Enriching Knowledge in Language Learning with Duolingo

https://www.duolingo.com/

Duolingo is a free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. The service is designed so that, as users progress through the lessons, they simultaneously help to translate websites and other documents. As of December 2013, Duolingo offers Latin American Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Italian courses for English speakers, as well as American English for Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Hungarian, and Japanese speakers. It is available on the Web, iOS, and Android platforms.

How Duolingo Works

To get access to Duolingo, you can sign up with an email address and password, or authenticate via Facebook or Twitter. The, just pick which languages you want to learn: Spanish, German, and/or French. You can opt into as many language learning programs as you want.

I started Duolingo with Spanish, a language I've studied in the past but never mastered and have been trying to improve more recently, and couldn't be happier with the results. The Web app is fun to use and gives you real Web content to practice reading and translating.
If you want to study more than one language, you can elect the second one after you create an account (although the option isn't easy to find; I'd rather it were simply an option in the settings).

Duolingo keeps track of your progress and participation as you learn. When you sign in, a home screen shows you a roadmap of what you'll learn. Units along the roadmap appear gray until they're unlocked, at which time they become colorful, and a small trophy icon turns gold when you've completed and mastered a unit.

You can't jump ahead. Each unit is locked until you level-up to it, and if you think you're too advanced for the Basic sections, you have to prove your abilities by taking a test to opt out.

How to Use Duolingo to Learn a Language

Duolingo is the only crowd-sourced language-learning service to get it right. It is by far one of the most exciting educational concepts I've seen. With Spanish, German, and English for speakers of Spanish already rolling strongly, I'm eagerly awaiting French to come out of beta, and for other languages to fill out the roster.
Duolingo is undoubtedly one of the best free tools for practicing a new language—but not necessarily learning a new one from scratch. For that, it may be slightly too challenging for a lot of learners. To fully learn a new language, I do recommend picking up dedicated software that has been tested rigorously, like either of our two Editors' Choices—Rocket Language , Rosetta Stone—or even audio CDs from Pimsleur ($119, 3.5 stars). Pair any of those programs with Duolingo for practicing, and you're sure to learn a lot, fast.

A. Setting Up an Account

1. Sign up via Facebook or email. When you visit Duolingo's main page, you'll be asked to sign up in one of two ways.
If you choose to sign up via email, you can link your Facebook account to Duolingo later.
If you choose to sign up via Facebook, it'll be easier for you to invite friends later. You can also automatically share updates and progress on your Facebook timeline.

https://www.duolingo.com/

2. Select a language. When you're creating a new account, you'll be asked to select the language you want to learn. This choice isn't set in stone, though — you can always change your mind or add new languages later. The current options for English-speakers are:

Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
German

3. Enter your account details. When you're first signing up, you'll only need to enter a username and password. If you'd like to add more to your profile, though, you can do so by clicking the gear icon in the upper-right corner and selecting Settings. You can add your:

Full name
Location
Short bio
Facebook account (as well as whether you'd like to automatically share progress on Facebook)
Twitter account
Profile picture

4. Set up reminders. Duolingo works best when you practice every day, though it can be easy to forget. Set up daily nudges to drill your vocabulary to stay on track.

Click the Notifications tab (after clicking the gear icon in the upper-right corner, then selecting Settings).

Check the box next to "Email me when..." and select a time. Try to choose an hour when you won't be busy driving home, or sitting in class. The end of the day, about an hour before you go to bed, might be a good time to use at first.

B. Language Learning

1. Click Home to access your skill tree.

The skill tree is where you'll do the majority of your learning. It's split into different units, and each unit contains multiple lessons. As you progress through the language, more units will be available to you.

2. Test out of what you already know (optional).

If you already have a basic grasp of the language, you can test out of parts of the skill tree. Click the golden keyhole at the end of each section to take the test. You'll have three attempts.

3. Click the first skill unit.

It will probably be something like "Basics 1."