You looked it up on Tuesday. You used it in a sentence on Wednesday. You felt good about it. Then Saturday rolls around, someone says it to you, and your brain returns a blank stare. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably had that experience with aproveitar or aliás or embora — those slippery Portuguese words …
How to Remember Portuguese Words You Keep ForgettingRead More »
Let me guess. You’ve been doing Duolingo Italian for a few months — maybe a year. Your streak is impressive. You can confidently tell the app that l’orso beve la birra (the bear drinks the beer). And then you tried to watch an Italian YouTube video, or read a news article, or have a conversation …
Duolingo Alternatives for Italian: What to Actually Use When the Owl Stops WorkingRead More »
You’ve been studying Portuguese for a while now. You can order food without pointing at the menu, you can tell a taxi driver where you live, and you can hold a conversation as long as it stays in the present tense and nobody talks too fast. You’re solidly B1. And you’ve been solidly B1 for …
How to Go from B1 to B2 Portuguese: A Realistic RoadmapRead More »
You can introduce yourself in Portuguese. You can order food, talk about your weekend, and survive a basic chat with your Brazilian coworker’s mom. But somewhere around six months in, something stopped working. You’re watching the same telenovela you watched last month and still catching maybe 40% of it. You know the word for “to …
How to Go From A2 to B1 Portuguese: A Realistic Roadmap (With Timelines)Read More »
You’ve been doing Duolingo for months. Maybe a year. Maybe — God help you — you have a 700-day streak and you still can’t follow a French YouTube video without subtitles. If you’re specifically using Duolingo for learning French, you might be wondering what else is out there. If that’s you, you’re not broken and …
Duolingo Alternatives for French: The Best Options From Someone Who’s Tried Them AllRead More »
You can read an article in Folha de S.Paulo and get the gist. You follow Porta dos Fundos sketches without subtitles (mostly). Your Brazilian mother-in-law tells a long story at Sunday lunch and you nod along, actually understanding. Then she turns to you and asks a simple question — “E você, o que acha?” — …
I Understand Portuguese But Can’t Speak It: Why This Happens and How to Fix ItRead More »
Quick answer: Duolingo’s French course takes most learners to a high A2 level on the CEFR scale, with some B1 vocabulary in the later units. As a well known app that offers French among its language courses, it’s not designed to take you to true intermediate (B1–B2) French on its own. To break past the …
You’ve got a 400-day streak. You’ve finished half the Spanish tree, maybe more. The little owl is proud of you. Duolingo, a popular language learning app used by millions, has helped you get this far. And then someone from Madrid sends you a voice note and you understand approximately three words of it. If that …
Duolingo Intermediate Spanish: Here’s What’s Actually Happening and How to Break ThroughRead More »
You can read a Portuguese news article. You can text your friend in São Paulo. You feel pretty good about your progress — and then someone sends you a 45-second WhatsApp voice message and you understand maybe four words. If this sounds familiar, you are not bad at Portuguese. Portuguese listening is harder than reading …
You’ve been doing Duolingo for months. Maybe even a year. Your streak is impressive. You’ve completed units, earned points, and watched the owl judge you when you skipped a day. Duolingo is a popular language learning app, but there are other apps available for Spanish learners that might better suit your needs. And yet, when …
Duolingo Alternatives for Spanish: An Honest Guide for Learners Who’ve Hit a WallRead More »
