Lottie Lomme
Duolingo. Super nice and super easy. You can do it while the TV is on and you're sitting on the couch and watching a program on net 2 with half an eye. You tap some answers and your dopamine level is increased with every beep and green check mark for a correct answer. After 5 or 10 correct answers you get a trophy and you go to the next step in the sequence. Very satisfying, but does it work?
To be honest, if I want to relax and do something fun on the bus on my way to work, I also think it's fun to do Portuguese on my Duolingo app. For the above reasons. But do I also learn something from it? Or am I addicted to the green tick with cheerful sound notification that gives me the illusion that I will be able to get by when I am in Italy, Portugal or any other foreign country?
The pros and cons of learning Italian with Duolingo
It's nice that you can repeat sentences and that you will be confirmed with beeps and check marks if you have pronounced it correctly. I think that's really great, especially when you have to record your speech and you get positive feedback on it.
You almost feel like you are actually talking to someone. You get continuous feedback on everything you do, but the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from your mistakes is limited. You don't have to find out what you did wrong (just choose the other option next time).
The times you have to insert a verb, you can often choose between 1 verb and 2 nouns. You can then ask yourself what exactly you are practicing.
Passive learning
Duolingo has some grammar, but it all works intuitively and passively. Some people are convinced that they can intuitively learn to speak a language fluently. Yes, it is true that it can certainly help you move forward, but this is only true up to a certain level, I say from my own experience.
Moreover, the exercises in Duolingo mainly lead to passive knowledge of Italian and not to active knowledge. Read about the difference between them this blog article if you want to know more about it.
The variety in the exercises via Duolingo is limited, the sentences are sometimes quite strange (you elephants drink milk) and Last but not least the interface language is English. The exercises in which you have to translate sentences are therefore also based on English.
You never have to write or read long texts or listen to long fragments, so you don't learn to look at the greater coherence in a text or conversation. In fact, you mainly practice your vocabulary. But a language is so much more than learning words.
The benefits of learning Italian through This is Italian
In the courses I made for This is Italian, there is a lot of diversity in the exercises. You will regularly have to grab a pen and paper, look something up in the dictionary or look something up in the grammar overview to really master the language.
If you have to make an effort and think before doing an exercise, you are engaged in reflection that is necessary for processing knowledge and moving knowledge from your working memory to your long-term memory.
Yes, that takes more effort. I wrote about the usefulness and benefits of making an effort all the article Learning pleasure: effort or relaxation? and yet another article on the inevitability of grammar.
You learn more by trying yourself
It is the use of your active knowledge where you have to produce things yourself, just as you would in real life. If you end up in a conversation in Italy, you also don't have the option to choose from the words that an app offers you for making a sentence. You will really have to do it yourself. Or you always have to Google Translate want to use when you are in Italy?
Another big advantage of our course: there is a Community where you can present all your assignments and questions to the group and expose your buttocks. Or must. Many people don't dare to do that yet and leave learning moments there.
It then seems safer to opt for the mock interaction of a green check mark with Duolingo. The app says I know. While in our community there is really supervision of the conversations to keep the atmosphere safe.
I understand that's exciting. But it is also exciting in Italy, much more exciting! It is therefore best to view posting your work in the Community as a learning opportunity that is part of the process of learning a language that you can also do from home.
Duolingo is a great addition
Do not get me wrong. I'm certainly not cynical about using it apps to learn a language, I think they can certainly be of added value for learning, for fun and for relaxation. Duolingo is a great addition to your solid Italian language training.
However, I think Quizlet or WRTS are better add-on apps to the course material I've created for This is Italian. The Prisma dictionary app is also a fantastic verb conjugator. And, very old-fashioned, the good old paper books on learning Italian. Learn more about these tools for learning Italian in this article.
Comments