Matt's Duo Dispatch
News. Tips. Tricks. Insights. Every Monday at 14:05 ET.
THIS is how to use Duolingo in 2025... π
hello π so then, what is the best way to approach Duolingo in 2025? π€ how best can we use this fluffy green app to catapult us to fluency? loads of lessons? dominating the leagues? video calls til you lose your voice? roleplay til there's no roles left to play? no, none of that π
that's much to busy and, for me at least, my resolution for this year is to work less... while achieving better results than ever before π€― perhaps this sounds like a pipe dream but I assure you, my friend, it is not...
Duolingoβs weird cheating problemβ¦ π₯΄
hello π wanna know my favourite part of Duolingo? itβs smashing out a bunch of lessons, soaring to the top of your leagueβ¦ only to get blown out of the water by some random churning out close to 600,000 XP in just a few days... fair play? or something more untoward? π€ sadly, itβs often the latter. a very real problem on Duolingo, one that dissuades even the most passionate of owl fans it begins with a C and ends with a G you know what it is (you saw it in the subject line)... CHEATING itβs a...
did Duolingo go STALE in 2024? π¬π₯
hola π how would you rate Duolingo's year on a scale from 1 to 10? π€ with 1 being terrible, and 10 being excellent? I've been mulling this over all week and I'm still struggling to settle on an answer the reality is -- it's been a very mixed bag lots of highs... but also many lows Duolingo definitely ended the year with a flourish but it got off to a very rocky start... a poor first half π¬ the first half of 2024 was anything but pretty for Duolingo at times it felt more like a basic mobile...
can Duolingo REALLY do this? π€¨
Ciao π have you received any weird messages on Duolingo recently? π€ Duolingo's famous for it's weird, guilt-trippy notifications but in recent weeks, they've taken a slightly different approach... and it's catching many users off guard π§ i'm still not sure how I feel about it... can they really do this?... what's going on? π€ basically, a number of Duolingo users have been receiving weirdly personal notifications from their Duolingo friends now, of course, weird notifications aren't exactly...
Duolingo's got a NEW speaking mode... π€©
hola π have you noticed Duolingo's latest level? π§ it's started popping up on a number of courses over the last few weeks it takes a fresh spin on one of Duolingo's classic exercises, and aims to pitch it in a more practical, effective manner but does it really make that much of a difference?... what's the new level? π€ Duolingo's new level is called Speak you'd be forgiven for missing it as it takes on a similar look and feel to the Speaking practice available in the Practice Hub it suddenly...
why Duolingo BINNED this feature... π
Ciao π if you're a free Duolingo user, then you may have noticed a change to the way you can complete your daily lessons it rolled out to a lot of users some time ago, and recently it's hit even more devices the change affects how much time you can realistically spend on Duolingo each day it's upset a lot of users π but Duolingo has a very clear reason for doing it... so what's happened? π€ it all centres around one of Duolingo's most controversial features: the heart system β€οΈ for free users,...
is Duolingo better on iOS or Android π€
Ciao π you know how, every now and then, I'll send you an email about a new Duolingo feature? and then you login to Duolingo and -- grrrrrrr π€ -- the new feature isn't there? well, don't worry -- it happens to me too! π I'm always seeing and hearing about these cool new features that still haven't landed on any of my devices it can be so annoying a lot of this is down to Duolingo's classic A/B testing -- something they've always done to figure out which features people like... and which ones...
has Duolingo FINALLY fixed XP? β‘οΈ
Ciao π have you noticed a change in the way Duolingo awards XP? π€ apparently this has been going on since the summer, although I've only just noticed since my recent switch to the German course XP isn't something I usually pay much attention to given how easily it can be gamed, and ever since Duolingo introduced the new Score system, it's become even less of a priority. but recently (and without even trying!) i've been racking up the XP like never before... so what's changed?... a flawed...
too much Duolingo? π€
Ciao π how much time should you spend on Duolingo per day? π€ it's something that isn't always clear 5 minutes? 30 minutes? an hour? what's the sweet spot? now that I've switched to learning German, it's something I've been pondering a lot. my goal is to get as close to B1 as possible by mid-January. and given my German is pretty hopeless at the minute, I know I'm gonna have to spend A LOT of time learning! π does that mean I should spend more time on Duolingo? or should I pump more of my time...
Duolingo's got a NEW scoring system π―
hola π sorry I couldn't write last week, I was having too much fun in Naples π we had the absolute BEST time as planned, I unashamedly had pizza pretty much every day (on one of the days I actually had pizza breakfast, lunch and dinner π) I just couldn't help myself -- and every single one tasted incredible! 0 regrets π
βοΈ towards the end of our trip, we started thinking about where to go next and it looks like we're going to try Zurich in January π¨π officially it's a German-speaking city, so...
News. Tips. Tricks. Insights. Every Monday at 14:05 ET.