The result is that the product is free at the point of delivery for students of Spanish and other languages. This is all explained by the company’s founder in this Ted talk (skip to 8m30), but essentially the model involves using translations carried out by DuoLingo students within the application to help translate real life texts (that are then paid for by external clients). Instead of charging students to use the service, DuoLingo has been designed in such a way that the firm’s owners are able to make money from tasks willingly performed by language learners studying on their platform. It has flipped the traditional language learning model on its head in order to deliver a quality product to language learners for free. I’ve tried my utmost not to let this sway my recommendations either way, as I hope will become clear as you read through the reviews.Īs a business case study, DuoLingo is rather interesting. In any case, you’ll undoubtedly have to use quite a few different tools and methods to obtain real fluency – one method or tool in isolation will never be enough.įinally, and in the interests of transparency, I should mention that some of the below are affiliate links, meaning I will get a small commission from any subsequent sale. You might find other tools work better for you so go for whichever best fits with your lifestyle and learning preferences. The recommendations below reflect my views, but bear in mind that everybody learns in different ways. So I spent some time investigating eight of these products (there are many more available, of course), assessing their comparative advantages and disadvantages, and drawing up some recommendations as to which tools are most suited to various categories of Spanish learner. It struck me that all of this makes it tough for anyone just starting out to decide which is the best online Spanish course or app for them. Each of the various apps, platforms and courses embraces a different philosophy and teaching technique, with near enough all claiming that their particular product offers the quickest route to language success.Įach of the various apps and and courses embraces a different philosophy and teaching technique After recently investigating just a few of the online Spanish learning tools available (many kindly suggested by members of the Learning Spanish in Colombia Facebook group), I immediately encountered a bewildering number of options. In many ways, we are now spoiled for choice. In addition, to these traditional methods you can also make use of any one of an expanding number of online platforms, courses and apps to boost your linguistic skills. Nowadays, of course, the learning environment is much changed. To pick up another language you had to go to class or simply work your way through a physical textbook (and audio accompaniment, if you were feeling fancy). When I first started learning Spanish, way back when in 2007, the tools and materials at a student’s disposal were limited.
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