Hello everyone,
About 10 months ago, I started learny Japanese. Like many, I began with Duolingo, but soon, I discovered that Duolingo often isn’t highly regarded in the Japanese learning community, and I understood why. However, I didn’t abandon it completely.
I shifted my focus to tools like Spaced Repetition (using an site called JPDB… It worked better than Anki for me) and comprehensible input through audio and reading. These have become my primary learning tools. Despite this, I still find myself returning to Duolingo for a lesson or two daily. I’ve noticed significant changes in the app over time, including the addition of a kanji tab, although kanji introduction is slower than I’d prefer.
Here’s why I still use Duolingo: sometimes, deep diving into Japanese feels overwhelming. On days when Spaced Repetition feels burdensome, I find Duolingo’s gamified approach refreshing. It’s easier to engage with, even when I’m fatigued.
Duolingo acts as a gentle reinforcement tool for me. It helps me revisit vocabulary and concepts I’ve encountered in my other study materials, albeit in a more relaxed setting. I’m aware that it shouldn’t be the cornerstone of one’s learning strategy, as comprehensible input combined with grammar studies is widely advocated. Yet, I can’t help but appreciate Duolingo’s ability to make learning enjoyable, which is crucial for prolonged engagement.
I’m curious to know if others in this community have a similar experience. Do you still use Duolingo as a supplementary tool in your language learning, especially when other methods feel too demanding? I believe each learner’s journey is unique, and I’m interested in hearing about different perspectives on incorporating apps like Duolingo into a well-rounded study routine.
6 comments
Duolingo sucks for learning a language on a decent level. If you want to go far in learning a language you should switch from Duolingo to immersing. It is fun as well!
Duolingo is a game in reality.
There are many free ways to learn Japanese for free. They will help you learn the language much faster.
In the beginning I found Duolingo typing input (where you type Japanese to answer) to be useful as I wanted to just get my speed and familiarity with typing it. It was pretty good for that sole purpose alone, outside of that I didn’t find it that useful. However I think any critcism for Duo is when you use it at the primary means and not supplementary. A lot of people do think that the time spent doing anything on Duo is better spent else where, but it depends how much time you spend on it; so it’s up for debate.
Personally, the moment I started writing for myself. That is diaries, blog posts, comments, and eventually attempting to write to natives. I lost all reason to ever use Duolingo and it was a good thing overall.
I can understand your stance on “wanting to take it easy”, but I personally think if that is the case. You are better off just watching something with JP subtitles and not attempting to look anything up. Just try to enjoy it and let it wash over you with the most minimal effort possible. This is many times better as even if you are not trying, your brain will absorb it without you attempting it to.
I will speak for myself when I say this, there is value in training with weights on and any time you take them off to ‘relax’ is slowing the process of normalizing Japanese in your life. I never took the weights off, I just kept on adding to the weight and for me that is the best possible methodology. I perform best when I feel like I’m drowning and need to survive. I never take the weights off no matter how hard it is to swim and well, it generally results in the growth I want. Which is explosive after you keep your head above the water long enough.
I enjoyed Duolingo for a bit, but the main no for me was that it doesn’t follow the jlpt content at all, and it’s also very slow to add grammar, without even explaining it. I’m now using renshuu that also has some gamification and it’s better in every way, except for the fancy UI
I primarily use YouTube lessons + BunPro and I’d add WaniKani if I had the money, I treat Duolingo as
1. A way to REMIND me of doing Japanese every single day (streak system)
2. A way to test silly sentences, it’s useful since most of the time I first learn something OUTSIDE of Duolingo and then I have extra sentences in the app.
I use Duolingo for casual daily learning, but after they remade everything I haven’t extended Super for one more year. Yes, they added some tips and explanations, but since they completely removed comments, it got completely useless in terms of teaching you why – they show how, but not why. Same goes for their new kanji teaching method, tried several kanji and don’t bother anymore.
Edit: some other courses have more various exercises like pronouncing test or choose what you hear, but not Japanese one…