Free language learning on iPad with duoLingo

Bonjour, est-ce que vous parlez français? Habla español?
In today’s society, it is a great advantage to be able to speak more than one language! Personally, I am fluent in Spanish and in English whereas my wife is fluent in English and in French. How about you?

Some time ago I wrote an article about translation Apps for iPad. Although translation Apps are convenient and useful in different situations, it is not the same as truly mastering a language, being able to speak it, read it and write it.

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Instead of relying on software packages and audio courses that teach you a new language, why not try a language learning App on the iPad? Porque no probar un App para aprender idiomas en el iPad ?

In this article I’ll be discussing the duoLingo App for iPad.

Downloading duoLingo

duoLingo can be downloaded for free from the App Store. Have a look at how do download and install iPad Apps if you need to refresh how download Apps.

Learning and Playing with duoLingo

As I mentioned before, duoLingo is free to use but you will have to create an account before you can “play” and learn with it. To create an account you just need a valid email address and password.

You can choose to learn several languages like Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and English.

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The App starts by teaching you the basics of the language. This includes reading and translating new words or phrases, looking at pictures, listening to words or phrases and typing back what you hear or listening to phrases and repeating back having the iPad “listen” to you through the microphone.

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Each lesson has around 18 exercises and you have 4 “lives” (or 4 hearts) throughout the lesson. This means that if you make more than four mistakes for a certain lesson then you have to redo that lesson.

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Every time you complete a lesson, you get points. The App keeps track of your progress and displays your language level, points and words learned so far on the main screen.

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Competing with Friends

You can invite friends on Facebook or by e-mail to compete with you.

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Website Synch

As long as you are connected to the Internet, the App keeps your progress synchronized with the duoLingo website. This means you can connect with your username and password on duolingo.com and continue your learning process there for free!

The App is great and I already started using it to learn French!

If you were looking to learn a new language, I strongly recommend you take a look at the duoLingo App.

Questions? Thoughts?

Have you used duoLingo? Did you like it? Which other language learning Apps do you recommend?
Let me know by posting a comment below.

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