Duolingo announced plans this week to replace contractors with AI and become an “AI-first” company — a move that journalist Brian Merchant pointed to as a
I’ve seen a few posts recommending language transfer, but when I’ve checked out their website, all it seems to be is a bunch of recordings on soundcloud of some guy talking about how great his course is… Is there is no interactivity or feedback, or scoring ? Is there more to it than I’m seeing on the website ?
The courses are all just audio files. You don’t need anything else, and I think they work very well. The app is very convenient, simple but without unnecessary bills and whistles and it works fine. This also means that you can download them, put them into your favorite music or podcasting app, or whatever else you want. I consider it a feature, not a bug.
The first episode is an introduction to the teaching method. For the language part, you should start with the second episode.
He is not a native speaker for all the languages, of course. His accent is very English, and from his name I would guess that he speaks Greek natively. But he is also fluent in at least Spanish, the course that I have used, having lived in Spanish-speaking countries.
Okay, so what value does that have over listening to Spanish podcasts …how do you know if you’re speaking it correctly or even understanding the recording ?
It’s an interactive lesson. You listen to the teacher explaining something to the student, then you pause the audio and try to answer your self, then you continue and listen to the student’s response. If you try it, you’ll find that it’s very natural and effective.
Edit: I take it back. I had some time after work and the app appears to be a collection of lectures from the founder who does not actually speak each language, but feels their teaching method is so unique that it overcomes this. Looking at the website there is no actual description of what makes their method different or better, just a lot of fluff and boasting about how it’s so great. I didn’t speak any of the languages to review content but I do have a background in music so I listened to the 12 minute music theory lesson 1 and it was just him gushing about how great his method is, 0 theory covered. Maybe it is revolutionary but this reeks of pseudoscience
The problem is that the introduction for each of the courses is simply a description of his teaching method. go to the second lesson, and you all find the meat of the course starting.
The problem is that the description of the teaching method, at least in the theory course, was completely devoid of any rationale for how it is different from any other method of teaching (same as the website)
I have no reason to believe his app and courses don’t provide instruction. My issue is with his grandiosity without substance. An educator of all people should recognize the need to substantiate their claims. This, coupled with the fact that the first thing I am hit with on his site being:
“ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL"
“PURE GENIUS”
“TRULY A MASTERPIECE”
“SERIOUSLY THE BEST LANGUAGE COURSES EVER”
“INSANELY CRAZY GOOD”
“LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE”
“BLOWN AWAY”
“A TOTAL GAME CHANGER”
“PHENOMENAL”
“WORLD-CLASS”
(None of which are attributed to anyone, of course) makes me really skeptical.
What are some better ways?
The best language learning system I’ve found is Language Transfer .
It’s free, but it easily beats Duolingo and anything else I have tried (short of total immersion).
I still donate $10/month even though I haven’t used it for a while, because I want it to succeed!
I’ve seen a few posts recommending language transfer, but when I’ve checked out their website, all it seems to be is a bunch of recordings on soundcloud of some guy talking about how great his course is… Is there is no interactivity or feedback, or scoring ? Is there more to it than I’m seeing on the website ?
The courses are all just audio files. You don’t need anything else, and I think they work very well. The app is very convenient, simple but without unnecessary bills and whistles and it works fine. This also means that you can download them, put them into your favorite music or podcasting app, or whatever else you want. I consider it a feature, not a bug.
The first episode is an introduction to the teaching method. For the language part, you should start with the second episode.
He is not a native speaker for all the languages, of course. His accent is very English, and from his name I would guess that he speaks Greek natively. But he is also fluent in at least Spanish, the course that I have used, having lived in Spanish-speaking countries.
Okay, so what value does that have over listening to Spanish podcasts …how do you know if you’re speaking it correctly or even understanding the recording ?
It’s an interactive lesson. You listen to the teacher explaining something to the student, then you pause the audio and try to answer your self, then you continue and listen to the student’s response. If you try it, you’ll find that it’s very natural and effective.
This is interesting, thanks
Edit: I take it back. I had some time after work and the app appears to be a collection of lectures from the founder who does not actually speak each language, but feels their teaching method is so unique that it overcomes this. Looking at the website there is no actual description of what makes their method different or better, just a lot of fluff and boasting about how it’s so great. I didn’t speak any of the languages to review content but I do have a background in music so I listened to the 12 minute music theory lesson 1 and it was just him gushing about how great his method is, 0 theory covered. Maybe it is revolutionary but this reeks of pseudoscience
The problem is that the introduction for each of the courses is simply a description of his teaching method. go to the second lesson, and you all find the meat of the course starting.
The problem is that the description of the teaching method, at least in the theory course, was completely devoid of any rationale for how it is different from any other method of teaching (same as the website)
I have no reason to believe his app and courses don’t provide instruction. My issue is with his grandiosity without substance. An educator of all people should recognize the need to substantiate their claims. This, coupled with the fact that the first thing I am hit with on his site being:
“ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL"
“PURE GENIUS”
“TRULY A MASTERPIECE”
“SERIOUSLY THE BEST LANGUAGE COURSES EVER”
“INSANELY CRAZY GOOD” “LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE”
“BLOWN AWAY”
“A TOTAL GAME CHANGER”
“PHENOMENAL”
“WORLD-CLASS”
(None of which are attributed to anyone, of course) makes me really skeptical.