It's a free app loved by millions. Is Duolingo wasting your time?

Whenever I hear that someone new is starting language learning, I get excited.

But then, they mention Duolingo and I know how this is going to go.

I’ve spent years teaching, learning, and experimenting with language tools, and the little app with the Duolingo owl has always felt like a toy version of what language learners really need.

Using the app feels like language learning. You’ll pick up a few phrases. Cartoons cheer you on.

But deep down, it’s cosplay. Why?

What’s Good About Duolingo

This app felt like a revolution when it first came out. Here’s why:

• Free-ish, easy access to language learning from your smartphone. Nice.

• Lovely design with lots of fun illustrations

• Gamified learning keeps you coming back!

• It gets you from zero to somewhere in language learning, and officially works for getting people to do well on tests. (research sponsored by Duolingo itself though 👀)

The Downsides of Duolingo

Duolingo telling me what my problem is.

You probably know about a lot of these issues by now, but let’s recap:

• You have to learn endless nonsense sentences.

• No flexibility about how you express yourself in your new language, so you’re not learning how to communicate.

• The feedback is too easy to ignore.

• Of course it’s not really free. Duolingo is now an ad-packed freemium app, and their business model has always cost teachers and learners. (Want the back story? Listen to this podcast about the hidden cost of cheap & easy language learning.)

• Zero nuance, extremely limited explanations, no culture context.

Language learning should make people curious, but Duolingo doesn’t do that.

You don’t become a communicator. You become a really good Duolingo user.

What I Wanted to See Instead (So I Built it)

As a language teacher, AI has blown my mind. This endless resource of natural languages is easy to access, like a rich practice playground.

From the start, I wanted to build a community-driven, AI-powered space that actually helps people make progress:

• Fresh, exciting ideas developed for real learners

• Tools that help you learn with freedom, explore and have fun

• Real-time personalised feedback, not just error messages

• Content rooted in culture, context, and actual conversation

• And most importantly: a support system. Other humans. (Plus AI that doesn’t sound like it’s dying inside.)

So I opened AI Language Club, where we create and experiment with fresh, interesting language learning ideas in ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI tools.

If you are just getting started with a new language, don’t sleep on the big possibilities of AI, because it can do so much more than Duolingo!

What to Read Next

• Where to start with AI chatbots like ChatGPT

• 3 Tutor-Approved Ideas for Improving Your Duolingo Experience

• Podcast: The Hidden Cost of Cheap & Easy Language Learning

• Finding the Button That Makes AI Easier for Language Learners

If you are ready for fun, exciting language learning with fast results, come and join our club!

👉 Meet AI Language Club

Clozemaster App Review: Learn Language in Context

Are you in the mood for a new language app? Want to go further than Duolingo?

Allow me to introduce you to...Clozemaster!

Clozemaster is a language learning app designed to help you practice languages quickly and effectively.

Read on to find out more about how it works, what's inside the app, and whether Clozemaster is the right language learning app for you.

How does it work?

The name gives it away: This app is based on the classic Cloze exercise explanation on Wikipedia, which means you will see a sentence in your target language and it's your task to cloze...excuse me, close the gap. The Clozemaster app gives you points for each time you close a gap correctly.

Each sentence you see is written in the target language with a translation provided in your source language. You can choose whether you want to use multiple choice mode or fully type the answers yourself for extra points.

You can set the length of your review session to suit the time and space you have available.

After each review session, Clozemaster shows you a progress review including your points, rank, and what percentage of all sentences you have played and mastered. The style and presentation of all this is simple, designed like a retro computer game. All in all, it's a super fast, fairly addictive and encouraging experience.

After each session, you can also read and listen to all sentences you covered again and add the most important ones to your favourites for easy review.

How can you get Clozemaster?

It's easy! You can download Clozemaster as a free app on your smartphone, tablet, or play it in your web browser. There is a Pro plan for those who want advanced features such as more stats, favoriting sentences, and customizing game play. There's even a lifetime purchase option.

How does Clozemaster compare to apps like Duolingo?

Clozemaster builds its database on natural sentences written by native speakers through the Tatoeba collection, so there's a wide and authentic range of grammar and vocabulary to work with. This use of different base sentences makes a real difference between Clozemaster and most other language learning apps. There are no themed collections of vocabulary and sentences, and you may well encounter a sentence like "Is this your typewriter?" or "Ken climbed down from the tree" the first time you open the language course.

Compared to Duolingo, Clozemaster offers a more challenging set of vocabulary and grammar. Compared to apps like Memrise, Anki, and Quizlet, it gives you a better way to practice language in context.

Collections and Fluency Fast Tracks

The Language Selection

The Fluency Fast Track

The Clozemaster Game

Many language options in Clozemaster offer you the option of following a track or specific collection designed to build up your language skills extra fast. For example, you may find:

• Fluency Fast Track, where the sentence gaps are designed to prompt you to include a word included on a list of the most common words in a language. The sentences you see start with the most common and help you work your way up so that you are practicing extra efficiently. (Anki users will love this feature.)
• Grammar Challenges, where you can choose a tricky grammar point in a language and work with sentences that help you practice this grammar point in context. For example, you could choose to focus in on practicing French prepositions or German verbs
• Exam collections, where your vocab range is designed around a specific exam or coursebook like the HSK in Mandarin Chinese
• Teaching collections, which allow teachers to create their own collections to practice with students or set as homework. You can even upload your own TSV or CSV files.

These options make the learning experience more motivating and allow you to adjust the practice session to your level more easily. They are not available in every target language though, so if you are studying a lesser-known language option, you may only find the "Random" track available which can feel like diving in at the deep end. I found all these tracks and collections extremely useful.

In Mandarin Chinese, I could easily follow and benefit from the HSK1 level of Clozemaster, but the "random" collection was a complete guessing game.

Who is Clozemaster best for?

Overall, Clozemaster is ideal for people who want to practice, but not complete beginners who will easily get lost in complex vocabulary and grammar points. It doesn't teach you a language, instead it lets you practice the language and it will improve what you already know.

From the CEFR perspective, I would recommend this to users at level A2-B2. The sentences used by Clozemaster are not overly complex, but they are definitely challenging.

Why is Clozemaster effective even if it doesn't give themed vocab?

It's simple: The Cloze exercise is not designed to you vocabulary only. It is about giving you the skill to quickly spot and recognise grammar and syntax patterns in natural sentences in your target language. When you identify the word that fits into the gap, you are challenged to think about how the whole language works. Over time, practicing the language through Clozemaster will increase your confidence and flexibility, help you settle into common grammar structures, and make you a better speaker of that language.

Which languages does Clozemaster offer?

There are currently 72 languages and 229 language pairings (for example, learning English from Spanish, or learning German from French) available.

The Best Things About Clozemaster

• It's super efficient! Clozemaster is one of those apps that gives you all the information that you need to practice a language, and cuts out any fluff. Even the stripped down interface is helpful here as it gets you straight to the practice screen. The different fast tracks are all designed around frequency lists. While I am not an advocate of centering frequency lists in your studies to the cost of deeper meaning, I think this gamified interface is where the frequency vocabulary lists and super-efficient natural sentences really shine.
• The language range and combinations are very rich and it offers an opportunity to practice many lesser known languages like Breton, Guaraní, Cornish, and even Interlingue. Even better, you can mix and match the language combinations and learn something new through your target language. It's twice the practice. Go and have a look now to find out if your target language is available on Clozemaster!
• Clozemaster is an app designed for improvers, and not beginners, and it does its job extremely well. Truly the next thing after Duolingo!

What Clozemaster Could Improve in Future

• Obviously, it would be amazing to get great functionality like listening-based practice and fluency fast tracks available in all languages. And I'd love to switch from Vocabulary mode to Listening mode in the middle of a review session, especially in languages that use a different writing system.

Finally: Is Clozemaster a good choice for you as a language learner?

The Clozemaster app brilliant for people who are learning a language and want to practice to improve on an intermediate to advanced level.The interface of Clozemaster is simple, but the exercise is not.

Clozemaster isn't for a total beginner. Instead it supports your language learning and helps you build flexibility and maintain the high skills you have been working for!

It's free, simple and engaging, and offers more languages than any other app I've seen - give it a try! You can download Clozemaster and get a special deal on Pro at www.clozemaster.com/fluentshow

Disclosure: Clozemaster is a current sponsor of the Fluent Show and asked me to write this independent review as part of the paid sponsorship package. The review is fully independent and all screenshots are my own. I only recommend and review products and apps I have tested and approved myself. - Kerstin

What You Need To Know About Duolingo In 2020

The other day, I heard from someone who’s got a 1336 day Duolingo streak in French. That’s over 3 years of daily mini-lessons in another language, and a guaranteed confidence boost for her the next time she wants to say something in French.

Duolingo is award-winning, market-leading, venture-funded and impossible to ignore, so I got together with my podcast co-host Lindsay to collect a bunch of unmissable Duolingo tips for you.

Want to hear our discussion? Listen to our episode of the Fluent Show podcast to learn more:

Note: This is not a review of Duolingo Plus. Personally, I have not signed up to Duolingo Plus but my impression is that it can be a worthwhile investment if you want to skip the many ads and give yourself offline access.

Why Download Duolingo for Exploring Another Language?

Duolingo has also come a long way since it first started out. Here are just a few good reasons to download Duolingo and try it out:

• The app is free and it works on every mobile device
• The range of languages is great, with lots of small languages and even constructed languages such as Esperanto and Klingon. Switch your source language to access even more courses in unusual languages, such as Guarani and Catalan through Spanish.
• When you practice your language with Duolingo, there’s no judgement and no risk of embarrassment in front of other people. Great for shy learners!
• Duolingo offers lots of reasons to come back to the app - it rewards your usage with virtual coins and hot outfits for its mascot, Duo the owl
• The cute design and bite-sized lesson style makes Duolingo feel very different to learning a language with a big textbook or 20-week evening class

Tips for Learning a Language with Duolingo

Some people love to commit to the Duolingo language learning streak. Some ignore the streaks completely. Don’t worry, both ways will work just perfectly for who you are.

Adding up a long, long streak alone is not what will teach you a language. But it will keep you connected and interested. You need to make sure that you are combining Duolingo with a productive language learning routine if you want to speak your language in real life. Break out from the apps now and then and get curious about what people who speak your target language like to eat, watch, listen to, and what the world is like for them.

If you do NOTHING else, make sure you download at least one more language learning app to your phone. You want to enjoy a bit of variety every day, and the range of great apps is huge these days. (Need inspiration? Check out our Top Tools Hall of Fame.)

Make More of Your Experience With Our Duolingo Tips

Get Unlimited Hearts:

Use the "Practice" button to get unlimited hearts and review what you've learnt before, without having to watch more ads or sign up for the paid version of the app. This is great if you don’t want to run out of practice time yet.

Take it Out of Duolingo

Got a notebook? Write down sentences from Duolingo lessons by hand or start your own digital practice folder. This will take all those sentences you are learning out of the app environment and help you use them in conversations with real people.

Don’t Miss the Tips

Finally the Duolingo tips are available on the app! These helpful explanations have long been a bonus for web version users, but you can now get Duolingo tips right in the app. If you make the same mistake again and again, the tips will help you understand why.

Use Duolingo as a Level Checker

If you are studying a language outside of this app, you can use it to check your learning progress. Simply jump to the next “Checkpoint” feature in the app and see if you can skip to the next level. If you fall short, you know you’re working on suitable lessons for your level.

Discover Duolingo Stories

Duolingo now offers mini stories in a very limited number of its courses. These little stories are essential practice to help you learn more for longer and break out of the rut of “Sally and Juan go to the market to buy apples” again and again.

Boost Your Gems with Extra Features

Motivated to get more gems? Want to keep that streak going and going? Use the Streak Freeze and Double or Nothing features to boost your gems and keep that momentum for longer.

If you find the streaks too stressful, don’t worry. Here are my tips for becoming a consistent learner without any language apps.

Check the Forums

Duolingo’s community features are limited, but the community of users is fantastic! They make vocab lists and explanations based on the courses and give advice to users from around the world. Start with this unofficial Wiki and FAQ page

Want to Take Your Language Learning to the Next Level?

Your first stop is the Fluent Show, my awesome language learning podcast where we talk about loving, living and learning languages. This show will give you lots of inspiration and ideas.

If you struggle with motivation and routine in your language, check out the Language Habit Toolkit. It’s a proven system to help you set and achieve every language goal you create for yourself. The Language Habit Toolkit works with any language and any course so it’s perfect if you want to boost your Duolingo results.

My Duolingo History

I cannot remember the first time I downloaded the Duolingo app, but I know it wasn’t love at first sight. I had studied French all the way to an undergraduate degree in the UK and thought it might be a fun way to get in touch with this language.

Working my way through my first ever Duolingo exercises in 2014 was bewildering. I had not used a language app before and I didn’t understand how these disjointed, mechanical sentences were supposed to keep me excited about a language.

Over time, I learnt more about language apps as a general concept. They play an important role in getting 10,000s of people started with a new language. When I started learning Welsh, it was a great resource for quick exercises in my new language.

I’ve now completed the Duolingo skill trees in French and Welsh, and am about 30% through the Mandarin Chinese skill tree. I’ve also tried it out in a bunch of other languages like Esperanto and Spanish.

italki Review: Find Your Online Language Teacher

Finding a good language teacher isn’t necessarily an easy task. For those who don’t have a lot of local tutoring options or for those learning a less popular language, it can sometimes feel impossible.

Maybe you’ve had no luck finding teachers or language exchange partners in the past and you’re wondering if online teaching sites are a good idea. Maybe you’ve thought about trying one before, but didn’t know which option to choose.

In this review, let’s take a look at what italki is all about, what it has to offer, and how to make the most of its features to help you connect with others.

What is italki?

In short, italki is an online platform that connects language learners with both professional teachers and community tutors.

Currently, there are over a hundred languages for learners to choose from, including German, Chinese, Catalan, Armenian, and Esperanto. Since all lessons are done online, there’s also greater chance you’ll be able to find someone who teaches a language you’d like to learn.

How Do You Use It?

Like lots of language learning resources, it sounds great, but how easy is it to use?

Setting up an account only takes a few minutes and it’s free. After that, you can simply select a language from search bar to start looking for a teacher.

Finding a Teacher on italki

One thing I liked about this process was the fact that I could review all the available teachers before commiting to a decision. Each teacher on italki has a profile with a video introduction, a short description, a list of their teaching strengths, a list of the type of lessons they offer, and different costs. Professional teachers will also have a list of education and experience.

Once you find a teacher you’d like to schedule a lesson with, you’ll have to purchase italki credits, which can be done at any time from one of the options in the top menu. It doesn’t take long and there are a few different payment options, but keep in mind that each option has a different processing fee. After you’ve added enough credits, you can schedule a lesson.

Booking a Language Lesson

The booking process is simple and straightforward. Clicking ‘Schedule Lesson’ opens a window that lets you pick the language, lesson time, and lesson duration. New italki accounts have the option to select a 30 minute trial lesson, which is meant to help you get used to scheduling lessons and using the platform. It’s also great if you’re feeling nervous about your first lesson. You can use the shorter time period to test your connection, see how things work, and ask the teacher any questions you might have.

Once you pick a date and time for your lesson based on the teacher’s availability, you can also select an alternate way to connect for your session, like via Skype. I’d recommend entering in this information since the italki classroom is currently still in beta and can experience glitches.

After your lesson is completed, italki will ask you to verify that the lesson took place. If you did experience any issues, you’ll want to let them know. Then, you can leave a review for your teacher to share your thoughts on how the lesson went.

How Can I Get the Most out of Italki?

italki teacher: A sample profile

Since italki is focused on connecting language learners and teachers, it’s important to remember that your experience will depend on how you use it to interact with others. If you want to make the most of it, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

Think about Your Own Language Learning Goals

Do you want to learn a language in order to travel? Are you trying to pass a test?

There are a lot of teachers on italki and they all charge a different rate. I found that knowing my own language goals was one of the best factors in finding a good teacher, not price.

For instance, one of my reasons for learning Spanish is to have conversations with my Spanish-speaking, Latin American side of the family. So, when searching for a Spanish teacher on italki, I’m a bit more particular about finding someone who speaks Latin American Spanish and seems like someone I could easily talk to.

However, someone who wants to learn Spanish to travel to Spain or needs to pass the DELE Spanish Exam will have a better learning experience with a different teacher.

Once you’re a bit more clear on your own goals, you can use that information to help you pick a teacher. Pay special attention to:

• Introduction videos

• Teacher specialties

• Lesson types

• Reviews

To learn more about what you get for your money, read How Much Will You Pay For a Language Tutor?.

To Get The Best Italki Results: Be Patient and Prepared

Even if you think you’ve found a good teacher, you never know what a lesson might be like. You could find it hard to talk to each other or you might not care for their style of teaching.

Just remember that you won’t connect well with everyone. Don’t take it as a sign to give up. There’s nothing wrong with trying several teachers.

Starting a Brand New Language on italki

One thing that helped me was to be prepared ahead of time. My most recent italki lesson was for Arabic, a language I knew almost nothing about. Before the lesson started, I wrote down a few initial questions and made sure I had a notebook and pen nearby. I think even this small preparation helped me focus a bit more during the lesson, even though I didn’t feel confident.

Be conscious of any practical steps to need to take ahead of time as well, including finding a quiet room and making sure you have a fast, stable internet connection. It can go a long way in making sure your session goes smoothly.

Don’t Ignore the Other Italki Features

One-on-one lessons aren’t the only thing italki has to offer, but a lot of people either forget about or don’t bother with some of the other cool resources.

Improve Your Writing Skills With Feedback

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An example of the italki notebook feature

Unter the Community tab of the main menu, you’ll find articles, a notebook to write things down in a language you’re learning, a place for questions and discussions, and a way to find conversation exchange partners.

If you’re interested in improving your writing skills, you’ll definitely want to try the notebook feature. You’ll be able to post an entry in your target language and native speakers have the option to give you feedback and corrections.

Similarly, you can check the Answers or Discussions pages if you have small questions or simply want to start a conversation. Any of these options is also a great opportunity to connect with others on the platform and find language exchange partners.

So, Should You Give Italki a Go?

Hopefully, this review has given you a bit more insight into how italki works and how you can make the most of its features to help you learn a language.

My honest advice is to start by making an account and simply searching for teachers. Take a look at the costs and click the small heart symbol to bookmark any teachers that you think might be a good fit. I’ll admit that I nervously did that for a bit before I finally took the chance and scheduled my first lesson.

The nice thing about italki is that you can just add a few italki credits and try it out. It’s not a big commitment, but it has a lot of potential to be extremely helpful.

italki: Better Than Your Local Class

Overall, I found the site incredibly easy to work with and much better than trying to find a class or a private tutor to connect with locally. So, if you think it might be a good resource for you, try at least one lesson. I think you’ll like your experience.

This review is part of a sponsorship from italki. It was written by Cassie Wright. To learn more about italki and get $10 of free lesson credit, go to www.fluentlanguage.co.uk/italki.