily & Friend Quests, Badges, and Achievements
Every day, you get three daily quests you have to complete.
Every quest you complete earns you gems, which you can use to buy Timer Boosts (very helpful for timed challenges).
Completing all three daily quests earns you double points for 15 minutes.
And then there’s a friend quest once a week too. You can connect with people in your League or import your contact book to find your besties who are also using Duolingo.
Completing the friend quest also earns you rewards (like double points for 30 minutes!), so that’s extra motivation to keep on learning.
There are also monthly badges you can collect. For January 2024, for example, the players had to complete 40 quests (daily and friend ones count).
And you get various Achievements too (with rewards) as you study on Duolingo. For example, you earn the Wildfire achievement when you have a 75-day streak.
Motivation in Various Leagues
Studying Spanish (or any other language) on Duolingo gets you into Leagues that run for a week. You must complete about 10 lessons before you are eligible.
There are 10 Leagues, and you start with the Bronze one. The kicker is that while there are 30 players in every league, only X players can move onto the next League, and the number of players progressing gets fewer and fewer.
In the Bronze League, the top 20 players (those with the most points) move on, but in the Obsidian League, only the top 5 do. The top three players also get a reward.
It’s a dream for any serious Duolingo-er to reach and win the Diamond Tournament Finals League.
Why Learn Spanish on the Duolingo App?
- You can learn for free (but you’ll deal with ads after each lesson).
- It’s ideal for beginners to get started with Spanish, intermediate students who want to review basic skills, and language dabblers.
- The paid subscription options (Super Duolingo, Duolingo Max, and the Family Plan) are affordable.
- There’s a learning path so you learn in a structured way.
- The lessons are bite-sized, so with as little as 5 minutes a day, you can learn and feel motivated to learn.
- The game-like interface with Duo and the other characters and various other ways to keep you encouraged to learn are huge plusses.
- There are grammar lessons and explanations. These are basic but not overwhelming if grammar isn’t your thing.
- You learn mainly via memorization and translation, which works well for some people.
- You get personalized grammar tips and practice lessons so you can work on your weak areas – with Super Duolingo.
Why You Shouldn’t Learn Spanish on the Duolingo App?
- Duolingo doesn’t tell you whether you are learning Latin American Spanish or European Spanish (it is Latin American Spanish, though Duolingo seems to mix ‘n match the pronunciation between the “Spanishes”). If you want to learn European Spanish, Duolingo isn’t the right app for you because pronunciation, grammar, and vocab isn’t 100% the same for European vs Latin American Spanish.
- While you get to practice your speaking and pronunciation skills, there is no feedback or tips on how to improve.
- Wonky translations make learning frustrating at times. For example, in real life, you don’t say “I have zero money” (for example), but on the app, that’s the direct translation it uses. (The silly translations are fun, though.)
- While you can learn for free, the heart system breaks your flow. With every mistake you make, it’s discouraging to lose a heart.
- Duolingo isn’t a one-stop-shop. You can’t solely rely on it to teach you everything Spanish related or become fluent (at a B2 or intermediate level) after all 10 Sections of work. You must supplement your learning with sources like Spanish podcasts, magazines, TV shows, movies, and music, and practice with real-life natives.
- If you want to get really critical, the lessons are actually quizzes that try to teach you what you don’t know instead of true lessons. And the lessons are short tips instead of proper, helpful explanations.
- The lack of explanation on Duolingo makes it challenging for serious students to learn and understand. For example, you first learn that a husband is an “esposo” in Spanish, but then later in Section 2, you learn that he is also a “marido.” Why? When do you use one instead of the other? Duolingo doesn’t share the answers or explanations.
- You have to download a special Spanish keyboard or learn how to get to the accented letters for the writing activities. While you can type without using the accents and get “full points” for the exercise, you aren’t learning how to write correctly.
- On an English note (if you are learning Spanish with English as your most proficient language), everything is in American English, which may make it difficult for non-American English speakers to learn effectively because they have to learn American English AND Spanish.
My Verdict: Learning Spanish on Duolingo Is Fun But Average
While you can learn some Spanish on Duolingo, you can’t learn a whole lot. If you’ve had previous exposure to Spanish (such as traveling or taking Spanish classes), the app might help you learn and practice more.
At the end of the day, though, you won’t master a language. Spanish and any other language, for that matter, are inherently complex, needing more than just a few hours of study. It requires immersion, exploration, and exposure that no app can replicate.
You must live, breathe, feel, and hear the language. Fluency requires true understanding.
You will learn basic conversational phrases (useful for traveling). But you miss out on learning the culture and studying how body language, tone, and situations impact meaning.
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