Learning a new language has become a new trend with the change in education patterns. Many people have started taking benefit of online learning platforms for learning a specific language. One such platform that you may have heard about is Duolingo. There are a lot of languages on the platform and you may be thinking of learning the Japanese language from the platform. So is Duolingo good for Japanese? Here we will be learning in detail for learning Duolingo for Japanese.
Quick Takeaways
If you are a fresher you may think of taking Japanese on this platform as it is totally free and has great lessons on the basics.
However, the lessons on this platform are too short and you do not get extensive information on them.
The course of Japanese follows a path known as Duolingo Tree, which involves units in it. These units involve lessons you need to complete to unlock the next unit.
There are two main features that you get while learning the Japanese language – Japanese Stories and the Writing-system tool.
The other features of this platform that you will get on Duolingo while learning the Japanese languages – are XP, Friends, leagues, etc.
However, you must read till the end so that you do not miss any of the important facts related to learning the Japanese language on Duolingo.
Is Duolingo Good For Japanese?
Japanese is one of the languages that is offered on Duolingo. There are many people who are thinking of learning the Japanese language and thus consider Duolingo to learn it. But the biggest question over here is whether you should use Duolingo to learn Japanese or not. If you are a fresher and are tight on the budget, you can think of using Duolingo for learning the Japanese language. You can also study this course by downloading the course.
However, if you have already some knowledge of the language, you may not use this platform. Further, as a fresher, you will need to learn a lot of knowledge but the lessons on the platforms generally have less content. Though we have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using Duolingo to learn the Japanese language. Also if you find that this course has much less content in it, you may remove the language course.
What are the Benefits of learning Japanese with the help of Duolingo?
Following are the benefits of learning Japanese with the help of Duolingo-
As this language is much different from English not only in writing but also different in speaking way. Thus, if you are a fresher, Duolingo is the best app to start learning the Japanese language.
Duolingo provides all the equipment for learning this language, especially for beginners. It will help you to learn some of the basics which will help you to go on the road to learning the advanced language.
Being a fresher it makes no sense of using a lot of money for learning the language. Duolingo is a platform that provides you with free courses for different languages. Thus if you are tight on the budget you can always think of using this platform.
There is a special feature known as a writing system tool (which we will discuss later) which helps you to practice writing the Japanese Language. You will get various exercises to learn how to write the symbols of a particular language.
With the help of a writing system tool, you will develop an understanding of how to write different characters which is important to learn. Without learning how to write the basic characters of the language you will never learn its active version.
Another feature of learning a language is Japanese stories. These stories are very helpful in boosting your listening, hearing and reading skills for Japanese languages.
All the activities to learn the language on this platform, are in a fun manner. Thus if you love to enjoy learning, this platform is for you.
If you do not complete your lessons for a long time, you will see Duolingo Owl – Duo which is the Duolingo app icon to motivate you for completing the lessons. You will also see various Duolingo characters on the platform.
What are the drawbacks of learning Japanese with the help of Duolingo?
Following are the drawbacks of learning Japanese with the help of Duolingo-
Japanese is a very extensive course and thus it needs to have a deep understanding. However, the lessons in the course are very short and thus do not help you in learning the whole content. Therefore, to get more deep knowledge you must try using some alternatives along with Duolingo.
When you learn a language you will have to learn all the basics of the language including Vocabulary, grammar, etc. However Japanese courses on Duolingo usually lack grammatical understanding.
When you look for Duolingo, it will only help you in reading and listening to this language. This means that it is not a good platform for speaking skills in the language. Though you will be able to learn speaking skills on this platform, the number of exercises for it is very low.
If you are using the version of Duolingo, you will only be getting 5 chances which are known as hearts to perform the lessons. When you make a mistake on the platform, you will lose your heart. However, if you want to get unlimited heart, you will need to buy a subscription plan of it.
How are Duolingo Japanese courses structured?
Just like Spanish, French, High Valyrian, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, and Japanese classes follow the same patch which is also referred to as Duolingo Tree. When you are following the Duolingo tree, you will see there are a lot of units in a particular tree, which help you to learn Japanese starting from basics and ending up at advanced topics. Each unit has different assignments which are again grouped into a number of lessons. However, these courses were earlier designed by voluntary people in Duolingo Incubator. The duration of each of the lessons is generally short upto 5-10 minutes. There is a total of 6 different units which have 131 skills in 655 crowns and 786 legendary skills which will help you to get the crowns in it.
However, you must always remember that if you are on a free version of Duolingo you will have to complete all the units of the three in the given order. You will need gems to unlock new lessons and to earn them you can complete more and more lessons or play different leagues. When you complete the leagues, you will be unlocking the achievements. However, if you find a unit which you think is easy for you, you can easily skip that unit with the help of a subscription plan – Duolingo Plus. You can either take up an Individual or Family plan.
What are the features you get when you learn Japanese with Duolingo?
When you learn Japanese you will get different features which will help you to learn the language. However, in other languages, like Spanish, you find features like Stories, podcasts, audiobooks and other challenges.But while learning Japanese, you will only get the story feature along with the writing-system tool which will help you for not losing the motivation the language-learning journey. Further, we have discussed the stories and writing system tools one by one-
Japanese Stories
The stories found on the platform are written in the Japanese language which will help you to build writing, listening and hearing skills in the Japanese language. Currently, there are 30 stories that you can find on the platform. It involves questions in the Japanese language which you will have to answer. All the stories are created for users from different levels and will help you to learn the language more easily. Also, you may find funny statements in the stories to help you stay engaged with the content.
Writing-system tool
With the help of this feature, you will learn to write the Japanese language. You get this feature of writing in the Japanese language with the platform as writing in the Japanese language is different from English. Though other languages use only one system of writing Japanese is the only language which uses a mixture of two different styles – Hiragana and Katakana. The writing system tool will help you in learning both styles in an easy manner. You can practice every symbol with different exercises like tracing, sound matching, typing what you hear, etc.
What are the other features that you get while learning Japanese with Duolingo?
Other features that you get while learning Japanese are similar to other languages and are mentioned below-
1. XP Score
Once you start taking up lessons and are completing them you will start gaining an XP score. Every activity that you will perform on the platform will give you some XP points. However, completing the lessons will give you most of the XP points. You can also take up time challenges like XP-ramp-up to get more XP for completing the course.
2. Gems
When you are learning a course on the platform, you will have to unlock different lessons for which you will need to have Duolingo Gems. These gems are like virtual currency and if you are using Duolingo on a desktop, then you will see them as Lingots.
3. Friends
Using Duolingo helps you to create more friends. You can follow random users and access your progress. If you are following other the chances of finishing the course will increase up to 5 times. When you will get friends on the platform, you will have to complete the friends quest.
4. Super Duolingo
As we discussed above that Duolingo provides a subscription plan which is known as Duolingo plus. Duolingo plus was the earlier name of the subscription plan and currently, it is known as Super Duolingo. With the help of this subscription plan, you will get rid of some features like ads and get more interesting features like unlimited health.
5. Leagues
League is a weekly competition in which you will be participating randomly along with 29 other users. These leagues help you to earn your Gems which you can further use to unlock the lesson plans.
Conclusion
Duolingo is a platform on which you can learn different languages and Japanese is one of them. If you are thinking of taking this language on Duolingo, you must know that it is a free platform. So if you are a fresher you can always think of using Duolingo. However, you must remember that the lessons on this platform do not have such extensive knowledge on this platform. You will be getting two different features for learning the Japanese language including – the Japanese Stories and the Writing-system tool. Along with that, you will get other features like XP, making new friends, gems, Super Duolingo, etc.
FAQs
Can you become fluent in Japanese with Duolingo?
Duolingo is a very good platform to learn the Japanese language. If you want to become fluent in the language, Duolingo is not the platform for it. Although you learn from the basic to advance skills, you will not become highly fluent in the Japanese language.
Hi, My name is William Christie and I welcome you to Studyinghood. My Research and Love for Colleges & Education Started when it was time to find the best College for me which Shocked me that every Student has to go through a similar Process at this Stage. So I decided to Continue this Research which excites me, and help Students through this Process.
