Not So Fluent: Duolingo doesn’t help language learning and shouldn’t be used in school

I see the daily Duolingo notification to save my streak of 576 days pop onto my phone screen just as I’m about to go to bed.

I then let out a long sigh when my lesson for the day had the exact same vocabulary I've been learning since I started my streak. Almost two years ago.

I finish the lesson in around two minutes, roll my eyes and think, Wow, I did not learn anything new.

Duolingo is an app that offers learning for 43 languages through automated lessons. According to Duolingo’s website, the app's main purpose is to teach languages and facilitate basic conversations. 

However, my years of experience with the app have found both to be untrue.

Initially, when downloading Duolingo, a learner will select which course they would like to complete, and then take a placement test. Then, the app decides what level of difficulty to start the learner at.

Throughout the course, the learner will encounter basic language lessons like speaking, listening and stories, but there are also more engaging lessons that were recently added, like video games and video calls with one of the characters.

But here’s the issue with Duolingo: the content doesn’t get more challenging as you go through the course. I should no longer be seeing clunky and basic sentences like “Are these your apples?” and “I see the car,” two years into learning Spanish on the app.

It would be much more helpful to study the numerous Spanish conjugations and expand my vocabulary every day, especially if traveling to a different country. If I travel to Spain, my first question isn’t going to be, “Hello, are these your apples?”

The entertaining lessons throughout each section and unit, the characters and my vital 576-day streak are the only features that keep me going on my Duolingo journey.

I cannot comprehend the chokehold that my streak has on me. It cannot be broken. Ever. I refuse to give up on the progress I've made.

Duolingo features a few cartoon characters that appear in each lesson to help you progress. Each of them have their own memorable personalities that correspond with their respective stories or lessons, making it exciting to see what the lessons will be. 

The only character I’m not a fan of is Duolingo himself. He’s weird and creepy, and if I haven’t done a lesson that day, the app will spam me with notifications that say “Reese, I’m very impatient. You know what time it is.” or “Nobody ignores me...for long. Do your lessons.”

None of my Spanish classes in school have required me to complete Duolingo lessons as homework, so it’s my own decision to continue just for the streak.

The real-life applications that Duolingo claims to achieve, like basic conversations and vocabulary, are not accomplished. For the amount of time I spend doing lessons, such as stories and video games, I haven't learned anything worthwhile. 

Another problem that makes Duolingo impractical is the energy system. 

The free version of Duolingo has a system where, in each lesson, you’re allotted 25 energy points. For every question you answer, you use energy, but when you get questions correct, you gain back energy. 

This is incredibly annoying, especially for some students who need to earn a certain amount of experience points, or XP, as homework. Once the energy is gone, no more lessons can be completed for that day.

If students don’t earn their energy back during lessons, they can’t earn their assigned XP amount for the week. The only way to avoid this problem is to upgrade to Duolingo Super or Max. These are paid plans that offer unlimited energy, no ads and many other features. 

Currently, Super Duolingo is priced at $12.99 per month, and Duolingo Max is $29.99 per month. However, for students who are using these platforms for homework and aren’t going to upgrade, they can’t complete the homework.

Despite its valid attempt to create a widespread language learning opportunity, Duolingo's app systems for school homework are impractical, and the platform is essentially useless for basic conversations.

If you are looking for a way to discover and master foreign languages, the only thing Duolingo is going to teach you is how to ask random and obscure questions. If you want to learn about more than food and plane tickets, Duolingo isn’t the place.