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how to learn almost Italia (DUOLINGO APP (advantages (asked me to…
how to learn almost Italia
DUOLINGO APP
Use
used it on trains, while walking across town, during previews at the movie theater
advantages
asked me to translate Italian phrases and sentences into English, or vice versa, providing multiple-choice responses
helping me set daily goals and then launching into simple phrases
No tedious grammar or vocabulary drills
praised me constantly: for responding correctly several times in a row, for completing a chunk of the day’s lesson, for learning from my sloppy mistakes
kept me apprised of my progress via various point schemes, and used email and phone notifications to nudge me to keep my routine going
problems
I gaped like a fish when my wife give a test
I knew I had seen all the pieces in Duolingo’s sentences. But I was utterly unable to recall them and pull them together
But without a prompt, I was as speechless in even the most basic situations as any boorish American tourist
results
I started easily picking up what I hadn’t been able to get from Duolingo—grammar, vocabulary, and, most important, an ability to engage in simple conversations in typical situations
The app had exposed me to a considerable vocabulary; I needed only minimal drilling with books to remember the words. Learning the verb conjugations was a breeze
In the end, I did pretty well in Rome, engaging in simple, fractured semi-conversation in most of my encounters
Duolingo has been rolling out new features—including podcasts, social interaction among users, and character-driven narratives
Language apps like Duolingo are addictive—but not particularly effective
DAVID H. FREEDMAN
talked with Duolingo CEO
Luis von Ahn
to ask whether my experience was typical
“The biggest problem that people trying to learn a language by themselves face is the motivation to stay with it,” he told me. “That’s why we spend a lot of our energy just trying to keep people hooked.”
the challenge
-Making the lessons more difficult reliably speeds up learning
-but also increases dropout rates
why Duolingo is by far the most popular language app in the U.S
In other countries, von Ahn notes, learning a language is often crucial to communicating with partners and their families, and for work; learning English, in particular, can be a ticket out of poverty
In the U.S., about half of our users aren’t even really motivated to learn a language; they just want to pass the time on something besides Candy Crush
Joey J. Lee
director of the Games Research Lab at Columbia University, who did a study of 50 language apps in 2016
suspects the addictiveness of tools like Duolingo has more to do with business models than with language learning
"That’s the learning that’s based on real-world settings—you’re in a restaurant, in an interview, waiting for a bus"
predicts that language apps will eventually also incorporate AI-based chatbots that will engage and guide users through realistic conversations
Tom Roeper
a linguistics professor at the University of Massachusetts who studies language acquisition
told me that apps aren’t likely to soon overcome the two essential advantages of a human teacher
-the ability to hold a student’s attention
-to continually tailor a lesson to the individual’s progress, difficulties, and interests
“There are all kinds of contextual factors in language learning,” he said. “It would be hard for an app to take them all into account.”