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28 Duolingo Tips That EVERY User Should Know About

• Posted by by Matt
• Last updated: August 12, 2022
• 15 minute read

This mega list of Duolingo tips will help you get the absolute maximum out of your Duolingo experience!

I’ve been using Duolingo since 2014 and my current streak is over 5 years old. In that time I’ve learnt a lot about Duolingo and the best ways to approach it.

So I’ve racked my brain and come up with 28 pro tips to help you become a Duolingo master.

Let’s get into it!

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1. Don’t worry about your League

One of the biggest mistakes new and long-term Duolingo users have in common is making a big deal out of their league.

Instead of focussing on improving in their target language, they become more invested in getting promoted and winning their leagues.

While the league system is great for keeping you committed to Duolingo, it has a tendency to encourage bad habits, such as constantly going back over the easy lessons.

I’ve also found it’s one of the biggest culprits for turning people away from Duolingo. They get so burnt out from the constant grind that they eventually throw in the towel and give up on learning their target language altogether.

My advice is to take the league system lightly. Treat it as a secondary concern. See it as a bit of fun. Remember that your league is not a reflection of your ability in your target language.

(For a more detailed breakdown of Duolingo Leagues, be sure to check out this article ).

2. Focus on Crowns

As far as I’m concerned, one of the best measures of your ability in your target language is how many crowns you have in it.

This is because, unlike XP, unlocking crowns requires you to progress through your tree. You can earn lots of XP by simply going back over the easy lessons every day. And while this will do wonders for your league position, it won’t help you improve in your target language.

In theory, the more crowns you have, the more you know about your target language. So take this as your goal and you will be sure to make progress.

(For a more detailed explanation of why your Duolingo crowns matter, be sure to check out this article ).

Follow me on Duolingo!

Up for some friendly competition? Then be sure to follow me on Duolingo!

My username is  DCiiieee  🙂

(If the link doesn’t work then just type my username into the ‘Search for friends’ bar on the app )

3. Keep your streak

Alongside your crowns, I believe that a solid streak is a great indicator of language learning success.

Now it’s important to note that a good streak itself doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing well in your language. Again, you could just keep your streak alive by doing the easy lessons every day.

The importance of your streak is found in the habit that it creates. Learning a language is a long term commitment. You have to show up every day for a very long time in order to see results.

Your streak is the manifestation of this commitment. By making it a priority, you ensure that you login and engage with your target language every day. This is really important. Consistency won’t necessarily carry you to fluency, but fluency does require consistency. That’s something to think about!

( Be sure to check out this article for a more detailed explanation of why I think maintaining your Duolingo streak is important).

4. …but don’t cheat

It’s also important to note that you’ve got to keep your streak clean .

In addition to ensuring that you’re pressing forward in your tree, you also need to resist the temptation to use Streak Freezes or Streak Repairs.

The reason is simple: if you miss a day, but you preserve your streak with one of these tools, then it’s no longer a streak. It may say that you’ve logged in and used Duolingo every day for 365 days in a row, but the reality is that you haven’t. It’s a deception.

This might not seem like a big deal, but it’s all about those habits that you adopt. If you do it once, then you’ll almost certainly do it again… and again… and again… until eventually the whole point of keeping a streak is lost.

So keep it clean. If you miss a day, let it go. This can be hard, especially if your streak is super long. But keeping a zombie streak won’t do you any favours in the long run.

5. Set a manageable daily goal

In the interests of creating a healthy language learning habit, I think it’s a good idea to set a healthy daily goal.

Some argue that it’s best to set a really high daily XP goal, as it will force you to spend more time on Duolingo than usual. I think this approach has some merit, particularly if you have a clear and compelling reason for learning your target language.

But more often than not it’s actually counter-productive. Doing too much in too short a time frame can lead to burnout. And burnout, as I mentioned above, is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t succeed on Duolingo.

It can also be really frustrating. If you’re a non-Plus member, which most of you will be, then you’ll know how frustrating the heart system can be . Setting a high daily goal will make it more likely that you exhaust your heart reserves, and this will prevent you from completing any more lessons.

In my opinion, the best thing to do is to set a manageable daily goal. 10 XP a day isn’t much, but it will make it easier for you to log in every day and complete your lessons. Of course, you don’t have to stop there if you don’t want to. If you still have hearts available and you’re motivated to carry on then there’s nothing stopping you from diving into more lessons.

The important thing is that you keep coming back. It’s better to do 20 XP every day than to do 100 XP one day but not show up again for another week.

6. Practice to unlock hearts

While we’re on the subject of hearts, one of the easiest ways to unlock more is to do a practice session.

You simply tap on your hearts at the top of the screen and select ‘Practice’.

The cool thing about these sessions is that you can work on your target language without the fear of losing any of your hearts, and also know that at the end of the session you will unlock another. This will allow you to dive back into your tree and pick up where you left off.

I go into more detail on how to beat the heart system in this article , so be sure to check it out if you’re getting frustrated!

7. Consider Duolingo Plus

This is something that many, including myself, have been too quick to dismiss over the years.

For a long time I vowed that I would never subscribe to Duolingo Plus (Duolingo’s premium membership). It seemed too pricey and didn’t seem to add much to the free experience, which is already one of the best deals in language learning.

But in recent times Duolingo have really stepped up their premium offering. It now packs a ton of cool features, including Pronunciation Review, Mistake Practice, Mastery Quiz, and, perhaps best of all, unlimited hearts. It also removes adverts and allows you to download your courses for offline use.

It’s still pretty pricey at $83.88 for the year. But if you use Duolingo regularly and know you will continue to do so then it’s definitely worth considering. I’ve been using it for over a year now and recently resubscribed for another.

(For a detailed review of Duolingo Plus and whether it’s worth the price, be sure to check out this article ).

8. Don’t skip the tips

Not all of Duolingo’s language courses include the Tips sections, but for the ones that do they’re definitely worth looking at.

When I started learning French I found myself ignoring them and just diving straight in to the lessons. I had enough knowledge from Italian to help me through those early lessons, so I just didn’t see the point.

But as I progressed through the tree, I started to consult the tips pages a bit more. And to my surprise they’re actually really well written, presented and explained.

So be sure to give them a glance.

9. Read the Stories

To be honest, I don’t think this is something that I really need to encourage.

Stories are one of the coolest features on Duolingo at the moment. They pretty much sell themselves given how well written and utterly hillarious most of them are. I regularly find myself binging the French ones as they’re so brilliant.

And the best bit is that they actually have a positive effect on your language learning. They’re all about testing and improving your reading and listening comprehension. They take everything you’ve learned in the standard tree and present it in an authentic environment.

The result is that you start using the language as opposed to simply learning it. This is a big deal.

If you’re learning French or Spanish then you’re in luck, as there are absolutely loads of stories available and their libraries are constantly growing. There’s plenty to choose from in German, Portuguese and Italian as well, albeit they’re not as well catered to.

Anyone currently learning Japanese can get excited as this is the next language to be getting Stories.

( Be sure to check out my complete guide to Duolingo Stories here ).

10. Use the forums

The Duolingo forums are brilliant to use alongside your Duolingo studies.

This is where the Duolingo community congregates to discuss all things Duolingo and language learning.

Here you will find conversation about all aspects, including course-specific discussions, general language learning chatter, as well as the future of Duolingo and possible updates.

It’s a great place to ask questions if you’re getting stuck, and to mingle with like-minded users. You never know, you might find yourself a language learning buddy with whom you can practice your conversation skills with!

11. …and for confusing questions

Another great use of the forums is through the questions you answer in your language tree.

Whenever you answer a question, you get the option to discuss it on the forums. Each question has its own forum page, so you can hop in and ask for clarification if ever you get confused.

This is really useful if the question is a particularly confusing one, as you can guarantee that others have had the same difficulties.

12. Don’t forget to report

The above is also useful for when a question just doesn’t make sense — and isn’t supposed to because there’s an error.

The guys at Duolingo are only human, after all, so sometimes mistakes are made. It could be that your answer was correct and should have been accepted, but was marked wrong. This can be really frustrating, especially if you only have a couple of hearts left.

Not only is the forum a useful place to find out if others are having the same issue, but you can also report the problem to Duolingo by tapping the flag icon. This will let the guys at Duolingo know that there’s an issue with one of their questions. If enough people do this, then the issue will get resolved.

13. Tune in to the podcasts

This is another feature that is unfortunately limited to only a couple of languages. But if you’re studying French or Spanish, then the Duolingo podcasts are definitely something you should consider checking out.

I’ve listened to a few of the French ones and they’re actually really good. They’re usually about 20 to 30 minutes long and combine English and French to great effect. They’re easy to follow and the topics are usually pretty interesting.

And even better news for those learning Spanish: Duolingo have created a 6-part mini-series which they describe as “ the world’s first-ever true crime series designed specifically for language learners “. I haven’t listened to it myself, but from the previews, I’d say it sounds pretty cool!

You can access the Duolingo podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify, and they’re 100% free.

14. Try not to skip the speaking exercises

The speaking exercises have long been one of the most frustrating exercises on Duolingo.

The AI can be really strict about some of the pronunciations to the point that nothing you say will be accepted. On the flip side, sometimes you can pronounce something completely wrong and it will accept your answer.

As a result it can be really tempting to tap ‘Can’t Speak Now’ and avoid speaking altogether.

I’ll hold my hands up and say that I’m just as guilty as anyone of doing this. They’re just too inconsistent. And besides, it can be pretty embarrassing repeating the same thing over and over again when other people are in the room with you. Sometimes I’d rather just avoid it altogether.

As frustrating as it is, though, it still isn’t in our best interests to do this. Even if the exercises aren’t accurate, it’s still good practice to speak every once in a while. If you skip the speaking exercises too often, then, trust me, your pronunciation will suffer.

Anyone with Duolingo Plus will know that Duolingo have gone some way to helping with this recently. Pronunciation Review gives you the opportunity to listen back to your recordings. So even if the AI continues to reject your answer, you can at least know yourself whether or not you’re getting it right.

15. Keep moving forward

I’ve referred to this a couple of times already but it’s worth repeating because it’s so important.

You must resist the temptation to coast along in the easy lessons. While this may be the best way to avoid losing hearts and to storm up the league standings, it won’t do your language learning prospects any favours.

You should always be looking to step out of your comfort zone. On Duolingo, this means moving on to the next skills as soon as possible.

Personally, I like to take two steps forward and one step back: I’ll throw myself into a new skill as soon as I unlock it and try to unlock the first crown; I’ll then go back to a previous skill and level it up. This way I can ensure I’m making progress while at the same time keeping everything else I’ve learned fresh.

You might want to read this article from the Duolingo Blog about the Hover technique as it’s pretty much what I do!

16. Dabble with desktop

I don’t do this as much as I used to, but something you might like to consider is to mix up your Duolingo usage between the app and the desktop version.

While the app is definitely more convenient and, in my opinion, more versatile, the desktop version also has a few tricks up its sleeve.

If you’re a free member, then you can use the desktop version to avoid the heart system. So if you’ve lost all your hearts but you’d like to keep your language learning session going, hop on over to the desktop site and pick up where you left off.

Another cool thing about the desktop version is that you get access to a list of all your encountered words. You can see all the words Duolingo thinks you’ve learned in your target language, as well as a strength bar and when you last practised it.

Again, this isn’t something I use as much as I used to. As a Plus member I don’t have to worry about hearts, and the word strength stuff I get over at LingQ while I’m reading through news articles and song lyrics . But for free members this is definitely something worth playing around with.

Duome.eu is a cool little website that you can use to really dig into your Duolingo stats and flesh out your experience.

It’s a fan-made website that collates loads of data from Duolingo and presents it in a bunch of different leaderboards.

It’s got a hall of fame for longest streak, most crowns, golden owls and more. You can find your stats by typing duome.eu/*yourusername* into your browser’s address bar.

Better still, you can also access the vocabulary lists for every course. This is great if you want to create flashcards or you simply want to go over everything you’ve encountered.

18. XP Ramp Up Challenge

This has been one of my favourite features on Duolingo for a few months now.

XP Ramp Up is a timed challenge available via the league tab on IOS devices. It tests your comprehension speed (as well as your nerves) by throwing a bunch of questions at you, which you have to answer before the time runs out.

If you answer them all before the time runs out, you will earn a cool 40 XP. If you don’t manage it, then you’ll usually earn 5 to 10 XP for your efforts.

( You can learn more about XP Ramp Up in this article , in which I share several tips to help you succeed more often).

Personally I’m not that bothered about the XP side of things. What I’m most interested in is the timed aspect. Answering questions with a timer looming over you forces you to think instinctively, and this is great for improving your comprehension.

Better still, XP Ramp Up doesn’t use up your hearts, so this is a great option for non-Plus members.

19. Get acquainted with your settings

This one might sound a little stupid, but hear me out.

How familiar are you with the settings menu?

Here you’ll find a bunch of cool settings that you can use to propel you to language learning success. You can tweak your daily goal, manage your courses, and dive into the help center if ever you’re having any issues.

The most important settings you’ll want to adjust though can be found under the Notifications heading. Here, as you might expect, is where you control the notifications that the owl sends you. For maximum commitment, I recommend setting up device and email reminders for your daily lessons and picking a convenient time to receive them.

This bit is really important. Don’t leave it set for 09:00 am if you know that’s when you start work, otherwise you’ll be more inclined to ignore it and annoy the owl in the process!

Instead, set it for a time that will work for you more often than not. It could be first thing in the morning when you’re having your breakfast, in the middle of the day when you’re having your lunch, or at the end of the day when you’re winding down.

20. Look for the capitals

A cool little hack if ever you’re stuck in a lesson is to keep an eye out for the capital letters.

If you have a word bank exercise, in which you have a selection of cards and you have to pick the right ones to match the sentence, have a look and see if you can spot one with a capital letter.

There won’t always be a capitalised word, but if ever there is this will usually be the first word of the sentence.

I’ve noticed this isn’t as common as it used to be (maybe Duolingo have realised and started to snuff it out). Certainly in the French course the French cards rarely seem to have any capitals. But when you’re translating from French to English, the English cards still usually have a capitalised word.

This will probably vary from course to course, so keep your eyes peeled.

21. XP Boosts

Again, this is another feature that, for some reason, doesn’t grace every course. I don’t even know why as it wouldn’t be hard to incorporate.

But on the French course, whenever you complete a level, you will usually unlock an XP Boost. This is a timed boost that doubles your XP for about 15 minutes. You’ll know when it’s on as there will be a little XP Boost icon showing on your lesson tree.

If you’re really intent on doing well in your league, then you can use these boosts strategically to your advantage. The best course of action is to hold off on completing a level until the start of your language learning session. This way you can ensure that every lesson you complete earns you double XP.

If you unlock an XP Boost at the end of your session then it will go to waste, as the time starts as soon as you unlock it.

So if you’re determined to get as much XP as possible, be sure to take this into consideration.

22. Combo bonuses

Further to the above, if you’re hell-bent on maximising your XP totals, then be sure to keep an eye on your combo bonus.

This is awarded based on how many correct answers you get in a row, with 5 XP being the maximum award (10 if you have an XP Boost active).

This is dished out at the end of the lesson along with the rest of your lesson XP. So if you complete a lesson without making any mistakes, you’ll bag yourself 15 XP as opposed to 10.

23. Tap the pairs

I can’t believe it took me as long as it did to notice this.

It’s not much of a tip as it doesn’t really help that much. But it might save you a bit of time if, until now, you’ve been looking in the wrong places.

The Tap The Pairs exercises always have the root language down the left-hand side of the screen, and the target language down the right. So if you’re learning French from English, the English words will be down the left and the French words will be down the right.

Again, this probably won’t be of much use, and you might have already spotted it. But if some of the words on both sides are similar, it could prevent you from making a mistake.

24. Skip levels if they’re too easy

If you’re coasting along in a skill then this is definitely something you should consider.

Tap on the skill in your lesson tree and you should find a little Key button. If you tap it you’ll be given the opportunity to sit a test, which will assess whether or not you can skip forward to the next level.

The tests are harder than the standard lessons in that you don’t get any hints. Make three or more mistakes and you get a big fat fail.

This is something I recommend doing if you’re flying through a level and you don’t feel as though you’re learning much.

In fact, if your performance is strong enough, Duolingo will ask if you want to skip to the next level without even needing to sit the usual test. This happens when you complete two lessons in a row without getting any of the questions wrong.

25. Tap flags to see XP and Crowns

If you’re anything like me then you’ll have dabbled with a few different languages on Duolingo.

If you’d like to see your stats for these languages, specifically how much XP you’ve acquired in each, then doing so is really simple.

All you need to do is navigate to your profile page and then simply tap on the list of flags beneath your details. Here you will find a breakdown of all of your languages and how much XP you’ve acquired.

To see how many crowns you’ve unlocked in each language, just tap on the flag in the top left corner of your language tree and select your desired language. Your crowns for that language will be recorded just to the right of the flag.

26. Tap friends/users to compare stats

Want to see how you stack up compared to your pals? Well Duolingo have made it easier than ever.

Just head over to your friend list on your profile page and tap on the account of a user you’d like to compare your stats with.

You’ll find a neat little graph which tracks your XP for the week vs your friend’s, as well as some other statistics including streak length, XP total, crown total, and current league. You can also view all the achievements they’ve earned.

This isn’t something you need to take that seriously. It’s just a bit of fun that adds to the overall learning experience!

27. Check the Incubator

The Incubator is where you’ll find everything you need to know about upcoming courses and updates.

It’s currently split into three sections. Incubation Phase 1 contains details of courses not yet released; Phase 2 contains details of courses currently released in beta; Phase 3 contains all the courses that have graduated from beta and that are now live.

And if you want, you can also contribute to up and coming courses. Know both Swedish and Russian? Then why not contribute to the Swedish course for Russian speakers!

28. Reverse tree

I’ve left this one until last as it’s not something I’ve actually done, but I know it’s something that a lot of Duolingo users recommend.

The reverse tree involves flipping (or reversing) your target language with your root language. So if you’ve been learning French from English, you would instead ‘learn’ English from French.

It’s recommended that you do this after you’ve completed the tree to mix things up.

Although this isn’t something I’ve done myself, I can see a lot of merit in it. It looks like a great way of keeping things fresh and allows you to come at your target language from a different angle.

Alternatively, if you’re that confident in your target language, you could even learn a new language from your newly acquired one. For instance if you’ve recently completed the Spanish tree and now you’d like to learn Russian, then you could do so with Spanish as your native language.

It’s definitely something you can get creative with, so be sure to give it a whirl if you’re feeling confident!

Have your say!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and that you will find some of the tips I’ve shared useful!

But is there anything I’ve missed out?

Perhaps you disagree with some of the ones I’ve included?

Do you have any top tips that you’d like to share?

Let me know in the comments!

Hey! I'm Matt, the Duolingo-nut behind duoplanet. I started using Duolingo back in 2014, and my current streak stretches all the way back to May 2016. Using Duolingo I've reached a comfortable level in Italian and acquired a basic understanding of Russian. I've also gone deep into the Spanish, German and French courses, and intend to explore more languages in the years to come. Needless to say, I'm obsessed with language learning!

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Great tips, Matt! I’ve been a Duo user for a little over 4 years and I am addicted. (French) I also just discovered the audio lessons with “Paul & Estelle”. As you probably know, Paul is Ngofeen who hosts the podcasts! Fantastique! Deb

Hey Matt! Thanks a bunch for the tips. I really hope to implement them as soon as possible into my Duo learning.

No problem. Hope they help!

Hey Matt? Great article and tips. I read them all! Perhaps you can help as Duolingo Support has been totally unresponsive. I cannot get my progress/achievements to populate in Friend Updates. I can see and comment on all of my friends progress but mine don’t materialize. I’ve checked and rechecked my profile settings and it’s set to “Public.” Any insights would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks!

Looks like a lot of good tips. Too bad Duolingo got rid of the discussion forums, they were one of the best parts of the app!

one of the things i do, i’m taking german on duolingo and i do french at school, so i take french from german. it really helps!

I have a question On my desktop, I can’t tell which sessions I have already completed. They all show up, and I find myself repeating ones I have successfully completed. I do the ‘level up’ exercise, and it still shows up the next time I log on.

Would appreciate your help!

I’m having trouble answering some of the questions on my Duolingo phone app because some of the answers are covered up by the “Check” button.

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June 18th, 2021

Now what what to do after duolingo: intermediate language learning strategies.

It’s quite easy nowadays to start learning a language. Duolingo and co have made language learning more accessible than ever, which is great! But…what next? Here’s my favourite intermediate language learning strategies to do after Duolingo.

Page Contents

Revisit What You’ve Done

Just because you’ve done Duolingo doesn’t mean it’s finished and you’ve got everything you can from it.

Restart the lessons on Duolingo, head back to chapter one in your book, review your notes with fresh eyes. Here’s some suggestions on how to best use Duolingo to get your creativity flowing.

I always enjoy revisiting things that I’ve “completed” for a few reasons:

#1: Fresh eyes = fresh perspective

The amount of times I’ve revisited a resource and spotted something new is wild. Just leaving that gap of time before heading back to the start can work wonders for giving you a fresh perspective.

#2: Spot your smarts

Revisiting stuff doesn’t have to mean literally doing every single activity again (or for the first time if you were a skimmer first time round!).

There’ll be some things that you don’t need to actively review and can skim past quite quickly. That’s the stuff you know now. Did you know it last time? Probably not. That’s how far you’ve come and it’s always a nice reminder.

#3: Fill the gaps

As well as going through things in order, it can be really helpful to revisit the things that you missed, didn’t quite get, or ignored first time round.

Revisiting is a great chance to fill the gaps in your knowledge.

You’re also allowed to bring in new resources here too to really expand on what you’re learning.

Related: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome for Language Learners

Bring In What You Love

It’s important that you love what you’re doing when it comes to language learning, especially when progress naturally starts to slow post beginner stage.

Think about your other interests outside of language learning – are there ways you could combine them?

You certainly don’t have to add language learning to every single aspect of your life (in fact, I kinda recommend you don’t), but knowing where it can fit in and adjust is a great place to start.

Let’s say you really enjoy your pottery class that you attend weekly and you’re learning Japanese.

Are there any TV shows, YouTube channels, websites or podcasts that talk about pottery in Japanese?

Raku is a type of pottery from Japan. What can you learn about that – possibly even in Japanese?

Are there any Instagram accounts or Facebook Groups you can join for Japanese pottery enthusiasts?

These are just 3 big ideas for one example to get you started, but I’m sure you can see just how much potential this opens up.

Related: How to Stay Home, Learn Languages and Exercise

Journal Your Journey

Writing is an underestimated tool for language learning that we nearly always have available to us, especially once we’re intermediate.

It’s easy to think of writing only as a skill – an endgame that we can work on once we can speak a language. But writing (like any language skill) is also a great tool for our learning process too.

Consider how you can write more in the language you’re learning and bring this into your regular routine. Bulle de Français is a great option here for French learners. Jessica includes journalling inspiration to get you thinking and writing.

When enrollment is open, you can use code LINDSAY10 to get 10% off your first membership payment. (I’m an affiliate for Jessica too so you’re supporting Lindsay Does Languages as well!)

Of course, speak as often as you can too, but writing really gives you a chance to self-reflect and be more thoughtful with your words as you explore the language.

You can approach this in various ways…

#1: Writing Prompts

This one’s my favourite (so much so it’s a weekly part of Language Life !).

There’s plenty of ways you can take just one prompt, which is kinda why I like it so much.

Let’s say your prompt is “The Number”.

That could be a great title for a short mystery story about a serial killer who leaves a calling card with a number on it at each crime scene.

It could be the title of a poem about someone winning the lottery.

“The Number” could inspire a dialogue of someone telling their friend they won the lottery.

You could write about your lucky number. Or unlucky numbers in a culture of the language you’re learning.

Use it as inspiration for a realistic role play dialogue of asking where your hotel room is. (The number of your room!)

As you can see, there’s so many different ways you can take just one writing prompt. Plus you can speak and record them when you’re done if you fancy it too. It’s a worthy habit to develop.

If you prefer a more grounded approach, you can write a daily diary in the language you’re learning.

Talk about what you did, what you’ll do tomorrow, how you feel. Whatever you’d do in a diary, do it in the language you’re learning.

#3: Gratitude Journal

Perhaps a whole diary entry each day isn’t quite for you. In which case, try a gratitude journal.

Each day (morning or night, or noon, whatever it’s all good) write down what you’re grateful for in the language you’re learning.

You could play with this format too depending on what you value most in life or what you’re learning at the time – perhaps finishing the sentence “Today I learnt…” or “Today I ate…”

#4: Just one sentence. That’s it.

Writing regularly doesn’t have to be essays and pages. Start small.

Again, either morning or night, or whenever works for you, build a habit of writing just one sentence in the language you’re learning. It could be a summary of your day to that point, practise based on what you’ve been learning, or something that just comes to mind.

There’s no rules.

Related: All The Writing Resources for Language Learning That You’ll Ever Need

Expose and Immerse!

You know when someone on the internet writes that passive listening will get you fluent in a language and then there’s 10 more people ready to strongly argue against them in the comments? Yeah. I’m not getting involved in that.

But…what I will say is that passive listening can be a great addition to your overall strategy at any stage, especially intermediate and beyond.

Why? Let me explain.

The more you can expose and immerse yourself to the language, the better.

And hey, it’s the internet age now, immersion doesn’t mean booking the first flight to Seoul and living out your Korean dream. I mean, who would feed your cat while you’re gone?

Being in a place that speaks a language can be a great advantage, but it’s no longer the deciding factor in your language success.

You can immerse yourself and expose yourself to as much of a language from almost anywhere in the world. Provided there’s internet, you’re good to go. In fact, even without it, you could still try telling your brain to chat to itself in the language.

Wherever you are, whichever language you’re learning, bring it into your life as much as you can. Here’s some super simple ways to get started…

#1: Listen to Stuff!

Podcasts, music, audio lessons on repeat.

It doesn’t matter so much what it is, but find something you enjoy that feels rewarding and necessary to listen to.

#2: Read Stuff!

Books, news, the backs of cereal packets.

It’s all good. Again, pick something you enjoy that feels rewarding and necessary, and you’re golden.

#3: Follow Stuff!

Instagram, YouTube, email newsletters.

Wherever you prefer to hang out online, find things to follow and engage with there.

Hate Instagram? No need to force yourself to download it if you prefer to subscribe to a couple of email newsletters in the language.

#4: Cook Stuff!

Food is a great connection, especially at the intermediate stage when we really want to bring in cultural elements as much as possible. (Ideally we’re doing this from the get go, but it’s even more significant here if we’re going to really commit to a language.)

Find recipes – written or video – in the language you’re learning and see if you can follow them to make a delicious local delicacy…or just the best chocolate brownie that language’s corner of the internet has to offer.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Netflix for Language Learning

Seek Out Speaking

They say practise makes perfect. I say practice makes better.

Everything you do to learn a language actively – even if subtly or unnoticeably – supports all areas of your language progress. But, that said, if you want to get better at speaking…well, speaking as much as possible is a good idea.

It doesn’t have to mean hours upon hours sat at a computer on video calls. Nor does it have to mean your whole salary spent on lessons each month.

There’s lots of ways to speak now to fit with you. Here’s some of my favourites…

#1: Speak to yourself

The easiest one. The one that can happen anywhere, anytime. But, it’s also the one that sometimes isn’t the easiest one because we’ve been told “speaking to yourself is the first sign of madness”.

Which first, isn’t true when we’re learning languages over here. And second, kinda stigmatises mental illness, no?

So scrap that little saying and replace it with this one instead: Speaking to yourself is the first sign of speaking confidently with others.

#2: Chat apps on your time

Sure, you can book a heap of lessons, events, and exchanges but…well, there’s other things you want to do with your life too, right?

Chat apps designed for language exchange fill this gap nicely.

Tandem, HelloTalk, others that have no doubt popped up by the time you read this. It doesn’t matter so much where, but more how you’re enjoying and fitting it in for you.

#3: Group online sessions

To clarify, I’m not anti longer language sessions. One of my favourites, especially at the intermediate stage is group sessions.

They give you the chance to sit back when you’re not quite following or have nothing to add. They give you the chance to hear multiple people speak with different accents and abilities.

There’s plenty of places to start your search – Duolingo Events, MeetUp, EventBrite and lots more.

#4: 1:1 lessons

You could throw lots of money at 1:1 lessons in the hope that you’ll be magically fluent just by showing up. Not gonna happen.

Your teacher may be amazing but can’t teach you by osmosis. Yes, you have to show up, but you also have to be ready to do the work.

My best advice here is to book lessons on a schedule that also gives you space to prepare if needed, and also absorb and review what you’ve done once it’s over.

#5: “Traditional” language exchange

And of course, traditional language exchange can be a great addition. If you’re interested in language exchange, it’s definitely worth keeping up with Tea With Emily as she knows what’s up when it comes to language exchange.

Related: How to Start Speaking a New Language For The First Time

Keep Things Ticking Over

It’s far too easy (and I speak from experience here) to slowly stop showing up when progress slows, when you pass the fun beginner stuff, when you’ve finished Duolingo. I urge you to keep showing up.

And that’s literally it.

It doesn’t matter if you’re doing all the things every single day. It’s more about staying in the room and sticking with it. Don’t give up.

Some days (or weeks, or months) you’ll be overwhelmed with life, and language learning will crash down the priority list. At these moments, do what you can, and don’t let yourself believe that it’s over.

Soon you’ll gradually (or suddenly) fall back into it and get in motion again. But you’ve got to pump that bike slowly up the hill to get the wind in your hair on the other side.

Keep things ticking over.

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What to Do After Duolingo: The Definitive Guide

You’ve finished the entire Duolingo tree—congratulations! But now you’re faced with the inevitable question – what to do after Duolingo?

If you want to keep improving after Duolingo and get the best return on your time, you’ll need to get a little creative and customize your learning experience to match your goals and needs.

This article will give you some actionable ideas to help you build your own post-Duolingo strategy that will propel you towards fluency.

• Where you stand after Duolingo
• Vocabulary: Improving your vocabulary after Duolingo
• Grammar: Improving your grammar skills after Duolingo
• Reading: Improving your reading skills after Duolingo
• Listening: Improving your listening skills after Duolingo
• Speaking: Improving your speaking skills after Duolingo
• Writing: Improving your writing skills after Duolingo
• Final words

1. Where you stand after finishing a Duolingo course

An average Duolingo tree introduces you to about 2,000 words. It should be more than enough to get a good sense of how the language works and hold most everyday conversations. Not bad for a free online course.

However, vocabulary is just one competency you need to navigate the language with ease.

If you only rely on Duolingo, you won’t have the chance to read long-form content, participate in actual conversations in the target language, or even write utterances of more than one sentence.

Getting to fluency without mastering all these valuable skills (and several more) is just plain impossible.

Even the two competencies most emphasized on Duolingo—vocabulary and grammar—will still require a great deal of practice before you can become reasonably fluent. Remember all these times hover hints saved you from failing an exercise? They won’t be there to help you once you move on from Duolingo.

The key to effective learning is keeping an open mind. There are countless ways to learn a foreign language. Why stick to just one? The skills you’ve been building over your entire Duolingo career have prepared you for more immersive kinds of practice. The natural next step is to give some of them a try, see what works best for you and start developing a balanced language strategy.

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. As long as you pick activities that are worthy of your time and do them regularly, you’re guaranteed to see progress. It’s also a good idea to change things up every once in a while to give your brain some extra novelty and stimulation.

I’m not saying you should turn your back on Duolingo the moment you complete the last skill in the tree.  In my experience, the “Strengthen” option is one of the most underrated features on Duolingo. Try to use it to revisit specific skills that gave you a particularly hard time.

But the sooner you shift your focus to other activities, the sooner you’ll be able to reap the benefits of a varied “language diet”. This post will introduce you to some of the techniques, tools, and resources that will help you along the way.

2. Vocabulary: How to improve your vocabulary after Duolingo

If your goal is to be able to effortlessly interact with the language as it is used by native speakers, you’ll have to find a way to fill these gaps.

Before choosing the digital tools you’ll be using to expand your vocabulary, you need to make sure they will let you take advantage of a concept known as  spaced repetition .

Apps like Duolingo, Memrise, Clozemaster, and Quizlet all use spaced repetition algorithms to choose the best moment to put a previously learned item in front of your eyes.

And if you prefer to build your own vocabulary decks, you should look for something that will do that as well—I’ll have a suggestion for you below.

Use Clozemaster

Clozemaster lets you gamify your learning experience and learn new vocabulary by filling in the blanks ( clozes ) in sentences. You can use it for free on the Web , Android and iOS . Here are some things that set it apart from other similar solutions:

• The sentences you practice with are actual sentences written by native speakers (from a crowd-sourced collection ). Because of this, they are rich in context and tend to reflect how the language is actually spoken.
• The order in which the words are taught is based on frequency lists instead of thematic skills. You start with the most used words and gradually move towards less common ones. You can also choose to skip the most common words and start somewhere in the middle, which might be a good idea if you’re coming from Duolingo.
• Clozemaster is highly customizable, so it’s easy to adjust it to your needs. You can pick the right answer from multiple options or type it in yourself (which yields more points), you can display the translation into your native language or choose to hide it, and so on.
• Cloze exercises let you process vocabulary really fast. Thus, it’s possible to expose yourself to a large amount of true-to-life foreign language material in a relatively short time. And yes, there’s a spaced repetition algorithm built into the review sessions.
• The number of offered language combinations in pretty mind-boggling. If you’ve studied a language pair in Duolingo, it’s probably on Clozemaster too.

My advice would be to finish Clozemaster’s Fluency Fast Track. It’s intended to help you get to fluency as fast as possible.

Use Memrise

Memrise is a great-looking app built around user-generated vocabulary courses. It’s available on the Web , Android and iOS . Here are some of its distinguishing features:

• The app lets you jump on the flashcard bandwagon with minimal investment of time. Instead of building your own decks, you can use extensive courses made by other people. They are usually built around specific topics or proficiency levels, so you can still customize your experience by choosing those that appeal to you the most.
• Memrise uses a spaced repetition algorithm and comes with some extra features such as automatic reminders on mobile, so you don’t have to worry that you’ll forget to practice your vocabulary when it’s due for review.
• You can add your own “mems”—images, examples, etymologies, or funny mnemonics—to each of the studied items. This is supposed to help you  form vivid memories  by connecting new knowledge to something that’s easy to remember. You can also use mems created by other users.
• Memrise’s space-themed graphics, smooth animations, and pleasant sound effects help you feel that you’re making progress. The combination of all these factors puts it on par with Duolingo in terms of effective gamification design.

I recommend trying out the official courses built by people from Memrise. They have great audio recordings and a nice selection of useful expressions. Just look for the courses with names like “French 1”, “French 2”, etc. If they’re available for your target language, they should be displayed somewhere near the top of the list. Having finished a Duolingo course, you should probably start with something more advanced like “French 4” or “French 5”.

Build your own flashcard deck

Let’s be honest: if you’re serious about learning vocabulary, you should develop your own flashcard deck at some point.

Setting it up takes some time and effort, but once you sort it all out, you’ll actually start saving time .

With a custom deck, you’re no longer stuck with what someone else has decided to include in your lessons. You can focus on these vocabulary items which you have yourself chosen as worthy of your effort. This is especially important for someone who has finished a thematically-organized Duolingo course.

Here are some ideas to help you build your flashcard collection:

• First, you’ll need a system to store your flashcards in.  I can recommend the  Anki spaced repetition software. Though it’s free, it has some really powerful features, which makes it popular among power users. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad choice if you only need the basics—it’s quite easy to set up, and you can always choose to learn the more advanced features later on (there are many great manuals on the Web). You can sync your collection between  apps for most desktop and mobile operating systems, as well as the AnkiWeb client.
• Now that you’ve set up your system, you can start filling it with vocabulary. Each time you encounter a potentially useful word or expression that you don’t know, take a second to write it down. As your list grows longer, you’ll need to sit down and add these items to your spaced repetition system.
• The obvious next step is to review your collection on a regular basis. The system should know which items to show you and when. Your job is to find the time to study them.
• You probably shouldn’t divide your flashcards into topics or categories. Though it might seem like the intuitive thing to do, it’s generally better to have them all in a single deck. Mixing various topics in once place results in a less predictable learning experience that forces your brain to create new connections. Plus, a single deck takes less time to maintain.
• Once you become more familiar with the software, you can start experimenting with the form of your flashcards. Try creating  cloze deletion exercises  that will require you to fill in a gap in a sentence. Add images to your flashcards to make them more visually stimulating. If some item is giving you an especially hard time, upgrade its flashcard with a third field and add explanations or examples of use.

General vocabulary tips

• Learn the common building blocks of words.  Remember that long, complex word that you’ve never known how to spell or pronounce? It might help if you break it up into several parts and process each of them separately. Most languages have a limited inventory of prefixes, suffixes, and roots that are commonly used to form longer words. For example, most of the letters in the Dutch word  verantwoordelijkheid  (“responsibility”) are grammatical affixes. It’s enough to know the very basic ones to see it as  ver + antwoord + e(n) + lijk + heid , with the word  antwoord  (“response”) at its core.
• Extract most useful phrases from phrasebooks.  Phrasebooks are mostly written for tourists in need of a quick fix, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them in your long-term learning. Skim through a paper or online phrasebook and look for phrases that meet two simple criteria: (1) you will probably need to use them at some point in the future, and (2) it’s unlikely that you would be able to formulate them on the spot. Make sure to learn them all—they’ll give your vocabulary a nice boost. If you’ve set up a flashcard system, it’s a good idea to add them there.

3. Grammar: How to improve your grammar skills after Duolingo

This is usually enough to get an intuitive grasp of the most basic concepts and a quick taste of the more advanced ones. However, if you want to really  understand the grammar, you’ll probably have to do your own research .

Here are a few ideas for activities that will help you elevate your grammar skills after completing the Duolingo tree:

Keep a grammar journal

Grammar is a tricky beast, but it has one major weakness: with proper research, it can be reduced to a manageable number of clear-cut topics. You can use this to your advantage and create your very own grammar journal—a place where you’ll be taking apart all kinds of grammar topics and trying to make sense of them.

• Make a list of fundamental grammar topics that you’d like to master . You can probably list a few off the top of your head: articles, pronouns, past tense, etc. Use Google and the materials you’ve been using so far (including Duolingo) to find the rest. This will be even easier if you have a grammar textbook on hand. The list is your scaffolding—use it to give structure to your grammar journal. You can keep it in a text file, a note-taking app like Evernote, or a physical notebook.
• Research your topics one by one and explain them to yourself in simple terms. Find good sources and make notes in your grammar journal. Supply your notes with tables, examples, and anything else that might help you better visualize and understand the topic (it’s okay to copy them from your sources). Imagine you’re trying to teach the topic to someone else in a clear and concise way. Cut out all the fluff and simplify where possible.
• You don’t have to cover each and every grammar area. If you stumble upon some commonly discussed topic that doesn’t pose much challenge to you, just skip it and move on to something more worthwhile. The same applies to these elements of grammar that don’t have much use in everyday life, like structures that are going out of use or are only used in extremely formal contexts.
• Come back to your notes every once in a while.  You’ll gain new insights into the grammar as you make progress in the language. Revisiting your notes will let you solidify them. And of course, you can keep adding new things to your journal.
• Consider adding grammar flashcards to your spaced repetition system.  Who said flashcards are just for vocabulary? If there’s some grammar rule or exception that you have trouble remembering, turn it into a flashcard. For example, you can phrase it as a question (“What is the superlative form of  wenig ?”) and add some extra explanation in the answer. Or simply make it into a cloze exercise. Give it some time, review it a few times, and it will eventually sink in.

Study grammar books

I know it’s the most boring piece of advice ever, but hey, it works. Sure, you can learn good grammar through immersion, but it takes a lot of precious time and resources. Structuring and scheduling practice with grammar books is much easier, and often equally effective.

Your Duolingo course has already taught you to intuitively distinguish some of the fundamental grammar patterns. Now it’s time to take a look at the big picture.

• Choose textbooks with many examples and exercises.  You want to have some context, not just long tables and dry explanations. If you’re learning a popular language, you might have some luck finding good free textbooks online.
• Reading alone won’t take you far. Ideally, you want to read, then practice, then read some more. If your textbook doesn’t give you enough opportunity to practice, look somewhere else. Try revisiting specific topics on Duolingo or use another language learning app.
• Have a routine. And don’t overdo it.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to learn  too much grammar, but it’s certainly possible to learn it inefficiently. That’s what happens when you slog through grammar textbooks without taking time to immerse yourself in the language and apply the knowledge you’ve gained. Try sticking to a routine: learn grammar for a set amount of time in a day, and then move on to other competencies.
• Remember you can always come back later. If some difficult topic has left you stuck, don’t waste your time and energy trying to unravel it. Move on and revisit it later. Let’s be realistic: you probably won’t be able to gain a perfect understanding of each concept the first time you approach it.

General grammar tips

• Use online tools to check your grammar. If you’re unsure of what form a certain word should take in a specific sentence, google the phrase with an asterisk (*) instead of the problematic word and check the results. Or, if you only have two or three variants to choose from (like  por  and  para in Spanish, or  der ,  die , and  das in German), search for your phrase with each of them and compare the number of results. You can also use more specialized tools: try checking in databases of sentences like  Tatoeba  or search in language corpora.
• Stay in touch with the grammar by using  Clozemaster .  Testing yourself on real sentences is the most effective way to improve your intuitive grasp of the grammar. Clozemaster makes this kind of practice much smoother and faster. And if you’re having problems with some concepts, you can target them specifically with Clozemaster’s Grammar Challenges (available for a number of languages, with more coming soon).
• If you absolutely hate studying grammar, let it go.  There’s no point making your learning experience more challenging than it has to be. You’ll only get discouraged. Many people have learned proper grammar through pure exposure to the language, so maybe you can too. I can’t guarantee it will get you there faster than structured practice, but at least it’ll be much more enjoyable.

4. Reading: How to improve your reading skills after Duolingo

Finishing a Duolingo course might teach you how to process the written language on some basic level, but going through thousands of short and unrelated sentences doesn’t really have much in common with actual reading.

This is why you should develop your own reading practice. Many learners find it surprisingly difficult. The problem is not so much the reading process itself, but rather deciding what to read.

Here’s how you can tackle it coming from Duolingo:

Use Readlang

Readlang gives you instant translations of words and phrases you don’t know so that you don’t have to distract yourself from the reading to search in a dictionary. It’s a bit like adding Duolingo’s hover hints to your reading material. And it’s free!

I’ve been doing most of my foreign language reading on Readlang, and it’s amazing how much time this simple service can save you.

You can upload any text from the Web or your computer and jump right into reading in your web browser. There are no mobile apps, but the web version works perfectly fine on mobile devices.

Here are a few tips to make the most of Readlang:

• Install the browser extension and use it to gather reading material.  Readlang’s  Chrome extension  lets you import online texts into your Readlang library. While you’ll have access to texts and subtitled videos added by other users, you will probably want to fill your library with content you’ve chosen yourself.
• Read away. No need to fetch the dictionary. You can even select multiple-word phrases to display their translations. Every word you look up will be saved in your word list.
• Check out Readlang’s flashcards—and consider moving them to your own system.  The Flashcards feature allows you to practice the words you’ve saved to your word list while reading. It’s a great way to collect new vocabulary. Ideally, you’ll want to browse your word list, choose the words you’d like to learn, and move them to your own flashcard system.

Choose the right reading material… and read!

Obviously, I can’t direct you to any specific content. Your choice will depend on your current skills, interests, and the language itself. I can, however, give you some hints that will help you find your perfect reading material:

• Make time for both intensive and extensive reading . Intensive reading involves dissecting the text down to the very last word, analyzing its grammar and looking up the meanings of unfamiliar words. It’s perfect for shorter texts that you can finish in a single reading session. Extensive reading is more about quantity: you simply try to absorb as much as possible while still having a pretty good idea of what the text is about. This makes it a good fit for longer pieces that you might want to read for pleasure.
• Children’s books.  Books for children are usually written in simple language. You shouldn’t have much difficulty following the plot, but you’ll still learn tons of useful words and phrases.
• Comics.  These are full of dialogue without all the decorative fluff, which makes them perfect for learning the language as it’s spoken. Comics for children are usually the easiest, but more serious ones can work too.
• Wikipedia articles.  If you focus on the introductory parts (less specialized vocabulary), Wikipedia entries can be a rich source of diverse reading material.
• Books adapted for language learners.  These might be hard to find, but if you manage to get your hands on one of those, it will provide you with an enjoyable experience that feels surprisingly close to reading a “real” book.
• Books you’ve already read in your own language.  If you know what to expect, you can read at a higher difficulty level without getting lost. This works great if you want to ease your way into more challenging genres.
• Short stories, blog posts, news stories, magazines.  Once you’re ready to tackle those, many new possibilities will open up. Reading across various topics will give your reading skills an extra boost.
• Young adult fiction.  The vocabulary and plot are usually simpler than in “adult” fiction, which makes it a good warm-up before taking on more serious novels.
• Extract value from your reading. Your reading practice can be a fantastic source of valuable words and phrases. Jot down any vocabulary that is new to you, or just highlight it and make screenshots. Add it to your spaced repetition system and let the algorithm take care of the rest.

General reading tips

• Ask other learners for recommendations. They might point you to vast libraries of free e-books, short stories, or even comics. Some learners might also be willing to share their own reading lists.
• Read while listening to the audiobook .  If you manage to find an e-book that comes together with an audiobook, try using both at the same time. You can also read a chapter before listening to it, or the other way around. Either way, you will deepen your understanding of the text and make new connections between the written and spoken word.
• Check out Cloze-Reading on Clozemaster .  This smart feature makes reading more interactive by combining it with cloze exercises. Since filling in the gaps requires you to understand the context, you’ll focus better on each sentence and ultimately get out more of your reading practice. As of now, you can practice with hundreds of Wikipedia article introductions in several languages.
• Leverage your interests.  Reading about things you’re passionate about will help you learn to talk about them in your language, which is very likely to prove useful at some point. Additionally, you’ll find it easier to motivate yourself to do the reading. Just search for online articles on your topic of interest and see if you can find something matching your language skills.

5. Listening: How to improve your listening skills after Duolingo

Why is it so much more difficult to understand the spoken language?

Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Listening is always tricky, especially when you’re just starting out and not living in a country where the language is spoken.

Having completed a Duolingo tree, you’ve only had the chance to listen to single sentences pronounced by a text-to-speech system . Understanding everyday speech is a much more complex task.

Here’s how you can ease yourself into listening to the spoken language—and then move on to the real stuff:

Get used to really  processing   the spoken language

If you’ve only practiced listening on Duolingo, you’re definitely not at a level where you could just listen to anything and expect to get better through mere exposure.  My advice for you is to take it slow   and start by practicing deliberately. Once you become more comfortable with authentic spoken language, you will be able to benefit from a more aggressive, immersion-based approach.

• Start with content produced specifically for learners.  Look for audio programs, podcasts, and YouTube channels that give you time to process everything that is being said, often with additional explanations in English (feel free to skip the beginner lessons though). They might get tedious after a while, but they should have done their job by then.
• Practice catching individual words with Clozemaster ‘s listening exercises.  The Cloze-listening feature will play a sentence to you and prompt you to choose or type in one of the words you’ve just heard. It’s a nice way to practice attentive listening with instant feedback.
• Look for short audio recordings that come with a transcript. This way, you can choose something that is slightly above your level and still feel in control. As you get used to the natural pace of speech, you can switch to only checking the transcript if you missed something.

Find the right content and listen attentively

When it comes to extensive learning, not all types of content are created equal. However, before I point you to several genres that you might want to use in your learning, let me address a belief that leads many people to rely on ineffective learning methods.

Passive listening will hardly do anything for you.   If you’re not focusing on what is being said and actively processing it, you’re not really learning. Sure, it might help you get used to the flow of the language, but that’s pretty pointless without real understanding.

At your level, 30 minutes of focused listening will teach you more than 10 hours of passive listening (or rather  hearing ).  The numbers are made-up, but they still convey the point.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about things you can  actively listen to when working on your listening skills:

• Cartoons and kids’ shows.  Anything from  Peppa Pig  to  Spongebob Squarepants  will do the job. It doesn’t really matter if it has been produced in your target language or translated from another language. What matters is that the language is relatively simple and the visuals make it easier to figure out what is going on. If you’re having trouble following the audio, looks for something with subtitles.
• TV shows. These are usually much more challenging than cartoons, but if you enjoy them, it’s worth a try even quite early on. You’ll have many options to choose from, and there’s really no reason to limit yourself to subtitled foreign television series (especially if it’s hard for you to find something interesting). Watching shows that are produced/dubbed in your native language and subtitled in the foreign language can work too—just try to pay attention to the subtitles. And if you’re planning to re-watch Breaking Bad anyway, why not do it with Spanish dubbing this time?
• Movies. Even more tricky than TV shows. A two-hour movie may end before you have the chance to get comfortable with its setting and the characters’ speech. This is why you should mostly choose movies that you’ve already seen. Since you already know the plot, you’ll have an easier time focusing on the language.
• Podcasts. Look for podcasts that are closely related to your hobbies and interests, or just general enough to use a lot of everyday language (news, storytelling). If you’re using iTunes, a great way to find non-learner podcasts is to switch your iTunes language to the language you’re learning. And if youru application of choice supports variable playback speed, you should definitely try listening at x0.9 or x0.8 speed. Also, keep in mind that some podcasts might publish episode transcripts on their websites.
• Audiobooks.  These can be great if you get sucked into the plot (fiction) or are really interested in the topic (non-fiction). However, be careful not to get stuck in the middle of a 50-hour long novel. No one expects you to listen to the entire thing, and changing the topic/setting every once in a while will only help you expose yourself to more diverse language. LibriVox  is an amazing source of free audiobooks in a number of languages.
• Music. Listening to music with vocals in the target language is a wonderfully natural way of getting familiar with the sounds of the language. To enjoy foreign music, you don’t even need to understand the lyrics very well—this is what sets it apart from movies, podcasts, or audiobooks. Because of this, it makes for great passive listening material. If you don’t know where to start, just search for language-specific playlists on YouTube or Spotify. In iTunes, set your target language as the interface language to see local top charts and recommendations.

General listening tips

• Listen while doing mindless tasks .  Running errands, doing chores, commuting, playing simple video games—all these activities leave a significant part of your mind unoccupied, which means you can sneak in some listening practice during your day. However, you should still try to listen carefully and interpret as much of what is being said as possible.
• Don’t expect to catch all the details. Or even most of them. At an intermediate level, you can be proud of yourself if you can make out 25% of what is being said. Listen for the gist. Your goal should be to first understand the general message and only then focus on the details.
• Do what feels most natural to you. If you love listening to podcasts, make them the core of your listening practice. If you prefer to spend your evenings binge watching, focus on TV series. It will be much easier for you to get into the right mindset and make the most of the time spent listening.

6. Speaking: How to improve your speaking skills after Duolingo

The only effective way to develop good speaking skills is… well, speaking. Duolingo offers simple speaking exercises that are supposed to get you started with that. However, there are two major problems with them.

First, Duolingo only requires you to  pronounce individual sentences, which is only one of several sub-skills necessary to hold a real, two-sided conversation. Second, many users completely disable speaking exercises. Perhaps they’re too embarrassed to do them on the subway, or their PC simply doesn’t have a microphone.

This is how, after finishing a Duolingo course, you can find yourself in a vicious circle. Your speaking skills are inadequate, so you’re too ashamed to use them, which means you’re not getting any practice, which in turn makes it impossible for you to improve.

Here’s how you can break this cycle and make speaking as natural as reading or writing:

Practice speaking alone

The kind of practice described below can be seen as a natural extension of Duolingo’s speaking exercises. It’s meant to help you build confidence by simulating actual conversation, but in the long term, it won’t be as effective as the real thing.

So if you don’t feel ready to hold conversations yet, that’s okay. Put some of the ideas below into action to build a strong foundation of speaking skills.

But if you can’t wait to start speaking with people, feel free to skip to the next section. Still, I think some basic preparation wouldn’t hurt.

• Learn to pronounce all the sounds of the language correctly.  Sure, you already have a pretty good idea of how the language should sound. However, if you don’t practice this explicitly, you’ll inevitably be pronouncing some of the sounds wrong, which will make your speech harder to understand. There are many resources that can help you learn correct pronunciation: textbooks, audio recordings, YouTube videos, and even charts showing the correct position of the tongue.
• Read aloud and evaluate yourself .  Find some audio recordings with transcripts (preferably dialogues—often included in textbooks) and read the transcript aloud. Then, carefully listen to how the native speaker pronounces the words. This practice will be much more effective if you record yourself speaking. You’ll be surprised to hear how many glaring errors escape your attention when you listen to yourself in real time.
• Talk to yourself. Pretend you’re in a conversation.  Narrate your life in the language you’re learning: tell yourself stories about what you’re doing and what’s happening around you, or simply try describing your surroundings object by object. Holding imaginary conversations is a great way to practice as well. It works best if you do it aloud, but if that’s not possible, just talk to yourself in your head.
• Collect useful small talk phrases and learn them.  It’s not about planning the entire conversation before it happens. It’s about developing an arsenal of phrases that are likely to come in handy in any casual conversation. These include all-purpose expressions you can find in most phrasebooks, but also phrases that will be more specific to you: describing your work, family, interests, home country or the reasons why you’re learning the language. Learn to pronounce them clearly, commit them to memory, and be ready to use them in a conversation.

Talk to speaking partners

Thanks to the Internet, finding speaking partners is now easier than ever before. If you know where to look, you can find people willing to exchange languages or just chat with you. But that doesn’t mean you should only look for native speakers. Talking to other learners in the language you’re both learning can be surprisingly instructive.

Here are a few suggestions to help you find speaking partners and get as much as possible out of the time spent talking to them:

• Search in language learning communities and language exchange apps. You might have some luck finding partners on HelloTalk , Speaky , Interpals , and Meetup (for in-person meetings), or   any of the dozens of similar online services like Speechling or iTalki . Once you find someone you would like to talk to, you can connect with them on Skype or via built-in voice chat.
• Remember there’s no reason to fear being judged.  A vast majority of native speakers will admire you for taking the effort to learn their language and will be happy to talk with you, even if your speaking skills are far from perfect. If they’re language learners themselves, they’ll be even more supportive, as they know very well how difficult it is to overcome one’s fear of speaking.
• Take notes during the conversation .  Jot down a few words about the expressions which escaped your memory or the grammar areas you need to practice. If your speaking partner gives you some specific feedback, make sure to write it down as well. Don’t expect you will remember all this later. The excitement of the chat will make you forget the important points faster than you think.

General speaking tips

• Chat with Siri or Google Assistant.  If your voice assistant supports the language you’re learning, try issuing it a few commands or even holding a conversation with it in that language (remember to change the settings first). See if you can get various bits of information out of it. Ask it about the name of the current President, the number of calories in your favorite food, the year in which a specific event took place, and so on.
• Repeat after native speakers in movies or audio recordings .  This kind of practice will help you improve your pronunciation, but it’s also great for getting into the habit of speaking in a natural tone and rhythm. Alternatively, you can look at the subtitles/transcript and say the words before the actor says them.
• Find someone to text with. Sure, audio calls are much more immersive, but it might be difficult to schedule them at regular intervals. Texting with native speakers or other learners can help you stay on top of your conversation game. Try not to overthink it too much though. Treat it as a spontaneous chat, and not an exchange of carefully planned messages.

7. Writing: How to improve your writing skills after Duolingo

Connecting sentences into cohesive paragraphs, using natural expressions to make your point clear, choosing the correct forms of address in correspondence—these are all skills that you must develop to write well in a foreign language.

Unfortunately, completing a Duolingo tree will teach you none of these things. It’s just a limitation of the lesson structure—translating 15 unrelated sentences one-by-one is nothing like composing a 15-sentence paragraph.

To learn to communicate in writing effectively, you will have to take matters into your own hands. Here’s how you can build your own writing practice program:

Set writing assignments for yourself

My guess is that you don’t have a teacher who would regularly give you assignments to keep your writing skills sharp. Or an upcoming exam with a writing section which would add some motivating pressure to your learning process.

But that’s not really a problem. As an ambitious learner, you can set your own writing assignments and keep yourself accountable without any outside pressure.

• Summarize or rewrite something you’ve read.  Short stories, blog posts, news articles—these are all great places to start. Feel free to stay close to the original structure, there’s really no need to strive for originality. The point is to clearly restate the main point and convey the same message with other words.
• Practice writing specific text types. This will help you learn to write at different levels of formality. It’s a good idea to try writing pieces that are typically used to test language learners on exams: short essays, letters, reports, reviews, and so on. Think about your goals: if you’d like to use the language in your career, practice writing business e-mails. If you need it to study abroad, practice writing academic texts.
• Ask someone to correct your writing. Perhaps you know a native speaker or a more advanced learner who could read your pieces and give you some honest feedback. Ask them to mark your errors and point to areas that need improvement. Then, rewrite the text and correct all the errors.

Use The Great Translation Game

The Great Translation Game lets you practice writing sentences in your target language and provides instant feedback to make sure they always come out perfectly well-formed. Here’s how it works:

• Add a text of your own choice. You can practice using news articles, blog posts, book excerpts, podcasts transcripts, or any other text in the target language that you’re interested in and would like to emulate. You’ll be working through it sentence-by-sentence.
• Carefully read the translation into your native language.  The automatically provided machine translation will help you understand the sentence better. You can edit it if you find any mistakes.
• Translate back into your target language.  The target sentence will no longer be displayed – you now need to recreate it while looking at the translation into your own language.
• Get instant feedback and improve.  The Great Translation Game will nudge you as soon as you make a mistake when translating the sentence back into your target language. And since you’re using native-level content, you can be sure that what you’re writing is perfectly correct.

Write down your thoughts

Putting your thoughts on paper (or screen) is a healthy way to clear your mind, so why not try to use it as part of your language learning strategy? Get a nice notebook or simply create a text file on your computer and start jotting down your thoughts in a foreign language.

• Write whatever you feel like writing.  Write about your day, your opinions on various topics, your plans for the future. Make up a story or scribble down some random thoughts. As long as it’s in the foreign language, you’re making progress.
• Stick to a simple conversational style.  This is to help you get used to the natural flow of the language and prepare you for casual chats with native speakers. If you’re writing about your life and thoughts, it’s likely that some of these things will one day come up in a conversation.
• Don’t force yourself to write a lot. If you only feel like writing two sentences, that’s okay. You want to make it a daily practice, and setting unrealistic expectations will only discourage you from coming back to your journal.
• Start a blog. Many learners decide to write a blog in the language they’re learning. It helps them get into the right mindset and makes it much easier to share their writing with other people. If you decide to give it a try, see it as an extension of your journaling routine. You’re only accountable to yourself, so feel free to write as much as you want on any topic you’d like.

General writing tips

• Write simple sentences. You don’t have to impress anyone. When you use complex structures, you’re much more likely to commit errors. Master the simple things first. They will work just as well (or even better) in most everyday situations.
• Use the dictionary as much as you want.  Using new vocabulary in a context that is meaningful to you will help you build strong memories. It doesn’t matter if you first saw it in a dictionary.
• Dwell on your mistakes.  Mark them in red, think about why you made them, and how you can avoid making them in the future. Get rid of bad writing habits as early as possible.
• Use online tools to improve your writing.  If you can’t find an equivalent of an expression in your own language, use  Linguee  to search for it in a huge database of translations. You might also want to check out the  Reverso Context  database. It’s full of movie subtitle translations, so it works great if you’re looking for something more colloquial. Grammar checkers like LanguageTool can be extremely useful as well: they highlight sections of your text which might contain errors, which should give you a pretty good idea of what to focus on when revising and rewriting.

8. Final words

The techniques gathered in this post are just a small sample of the many opportunities that have opened up for you after you have finished a Duolingo course. You really can’t go wrong with any of them—if you feel overwhelmed, pick a few things that feel most natural to you and start learning. You can always adjust your strategy as you go.

In the end, your progress on the way to language mastery will largely depend on how consistent you are in your practice. Once you develop a smart learning strategy, the most important thing you can do is ensure that you stay motivated and focused on your goal.

When feeling short on motivation, think about how you can make learning more fun. Don’t cling to activities that you dislike just because someone says they are “good for you”. There is no perfect formula that would work for everyone. Keep an open mind and try out some new things—you’ll find your own path in no time.

Clozemaster – the next step after Duolingo

Clozemaster’s exercises are based on a deceptively simple premise. Your task is to fill in gaps in sentences sourced from an online database. Since most sentences come from native speakers of the language, they reflect how it is actually spoken and offer more realistic context.

Features such as Grammar Challenges, Cloze-Listening, and Cloze-Reading will help you complement your learning strategy by isolating individual competencies and practicing them in short intensive sessions. Get started practicing one of the dozens of available languages on Clozemaster! 

7 thoughts on “What to Do After Duolingo: The Definitive Guide”

Lots of great tips. Thanks for putting this together!

I was surprised you missed music—I listen to that in other languages all the time, even ones I’m not studying, but when I am studying a language, I actually listen to some music *before* I learn the alphabet (if necessary) and then start Duolingo, so I gain familiarity with the native pronunciation even before I get the automated exposure, which can be confusing and isn’t always quite right.

Hi Carradee! Really glad you enjoyed the article.

I like your idea—listening to music is a useful way of getting used to the language early on. There is something about music and rhythm that makes song lyrics really sticky. I think we’ve all had the experience of getting a particular line stuck in our head, and that’s exactly what we want as language learners.

Thanks for the great suggestion, I’ve added an extra bullet point to the “Find the right content and listen attentively”. Looking forward to hearing what you think.

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Hi Adam, great article. Very inspiring. I discovered this blog after I have started with Clozemaster. Thanks for the advice! I will share it among my friends.

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I came to this blog looking for some tips to study on my own, and to my surprise I found this huge gift of super useful tips. Now I have everything I need to continue learning English. Thank you very much for all this valuable information.

Awesome advice. Unfortunately, it’s in the same language that my students are learning and thus they don’t get it 🙂

Really well thought out and well prepared though.

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How do Duolingo Leaderboards work?

Raise your hand if you’ll protect your place in the Diamond League at all costs? Whether you’re new to Duolingo or a seasoned learner, chances are you’ve spent some time on Leaderboards. This competitive feature of Duolingo monitors your progress each week against learners around the world—and you can climb up (or down) based on your study efforts!

Every Sunday (based on your timezone), a new weekly league begins. Read on for answers to your biggest questions about Leaderboards, from how we decide who’s in your league, to how to enter the coveted Diamond Tournament! 💎

Why did Duolingo create Leaderboards?

We first tested Leaderboards in 2018 and we found that a little competition worked for a *lot* of learners! It was an easy way for learners to benchmark their progress and success. The earlier versions of Leaderboards only had 5 leagues instead of the 10 we see today! Increasing the number of leagues meant that reaching the top (today, that’s Diamond!) was an even bigger achievement.

Who am I matched with every week, and why?

We try to keep things as fair as possible, so each week, you’re matched with people who have similar study habits to you and who are in a similar time zone. But you might be surprised to learn that your fellow learners on your leaderboard might not be studying the same language as you—the competition is across all of our courses!

How does the Diamond Tournament work?

We reward our most-engaged learners with another opportunity to compete. The top 10 learners in the Diamond league are eligible for entry into the Diamond Tournament (on iOS and Web, Android coming soon!). There are three phases to this competition: Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals. Each round eliminates learners that don’t make the cut, and there are special rewards for learners who make it to each!

It’s important to note that a tournament isn't running every single week—look for a message at the top of your leaderboard that says “Top 10 qualify for the Tournament” to know if a tournament is starting that week! If you see a message saying, “The next Tournament is starting soon,” then there are no eligible tournaments to enter that week.

The competition is too intense. Can I opt out?

Yes! Leaderboards aren’t for everyone. You can disable Leaderboards via your Duolingo Web Settings here . You will need to toggle off "Make My Profile Public."

And yes, we keep an eye out for cheaters!

Learners often suspect a fellow competitor of cheating when they have a ton of XP. The truth is, we rarely see cheating or XP abuse on Leaderboards—learners are just that engaged! We do monitor for irregular activity and if we notice illegitimate XP gains, that learner is removed from Leaderboards.

A league of your own!

Learning a new language takes a *really* long time, which is why we develop fun features (like Leaderboards!) to keep you engaged and motivated. Learn more about all of the fun, social activities we have on Duolingo, from Friends Quests to the beloved Streak !

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Tom Brady wants football to be about “we” and not “me.”

Brady appeared on the “DeepCut with VicBlends” podcast earlier this month, and highlight clips are still making their way out.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback provided an illustration of the generational gap as compared with the players who have come up with smartphones and social media.

“I think the biggest problem with a lot of f–king kids these days, it’s all about them,” Brady said. “Their brand, their social media. When it’s about ‘me’ and then not about ‘us,’ well there’s no way to succeed as a team if all you’re doing is thinking how selfish it is for you to get the attention.”

The barber responded, “It’s cool to show the world how great you are, but the most inspiring thing is how great you can make others.”

Brady agreed.

“That’s the point of life,” he added. “Is what we could do — How do you help other people finish the race?”

Elsewhere in the podcast, the 46-year-old Brady teased the idea of a comeback after a year away from football .

How do you help other people finish the race? pic.twitter.com/BEAe2JGk7Y — DeepCut Podcast (@DeepCutPodcast) April 19, 2024

Brady, who is slated to begin his broadcasting career alongside Kevin Burkhardt on the top Fox Sports NFL announce team, was asked if he would “pick up the phone” should a starting quarterback go down late in the season.

“I’m not opposed to it,” Brady said, with a grin, noting that it might not be permitted by the league if he has been approved for  a minority ownership stake in the Raiders .

“But I don’t know … I’m always going to be in good shape, always be able to throw the ball. So, to come in for a little bit, like (Michael Jordan) coming back, I don’t know if they’d let me, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

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