How to Use Duolingo
Sign up via Facebook or email., Select a language., Enter your account details., Set up reminders., Click Home to access your skill tree., Test out of what you already know (optional)., Click the first skill unit., Click a lesson., Hover over words...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Sign up via Facebook or email.
When you visit Duolingo's main page, you'll be asked to sign up in one of two ways.
If you choose to sign up via email, you can link your Facebook account to Duolingo later.
If you choose to sign up via Facebook, it'll be easier for you to invite friends later.
You can also automatically share updates and progress on your Facebook timeline. -
Step 2: Select a language.
When you're creating a new account, you'll be asked to select the language you want to learn.
This choice isn't set in stone, though — you can always change your mind or add new languages later.
The current options for English-speakers are:
Spanish French Italian Portuguese German Dutch Danish Irish Swedish Turkish Esperanto Ukrainian Norwegian (Bokmål) Coming Soon:
Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Klingon, Yiddish, Greek. , When you're first signing up, you'll only need to enter a username and password.
If you'd like to add more to your profile, though, you can do so by clicking the gear icon in the upper-right corner and selecting Settings.
You can add your:
Full name Location Short bio Facebook account (as well as whether you'd like to automatically share progress on Facebook) Twitter account Profile picture , Duolingo works best when you practice every day, though it can be easy to forget.
Set up daily nudges to drill your vocabulary to stay on track.
Go to notification settings: https://www.duolingo.com/settings/notifications Check the box next to "Email me when..." and select a time.
Try to choose an hour when you won't be busy driving home, or sitting in class.
The end of the day, about an hour before you go to bed, might be a good time to use at first. , The skill tree is where you'll do the majority of your learning.
It's split into different units, and each unit contains multiple lessons.
As you progress through the language, more units will be available to you. , If you already have a basic grasp of the language, you can test out of parts of the skill tree.
Click the golden keyhole at the end of each section to take the test.
You'll have three attempts. , It will probably be something like "Basics
1."
Within each skill unit, there are multiple lessons.
Click the first one to get started.
You'll start out with four hearts (which will later turn to three, as you progress through the language).
Every time you get a question wrong, you lose a heart.
The goal is to get through the lesson with your hearts intact.
Here are the different types of questions within a lesson:
Vocabulary:
You'll see a picture of the item, and be asked to name it.
Translation:
You'll be asked to translate a word or sentence out of English and into the other language, or vice versa.
Listening:
You'll hear an audio clip of a word or sentence, and be asked to type it in. (Note that you won't be translating for these questions — for instance, if you hear the sentence in Spanish, type it in Spanish, not English.) To play the clip more slowly, click the smaller turtle icon beneath the main speaker button.
Speaking (optional):
You'll be asked to repeat or translate sentences using the microphone on your computer or mobile device.
If you don't want to do the speaking questions, click the gear in the upper right corner, choose Settings, and switch the microphone option to off. , If you're not sure about a word, hover over it with your cursor.
Duolingo will either provide the translation or give you a few options.
Note that as you get further along in your studies and your sentences become more complicated, this tool won't be as useful.
Beware! Duolingo will note that you peeked.
However, you won't lose any points for this. , Navigating through Duolingo lessons using the keyboard is a lot faster and easier than clicking. (It will also come in handy when you're doing timed quizzes.) Here's what to do:
Enter:
Submits an answer 1, 2 or 3:
Selects a multiple choice answer Up and down arrows:
Scrolls through choices in a drop menu Ctrl + Space:
Replay audio clip Ctrl + Shift + Space:
Replay audio clip more slowly.
Click the gear in the upper-right corner and select Help to see a visual table of keyboard commands. , The key to retaining your new language is drilling what you've learned.
Every few lessons, stop and do a few practice rounds.
Or, if you only have 5 minutes to work on your language today, spend it on quizzing yourself.
Duolingo offers a few different ways to test your skills:
Practice overall:
Navigate to your skill tree, and click the blue "Practice all skills" button on the right.
You'll be randomly quizzed on everything you've learned up to this point.
Practice individual skills:
To refresh a skill unit, click the blue "Practice skill" bar on the right side of the page, below the lessons.
This will run you through what you learned in that particular unit.
Practice weakest words:
Click Vocabulary, on the navigation bar at the top.
Then click the blue "Practice weakest words" bar at the right.
Duolingo will run you through the words you've learned recently or seen less often. , When you pass a skill set with flying colors, the module will turn gold.
If you slack on practicing, however, your progress will decrease and the modules will slowly turn different colors. , The Immersion section allows you to translate sentences from actual webpages, as well as reviewing other Duolingo users' translations. , You can choose whatever is at the top of the popular list, or narrow your search by selecting a category on the sidebar at the left. , Try clicking a sentence.
The translation submitted by another user will pop up.
From there, you can decide if the sentence is right or wrong.
If it's wrong, you can click Edit and submit a better translation. , Click a sentence that's greyed out.
A text box will pop up, where you can enter your translation and collect more points.
If you're not sure about a word, hover over it with your cursor.
Duolingo will provide a few suggestions. , The forums can be a good resource for answering questions, finding supplemental material, or simply connecting with other users.
Click Discussion on the top bar to enter the main forum.
From there, you can select your language on the right sidebar.
Discuss skill units.
Each Skill unit will have a discussion board, below the lessons.
You might find answers to common questions there.
Discuss individual sentences.
You can ask other people for help in the middle of a lesson.
After you've answered a question (whether it was right or wrong), you'll see a Discuss Sentence button at the bottom of the answer section. , If you'd like to follow someone else's progress, navigate to their profile.
Click the blue "Add friend" button at the top of the page.
From then on, you'll be following that person's progress.
You can see how may points they've accumulated on the leader-board, at the right of your skill tree. , On the home page (at your skill tree), click the Stream tab near the top of the page.
From here, you can post an update on your progress that your friends and followers can see. , Duolingo is available for free on both iOS and Android.
You can still do lessons, practice vocabulary, and translate pages from the app. -
Step 3: Enter your account details.
-
Step 4: Set up reminders.
-
Step 5: Click Home to access your skill tree.
-
Step 6: Test out of what you already know (optional).
-
Step 7: Click the first skill unit.
-
Step 8: Click a lesson.
-
Step 9: Hover over words for help.
-
Step 10: Use keyboard commands.
-
Step 11: Practice!
-
Step 12: Keep up on your progress.
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Step 13: Click the Immersion button on the top bar.
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Step 14: Select a document.
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Step 15: Rate a sentence.
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Step 16: Translate a sentence.
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Step 17: Use the discussion tools.
-
Step 18: Follow friends.
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Step 19: Post status updates.
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Step 20: Download the mobile app.
Detailed Guide
When you visit Duolingo's main page, you'll be asked to sign up in one of two ways.
If you choose to sign up via email, you can link your Facebook account to Duolingo later.
If you choose to sign up via Facebook, it'll be easier for you to invite friends later.
You can also automatically share updates and progress on your Facebook timeline.
When you're creating a new account, you'll be asked to select the language you want to learn.
This choice isn't set in stone, though — you can always change your mind or add new languages later.
The current options for English-speakers are:
Spanish French Italian Portuguese German Dutch Danish Irish Swedish Turkish Esperanto Ukrainian Norwegian (Bokmål) Coming Soon:
Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Klingon, Yiddish, Greek. , When you're first signing up, you'll only need to enter a username and password.
If you'd like to add more to your profile, though, you can do so by clicking the gear icon in the upper-right corner and selecting Settings.
You can add your:
Full name Location Short bio Facebook account (as well as whether you'd like to automatically share progress on Facebook) Twitter account Profile picture , Duolingo works best when you practice every day, though it can be easy to forget.
Set up daily nudges to drill your vocabulary to stay on track.
Go to notification settings: https://www.duolingo.com/settings/notifications Check the box next to "Email me when..." and select a time.
Try to choose an hour when you won't be busy driving home, or sitting in class.
The end of the day, about an hour before you go to bed, might be a good time to use at first. , The skill tree is where you'll do the majority of your learning.
It's split into different units, and each unit contains multiple lessons.
As you progress through the language, more units will be available to you. , If you already have a basic grasp of the language, you can test out of parts of the skill tree.
Click the golden keyhole at the end of each section to take the test.
You'll have three attempts. , It will probably be something like "Basics
1."
Within each skill unit, there are multiple lessons.
Click the first one to get started.
You'll start out with four hearts (which will later turn to three, as you progress through the language).
Every time you get a question wrong, you lose a heart.
The goal is to get through the lesson with your hearts intact.
Here are the different types of questions within a lesson:
Vocabulary:
You'll see a picture of the item, and be asked to name it.
Translation:
You'll be asked to translate a word or sentence out of English and into the other language, or vice versa.
Listening:
You'll hear an audio clip of a word or sentence, and be asked to type it in. (Note that you won't be translating for these questions — for instance, if you hear the sentence in Spanish, type it in Spanish, not English.) To play the clip more slowly, click the smaller turtle icon beneath the main speaker button.
Speaking (optional):
You'll be asked to repeat or translate sentences using the microphone on your computer or mobile device.
If you don't want to do the speaking questions, click the gear in the upper right corner, choose Settings, and switch the microphone option to off. , If you're not sure about a word, hover over it with your cursor.
Duolingo will either provide the translation or give you a few options.
Note that as you get further along in your studies and your sentences become more complicated, this tool won't be as useful.
Beware! Duolingo will note that you peeked.
However, you won't lose any points for this. , Navigating through Duolingo lessons using the keyboard is a lot faster and easier than clicking. (It will also come in handy when you're doing timed quizzes.) Here's what to do:
Enter:
Submits an answer 1, 2 or 3:
Selects a multiple choice answer Up and down arrows:
Scrolls through choices in a drop menu Ctrl + Space:
Replay audio clip Ctrl + Shift + Space:
Replay audio clip more slowly.
Click the gear in the upper-right corner and select Help to see a visual table of keyboard commands. , The key to retaining your new language is drilling what you've learned.
Every few lessons, stop and do a few practice rounds.
Or, if you only have 5 minutes to work on your language today, spend it on quizzing yourself.
Duolingo offers a few different ways to test your skills:
Practice overall:
Navigate to your skill tree, and click the blue "Practice all skills" button on the right.
You'll be randomly quizzed on everything you've learned up to this point.
Practice individual skills:
To refresh a skill unit, click the blue "Practice skill" bar on the right side of the page, below the lessons.
This will run you through what you learned in that particular unit.
Practice weakest words:
Click Vocabulary, on the navigation bar at the top.
Then click the blue "Practice weakest words" bar at the right.
Duolingo will run you through the words you've learned recently or seen less often. , When you pass a skill set with flying colors, the module will turn gold.
If you slack on practicing, however, your progress will decrease and the modules will slowly turn different colors. , The Immersion section allows you to translate sentences from actual webpages, as well as reviewing other Duolingo users' translations. , You can choose whatever is at the top of the popular list, or narrow your search by selecting a category on the sidebar at the left. , Try clicking a sentence.
The translation submitted by another user will pop up.
From there, you can decide if the sentence is right or wrong.
If it's wrong, you can click Edit and submit a better translation. , Click a sentence that's greyed out.
A text box will pop up, where you can enter your translation and collect more points.
If you're not sure about a word, hover over it with your cursor.
Duolingo will provide a few suggestions. , The forums can be a good resource for answering questions, finding supplemental material, or simply connecting with other users.
Click Discussion on the top bar to enter the main forum.
From there, you can select your language on the right sidebar.
Discuss skill units.
Each Skill unit will have a discussion board, below the lessons.
You might find answers to common questions there.
Discuss individual sentences.
You can ask other people for help in the middle of a lesson.
After you've answered a question (whether it was right or wrong), you'll see a Discuss Sentence button at the bottom of the answer section. , If you'd like to follow someone else's progress, navigate to their profile.
Click the blue "Add friend" button at the top of the page.
From then on, you'll be following that person's progress.
You can see how may points they've accumulated on the leader-board, at the right of your skill tree. , On the home page (at your skill tree), click the Stream tab near the top of the page.
From here, you can post an update on your progress that your friends and followers can see. , Duolingo is available for free on both iOS and Android.
You can still do lessons, practice vocabulary, and translate pages from the app.
About the Author
Joan Bishop
Committed to making lifestyle accessible and understandable for everyone.
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