Well, good news! Duolingo.com is a website made especially for people that want to learn a second language for free! Duolingo has all the perks of the ever expensive Rosetta Stone without having to pay for anything!
You can even link your account to Facebook and tell your friends how much you have learned!
Duolingo is great for people who don’t have a lot of time to devote to learning a new language. You can go at any pace you want and they make sure you understand what you learned before permitting you to go on. The site even logs your progress and tells you how many words you have learned!
So far you can learn Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Italian.
The site is simple to use and incorporates writing, reading, hearing, and even speaking your second language. Duolingo gives you the ability to choose which route you want to learn. You can go from the basics of level one, to simple phrases or new words for objects.
You have all the control in this learning environment.
Duolingo even lets you immerse yourself in real other language articles and blogs. Users are able to pick an article to translate into English.
For example, I was able to help translate an article in French from Wikipedia. The translations are a group effort that everyone on the site can help contribute to.
They tell you how much of the actual article is translated and how much needs to be worked on. There are hundreds of articles to choose from, so the amount of practice is endless!
They also have discussion boards so you can chat to other users if you’re having problems or if you just want to talk to someone.
Duolingo is a tremendous site that can open the door to bilingualism to those who need it. I’ve used the site for a couple weeks, and I say that it’s easier to learn than from a classroom. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a new language.
Kristen Mabry
Features Editor