This week, I tried out Duolingo Super to practice learning French. Every time I was practicing, the app kept asking me to try out a free trial of Duolingo Super for fourteen days, so I decided to try it to see if it would be any different than the regular, ordinary Duolingo. There are a few differences that I have noticed.
For starters, with Duolingo Pro, you have an unlimited number of “hearts,” which means you can make as many mistakes as you want, and still be able to continue with the lesson. I like this feature because it doesn’t boot you from the lesson and make you wait longer to continue practicing.
With Duolingo Pro, you also have “ranks,” which means you can compete against other app users and earn “XP” (or experience points) to level up in your rank from completing lessons. There is a bronze league, a silver league and a gold league. I think this is pretty cool because it makes me motivated to continue learning more French and to see if I can level up higher against other participants.
I noticed myself skipping around different units this week because the “introducing myself” unit seemed too easy for me. I learned a few new things from that unit, but most of the other things I knew. I skipped to the “use the present tense” unit and it seemed to be at the right difficulty level for me. I learned how to say where I live, that I’m a student studying in a certain place, how to ask others where they’re from where they’re studying, where I work, where I live, what languages I speak, and even commands for my dog!
All and all, Duolingo Super is nice but I don’t think it’s worth $119/year. The few differences such as having unlimited “hearts” and ranks is not worth it to me. I’m okay with waiting if I run out of “hearts” for a little while to complete a lesson and not to see my position in ranks, although it does make learning more motivational. In the end, I won’t be using Duolingo Super but it was nice to try it out for a bit.
Hi Amie,
I love that you’re learning French with Duolingo. My mom in law and son use Duolingo too. I am wondering how far you can actually get with only having a limited amounts of hearts. I would find that disrupting while trying to learn a new language. My so told me that the earlier versions would send emails of a threatening nature to remind you to do your Duolingo lessons. I am wondering if that is happening to you. I also have noticed that the Duolingo bird app symbol on my son’s phone starts looking rough if he misses lessons lol. I am also wondering what languages you have the option of learning with that app. I look forward to following your journey and learning more about Duolingo. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Amie!
I have enjoyed reading about your journey with French so far. I am in FRN 100 and wondered if I should use the app to learn more as a beginner. I have gotten a few units into Duolingo and wondered about the Super features. However, as you said, $119 does not seem worth it! I wish you continued success on this learning project and with Duo (he can get angry if you don’t do your streak every day)!
Hi Amie! Thanks for sharing your experience with the pro version! I liked hearing your feedback and opinion on it! Keep working hard on your French!
Hi Amie. Learning a new language is a great one that not everyone wants to do because it comes with a lot of research and work to-do
but I can see that you are really ready to give it all it takes and the advantage and exposure learning a new language affords one is numerous.
I have considered using apps like Duolingo for learning different languages before, but I have never quite fully committed to it. Good on you for committing to learning a new language, because I know that it is difficult! I find it interesting that the difference between the paid version of that app is not too different from the free version. I cannot describe the shocked look on my face when I saw that it cost $119 a year! In my opinion that is way too much to ask for only a couple more features. Good luck on the rest of your learning journey!