I recently acquired a brand-new phone – a Samsung Galaxy J7, as a replacement for my previous Nokia C6-01 smart-phone. The reason is pretty simple – I wasn’t able to install any apps on my Nokia phone, since its Symbian OS is not compatible with .apk files (the file extension for Android apps).
The first thing I did with my new phone was to install a few apps – Duolingo being one of them. Since I had come across multiple recommendations for this app, I decided to give it a try. Besides, I was looking for ways to improve my language proficiency in Urdu and Japanese.
Having used the app for a little while now, I feel that it deserves a review of its own – hence this article!
The interface – first impressions
One feature I really admire about Duolingo is its UI (user interface) – clean, simple and intuitive. When the app is opened the first time, the user is greeted with a plethora of options to choose from – German, Korean, English, Russian, and Japanese, to name a few. Depending upon the user’s language preferences, it offers these languages in different instruction modes.
Since my preferred language is English, I scrolled through the section for English speakers. To my dismay, I couldn’t find Urdu listed under any section, let alone the English section. However, it did list Japanese, which I decided to try out.
The UX (user experience)
Once a course is selected, the user is redirected to a test pertaining to the language. This is completed only after correctly answering a certain number of questions, following which some XP is earned, and a few ‘lingots’ – the currency used for purchases from the ‘Shop’.
Each ‘skill’, indicated by an egg icon, comprises of a number of tests, which must be completed in a similar fashion. Each test has multiple choice questions, translation tasks (audio and/or text), and word-match questions. The more questions the user answers correctly in a row, the more XP and lingots he or she earns.
While it may be used without registration, things get a little tricky when the user wishes to save his or her progress. In that case, app registration is required.
However, once registered, users are allowed to join a language club. These clubs have weekly leaderboards, which effectively gamify the app by creating an atmosphere of competitiveness.
Improving the app
If you’re looking for an app to learn languages in the form of a casual ‘game’, then Duolingo is the way to go. However, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the app, and probably had unrealistically high expectations from it.
In order to truly learn a language, one must not only read and listen to it, but also write it, and speak it. While I don’t mind jotting down words in a notebook, I don’t know whether my handwriting is legible or not. If there was a ‘capture’ feature in Duolingo to detect and identify text, it would be a big help in improving my Japanese handwriting.
When it comes to speaking the language, it is tough to comprehend the pronunciations correctly, even with audio read-outs of displayed words. For this, I suggest that IPA transcriptions be added to every word, and get the app to read out those transcriptions. This will go a long way in making the app’s experience more fulfilling.
Edit: After publishing this post, I came across TinyCards, which is another app developed by Duolingo. Its feature of allowing the creation of custom decks by users really impressed me.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that TinyCards is the perfect learning aid I have come across, for teachers and students alike.
Here is a deck of Urdu words I created, using this app:
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/070523c6-1b25-46d5-9dbd-e4c8f6cb0773
Related links
- Duolingo on Google Play; the app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo&hl=en
- IPA transcriptions in Duolingo; a GitHub repo:
https://github.com/suburbio/ipa-translator
- Recognizing handwritten glyphs; a research paper:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.386.7767&rep=rep1&type=pdf
The Visualizer 