Duolingo has been teaching learners additional languages for years. As cool as that is, it means that some people who may have let their streaks die may be missing out on updates. On the other hand, if you’re just now looking into the app it’s a lot more in-depth than it used to be. Don’t worry, we’ll give you the tour.

You’ve Heard of Duolingo, Right?

Duolingo is perhaps the best language learning app. It was launched in 2011 but spent time in closed beta before opening to everyone in 2012. Back then, the app only taught three languages, all of them Western European.

The goal of Duolingo has always been to remain free. Then, it did that mission by using the platform to translate web pages. Now, Duolingo is still free but it pays the bills by showing ads after each lesson.

And the platform now teaches over thirty languages, including some fictional languages like Klingon and Valyrian. Duolingo has also diversified into podcasts, reading lessons for children, and solutions for educational institutions and group learners.

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You can use Duolingo without any app download at all completely in-browser, and some of the more advanced features are easier to navigate this way. However, there is a companion mobile app free from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store.

Download: Duolingo for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

This article is written using the Android version so if you’re on iOS, some things may look a little different. Whether you use the browser version or the mobile app, you can upgrade to a paid version without ads and with a few other added perks like offline lessons, mistake correction, and infinite lives.

The Basics of Language Learning With Duolingo

Duolingo is built around a series of lessons. Each lesson is estimated to take about five minutes and Duolingo recommends doing around three exercises per day.

You can maintain a daily “streak” by doing just one exercise, or even a shorter and easier “practice,” but to claim rewards you usually have to complete two. Lessons are a combination of reading comprehension, matching words to their translations, and translating sentences.

Some of these sentences are practical, common phrases. Others are pretty crazy. According to Duolingo, strange sentences help “push learners to think carefully about the language they’re learning.” To learn more about how Duolingo operates, select the megaphone icon from the toolbar across the bottom of the screen to access the Duolingo blog.

When you've completed enough lessons, you earn a crown in that skill. This unlocks more skills allowing you to proceed through the lessons. Start a new skill as soon as you unlock it to complete a language skill tree faster, or keep going through the same lesson until you’ve maxed out its “crown level” to ensure maximum proficiency.

Different languages have different numbers of skills and different numbers of crown levels for each skill. For example, French, one of the first three languages offered, has over 250 skills and most of those have six crown levels. On the other hand, the Latin course, a newer addition, has only 22 lessons with five crown levels each.

How Duolingo Keeps Learning Fun

This whole learning process is gamified. Each day, you have five hearts to complete your lessons. Mistakes cost a heart (though you can earn more by doing “practices”). Experience helps you move up in leagues and leader boards, while rewards called “gems” allow you to purchase bonuses like streak freezes, extra lessons, and outfits for the app’s mascot.

To check how many gems you have and to see what you can spend them on, select the gem icon from the toolbar across the bottom of the screen. To see where you stand on the weekly league leader board, select the shield icon from the toolbar.

You can also unlock perks like extra experience gained per lesson by completing more lessons in a day. Further, a recent update to Duolingo features monthly challenges that you beat by earning so much experience per month and that might require completing more lessons.

To track your progress in a monthly challenge, tap the button near the top at the right of the screen. The button looks different each month because each month has a new badge that you earn for completion. From the challenge menu, you can preview the badge that you earn for completing the challenge and see the badges that you’ve already won.

There are various achievements that you can unlock for passing specific language learning goals. When you reach streak milestones Duolingo makes sharable banners so that you can let your social media networks know how far you’ve come. To view your achievements, click on the face icon in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and scroll to the bottom.

Related: Ways to Make the Most of Your Duolingo Lessons

Making Friends on Duolingo

The profile menu is also where you manage your social features. All of the features that we’ve seen so far can be accessed if you don’t have friends on Duolingo, but everything is more fun with friends.

You can add friends by connecting your contacts or a Facebook account, or invite friends who don’t yet have the app. Once you’ve made some friends, you can see their progress as well. Tap on the profile pictures of your friends to view their achievements and other metrics.

You can also make new friends on Duolingo. If you want to connect with someone from the league leader board, select their profile picture and click the big blue FOLLOW button. Then, they can choose to follow you back. This is also the process for reporting a user in the event that they have an offensive username, but the Duolingo community is pretty positive.

Keep the Owl Happy

Duolingo is an enjoyable language learning app that requires just minutes each day. More than just practical, the app can be a lot of fun, when you know how to use it.