Learning Spanish with Duolingo In-depth Guide 2023

The Duo0lingo platform helps you to learn various languages like Japanese, French, etc. One such language that most people are looking to learn is Spanish. Spanish is one of the most learned languages at the current time. There are a lot of platforms like Duolingo, on which you can learn all such languages. If you are also interested in learning the Spanish language, you must know if learning Spanish with Duolingo is worth it or not. Here we will guide you through everything from course structure to the benefits and drawbacks of learning the language on it.

Quick takeaways

• The course of Spanish follows a path which has different units in it. These units have different lessons which you will have to complete to go on to the next unit.
• If you are learning the Spanish language, you get some special features like Stories, Match Madness, Duolingo max, etc.
• There are many features like gems, leagues, friends, etc you get on the platform.
• You may take Spanish on Duolingo if you are a beginner and have a limited budget. Whereas, if you are looking for high fluency more than anything else, you might not consider it.

However, you must read till the end so that you do not miss any important facts related to learning the Spanish courses on Duolingo.

How are the Spanish courses structured?

If you are already a user of Duolingo and using it for a long time, you must know that it will work almost in a similar manner to other courses. However, if you are a beginner on the platform you must know how the course is structured. All the courses like High Valyrian, Dutch, Russian, and Spanish courses run in a manner known as a path which was earlier known as a Duolingo tree. Every path has a lot of various units in it. All these units include a lot of various things like skills, topics, and various concepts to learn. All these things will have different lessons on the platform. Once you will complete a particular skill in a unit you will see legendary levels which will help you to get crowns in it. However, all these lessons are generally short around 5-10 minutes respectively. You can think of taking this course by downloading the course to learn it offline.

Further, it would help if you also remembered that all the units are arranged in a manner that you will be learning from beginner to higher level. Once the units are completed, your new units will unlock each time. However, if you have Duolingo Plus, you can skip these units if you think are easy. You can either take up an Individual or family plan on the platform. You may also get to see funny statements during your regular lessons. The idea behind it is to make you learn the new language, in a more fun manner.

What are the features you get when you learn Spanish with Duolingo?

Spanish is one of the most taken languages on Duolingo and thus you get different features for it. However, with time they keep on updating the content of the course. Further, you must always remember that you can delete this course if you do not find it worthwhile. Let us discuss these features of learning Spanis one by one-

1. Stories

The first feature that you get is Duolingo Spanish stories. These stories help you to improve your reading, speaking and listening skills. Currently, it has 288 stories on the platform. All the stories are in Spanish and last for a few minutes. All the stores found on it are made for learners of every level. You will have to answer various questions in Spanish after some time. It will help you to know how much you have learned in the Different languages so far.

2. Match madness

It will find different words written in Spanish and have to match them according to their English meaning. It is just like the match the correct option that we used to do when we were kids. Match Madness is a fun game and you learn in an engaging manner. However, you will have to take care of the timer running behind. With each level you pass, the timer will get lower and lower. As it helps you to complete the task in time, this feature has become one of the best features. When you will be taking these challenges you will be unlocking the achievements.

3. Duolingo Max

Duolingo Max is a current subscription plan which is available only for Spanish and French. It includes all the features of super Duolingo along with two more- explain my answer and role play. It is made on GPT 4 and is released by OpenAI. As it is the very latest version it is still in the early stage. Further, it is also a paid subscription and is available only for selected users.

4. Duolingo Spanish podcasts

Though these podcasts are no longer available on the platform you can still get access to it from various podcast platforms. These podcasts worked like Audio lessons that will help you to learn the language. The podcasts help you in developing your Spanish skills in a more coll and easy way. As they are in English and Spanish they are easy to understand. If you are an active listener, they will work best for you. You can get these Duolingo podcasts on Spotify, iHeartRadio and Overcast. 

5. Listening Drills

The listening drill is an activity in which you will listen to some words, keywords, and full sentences from native speakers. After it, you will have to select it from the list that comes on the screen.

6. Fill in the blanks

You will see a Duolingo character on your screen along with a sentence and a blank with it. You will have to fill that blank with the Spanish wordings of it.

7. Mock conversations

In it, you will be a part of conversations with the bot. Once the bot says a line you will see a lot of responses on the screen for it. You will have to choose the perfect phrase of response for it.

8. Verbal communication

After hearing a word or sentence said by a native speaker, you may need to repeat it. Duolingo’s voice recognition technology will help to check your pronunciation.

What are the other features of the Spanish course of Duolingo?

Following are the other features that you get in the Duolingo Spanish course and will also help you to stay motivated and not lose it in the course-

1. XP

You will acquire experience points, or XP as you go through the Duolingo Spanish course. Almost anything you do will result in XP being awarded. You’ll gain more XP from some lessons, and exercises than others. If you want to earn more XP points you can always think of taking up the XP ramp-up challenge (which is one of the types of Timed Challenges) and thinking of taking the Spanish lesson in Duolingo Happy Hour.

2. Gems

The virtual money used in the Duolingo mobile app is called gems. You can earn chests of gems when you use Duolingo on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. On the other hand, you gain lingots when you are using Duolingo on the desktop version of the website.

3. Leagues

A weekly competition called the Duolingo league and Leadership has 30 users. You will be able to acquire Duolingo gems, which are necessary for using the platform’s various language learning options.

4. Friends

As Duolingo is a social platform, you may follow other users and assess your own progress. Following others increases your chances of finishing your course by five times. Having Duolingo friends will only help you to take part in the friends quest.

5. Super Duolingo

Duolingo Plus or Super Duolingo is a subscription provided by Duolingo. You can subscribe to Duolingo Plus on a monthly or annual basis. It helps in adding new features and getting rid of some others. You will get unlimited health and will be able to repair your streaks without having additional interruptions. In Duolingo Plus you will be getting the owl which is the Duolingo app icon in the spacesuit.

Now that you know how the Spanish lessons work on Duolingo. Let us now see if you should use Duolingo for learning Spanish or not.

Should you learn Spanish with Duolingo?

You must choose to enrol in Spanish classes on this platform if you are a beginner and have a limited budget. On the other hand, if you are looking for high fluency more than anything else, you might not consider it. However, we have discussed all the benefits and drawbacks of learning the Spanish language on the Duolingo platform.

What are the benefits of learning Spanish with Duolingo?

The following are the benefits of learning Spanish with Duolingo-

• If you are a beginner, then there is no doubt it is one of the best platforms. It will help you to learn all the basics of Spanish.
• It is the platform which is a budget-friendly platform. You will learn all the basics of Spanish totally free. There is not even a single penny that you will be spending on learning the Spanish lessons. However, you may think of taking the subscription plan for it.
• There are not only free but extensive courses available on the platform. Every course in Spanish keeps on updating every year. You will have 216 units for Spanish language levels and the path of learning Spanish learning. 
• On the other hand, if you do not have much more time for learning the language, there are a lot of short courses available for the Spanish language. You will learn a lot of different languages along with Spanish like Japanese, Portuguese, etc.
• As we have discussed above there are a lot of special features like Duolingo max that you will get only by learning the Spanish language. Another important feature that you will get with the help of Duolingo Spanish is the stories. These stories help you to practice the Spanish language with time.

• All the features that you get with Duolingo Spanish are like fun activities that you will have to take part in. You will see activities like matchmaking, listening activities, mock conversation, etc. So if you are a person who loves to play games, this is the best way of learning the language.
• Using this platform will always keep on motivating me for completing the lessons. So if you do not open your app in time, you will be getting notifications to come back to complete them.

What are the drawbacks of learning Spanish with Duolingo?

The following are the drawbacks of learning Spanish with Duolingo-

• When you use Duolingo, you will have the chance of performing different activities with the help of life chances. These chances are known as the heart system. You will get 5 chances and will lose them once you make a mistake while practising.
• Learning Spanish will help you in learning Spanish through different activities. However, if we talk about verbal communication they generally do not help you to become a fluent speaker fully. Many studies have seen that you will get 65% of the fluency level in the language.

Conclusion

Duolingo offers you to learn various languages like French, Spanish, Japanese, etc. Here we have discussed Duolingo for studying the Spanish language. The Spanish language is the language that is mostly taken by English-speaking people. To learn Spanish you will have to follow a path in which you will have to learn different units based on different lessons. All these units are arranged in a manner in which you will have to start with the beginner level and to the hardest levels.

If you are using it you will get various features like stories, match madness, Duolingo max, etc. Further, there are many more features along with special features like XP, gems, leagues, etc. However, if you are a beginner and have a tight budget, you must go for taking Spanish courses on this platform. On the other hand, if you are a person who is looking for more fluency level then you may find it less worthy. Thus you must think of using alternatives to Duolingo.

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