Lingoda vs Duolingo
Overview
Lingoda connects you with approved native speaking teachers to help you get fluent fast. Live online lessons are available 24/7. Class sizes are between 3-5 students so the learning experience is very immersive and with plenty of individual real-time feedback. Though there is a strong focus on speaking and listening, grammar, reading and writing are covered.
Duolingo is the world’s most popular language learning app. You can use it for free to learn as many languages as you want with only a few limitations over the paid version. Duolingo combines bite sized activities with gamification to make education fun and to help you set up a daily learning habit. It also uses an algorithm that adapts to your learning and provides material at just the right difficulty level along with content you need to revisit.
Pros
- Live teaching from qualified native speaking teachers to help you get fluent fast
- Covers speaking, listening, reading and writing with a proven track record for developing fluency
- Lessons contain puzzles and games and downloadable materials to help cement learning
- 24/7 lessons you can fit around your busy life
- More immersive than conventional apps due to small class size and live teaching
- Different levels are available and the option for 1-1 tuition enable you to personalize lessons 100% to your needs
- Lessons cover useful and relevant topics and content is regularly updated
- Certification for each Common European Framework (CEFR) level you complete
- Cashback opportunities with Sprint or Super Sprint
- It’s free with only a few limitations and there’s no limit on how many languages you can learn at the same time
- Gamification keeps you engaged and motivated
- Uses an algorithm that adapts to your level and learning style and provides personal recommendations to level up your skills
- A Practice Hub for reviewing mistakes, correcting pronunciation (Super Duolingo only)
- Fun to use with well structured exercises that target listening, reading and writing
- You can skip lessons and levels that are too easy
Cons
- Potential lack of consistency due to rotation of instructors
- Someone struggling can put the whole class behind
- Only four languages available
- Weak focus on speaking activities
- Pronunciation of single words is quite robotic
- Quantity and range of material varies by language
- Not brilliant for grammar or gaining cultural insights
Best for
Best for: Anyone who prefers live, face to face learning and is from beginner to more advanced ability in the target language. And if you’re not sure of your level, you can take Lingoda’s placement test. Lingoda is also suitable for those who have busy lives as you can fit classes around your own schedule.
Best for: Though it’s designed to have a universal appeal, Duolingo is best suited to those wanting to learn a new language from scratch. That said, it could serve as a good refresher for those with some existing knowledge as you can skip lessons and levels that are too easy. Would especially suit those who enjoy a competitive approach to their learning.
Price
From $10 per lesson
From $6.99 per month
Number of users
120,000
5 milion active users
Overall
Overall: A great and authentic way to learn a new language (or pick one up where you left off) that gets you speaking and reading in no time at all. I found Lingoda to be very effective and started learning, speaking and understanding from the very first lesson.
To providerOverall: Duolingo is great fun and can definitely help you develop a secure level of knowledge in a variety of languages. It’s also habit forming, thanks to gamification, so it really motivates you to build a daily learning habit and make incremental progress. But, if you want to become fluent, or just hold more than very basic conversations, you’ll likely need to strengthen your understanding of grammar and your speaking skills elsewhere - or at least sample the paid for version which provides more support in these areas.
To providerSupported languages
German, Spanish, French, English and English for business
Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Zulu as well as Esparanto, High Valyrian and Klingon.
About
Lingoda was founded in 2013 by Felix and Fabian Wunderlich. Initially it offered 1-1 German tuition over Skype. It now teaches 4 languages, has 120k+ learners, 1.9k certified native speaking teachers and teaches over 562k classes every year.
All Lingoda courses are based on levels set by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This provides an approved standard for identifying language proficiency. Each level contains several lessons which target writing, reading, listening and speaking. The levels cover A1.1 (beginner) to C1 (advanced). Lingoda has a team of in-house experts on linguistics who have put together all of the course material with the aim to get you speaking fluently faster.
Also, the 24/7 availability of a real life tutor is a game changer when it comes to language learning. 97% of users say they found Lingoda better than other language learning providers.
Duolingo was founded in 2011 with a mission to make language learning accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.
It’s now the most popular way to learn languages with 5 million people using it actively everyday and the mobile app having 500+ million downloads.
Duolingo combines bite sized activities with gamification to make education motivating, easy and fun. You earn rewards (such as gems and badges) for achieving different objectives and gain points to help you scale the rankings on a leaderboard of other randomly selected users. It also uses an algorithm that adapts to your learning and provides material at just the right difficulty level, as well as resurfacing content you need to revisit.
How it works
To get started with Lingoda, you just click ‘Start Free Trial’ and answer a few questions about why you want to learn your target language, what you hope to achieve and how much time you can commit to.
You then choose the plan that most suits you, go ahead and book some lessons and start learning! You take each class with up to four other learners over Zoom. Your tutor will not only be a native speaker of your chosen language, but also a qualified teacher. The idea is that live classes taught by native speakers are more immersive and will make you more fluent and accurate.
Tutors often introduce a topic, or ask you direct questions, in the target language. While this may seem hard to begin with, it gets you thinking in that language and you’ll be surprised how quickly this becomes easy!
This will improve your fluency and accuracy because your brain is actively engaging with the language rather than passively taking it in.
Duolingo offers a freemium model and a subscription (Super Duolingo) which provides additional features and does not show ads.
To get started, you simply select the language you want to learn, answer a few questions about your goals, then sign up for a free account using Google, Facebook or an email account.
Duolingo then presents you with a learning path divided into units such as:
- Greeting people and Introducing yourself
- Using the present tense and talking about activities
- Days of the week
Saying what you want, etc.
Each unit contains a series of ‘stepping stones’ that hold a series of fun bite sized lessons and challenges designed to meet the unit objective.
Some languages have a placement test meaning that you can skip the easier units. But you always have the choice to start at the beginning, skip ahead or redo units you’ve already taken.
Units follow a curriculum based on an international standard and activities are designed to make sure that new learning gets embedded in long term memory.
As you progress Duolingo’s algorithm will adjust to your learning and vary the level of challenge. To make sure learning ‘sticks’ you will revisit earlier learning at optimum times. New words are highlighted and you often need to figure out intuitively what these might mean.
You can review what you've learned by clicking on the dumbbell icon which provides a practice test.
What a lesson is like
Level A1.1 lessons (aimed at beginners) all begin with a link to Zoom where everyone introduces themselves.
You don’t need to show your face if you’re not comfortable doing that. You just need your microphone on to speak.Class sizes are small (3-5) so your turn to actively take part will come round quickly.
The tutor will take you through that lesson’s worksheet (which you can download prior to the lesson). But lessons are mostly interactive with opportunities to:
- Speak and read phrases aloud with feedback to help pronunciation
- Translate phrases
- Engage in conversation with the help of help of flashcards, scripted dialogue, etc
- Learn from questions asked by the group
- Pick up new vocabulary with picture clues and real life examples
- Complete puzzles and play games to reinforce understanding
And always get instant feedback
Lessons last for one hour. This might seem like a long time, but in my experience they fly by and the interactive nature of the course keeps you engaged.
Lessons are short and sharp - usually only about 3-5 minutes long. They mainly focus on translating - either from your native into your target language or vice versa.
To do this you might:
- Match spoken or written words with their meanings
- Type words and phrases using the keyboard/keypad
- Place words from a selection in the correct order
- Tap or type what you hear
- Provide missing words
Identify the correct spelling of a word from a choice of four
You will also use flashcards to learn new vocabulary, take quizzes, review content and be given the option to make things harder or easier.
For some languages there are stories with comprehension activities as well as podcasts. In the podcasts, native speakers tell stories but with simplified vocabulary and grammar and at a slower, clearer speed. These are supported with some assistance with unusual words or context.
There’s not a strong focus on speaking activities. Where they are available, AI voice recognition grades your pronunciation. During my two weeks using Duolingo, I came across a few speaking activities in French but none in Welsh, despite completing several units.
Who is it good for?
The Lingoda learning style would suit anyone who’s:
- Looking to learn a new language from scratch
- Has some grasp of a language and wants to improve
- Learns best either 1 to 1 or in a class setting
Wants to improve their conversational skills
While Lingoda would be ideal for anyone who’s always wanted to start learning a new language it will also suit those who are proficient but want to improve.
Right away Lingoda will have you speaking, reading aloud and improving your conversational capabilities in your chosen language.
Duolingo is an appealing, fun language learning platform that would best suit the following learners:
Anyone who’s:
- Learning a new language from scratch
- Wants to refresh or level up existing basic skills
- Appreciates short, sharp bite sized lessons
- Is strongly motivated by gamified features such as leaderboards, streaks, rewards etc
- Needing to learn flexibly on any device
Features
- Personalized live learning
- Direct contact with native speakers
- Immersion
- Fun, interactive lessons that touch all learning styles
- Flexible learning
- 1-1 tuition
- Super intense programs to get fluent fast
- Gamification
- Personalized approach
- Practice Hub for reinforcing learned content
- Podcast series to aide language immersion
- Flexible learning with offline mode
- Speech recognition technology for pronunciation practice
Is it worth it?
In a word: Yes.
If you’ve been wanting to learn (or improve your knowledge of) one of the four languages available on Lingoda, then it is absolutely worth considering.
Live teaching from certified tutors who are native speakers can really help you get results. Lingoda’s emphasis on in person learning -- something that sets them apart from other providers -- will have your conversational, listening and grammar skills up to a better standard in no time!
And if you have a busy lifestyle or no consistency in your schedule, the fact you can book lessons to suit your needs is so handy.
On top of this, you can book one to one classes or go for the Lingoda Sprint or Super Sprint program if you want to try and get fluent in 2 months. If you follow the Sprint guidelines carefully, Lingoda provides the opportunity to get some or even all of your money back.
I personally benefited hugely from Lingoda. It really helped me to bring my French back up to a passable standard. I haven’t felt this confident in speaking/reading French since school!
In terms of its price, I think Lingoda is worth it. If your goal is to reach a conversational level, you’ll only need a few months with Lingoda to achieve that.
Lingoda offers a free 7 day trial and I would strongly suggest you see what it’s like for yourself as you have nothing to lose!
Well, it depends on your goals.
If you want to develop a solid foundation in a language and enjoy an element of competition in your learning, Duolingo is likely to suit your purposes. It’s super fun and its extensive use of gamification makes it very habit forming - which is great for making steady progress in a language. What’s more, its algorithm learns what works for you and calibrates lessons appropriately.
I found I had committed a good range of words and phrases to memory during my trial of Duolingo and certainly got as far as being able to introduce myself and ask and respond to simple questions like, how are you? What is your name? Etc.
But if you want to become fluent or hold more complex conversations, I don’t think Duolingo will help you achieve that. At least not the free version. Speaking activities are not available in all languages. And even where they are, they do not feature prominently. The Practice Hub in Super Duolingo provides more in the way of speaking opportunities. But if you are willing to commit to a subscription you may find that other apps like Babbel or Mondly are better value.
My advice is to try the free version. If you love it, there is a 14 day free trial for Super Duolingo which gives you a decent amount of time to find out if it’s the right learning platform for you.