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APPyness: Duolingo

I've been learning Italian on this app called Duolingo and I have to say it is really fun. I don't know if its very practical... this isn't like the free app version of Rosetta Stone or anything, but if you're taking Italian, or any language in High School or college, this app might be a fun way to learn a little more and maybe study a bit. 

I don't think that when I finish all of the things I'll suddenly be fluent in Italian... I think maybe I'll remember the Italian that I learned in college a little bit better, but I don't know that I'll even be as good as I was in my college Italian class... but I'm still trying to do it everyday because its one of those "You learn something new every day" type of deals. This is what I happen to be learning every day. 

There is one major problem with this app and that is there is no reference or anything before... its just like an instant quiz. And usually the quizzes are easy. For example it will say something like "which of these means "The Apple" and then it will have "La Mela" with a picture of an apple with it. But sometimes it will just give you a sentence and translate it with you having absolutely no context of what the word means... and its just not really that effective. I'm on the beginner level too... so I don't think that's really the right way to do something. Sure you learn it by the end of the lesson... but if there were one critique I had of this app it would be that it just throws you into things with no context and then it will mark you off for that. I don't really think that is the best way of learning it... so that's why I'm mentioning it. If they had a little thing before the quiz giving some context, that would be a little more effective than having to learn it and re-learn it. 

It has a lot of languages to learn from as well... you could learn English to French, German, Spanish, Danish Turkish and many other languages. If there's anything with different letters like Chinese, you can learn if you speak those languages. So like Chinese to French, stuff like that. You get it. 

So there are some drawbacks to this app... but if you just want something fun to do other than finding pokemon... this is a good one! I'm having fun using it and I've been doing it just about every day. Its also really short and simple. Its good if you're on a subway or something or waiting to do something. 

So this is just my thoughts. I'm sure there will be updates and fixes to some of the issues I didn't think were that good. But yeah. Fun little hobby. 

Byeeee! 
-Shannon 
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