Why you should incorporate Duolingo into your daily routine
Most people I know have had a Duolingo phase, and I’m no exception. One day, I went to the app store and downloaded that little green owl icon in hopes of becoming fluent in another language. Since then, I’ve fallen in and out of learning a language. I come back when I’m bored but only manage to consistently learn for about a week. Last year, I decided to make a change. As of November 2, 2021, Duolingo became a part of my daily routine. Throughout my four years of highschool French, I had never learned nearly as much as I did in my year of Duolingo. Here’s why I believe you should give Duolingo a serious chance.
Duolingo effectively teaches languages through the “Duolingo Method.” By utilizing bite-sized lessons, your learning is catered to you, avoiding the overwhelming feeling of deadlines that learning a language in school gives you. Moving at your own pace through gamification features adds to the fun of learning a new language and creates new habits that foster long-term memory. One feature I particularly enjoy is the notorious Duolingo streak. Characterized by a flame, the user is encouraged to complete at least one lesson daily in order to keep their streak. Through the Streak Society, Duolingo provides gifts, such as streak freezes, which keep your streak if you happen to miss a day of learning, to incentivize keeping your streak once a certain amount of days of learning in a row has been reached. Watching my streak gradually rise, as well as looking forward to the streak checkpoints that Duolingo creates through the Streak Society, has been very encouraging throughout my language learning journey.
Another one of the features that has helped me on my path to becoming fluent in French has been the leaderboard system. Once you complete a lesson in Duolingo, you collect experience to help reach a daily XP goal, which Duolingo sets for you. Throughout the week, Duolingo accumulates your XP and sets you in a league. There are ten different leagues, each with thirty random learners. Each week, the top ten XP holders advance to the next league as a reward. The following fifteen users remain in their league, and the final five are demoted for the next week. This feature encourages you through competition, motivating you to amass as much XP as possible.
The last feature I’ll highlight is the friends feature. During my time at RPI, I’ve been focusing on spreading the Duolingo agenda by encouraging my friends to download it and learn a new language. Having friends on Duolingo is proven to make you 5.6 times more likely to finish your language course. You’re also able to track friends’ progress, congratulate them on milestones, and participate in friend quests! Friend quests are randomly assigned to you and a buddy, where you will have five days to join forces and complete a task, such as completing 20 lessons. When the friend quests are completed, both users will receive a 30-minute double XP boost as well as a sum of gems.
Overall, Duolingo has kept me accountable for my progress as well as motivated me to continue on my journey. Duolingo’s features make learning fun and accessible to anyone. I love having personalized and exciting lessons, encouraged through the app’s gamification features. I hope this article inspires you to become a part of the Duolingo community and start your own language journey!