hellooo 👋

​

they finally did it!

Duolingo is finally rolling Max out to more courses and platforms

at bloody last...

man, didn't they take their sweet time about it.

honestly, at one point I thought it was just gonna be a few iPhone users brushing up on their Spanish and French forever and ever

but nah

they finally saw the light

hallelujah 🙌

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CREATOR SPOTLIGHT

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so who just got the Max juice? 🥤

ok, so you might remember I wrote about Max landing on some new courses a few months ago

well, Duolingo didn't stop there

recently Max has been popping up in even more courses

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and, at long long last, has finally come to Android 🤖

better late than never, I guess

​

now, i'll be straight with you, the lineup is still pretty limited

there's still no ETA for when Max will be coming to Desktop

and the vast majority of courses on mobile devices still don't have access to Max features ☹️

which, if you need reminding, are:

• Roleplay
• Explain My Answer
• Video Call [NEW]

these are Duolingo's swanky AI-powered features that are supposed to help you get more out of your lessons 🤖

there's a big emphasis here on speaking 🗣️ which is something Duolingo has notoriously struggled with. and while it's still no substitute for speaking with real folks, it's a big step in the right direction

and then there's Explain My Answer, which is pretty useful for, you know, explaining your answer (and mistakes) which is also something Duolingo has long struggled with

​

happy days 🤗

​

so which courses now have access to these sweet, sweet features?

​

well, on the beta version of Duolingo that i'm running on my iPhone, Max features are now available in the following courses ((although it still varies a bit depending on the course))...

​

all Max features

🇩🇪 German

🇮🇹 Italian

🇧🇷 Portuguese

​

Video Call only

🇯🇵 Japanese

🇰🇷 Korean

🇨🇳 Chinese

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exciting stuff 🕺

​

now, officially, I can't see anything on Duolingo that actually confirms which courses now have Max features

for ages they made a point that it was just available for Spanish and French on iOS, but now it's a bit hazy, which isn't ideal

the best way to see if they're available is to hop onto your mobile device, tap the practice hub dumbbell at the bottom of the screen, and see what features you have available

if you've got things like Video Call and Roleplay showing, then you're in business!

also,

i've gotta stress that, although Max is now available on Android, there's still a bit of a divide

that's because Video Call is only available on iOS for the time being

which means those East-Asian languages above are highly unlikely to have anything going for them Max-wise at the moment,

which is a shame.

BUT, I've checked the non-beta version of Duolingo on my Android device and the other Max features (Roleplay, EMA) are available in all the other lingos mentioned above

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fantastico 🤌

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worth a flutter? 🤔

if Max is available on your device and for your course then I highly recommend giving it a go IF you can get yourself a free trial

having used it for well over a year at this point, I still think that -- for most users -- it's not worth the monthly outlay

there are other subscriptions out there that cost less and offer more ((e.g. LingQ))

but if you're mad about Duolingo and you're learning one of the languages with the full buffet of Max features, then it's definitely something to try out

​

if nothing else, you'll want to give Video Call a go -- I think this is gonna be absolutely game-changing in the long run

Ciao for now,

-Matt

eat 🍽️ sleep 😴 streak 🔥 repeat 🔁

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