Can Duolingo Make You Fluent in 2024? (My Personal Experience)

The day I thought of learning a new language, I knew I had to use different platforms. I had my hands on Duolingo. When I started using it, I was impressed by how it works. But still ‘Can Duolingo make you fluent’ was the question I was looking for. The only way to know it was to use it and complete the course. So I took up the Spanish course and started completing the lessons. It helps me to get my answer. Let me share my personal opinion and decide if it can make you fluent or not.

What is fluency?

Before we determine whether you can become fluent or not, it is important to know what fluency means. According to me, fluency is the ability to have a conversation with the other native person without making any mistakes in it. It is defined by the ability to write and speak a language easily and accurately. If you can discuss any topic without hesitation and with full confidence, you can consider yourself as fluent.

According to the CEFR, you can check your fluency at different levels from A1 to C2, A1 being the beginner and C2 being the advanced level. You can also take an English test to learn your fluency level in the English language.

Level Group	Levels	Descriptions
BeginnerUser	A1	Understand and use familiar words Can introduce yourself and others  Answer questions about personal details  Can interact simply with another person
	A2	Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions  Describe their background  Can communicate in simple and routine tasks
Intermediate User	B1	Can deal with situations likely to arise while traveling  Describe experiences and events, dreams, and hopes  Understand the familiar matters regularly words encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
	B2	Understand the main ideas of complex text  Interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneously make regular interaction Can produce detailed text on a wide range of topics
ProficientUser	C1	Can express ideas fluently and spontaneously  Use of language flexibly and effectively for different purposes Understand a wide range of demandsProduce clear, well-structured, and detailed text
	C2	Understand everything heard or read easily Summarise information from different sources Express themselves very fluently and precisely

Can Duolingo make you fluent in the language you have chosen?

Duolingo is a platform where I learn different languages through various activities. It has always made me engaged with the content of the lessons. The only drawback of this platform is that there is no content for advanced language learners. I could only achieve A1 and A2 levels in the targeted languages.

I believe the only way to become fluent is by practicing with native speakers. Unfortunately, there is no such option on the platform. Thus you will not be able to become fluent in the language you have taken alone with Duolingo. However, you can use some other platforms that are good resources to use along with Duolingo.

Can you actually learn a language on Duolingo?

Duolingo is a platform that helps to learn various languages. Thus, there is no doubt about learning a new language. However, according to me, it will not make you fluent in it. As I was a beginner in all of the languages I learned on it, I can assure you that you will not regret it if you are also a newbie. But again we should not miss that you will only learn the language at the A2 level.

How much fluent can you become with Duolingo?

If you are applying to a university or a particular job, you must have at least a B1 or B2 level in a language. Although Duolingo will not help you to get to this level, we have discussed how far it will take you. To know it, there are different factors that we need to understand-

1. Research

Duolingo makes sure to do various research in its course. If we talk about Spanish and French (the most popular courses), the research helps to compare the course content with the university courses. They pick up the users studying Spanish and French and check their listening, speaking, and reading skills.

The research concluded that the 5 sections on the platform are compared to 5 University semesters. For speaking skills, it was seen that the users got 50% in speaking skills. It means you can be in a basic conversation with a native speaker.

2. The language selected

There are a lot of languages and it will depend upon the courses you are studying. Again if you are choosing French and are taking all the lessons, stories, podcasts, etc too seriously you may be able to get B2 level. However, if you are taking an Italian or Japanese course, you can only attain an A2 level. That is because the content in the course is less updated and there are not many features like stories for the course. There are courses that have fewer units and thus have fewer legendary levels. However, with time you may get all the courses providing you with a B2 level.

How much XP do you need to become fluent in the language?

I really think it is a stupid question. Let me share one of my experiences with you. When I was in one of my leagues, I needed some amount of XP. So I started taking up the lessons which were too easy for me. It helped me to earn a lot of XP and my XP score was above 1500. But does it contribute to increasing my knowledge? No. I believe, there is no relation between being fluent and an XP score. Your XP score is the representation of how active you are on Duolingo. Even after having such a good score, I still hesitate to have normal conversations with others.

Will you get fluent in the language once you complete the tree?

If you are on the Duolingo tree, you may be doubtful whether you can become fluent in the language or not. There are ways to complete the tree and you will need to take time to complete it. However, as I mentioned above, you will not be getting the fluent level once you complete the course. You must use some resources along with Duolingo to get fluent.

Are the courses developed by real people?

Although you can not become fluent, I assure you that all the content on this platform is genuine. It is because the courses on Duolingo are developed by real people who are native speakers of particular languages. However, you must know that these courses were earlier developed as a part of the Duolingo incubator, which was a voluntary program.

Conclusion

When I started using Duolingo, I always looked for the answer ‘Can Duolingo make you fluent?’. After, Doing some research, I knew to get the answer, I had to use it myself. So I took up a course and found out that there is no content for advanced learners. It means that you can only achieve the intermediate level with this platform. Also, I believe to become fluent you need to practice with native speakers. Unfortunately, there is no such feature on the platform. Thus we can say, you can not become fluent with it.

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