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| Annemarieke van Drimmelen for Vogue Germany | model |
Have you guys heard of the 'gamified', language-learning application, Duolingo? My friends were telling me about it and I immediately knew I needed to hop on the bandwagon. An addictive game-like app that will simultaneously teach me foreign vocabulary and grammar? That's a no-brainer!
I have wanted to learn German for years. I lament that I didn't take at least the basics in high school. Or college. A trip to Munich after undergrad only solidified that I'd made a big mistake ignoring my desire to learn the language. Of all the countries we visited, of all the languages we heard, listening to the locals speak German made me just seethe with jealousy. Why couldn't that be me?
When I returned to college two years ago for Deaf Studies & American Sign Language at Cal State Northridge, I vowed to take a class or two on the side. Unfortunately, they had discontinued their German minor (and classes) several years prior. Is it really that unpopular?
But now is my chance. Last week, I started my lessons (it's FREE!), and I'm already finding that Duolingo is a really fun and easy way to break into the basic vocabulary. Of course, that's as far as I've gotten: the basics. No telling yet how the application fares as grammar and lexicon get more complicated. But I'm up for the challenge!
Right now, Duolingo offers lessons in Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, and of course, English.
What about you guys? If you could learn a new language right now, for free, what would it be? One of these? Or something else? I'd love to know!
French, for sure! Especially since I already know the basics!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! And the nice thing about Duolingo, you can "test out" of levels and lessons so you can move on quicker. I started to do that with the Spanish level, but turns out, the basics are slipping from me there! So I'll definitely be trying to brush up when I get the chance. =)
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