Is learning a new language on
your to-do list? Are you planning a trip
and could really use some foreign language skills. I wanted to share something awesome that I
found, and best of all its 100% FREE. An
online language program called Duolingo.
With Duolingo, you can learn Spanish, French,
Portuguese, Italian, and many other languages.
There’s a mobile app and a
website, and the courses are completely free.
I took French way back in
high school, but I have forgotten most of what I learned. Last summer my husband and I had the privilege
of hosting a foreign exchange student from France. It was a wonderful opportunity and it
rekindled my interesting in speaking French.
I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a Rosetta Stone program. A friend told me about Duolingo and I love
it.
I have the app on my phone
and I spend just a few minutes each day to practice some French. Through a variety of speaking, reading and
writing, I practice French. The lessons
are quick and easy in a game-like format, usually taking less than 5 minutes to complete. Duolingo even keeps track of your lessons and
lets you post your ‘fluency’ in a language on your LinkedIn profile. Right now I am 25% fluent in French.
The best part of using
Duolingo is that it doesn’t have any annoying pop-up ads. By using the site individual users are helping to translate sections of the internet. Created by Luis
von Ahn, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Forbes magazine describes how
Duolingo uses a crowdsourcing model to translate content from Buzzfeed and
CNN, which generates the revenue to keep the program free.
If learning a language is one
of your goals – I recommend you check out Duolingo.
thanks for the tip. Will try to upgrade mi espanol [high school version]--not just for travel but also because my Grands are taking it in school and I need to keep up! also like the idea that I can pick up some phrases for whatever country I'm going to where I have no idea how to say please, thank you and where is.
ReplyDeleteI want to do this...I want to learn Italian....
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has been planning on using Duolingo this summer to get ahead on her middle school Spanish next year. She is excited about it!
ReplyDelete