Every once in awhile I stumble on an app that is worth it’s weight in gold. And sometimes they’re free! Today I want to introduce you to one that I am thrilled with. It’s perfect for people who want to pick up a foreign language or brush up dusty skills. Maybe you’ve heard of it: Duolingo. It’s a free app for the iPhone, iPad, etc. and you can do everything on the website, too. I bought Rosetta Stone for us to learn German last spring and it’s fine. But Duolingo lets you do the grammar and vocabulary exercises. And it follows a similar flow. However, so far at least, I haven’t found where it lets you practice pronunciation.

My friend who is a technology professor at Purdue let me know about the Ted Talk that introduces the idea. Here’s the link if you want to watch it.

Why I love duolingo so far:

1) My 12 year old is inhaling it. She is working through the lessons and delighted to be spending time on German again.

2) It has so many platforms that I can work on it where and when I have time. The individual lessons are short, so you don’t need a block of time to take advantage of the opportunity to learn.

3) It’s free! Did I mention, it’s free.

4) And the free version has French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Portuguese.

I am thrilled to have found this app/website. Have you used it? What do you think? If not, what do use to teach your kids foreign language?