Turkish is widely spoken in Eurasia, and more than 80 million people speak the language as their mother tongue. It ranks among the top 20 most spoken languages in the world.
You may want to learn Turkish because you’re relocating or visiting Turkey or Northern Cyprus (where Turkish is the official language). Maybe you need it for business purposes, you’ve made friends with someone who speaks the language, or your romantic interest or partner speaks Turkish.
No matter the reason, Turkish is an interesting language to learn. It’s challenging, but trust me, there’s a method to the madness.
I speak Turkish at an A2 level, and I’m actively working on my language skills. I’ve been testing various language-learning solutions and wanted to see how the ever-popular Duolingo would fare in teaching me a language I was already familiar with.
I also roped Daniel, my husband, who doesn’t speak Turkish into the process so I can share an accurate picture of learning Turkish with Duolingo.
Here are my results.
PROs
- Gamified approach
- Affordable
- Structured
- Short lessons
CONs
- Ads in the freemium version
- No personalized feedback
- No grammar explanations
- No Turkish alphabet
Duolingo Registration Process
It’s really easy and quick to sign up and create an account on Duolingo. Of course, you can use the platform without sharing any personal details, but the only downside is that your progress won’t be saved.
Duolingo also has a freemium version, where you can learn all 40+ languages for free. Or you can sign up to Super Duolingo and, if you live in a few select countries, Duolingo Max.
How to Register on Duolingo
Open the Duolingo website on your browser or download the app from Google Play or the App Store.
Here’s the process for signing up on Duolingo’s website:
- Click on “Get Started” on the homepage.
- Choose what language you want to learn. I chose Turkish.
- You’ll meet Duolingo’s mascot, Duo, next.
Then, you have to answer some questions like how much Turkish do you know.
- Choose your daily learning goals and turn on the notifications so Duolingo can remind you to complete your daily lesson (at a minimum).
You’ll also have to choose whether you want to start from scratch or take a placement test.
- Either complete your first Turkish lesson or do the placement test. Afterward, you have the option to create your account (or profile).
- Fill in your personal details if you’d like. You can also sign up with Facebook.
- Once that’s done, you’ll see the language tree or learning path.
If you’re familiar with Duolingo, you can click on the language flag and “add a new course.” Choose Turkish, whether you want to start from the beginning with your lessons or take a placement test if you know some of the language.
Learning Turkish on Duolingo
To learn Turkish on Duolingo, you’ll complete interactive lessons that mostly focus on memorization and translation. The language skills you’ll develop and improve are mainly listening, comprehension, and reading, but there are some speaking and writing exercises too.
You can review each lesson hub and also use the Practice Hub to focus on weak language skills.
The guidebook at the top of each unit can be used as a lesson of sorts since it gives you grammar tips and an idea of what you’ll learn in that unit. It’s pretty basic, but at least, you don’t go in completely blind when you do a lesson.
For more insights, you can read my articles
What Are Turkish Lessons on Duolingo Like?
Complete Duolingo’s Turkish lessons on its website or the mobile app. If you have an account, your progress is saved so you can jump between the platforms.
The lessons pretty much follow the same format. It starts off easy and then gets more challenging as you progress.
Here’s a sample of Unit 1’s Guidebook and a taste of the first Turkish lesson on Duolingo:
It was pretty basic with 15 exercises.
I learned some vocabulary like “apple,” “water,” “bread,” “a/an,” “drink,” and “eat.”
The first set of exercises asked me to pair the English with the Turkish words. I had visuals to help me choose the right one (and learn).
In between, there were a couple of easy writing exercises. Clicking or hovering on the Turkish gave me the English, and then I had to type or drag the word blocks to their right places.
There were two “matching pairs” exercises to reinforce what I had learned.
I also had to listen to the Turkish and choose the correct English version.
And then the exercises became a little difficult – if you don’t know that the simple sentence structure for Turkish is “subject – object – verb.”
I had to translate a few short sentences into Turkish.
Last was the “Congratulations” screen.
Duolingo’s Motivation to Keep You Learning Turkish
One of Duolingo’s best features is its commitment to keep you motivated.
Here’s how motivation on Duolingo works:
- Streak Functionality
When you complete at least one lesson a day, you get a Streak. If you do that for 7 days, you’ll have a 7-day Streak.
Consistently achieving Streaks is a big deal in Duolingo, and it’s satisfying to see you’ve maintained a 30-day, 100-day, or 365-day (or longer) Streak.
But you get a few Streak Freeze power-ups to help you maintain your Streaks if you know you need to skip learning Turkish because you’re sick or have other commitments.
- Daily Quests
There are three daily quests to complete every day. Obviously, you’ll have to do more than one lesson, but on average, you’ll need about 15 minutes of learning to complete these quests.
For every quest you do, you get gems, which are helpful to buy power-ups like Timer Boosts.
And if you complete all three quests, you earn double points, which is ideal for boosting your XP.
- Friend Quests
You can also work with your Duolingo buddy to complete a quest once a week.
A completed Friend Quest earns you 100 gems and 30 minutes of double points that you can use immediately or redeem later in the Shop
- Monthly Badges
Getting the Monthly Badges is also a big deal.
Every month, you need to complete X number of quests to earn the badge, and your daily quests contribute to the monthly quest total.
- Achievements
There are various achievements you can unlock. For example, I earned Sage because I’ve earned a minimum of 30,000 points.
- Social Feed
Duolingo has a social feed, which is only available on the app.
You can see how your Duolingo friends are doing and celebrate their achievements with them, and they can do the same for you.
The friends can be imported using your Contacts (from your phone) and Duolingo will connect you with them, or you can “friend” other Duolingo users.
You can simply see what languages they are learning, how many points they earn a day, and their Streaks, so don’t worry about being stalked or them finding you in real life.
And you can see this info for users in the Leagues too to gauge how much effort you need to put in to win.
- The Leagues
After you’ve completed a few lessons on Duolingo, you are naturally entered into Leagues, which are weekly competitions to see who earns the most points.
The top three positions in a League earns rewards, but you have to stay within the top 20, 15 or 10 (depending on the League) to move onto the next one.
There are 10 Leagues, from Bronze to Diamond, and winning the Diamond League and its Finals may be a dream if you’re competitive.
Advantages of Learning Turkish with Duolingo
You can learn Turkish for free on the app. You can complete 3 Sections with 35 units of content. There’s also Personalized Practice and 6 levels of the Daily Refresh section.
The gamified approach, which Duolingo has adopted quite extensively, keeps you entertained, learning, and motivated.
Duolingo is a good option for beginner learners and those wanting to review their language skills.
Super Duolingo is affordable and there’s a family plan.
You can complete the language tree in the order the units are laid out or skip ahead if you’d like.
Language-learning on Duolingo is structured; all the lessons follow the “i + 1” learning style.
Short lessons so you can maintain your Daily Streak.
Disadvantages of Learning Turkish with Duolingo
- You have limited hearts and there are ads in the freemium version.
- The speech recognition feature isn’t great. You don’t get personalized feedback and the software is very glitchy.
- Not enough Turkish content to gain an intermediate proficiency.
- You can only learn Turkish if you’re a native English speaker or are highly proficient in English.
- Duolingo doesn’t explain or teach grammar or language usage, which is a significant pitfall if you’re a serious learner.
- You can’t put all your faith into Duolingo to teach you Turkish. Languages are breathing entities that change over time and are so rooted in history, culture, and lived experiences that you have to use materials (like TV shows, music, and chatting to people) to learn authentically.
- Ultimately, Duolingo doesn’t really teach. You complete quizzes that test your knowledge, and somehow with that and points, you are expected to learn. Of course, you can learn this way, but it isn’t for everyone.
- You don’t learn about the Turkish alphabet, which would be a helpful first lesson.
Excited to learn more? Explore my reviews listed below:
My Conclusion: The Learning Process Is Average
While Duolingo is popular, it isn’t the best way to learn a new language or even review language skills you’ve acquired.
The lessons are fun and you can learn for free, making Duolingo a good option if you want to check out the app, if you dabble in languages, or want to see what Turkish is all about.
Babbel and Mondly are two better alternatives to learning Turkish.
Babbel is designed to get you speaking Turkish as soon as possible – you’ve just gotta put in the time and effort. You can learn via interactive lessons and/or live lessons, and Babbel has a big resource library to help you learn.
Mondly is like Duolingo, but you have more native language options to learn Turkish from. You can also learn via augmented reality and virtual reality, which are technology-driven immersive experiences that aid learning.
Check out my full reviews of Babbel and Mondly so you can choose the best language-learning app for your Turkish needs.
Happy learning!
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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.
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