Duolingo throws you in the middle of the pool to teach you how to swim. And I love that.

I'm currently on a 562 day streak on Duolingo learning Russian. I like Duolingo for the following reasons. It's fun, the challenges, the game style, even the silly graphics keep me going. It's pushing me beyond what I could do with my own motivation, some days it seems like a chore so I fire off a few practice rounds just to stay in the game. It's actually addictive, a quick practice can turn into hours sometimes. What I don't like about Duolingo. The grammar rules are not explained, have to keep making mistakes until you somehow figure out what's going on. I still don't understand some grammar rules but by brute force of memory get them right. As I'm using the free version, the advertising has ramped up to ridiculous levels after the latest update. The rewards are less frequent now and am now constantly bombarded with offers to pay for an annual subscription. As far as the speaking goes, I usually pass them by as I'm not willing to yell unintelligible sounds at my phone when people are around. Overall, I'm happy with my progress, I can understand more and more Russian when watching videos, as long as they slow down. Reading is a lot easier as you have time to use context to figure out hard words. I know it is time to switch to a different method by now but time constraints still make Duolingo my main method. I've also tried Dutch, since I spoke it as a young child. It seemed more boring. Perhaps because it was too familiar! I like watching videos such as yours as well as a few others to expand my ability to hear and understand Russian.

I gotta tell you, Ari - it’s been a blessing to watch your videos! This whole “learning Russian” thing felt very overwhelming for me at first, but slowly and surely through your advices on here, I’m finally feeling like I’m making progress (although the speaking is the easier part for me - typing, not so much). Thanks for keeping up with your videos and advice! I’d be totally lost if it wasn’t for you.

Also, I should probably mention that you get more out of the Duolingo lessons if you write things down and repeat instead of just clicking. Sure, they take longer the lessons but things are guaranteed to stick more.

Its comprehensive a progressive program that if used alone creates drone like behaviors. Anyone learning a language that doesn't live in the native country should be watching movies going to bars or places where the language is spoke and probably taking a course where the instructor is fluent and speaks mostly in the learning language. Outside of that duo is just a stepping stone

You can learn the alphabet by clicking on the second icon from the bottom left. Other than that, I agree with you. Use it for the basics or to maintain a streak (where you still do the bulk of your work somewhere else), and it can be a fine tool.

I studied russian language at an institute of foreign languages during 2 years (until pandemic arrived) and during that time we never practiced our speaking by conversation, it was rare when we tried to practice pronunciation but we did some reading exercises, anyway, I've been playing duolingo for 70 days in russian and sometimes it gives me funny phrases that I could say in real life 😂 it forces me to practice my speaking EVERY DAY, something I never did, only every Saturday (before the pandemic), I'm studying by myself and duolingo helps me to better understand grammar and how to build sentences (something that I didn't learn with a teacher) so, it worked for me 🥰

I agree with you about the VR type idea. Some decades ago, one of the TV channels had short setups in the outside world where phrases would be spoken in context, after the few onscreen foreign words were shown. Perhaps that's an idea for an online course where it's not a 'talking head' situation in a bare room but for a couple of student actors to be filmed in clips in an environment in the real world situation.

I think, Duolingo is good to start with to become familiar with a new language. I still use it daily but with time it is better to pull away slightly and look for other resources. Also , I am not a “new beginner “ to learning Russian but it is good to review but I found some of the translations off or not directly on Duolingo. Sometimes I was like, that doesn’t sound right? I would say 80-90% is spot on but I would double check those translations.

It's really awesome !! Thank you for all your videos, it really made me want to continue learning Russian!! I started with Duolingo, that's really nice but it's true that sometimes it lacks explanation. I also tried Babel, and Busuu. Busuu has a great advantage of being corrected by natives. For me it's a very good app. Now that i need to practice i will try Tandem ✌😎 спасибо за все и наслаждайтесь открытием новых видео 🙏👏👏

They actually have an alphabet learning section now! Still can’t find anything that explains the Russian grammar rules on Duolingo but other than that it’s useful for learning new words and stuff

If you found this video helpful, you'll love my FREE PDF with my 26 Best Learn Russian tips and tactics. Download it here for free: learntherussianlanguage.com/youtube/

The next tab over has the alphabet where it teaches you the sounds and how to write the letters.

I have learned russian in school for 6 years before and I started Duolingo a few months ago and I love it, it still helps me a lot. Studied Greek with duolingo before.

thanks for the review, great video!

One thing I hate about it- when they ask “what do you hear?” And then two of the choices you must choose between are homonyms. I have listened over and over to sound clips trying to hear if there was even the tiniest difference in pronunciation sometimes- and I have a pretty good ear - only to conclude that the sound clips are identical, and I simply have to guess. That is not a helpful teaching technique.

They do include alphabet now in the latest version (:

What other apps would you recommend. I am using drops now. I got tired of dulingo. 🙂 ty for the content.

Ари, я хотел спросить кое-что. Это правда, что в Голландии ты обязан впустить в дом человека, которому нужно в туалет? Просто многие в России говорят про это.

Dutch, do you have a plan? 😅

It uses declensions without explaining them. The games are totally unnecessary. Overal the course provides an introduction to the language but other courses are needed to supplement it like A + Russian and similar courses on KZfaq and Hugo's Russian in 3 Months which has a book. The cassettes are on KZfaq. However..................Duolingo is good for pronunciation and getting the feel and sound of the language.

Btw duolingo does teach you the alphabet its in a seperate section

Как мило ты говоришь на русском, как настоящий Русский ❤❤❤❤❤

Does anyone know how to write ñ when translating in English in Duolingo

i tried to learn Dutch and that seemed hard-im part Finn and welsh

Hello you can help me practical speak english ?

Это отоично !! Спасибо R u Russian ? ❤🇷🇺

Duolingo does teach the alphabet but it's in its own tab

I too there learn English

help me you speak very fast you are great

Ты так быстро говоришь на английском, что, я еле понимаю фразы на слух😅

its too tiring to learn russian

I don't see why you should need duolingo to learn a language