A year learning a language with Duolingo

Published on 30 October 2025 by Andrew Owen (4 minutes)

I should be bilingual. I grew up in a country where the indigenous language is not English. But given that it’s been 741 years since Wales was annexed by England, it’s not that the Welsh language is in decline that’s surprising, it’s that there are any native speakers left at all. I had a year of lessons before I left the capital for a border county. I remember how to count to five, and that’s about it. Instead I was taught French, badly. Over the years, I have tried various approaches to shake my monolingualism with little effect, until I went back to Duolingo.

As will become apparent, I’m not being paid to write this. When I first tried the app in 2017, the best thing about it was that it was free. I’d had two years of weekly in-person group tuition, but hadn’t made much progress. I was trying Rosetta Stone and using Duolingo during my commute by public transit because it was better suited to the small screen of an original iPhone SE. I had a deal where Rosetta was free if I put in a certain amount of time, but I was swamped with immigration paperwork, and I dropped it fairly quickly and Duolingo along with it.

During the pandemic, Duolingo had a makeover. When I returned to it a little over a year ago, I barely recognized it. The main change is that it’s no longer really useful without a paid subscription. The Super Family plan is the best value. Max adds AI-powered explanations and video chat, but I can do without them. Instead, I use DeepL and LanguageTool. And for conversations, I follow native French speakers on Twitch.

After more than a year with the app, I have some insights. To paraphrase the company’s CEO Luis von Ahn, it doesn’t matter how good a teacher you are if your students don’t show up. Duolingo is not the fastest way to learn a language. But for most people, it is the easiest way to do it without giving up. That said, the company invests where it sees the biggest return. English, French and Latin American Spanish are the most developed courses, closely followed by German and Italian. Welsh is pretty much abandoned at this point.

My biggest gripe with the app is that it uses American English. I’ve been using American English spelling exclusively for over a decade now. But I still think in European English. I have no chance in Match Madness, because before I can translate English into French, I have to translate American English into European English. Fortunately, Match Madness, Legendary, the side games, gems and Practice Hub are all distractions. For the most effective learning, you should stick to the main path.

The app gets a lot of criticism for gamification, but if that’s what keeps you coming back, then it’s working. I don’t take streaks seriously. I’m fairly sure my “unbroken” streak of over a year had a lot of streak freezes in it. I had a really heavy week and I lost my streak. The world didn’t end. I’m also not worried about which league I finish up in or where I’m placed on the table. I guess I’m not that competitive. Friend streaks don’t seem to serve any useful purpose (unless you add people you don’t like and then constantly nag them to remind them that you’ve done your lesson already).

I try to do the daily tasks (even if they involve the distractions). I know if I’ve done them, then I’ve probably got about 15 minutes in, which really is the minimum when it comes to retaining any useful knowledge of the language. Another thing that changed while I was away is that Duolingo aligned it’s main courses to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). It has six levels, from beginner A1 to advanced C2. A year in and I’m still on A1 (level 29). But I feel that I’ve extended my vocabulary and built up my understanding of the grammar. If I keep at it, I expect to be able to get to B2 (intermediate, or business level fluency) by the time I complete all the lessons.

My long-term goal is to get to the point where I can write reasonably well in French. At least well enough to fix the errors that I’m fairly sure are present in the French version of my website. I’m going to need to work on spelling. Given that I still have an old iPhone with a small screen, I tend to use speech to text with the app. It is good for pronunciation (along with reading out all the sentences, even when you’re not asked to). And if I achieve that, then I’m going to start learning Welsh—one to one with an instructor.