DUOLINGO

 DUOLINGO

Like millions of other people around the world, I started trying to use Duolingo consistently during the early months of the pandemic. I missed my family and started digging into my ancestry in response. I learned some basic German, which my late grandmother would pepper into conversations when I was a child. I also tried to pick up where I left off in college with Spanish.

Duolingo has been around for almost 10 years and is available for iOS, Android and via the browser on PC. The app employs bite-sized lessons that include speaking, listening, reading and writing to teach you a new language or brush up on a secondary language. Lessons are also gamified, which means they offer rewards and other benefits for making progress, giving you more incentive to keep learning.

When you use the app for the first time, you can choose the language you want to learn. Duolingo offers almost 100 language courses that teach 39 different languages, including endangered and indigenous languages, and fictional languages like Klingon from Star Trek and High Valyrian from Game of Thrones. Duolingo will ask why you want to learn it (travel, school, job opportunities, etc.), whether you're brand new to the language, and how much time you'd like to dedicate to learning -- Casual (five minutes per day), Regular (10 minutes per day), Serious (15 minutes per day) or Intense (20 minutes per day). Duolingo encourages you to meet a daily time-based goal (which you set and can change at any time). Reaching that goal earns you experience points, which translate to a numerical skill ranking, as well as access to leaderboards for competition-style features. The longer you use the app, you'll earn achievement badges and earn gems which serve as in-game currency to enhance the game elements. Along the way, a little green owl named Duo cheers you on and reminds you about completing your daily goal. Duo's "motivational" tactics have earned him a spot in meme culture as well.