Duolingo Free
Get Started with Duolingo Free in 10 Easy Steps
Table of Contents
What is Duolingo
Duolingo is a popular language-learning platform that offers interactive courses in over 30 languages, including Danish, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Klingon (for those Star Trek fans), Korean, Latin, Spanish, and more. It’s designed to be engaging and accessible, catering to a wide range of learners, from beginners to advanced speakers. Duolingo’s approach combines gamification, adaptive learning, and bite-sized lessons to make language learning fun and effective. Its popular mascot, Duo, is represented by a green owl and helps motivate learners through his persistence in encouraging more activity on the app.
This article will focus on the mobile version of learning English for non-native English learners.
Upon opening the app, you will see the above screen. If you have an account, select the second option; if you don’t, select “Set Started” to create one.
Upon selecting “Get Started,” you will be guided through a brief setup process. This involves answering several questions that help Duolingo understand your language learning preferences. Once completed, you’ll be ready to embark on your first lesson.
Please keep scrolling to find the English-learning section based on your native language. English learning is available for the following native-language speakers: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
For example, Duolingo offers English, Chinese, Korean, and French as available languages for Japanese speakers.
For this review, we will use Duolingo English language learning from the point of view of a native Japanese speaker. The app interface will then change to the native language (Japanese), and Duolingo will begin to prepare the remaining questions: How did you hear about Duolingo? What is your English level? What is your reason for studying English? How many minutes per day would you like to study? The key to Duolingo’s motivation is allowing the app to send you notifications about your lessons and progress.
Getting Started with Duolingo
Step 1
Download the Duolingo app from either the Apple Store or Google Play.
Be sure to download the official version of the app by confirming that the Duo mascot and publisher are “Duolingo.”
Step 2
After downloading the app to your phone or tablet, open it, and you will see the following screen: Unless you have already an account with Duolingo, select “Get Started.”
Step 3
The next screen will show the Duolingo mascot, “Duo” waving his wing eagerly and welcoming you to the app. Click on the green button to continue. Duo will show up again mentioning that before starting, you must answer seven questions.
Click on the green button to continue.
Step 4
You will now be prompted to enter the language you wish to study. For this article, English for Japanese speakers is selected.
Click on the green button to continue.
Step 5
You will now be asked to select how you learned about Duolingo. This is purely for Duolingo’s internal marketing and research purposes; it does not affect your learning journey.
You can select an option, such as YouTube, TikTok, or X, as the source from which you learned about the Duolingo app.
Click on the green button to continue.
Step 6
You will now be prompted to select your current level of English. Options range from “Learning English for the first time” to “Can talk in detail about most topics”.
For this article, the second option, “Knows common vocabulary” is selected.
Click on the green button to continue.
Step 7
Duo will appear on your screen to say a study plan is being created. Click on the green button once more.
You will now be prompted to select the reason for studying English. Reasons include:
Preparing for an overseas trip
Improve school performance and test preparation
Interacting with people from other cultures
Career development
For this article, “Improving school performance and test preparation” is selected.
Click on the green button to continue twice.
Step 8
Duo will appear on your screen. Click on the green button once more.
Now Duo will ask how many minutes per day you can devote to your study plan.
For this article, 10 minutes/day is selected.
Click on the green button to continue twice.
Step 9
Click on the green button to continue. Duo will appear on your screen. Click on the green button once more.
Duo will state that after three months of studying, you’ll be able to converse with confidence, improve your vocabulary, and build good study habits.
Click on the green button to continue.
Step 10
After inputting the answers to the above questions, the last item to select is your starting point.
There are two choices to select: 1) Start from the very beginning or 2) Start from a level customized to your current ability.
Duolingo recommends choosing the second option, which places you on a learning path based on your current foreign language level.
For this article, the recommended customized learning path is selected.
Click on the green button to continue, and Duo will appear, letting you know which section your lessons will start from. Click on the green button again to continue.
Duolingo Pricing
Duolingo free version is the basic version of Duolingo and is free to use, but please note that after each lesson, there are advertisements you will have to watch or at least wait 15 seconds or so until they are completed.
Additionally, Duolingo will try to upsell its Super Duolingo service. Usually, the ad ends with a 14-day free trial offer of Super Duolingo. After that, you can pay monthly or receive a discount by subscribing for a year.
Next Steps with Duolingo
What to do now? Well, now it is time to learn. You’ll do this by:
1) Completing Daily Lessons: Committing a certain amount of time to daily lessons is recommended to maintain consistency in your learning journey. This can be as short as five minutes per day. Duolingo uses “Hearts” and “Gems” to encourage learners as they progress.
2) Tracking Your Progress: Monitor your progress through Duolingo’s built-in progress tracker. This allows you to see how far you’ve come and identify areas needing more focus.
3) Engaging with the Duolingo Community: Join Duolingo’s community forums or language-specific discussion groups to connect with other learners, ask questions, and share tips and experiences.
4) Consider Super Duolingo: If you enjoy the Duolingo experience and want additional features like ad-free learning, offline access, and progress quizzes, consider upgrading to Super Duolingo.
By following these steps, you can make the most of your Duolingo experience and progress steadily toward your language learning goals.
